Okay anyway, the Stardock announced The Political Machine 2008 today.
Basically you run for President of the United states with either a pre-made candidate (Obama, Clinton, McCain, etc.) or you can create your own.
The candidate creation stuff is really cool. You have total control over how they look visually - the pre-canned candidates are all made using the built in candidate creation editor.
Political campaigns are well suited for strategy games. You’ve got a map with territories you must conquer. Different territories are worth different amounts of points (electoral votes). You have a number of special units you can make use of (spin doctors, smear merchants, cheer leaders, celebrities, etc.) and you can build various types of bases, research, and while most games come with a “campaign”, this game actually IS a campaign. :)
Here are some screenshots:
Some of you played the 2004 edition. This time around, the game has a full 3D engine (it’s our first test case of the engine we’re making for the fantasy strategy game we’re working on) and includes lots of different scenarios (not just USA) and has a research tree for getting new capabilities (like finding out dirt on your opponents – did they make a gaffe in Bosnia? Do they have a pastor that’s caused trouble for them? Maybe a lobbyist that was a bit too friendly?).
Anyway, a public beta will be available in April. Final game out this June. The US scenario does use real live census data for extra accuracy.
I’m looking forward to this. I bought The Corporate Machine (twice, actually,) and the original Political Machine, and I’m quite looking forward to this edition. You still need beta testers? =)
Is this just simulating the General? That’ll be a shame if so. It should really let you play out a party nomination fight, too, with unlockable achievements if you manage to make a party eat itself during the process.
I’m with pfreak. I love Political Machine, but this would be a great DS title I think. I’m sure Brad could find a way to use that top screen better than a lot of titles out there.
I agree with you but I kind of blew it. Until recently, I had never used a hand held game machine. It’s a long story but when I had kids, I decided to keep the hand helds out of the house but when my son was in the hospital, I broke down and bought one and my opinion of them changed quite a bit - but too late for this edition.
We have a US civil war scnenario. A quasi-European scenario (only two parties so it’s not terribly realistic in that sense). A future North American scenario. And a scenario that takes place on the home planet of the Drengin Empire. Strangely, the candidates act pretty much the same regardless of the scenario…
The single player game is being quite a bit expanded from the 2004 edition though. We pretty much thought everyone would play on-line but never could find people to play. Learned some hard lessons in that.
So this time there’s a tech tree and everything. Much more involved games than the 2004 edition IMO.
Wait, let me get this straight: Because you’re a conscientious parent, we have to suffer by not having handheld versions of cool games? Sheesh. Remind me to glare at your kids if I ever meet them.
I’ve got the tokens all saved up for this one. Will there be any way to use my tokens to both purchase one for myself and send a copy to my brother. That would give me a built in multiplayer partner.
I liked the concept behind the 2004 version, but I found the excecution on par with an indie game, you see at GDC contest.
What are the top improvements from the previous game I really couldn’t find a extensive list.
I asked about the ablity to buy individual tokens for Sins but never got answer, so let me try again.
How many tokens will this be? Will there any discount for previous owners. (Ya I know it is only $20…)
I really thought Totalgaming was supposed to be a psuedo-subscription model where we help pre fund development and make sure that more bucks get to the studios, and bypass the channel and the publisher.
It really hasn’t been working out that way for me.
Finally, I asked in previous thread is there any way to purchase individual tokens?