How do you book?

[NinjaBadger4k]

Disclaimer: I totally ripped off The Nickman in this idea so apologies dude but I think it warrants a thread.

 

Alot of people are feeling overwhelmed with how long it takes to book a show in TEW20 in comparison to previous versions but other people find it just as streamlined as before.

 

So.. how do you book your shows? What's your method of booking from start to finish? I think having different schools of thought on this will help people (myself included) book a lot faster and maybe come to terms with the game a little easier.

[The Nickman]

<p>Haha no probs at all, man. I wanted to create this thread, but I’m way too lazy to do it myself!</p><p> </p><p>

But yeah, essentially, I keep seeing people say that they can book shows in a few minutes, but in ANY iteration of TEW (going back to 2010), it takes me at least half an hour to pump out a show.</p><p> </p><p>

Gets real tedious to book any promotion with a couple of shows a week (Raw/Smackdown or an A-Show/B-Show type setup), and I really struggle to pass genuine time in the game without it sometimes being a real slog.</p><p> </p><p>

So what does everyone else do? How do you layout and book your shows? Do you do it on the fly, do you plan things out, do you lean on autobooker?</p>

[TakumiIrohamarvelous]

<p>For me it depends. For a Pop > Perf. company I can take ages to book one episode of TV because I have to immerse myself in the storylines then find a way to get angle ratings as high as possible and figure out who I want to push and how to protect them.</p><p> </p><p>

For perf. > pop. companies especially now with touring it's just a case of throwing out some multi-person tags and giving my top stars wins and usually doesn't take more than 10 minutes. When it comes time for bigger events I have an idea of the 2/3 big matches I want to book and the rest is tags.</p>

[Self]

<p>If I have TV I do a lot of planning and booking and rebooting and giving up and starting again and overthinking.</p><p> </p><p>

If I'm doing tiny local shows, I get shows done in 5 minutes. 5 matches. I have my stars, and mix and match opponents. Sometimes stories pop up. Minimal road agent notes. Onto next week.</p>

[Makhai]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Self" data-cite="Self" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="49365" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><strong>If I have TV I do a lot of planning and booking and rebooting and giving up and starting again and overthinking.</strong></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Oh, I'm not the only one?</p>

[Donners]

<p>Purely on the fly. </p><p> </p><p>

In 2016, I essentially just had people only beat those at or below their card position, using enhancement talent as jobbers and not using openers at all.</p><p> </p><p>

In 2020, I've pretty much done the same thing under the new system - though now you can throw together jobbers in at least short matches without a problem.</p><p> </p><p>

Seems to work fine in both games.</p>

[HarryFandango86]

I take a good half an hour or more for each show. I see the game as a marathon not a sprint, and maybe it sounds weird, I don’t like to know what’s going to happen on a show, until I book it to happen...maybe I have an idea of main event matches for events and especially mania that will happen but getting there, I don’t know what happens. Like last night I had no idea cactus jack would help the undertaker and assault ric flair. It was a real surprise. It all gets me more immersed in the world I am playing.

[FINisher]

<p>I got two different modes - the gamer and the diary maker. The game mode is very fast, on the fly booking starting from main event and working downwards. Push good guys, lots of tag matches to find chemistry. Brainless booking so to speak. Spamming good graded segments even though they might be unrealistic in real life.</p><p> </p><p>

For diaries though, the cards have and storylines have to make sense so I use 5-10x the time for cards that I'm writing a dynasty for.</p>

[D-Lyrium]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="FINisher" data-cite="FINisher" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="49365" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I got two different modes - the gamer and the diary maker. The game mode is very fast, on the fly booking starting from main event and working downwards. Push good guys, lots of tag matches to find chemistry. Brainless booking so to speak. Spamming good graded segments even though they might be unrealistic in real life.<p> </p><p> For diaries though, the cards have and storylines have to make sense so I use 5-10x the time for cards that I'm writing a dynasty for.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> All of the this.</p><p> </p><p> If I'm in "diary mode", 80-90% of the time spent booking cards is spent in Evernote. By the time I get to the show in TEW, most of it is already planned out, so it doesn't take that long. The actual process of creating segments in TEW is pretty quick for me. I'll almost always know which road agent notes I want, too. 90% of my angles are freestyle, especially in 2020 because the default angles don't seem to have been updated and most are still rated on Overness. </p><p> </p><p> Even if I'm playing a game that I don't think will ever make it to a diary, but is in a company that's fairly story-driven (SWF, USPW, 21CW), I still usually use Evernote to keep track of ideas, and can sometimes take a while to come up with the actual show in my head.</p><p> </p><p> If I'm playing a game purely for fun though... yeah, 5-10 minutes and we're done, even quicker now in 2020. Obviously the longer the show physically is, the longer it takes because you have to book more segments, but I don't very often play companies with 3+hr shows, so...</p><p> </p><p> I book starting with the main event in "main event first" mode or whatever the option is called (less time spent rearranging everything after, but that's just personal preference). I'll usually know what the main event is going to be, and a few storyline matches, but other than that I just go with the flow and book stuff.</p><p> </p><p> But like FIN said, the actual time the process takes depends a lot on what the purpose of the save game is.</p><p> </p><p> Testing, mucking about, just having fun? 5-10 minutes on the TEW booking screen.</p><p> </p><p> Diary or storyline-driven game? 5-10 minutes on the TEW booking screen, untold hours in Evernote planning it all. <img alt=":D" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/biggrin.png.929299b4c121f473b0026f3d6e74d189.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

