The Political Process

Explore a dynamic world of politics in this turn-based political simulator Create a character run for political office write legislation balance budgets and more as you move up the political hierarchy.Create a Custom PoliticianPlay as a Democrat or Republican in the American political system Customize the name age and appearance of your character Calculate your political ideology by selecting over40 policy positions each representing a different aspect of your social and fiscal ideology Play as any kind of politician that you can imagine Create a backstory for your character Is your character a young progressive looking to improve the world one government policy at a time a stubborn old libertarian trying to reduce the size of government or a middle-aged moderate trying to bring practical compromise to politics Create any backstory and motives for your character that you want How you play is up to you.Choose a DistrictYou can play in any part of the country Choose from all50 states and over3000 counties Each district is unique and based on real life data.Customize Your WorldFine-tune district details to create the world exactly as you want it There are over80 variables you can change in the advanced options such as voter demographics ideology and turnout district population poverty rates and more.Run for Political OfficeYou can run for9 different political office positions across the city state and national levels Available positions include school board city council mayor state house state senate governor U.S House of Representatives U.S Senate and the presidency Use political strategy to defeat your opponents in primary and general elections The electoral campaign process includes creating a campaign platform knocking on doors coordinating volunteers fundraising holding rallies conducting polls and organizing marketing campaigns Use a combination of these activities to increase name recognition sway public opinion influence voter enthusiasm and raise voter turnout
For the ultimate election challenge you can run for president The presidential election is even more in-depth because you must decide how to divide your resources among all50 states Which states are guaranteed wins which can you flip and which can you ignore Each state is different so you will have to adjust your message accordingly Will you go after the independent voters in swing states try to increase voter turnout among your supporters or use attack ads to decrease voter enthusiasm for your opponent With the correct strategy you may become the next president But your strategy cannot focus only on winning your election If you want to be a successful president you will need a majority in congress That means that your party members need to win elections To help party members win elections you may need to campaign in states that you cannot win Campaigning in such states may increase voter turnout enough to help members of your party win their elections There are many strategic decisions to make when campaigning for president.Write LegislationChoose from over80 types of legislation You can choose legislation related to taxes education crime health care poverty and more For example you can adjust tax rates decrease Social Security benefits eliminate food stamps increase higher education grants reduce jail lengths create free community college and much more
Before legislation can become law it must progress through the legislature through committee hearings amendments and voting Politicians will vote on the legislation based on their unique ideologies and policy positions If the legislation passes in the legislature it will be sent to the executive branch mayor governor or president to be signed into law or vetoed Legislation that becomes law will influence various in-game metrics.Gain Political InfluenceFor every election you win and law you pass you will gain political points These are a representation of your political experience Political points play an important role in the game In the legislature they determine which committees you can join and whether you will be the chairperson of your committee As the chairperson you get to decide whether legislation related to your committee will receive a hearing This effectively gives you the power to prevent legislation from becoming law
Political points also determine whether you become party leader or caucus leader which gives you influence over how other politicians vote Getting a leadership position requires many terms in office but once you get one you can have a significant impact as a politician.Balance BudgetLeadership positions will allow you to create a budget which must be approved by the legislature Determine tax policy and decide how to distribute tax revenues Choose which government programs you will support and which you will eliminate Make tough decisions that could have a lasting impact on your constituents
Budgets in the game are based on real-life budget data and thus give a simplified but fairly accurate representation of the budget process You will have to make the kind of budget decisions that real-life politicians make.Actions Have ConsequencesEverything you do as a politician has consequences The things you say on the campaign trail influence voter enthusiasm which influences voter turnout An extreme campaign platform may lose you the independent vote But if your platform is too moderate you may lose the primary election to a partisan opponent
How you vote on legislation influences your approval rating which can influence whether you have a primary challenger in the next election
The laws that you create can have complex effects by influencing over100 metrics For example passing a law that eliminates food stamps will decrease childhood access to nutrition Hungry children do not perform as well in school so the high school graduation rate will decrease which means more poverty more crime and lower tax revenues since students who withdraw from high school earn lower wages and pay less taxes The higher crime rate will increase the number of criminals in jail which will increase the jail budget but the lower tax revenue means that you cannot afford an increase to the jail budget so you will have to make budget cuts to some other program Those budget cuts will influence even more metrics It is a complex puzzle
These kinds of decisions may require a lot of strategizing How you campaign for the primary election may differ from how you campaign for the general election You may make the political calculation that it is in your best interest to vote in favor of legislation that you dislike Doing so may improve your relationship with an important political caucus giving you enough support to pass controversial legislation You may make the decision to not seek a higher level political office this election season because you would have to face an incumbent you are unlikely to defeat
