Hollywood Animal
Make movies, even if someone has to die. Take the helm of a major Hollywood studio at the dawn of sound cinema, and guide it through decades of creative achievements and glamor, debauchery and dark deeds, tough choices and unpleasant compromises.
Build exactly the studio you want
In Hollywood Animal, you can decide to build a multi-billion-dollar monster that destroys everything in its path, with blockbusters made strictly according to formulas. But this is far from your only option. You might instead create a boutique studio, and conquer the festivals with avant-garde directors. You could build a trash factory, challenging "good taste" at every turn, filling the screens with blood and spit. This game doesn't tell you how to play or limit you in anything. Just have fun making movies while you try to keep the whole thing afloat.
We shouldn't forget the film industry is just one part of a much larger and dynamic world. Wars and social upheaval, censorship and corruption, strained relations with the authorities and criminal disputes. — Some will be buried in an avalanche of problems, while others seize new opportunities. Make your moves behind the scenes, form unexpected alliances, lie and betray. There are no magic formulas in Hollywood Animal. Only those who can adapt and negotiate survive.
You're the boss, not the groundskeeper
You're the head of a movie studio, and Hollywood Animal delivers challenges fitting your status. Your attention won't be dominated by wallpaper selection and planting bushes. Your time is worth much more than that. Instead you'll be focused on which characters and themes really capture your audience's imagination. That is, while you're not focused on investing in technology that will revolutionize the industry. All while you're persuading a bright young star to sign a long-term contract — despite the fact the arrogant punk has sworn he'll never work with you again.
Of course, Hollywood Animal has everything we love about the genre — building, resource management, upgrades and the rest. — But this is just an outer shell. What matters is the choices you make and the human stories that are written in the process. Whims, prejudices, addictions, secrets from the past... show business is always a tangle of conflicts, and you will be the one to unravel it all. Let someone who works for you take care of the bushes.
Any approach is good — we are, after all, only animals
Hollywood Animal includes you in every step of the filmmaking process, from making up plots to theater distribution, and each part of the game is crafted with artistry and dedication. But the opportunities you'll have are much wider than what you'd usually expect from a tycoon strategy game. Every business has a dark side. You can follow the law — or stay on the mayor's good side. You can raise the screenwriter's salary — or remind him about the prostitute he strangled, which you yourself had hushed up. You can delay a film's release to avoid competition — or ask your friends in the mafia to clear the whole calendar.
You'll want to take great care, when picking the actor for the lead role in your Civil War epic. But in Hollywood Animal, it's just as important how many ribs you'll have to break before he accepts the part.