[Skummy]

<p>Yeah, "diary mode" is probably closer to how I play - so when I say it takes me 5 minutes to book a show, that's not counting however long it takes me to write down some notes outside of the game as to what I want. Though even with that in mind, it's probably no more than 10-15 minutes per show in total.</p><p> </p><p>

If I'm playing as WWE, I tend to start by establishing what stories are running in "real life" at the time of the game, and come up with a broad outline of where I want them to go, and in some cases just how quickly I can end them and move on to my own ideas. </p><p>

Next, I'll draft out the card for the next PPV - if there's a lot of storylines in play already, this is where I tend to try and blow a few of those off, or transition them more into a story I'd rather be telling, so this might take a little more planning than most cards.</p><p> </p><p>

After that, I'll outline what I want for Wrestlemania. This usually comes down to a couple of "dream matches", some combinations of top talent I'd like to put together, showcases for any less established wrestlers I want to get more over, and then a few "nice to have" matches, as well as trying to ensure that as much of the roster is accounted for a possible. Chances are that by the time I actually <em>get </em>to Wrestlemania, the card will look entirely different as people get injured, leave the company, have poor chemistry with my intended opponent, or else other stories come along that take things in a different direction. But it's worth having the outline to work towards.</p><p> </p><p>

From there, sometimes I'll sketch out an even broader idea of what I want for the following year's Wrestlemania, and maybe the Summerslam in-between as something of a "this is how to get from A to B to C" idea.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>

That shouldn't take me more than a few minutes - normally I wouldn't start playing the game until I have most of these ideas in my head already. From there, it's just a matter of booking the weekly TV, and I have a pretty formulaic approach to structuring shows around who needs the most TV time to build to the PPV, and around what needs to be booked, so that's about a 5 minute job unless I have a particularly complex show-long story in mind. TV booking is a lot more "on the fly" than PPV, but still with the same end goal in mind.</p><p> </p><p>

If my company has B-shows, I tend to just Auto-Book them so I don't get burned out booking things that don't matter.</p>

[redhilleagle]

I'm looking at running 2 main saves this time round,in one, I plan doing my usual thing of on the fly TV booking but planning my PPV's. This will more likely be a TNA save, but certainly a RW mod.

 

My other save, I will be diary-ing for the first time (or at least a cut down version of a diary) and playing c-verse for the first time. I will be spending time planning out stories and shows for this and posted results somewhere.

[NinjaBadger4k]

Yeah, "diary mode" is probably closer to how I play - so when I say it takes me 5 minutes to book a show, that's not counting however long it takes me to write down some notes outside of the game as to what I want. Though even with that in mind, it's probably no more than 10-15 minutes per show in total.

 

If I'm playing as WWE, I tend to start by establishing what stories are running in "real life" at the time of the game, and come up with a broad outline of where I want them to go, and in some cases just how quickly I can end them and move on to my own ideas.

Next, I'll draft out the card for the next PPV - if there's a lot of storylines in play already, this is where I tend to try and blow a few of those off, or transition them more into a story I'd rather be telling, so this might take a little more planning than most cards.

 

After that, I'll outline what I want for Wrestlemania. This usually comes down to a couple of "dream matches", some combinations of top talent I'd like to put together, showcases for any less established wrestlers I want to get more over, and then a few "nice to have" matches, as well as trying to ensure that as much of the roster is accounted for a possible. Chances are that by the time I actually get to Wrestlemania, the card will look entirely different as people get injured, leave the company, have poor chemistry with my intended opponent, or else other stories come along that take things in a different direction. But it's worth having the outline to work towards.