There are many variables to consider when making political calculations.Explore a Dynamic World of PoliticsThe world is filled with over600 procedurally-generated politicians with unique ideologies personalities and careers The game simulates primary and general elections for every politician and you can see these election results at the end of every election Cheer on colleagues as they run for higher office Watch the presidential election results come in with anticipation about which party will control the executive branch Then view the results for house and senate elections to see which party will control congress Did any colleagues or rivals lose their elections
The world is constantly changing as politicians retire seek higher level positions or lose a primary election to an up-and-coming challenger Politicians have ambitions like you they will try to ascend the political hierarchy You may see a city council member rise to the level of governor and you can watch as colleagues in the senate run for the presidency
You can watch as the political balance changes over time and predict how changing government approval ratings will influence the next election
All of these background events help to produce a more engaging political world
Outside the political world there is also the world of your constituents The game simulates over100 metrics based on default conditions and government policies Watch how metrics change over time based on the policies that you and your colleagues create Will you reduce poverty improve education eliminate the federal deficit Control the Fate of Your PartyOne of the playable positions in the game is the Campaign Committee Chairperson In this position you are responsible for electing party members to office Recruit candidates and fine-tune their policies Use party resources to sway public opinion and increase voter turnout in an effort to elect as many party members as possible
This position has the potential to significantly impact the ideology and success of your political party If you are unhappy with a member of your party you can select a candidate to challenge them in the next primary If your party is becoming too radical you can recruit moderate candidates to represent the next generation of your party
Be strategic in the candidates you choose You may be able to win competitive districts if you are clever in the policies you select for your candidates
Use financial resources wisely will you focus on increasing voter turnout or will you play the long game and gradually over the course of many elections use marketing to sway public opinion and change the party ideology to more closely match your own Dictator ModeIn dictator mode you can play as the president as long as you want without having to win reelection Write legislation and control the budget without interference from congress Use Dictator Mode to test out various ways to balance the federal budget or to see how different combinations of laws influence the country Create any combination of policies that you want.Election SimulatorUse the Election Simulator tool to predict any election Adjust public opinion candidate attributes party demographics and more The game will predict the winner based on the values you provide.Things to Consider Before BuyingThe game attempts to be a realistic but simplified simulation of politics Like real-life politics it can be difficult Some elections cannot be won Some legislation cannot be passed Understanding this must be part of your political strategy In what districts can you win an election What legislation can you pass These are the kinds of questions you have to consider as a politician The challenging aspects of the game make your accomplishments more rewarding
If audio is an important element of your playing experience you should be aware that the audio quality in this game is currently not very good There are three sounds in the game clicking a button clicking a tab and an alert sound when new events are added to your schedule Each sound effect can be changed from a selection of several options if you dislike the default sound effects All sounds in the game can be muted The game currently has four low-quality songs that play in a loop and are by default muted They can be unmuted in the options menu If you do not want to play the game in silence feel free to play your favorite music ambient noises or relaxing nature sounds in the background
Election campaigns become more interesting as you seek higher level positions In low-level positions such as school board or city council you have very few resources which limits how much you can do in terms of influencing the election Higher level positions such as the senate and house of representatives will provide you with more resources and opportunities making higher level election campaigns more interesting
There is no tutorial you have to navigate the political world on your own There is a concepts page that explains many of the features in the game and gives advice about how to play the game If you read the concepts page and explore all of the tabs in the game you should have a decent understanding of how to play You will be instructed on how to locate the concepts page when the game begins
There are no win conditions in the game You play the life of a politician and retire whenever you want A reasonable end point for the game is the end of your second term as president
Some aspects of a politician s life are repetitive knocking on doors fundraising attending rallies These activities can also be repetitive in the game but they are not too time-consuming to complete
When running for political office you must run as a Democrat or a Republican You cannot play as an independent Even though you have to campaign as a Democrat or Republican you do not have to act like them You can play with whatever ideology and policy combinations that you want
Many of the playable positions are very similar playing as a state representative is not different from playing as a state senator
There is no option to veto appropriation budget legislation Budget legislation automatically becomes law because there is currently no mechanism to simulate shutting down the government
If you are not interested in the game in its current state consider adding it to your wishlist Then as new updates are release you can evaluate whether the new content is something that you are interested in playing
Since the game is in early access features of the game can change or be added This means that any of the aspects above can be improved based on community input Suggestions for improvement are welcome and encouraged