 

From there, sometimes I'll sketch out an even broader idea of what I want for the following year's Wrestlemania, and maybe the Summerslam in-between as something of a "this is how to get from A to B to C" idea.

 

 

That shouldn't take me more than a few minutes - normally I wouldn't start playing the game until I have most of these ideas in my head already. From there, it's just a matter of booking the weekly TV, and I have a pretty formulaic approach to structuring shows around who needs the most TV time to build to the PPV, and around what needs to be booked, so that's about a 5 minute job unless I have a particularly complex show-long story in mind. TV booking is a lot more "on the fly" than PPV, but still with the same end goal in mind.

 

If my company has B-shows, I tend to just Auto-Book them so I don't get burned out booking things that don't matter.

 

Yeah I tend to do things this way even though I have never done a diary before.

 

I dont really like starting a game and completing deleting the current day storylines as it feels kind of cheap to me, i'd rather find a way to continue them with a different spin just to try and keep it realistic to some degree.

 

I downloaded a current day mod for 20 to try and really get interested in the game and the storylines are not included so I think it's a good time to do a brand shuffle and try and book things my way until a stable mod is released.

 

Good idea about auto booking B Shows as these tend to be really tedious for me and I never really put effort into them as they don't really matter like you say

[NextGame]

I smash the autobooker button a few times and get annoyed when it fails to fill in the full show, then i add a bunch of random angles. done

[vladjarca]

First, I look at the creative meeting and decide the card for the next big show (any PPV if it's AEW, NXT or Impact, Summerslam/Survivor Series/WM if it's WWE, the season finale if playing a company with monthly shows etc.).

 

Then I write down every feud I want to build, and segments I want to do around them, and I usually end up with enough to fill 80-90% of the shows that build up to the big shows.

 

And so I integrate the angles and matches I've already written down in the shows and add a few matches or promos to fill the time, if needed. Writing everything down takes a while, but after that, the time spent in the booking screen is around 10 minutes for every 2 hour show

[Corey]

If I'm playing as a larger company (with weekly TV) I will plan out 3 months of PPVs (and have an idea of where I'm going for the main Season Finale matches for that year). For the TV shows I basically just book a segment/angle/match per storyline, going down the list, and then when I've got every storyline covered for the week I hopefully have space for some momentum-building wins for people I want to push who aren't in active storylines.

 

The most time-consuming part is planning out the three months - after that the actual week-to-week booking is very fast.

[raycobaine]

This is similar to what others have said but the actual booking doesn’t take too long if I map out the storylines, at least in general, in my mind beforehand. I usually use sports entertainment products so most of my booking is based around storylines and I treat my PPVS like “major episodes” of a TV show where the main conflicts in the stories are finally addressed. For example, if I have a main event level feud going on and it’s a couple of weeks before my PPV, my main event can be a tag match that features both workers involved in the feud. Then, for angles, I explain why that tag match is happening. For another storyline that I know is going to be “resolved” at the PPV in a singles match, I might book the heel to run in during the match, interfere, cause the face to lose, and then beat him up. Then I book another angle earlier in the show to “lead up” to that. That’s pretty much what I do for TV. Sometimes it still takes me a while to book a TV show but I don’t mind because it kind of adds to the “realism” of the game. Sometimes I feel like a real life booker, pacing and trying to figure out how to get over this worker without killing that guys momentum or boring the fans before my main event. Also, nothing is better than that feeling when you take forever to book a show, down to each meticulous detail, and it actually turns out as planned.

 

 

PPVS usually take me a long time to book, but that’s because these are the matches that I’ve been building up to and I don’t want to “waste” storyline heat because I was trying to rush.

 

 

On a side note about booking, one thing that helps me a lot is using stables in storylines. That way, I always have a cast of “characters” to use in my stories. It’s a lot easier for me to think of “this worker will interfere because his stablemate is involved and there’s a larger in a feud with the opponents stablemate” vs when I just book on the fly. When I book on the fly, it’s typically main event triple threat some of my top guys and generic angles rated on my workers best attributes. I try to avoid booking like that because it’s not fun for me in the long run but the great thing about TEW is that there is no objective “goal.” It’s all about what each player considers to be fun.

[BrokenCycle]

I have a list of my upcoming pay per view. Each show, I will go down the list making sure to create pre-booked matches that will end up advancing the storylines for the pay per view. I start with the main event, then the opener, then another good match, then I'll book a few matches that suck for crowd management purposes. From there I'll make a mental note of how each storyline for my upcoming pay per view will play out on my show, such as promos that advance the storylines or match interference, and make mental notes of it all. It's a lot but not that hard to remember all of it.

 

Then I'll put the pre-booked matches on the show with any interference or post-match attacks on I planned beforehand that lead to the next PPV. Most of the angles I create are done on the fly to fill in the gaps, either time wise or storyline wise.

 

Something I also do is book 2 hour shows as 90 minute shows. I will also book the show in half-- I aim for the 45 minute mark, then finish the show at 95 minutes.

[Remianen]

My delay stems from unfamiliarity with my roster(s). Post-release when I actually have all my stables assigned and managers determined, it'll only be slightly slower than it was in 16 (and it'll get faster as I streamline clicks).

 

I use my preshow to book a bunch of matches between my 'unimportant' level workers, usually with a match with tertiary singles and tag team title implications, as well as a bunch of connected interview angles to get the workers time on the mic. My least skilled road agent works all of these segments so it might take a few extra seconds to change that field when booking angles and matches. I don't autobook anything ever, so everything's done largely on the fly (but on rails) by hand.

 

Right now I'm just futzing around so it takes me longer as a result. I'm not planning anything out or booking with purpose so it's just clicking around and figuring out if my old formula works.

[ngz999]

TEW2016: With creativity, intelligence and humour.

 

TEW2020: I just try to avoid penalties.

[mharmon99]

I start my own company. It's easier to get through booking a show for me when I know how I want to position people, verse people who are already positioned. I tried playing with TCW but their roster is so big while being a medium company, so I can't use everyone. I don't like big rosters at all.

 

Booking takes me a few minutes that way. I already know what I'm planning to do, but with my current India game, booking is more so getting everyone on the card to gain experience. So my shows are main event focused and Tight Focus. So the main thing is my main event and the best angle on the show.

[Capelli King]

I like to build up some history into my games, so speed matters. At the beginning i was impossible for me to play TEW 2020, as the booking was tedious. Usually i run 5 events per week (4 are TV shows). In TEW 2016, i had a save game with over 40 years history. Usually i leave all the worker development for my development territory, so i focus on the big names only.

 

For me it is the auto-booker, my savior. That is why i need it to be at least avoiding penalties and shit. After i have the whole card auto-booked, i quickly go through the card, put the wins on the guys i want pushed and do some adjustments to some of the key angles.

 

I have a spread sheet to give me some guide as to which workers have better skills and what area's and who i want to be burying/pushing. That takes a bit of time to set up but it helps once i get going. I also have main event focused for my angles and matches, that way i simply focus on the main couple of angles and matches, the rest i just make sure the right people win.

 

I think that once the auto-booker gets streamlined out (i hope it will be), i think the game pace could actually be better in this game due to loading speeds.

 

Personally, i have no idea how some players can run 2-3 events per week, without the auto-booker and still have a game which is 30-40 years old. You will basically die. Unless of course you simply spam matches and not pay any attention to what is going on.

[Von Dozier]

On the fly. I have a few ideas of what I want to do going into each show for the storylines, and for the undercard, just put the people I want to push over other lesser people. Takes me only about 5-10 minutes a show, a little quicker than 2016.

[Munit]

On the fly like a lot of people. The reason why is because I'll set things up that go months, maybe even a year or two and something happens. I've had people get injured, leave, not perform well.. and even darkhorse workers come out of the blue to really catch me off guard

[Infernalmiko]

I create cards for all wrestlers with useful information and different colored card sleeves for push. Then I just lay them out, mixing and matching to get something that feels right. I use One Note for notes on matches, storylines, who has gotten their first win on who, etc. So far I'm using minimal road agent notes. I'm doing 5SSW so one steal the show match. One storytelling match in the semi-main event.

 

How much do people actually use Road Agent notes? I feel like I should do more with it than just deciding on the victor. I don't even do that if it's a lower card 3v3 where the winner doesn't really matter.

[NinjaBadger4k]

How much do people actually use Road Agent notes? I feel like I should do more with it than just deciding on the victor. I don't even do that if it's a lower card 3v3 where the winner doesn't really matter.

 

I use road agent notes alot but I'm still unsure about the whole "calm the crowd" "lift the crowd" etc as I mess it up every time. When I book a show and have a road agent note of some of the above I get mixed responses with either "the crowd was already hot" etc so it's kind of trial and error for me.