nice wip please continue this
3 Likes
Well, it is quite different comparing the US to pretty much any other country. AFAIK it’s the only country with exactly two major parties, for which they are both right-wing.
5 Likes
It fucking sucks. On one side, to have the far right neo-fascist Christian capitalists who want to revert to the 1800s (or further), and on the other end you have still right wing but slightly socially liberal capitalists, both of whom are under the control of the same megacorps. At least only one of them has politicians who explicitly want to kill me :I
It’s sad how surprised I am whenever I hear shit about all of the various major parties in other countries, like “wait you have options? and not all of them are conservative Christian capitalists???”. That really shouldn’t be such an impossibility for here. I can’t get over the fact that my friend, who’s a leftist, actually has a party she wants to vote for, instead of just having to tolerate one because the alternative is worse.
5 Likes
This is too true, and has been for so long. I still have hope that one day we will elect an independent president to break the mold just once. I’ll take one smidgeon of arguable progress in my lifetime over just another hundred years of the same shit.
2 Likes
Kinda think this might be the wrong place for this sort of discussion… But I’m not sure since it could still relate to informing upon the game and its future choices which the creator might actually desire since it they could view it as a form of beneficial feedback.
4 Likes
Maybe add a scene where they can bond like in a family retreat for a vacation, or those family events at school and have a chance to choose how the MC and spouse first met during their anniversary? And also can we do something about NATO and even take over as a PRESITATOR in the future?
3 Likes
Love what I see so far, reminds me a lot of ‘Oval Office’ and ‘When the Center Held’. I have a question in regards to the executive orders however, could they be potentially overturned in-game at some point in the future by a hostile Congress/faction or Supreme Court?
9 Likes
What you have so far is very good, I am more than happy to shower it with praise, even though a couple of things need to be kept in mind.
It reminds me of a game I played in 2016 called Democracy 3. Taught me many things about many things. Some of which was actually kinda true.
Another way it reminds me of that game is that it remains ideologically neutral. Though in hindsight Democracy 3 probably did it more to expand its market with the power of enlightened centrism rather than an actual sense of fairness. While it could turn out that pushing a tax 1% in the way you don’t prefer you seem smart so that probably won’t happen. This is something I commend you for, most other Choice Script titles won’t let deviate from the perfect ideology every author thinks they have. When they do they treat as either evil or stupid. Possibly both.
Good opening with the quotes. I can think of many stories this would improve. Lucky for you that includes this one.
While I like the first half of the intro and how you can be rich, broke, or in the middle. The second part not so much.
It seems like just yesterday you tore open your acceptance letter to college to work towards your degree in Political Science.
I know this sounds like a small deal, but it’s an easy fix, so please bear with me.
I’d like the option to vary up between childhood and world domination. Not every president had a political science degree. There’s no Business school like Donald Trump, No military-like with, well a lot presidents. No scientists/pastors like many failed candidates that’d be fun to speculate on. I understand that we can’t be Joe Exotic (As much as we all want his mustache.) But I’d like the chance to be something other than a book smart bootlicker.
I’d like to either have that line removed, or changed to something that could apply to a wider array of headcanons. Such as “You remember the day you announced your plans to run.” Then doing the same for a few other paragraphs. Though having the option to choose multiple would be great I know that’s harder than hitting a couple of buttons. Even a choice that only affects one short scene would be very much appreciated. Not for the content added, but for the room to be the president you want to be.
To a lesser extent, this also applies to this line for the poor kids (and their richer equivalents as far as I know.)
During quiet days in the library you were able to read and work on your writing skills.
This is a smaller deal, but the same applies to that, such as Obama focusing more on basketball, or Reagan focusing more on his acting (Though I won’t claim to be an expert on either subject.)
I do however like this part in particular, though I’m not entirely sure why other than being well written.
Since 1789, there have been 47 United States Presidents to take the oath of office, you were about to be number 48. You try not to get too emotional at the thought of the historical significance of what you were about to do, but you couldn’t help getting a little teary-eyed.
This is not the only time of this, many other sections give a strange but enjoyable feeling of “Wow that was solid writing.”
I also appreciate the occasional bit of sarcastic humor. The jokes themselves are good and in a good amount. Don’t need more, don’t need less.
I like the interactions with the family, though a small issue is a son. The first thing we find out about him is that he’s sick. I feel that it would matter more if he had a mention beforehand. I also find it a bit weird you can name your wife but not your son? Either way, I hope he shows up more later on in the story. Though you said your family would be a big focus. I’m glad that is, because we all found love 1000 times in our interactive adventures, actually having a family with them not as much. Not saying romance is bad, but this is a refreshing change of pace. Plus this is the best place to do it. Last time The President found love while in office they had to say they didn’t have sexual relations with that woman.
Really reminds me of my memories with Democracy 3. Which is very much a good thing, and I eagerly await more.
10 Likes
What about an option to pull a Ted Cruz and go on vacation during a crisis to increase corruption? Then there can be another choice on whether or not to blame your family like he did to lower family stat lol.
Just a joke not a real suggestion. I have no clue how that series of choices would have any positives to incentivize it.
2 Likes
Not every choice needs positives, sometimes it’s fun playing a corrupt bureaucrat and it’s realistic, at least
7 Likes
@RFKramer Now that assassination is on the table for the PC, the kidnapping scenario if PC has a child who is in kindergarten in their first term (out of political discontent/desire for herostratic fame) doesn’t seem so…out of place after all.
2 Likes
Book smart is useful, street smart you can have people for. In any case it could maybe be a different kind of book smart compared to many other presidents and I do like the scientist background.
Maybe my mc could be a scientist (cosmology, for example would seem like a nice enough background to delve into the big picture) who got frustrated enough at the inability of those in charge to solve pressing issues that he ran for governor and then for president? 
A scientist president would also be nice considering the current anti-intellectual bend of US politics and its culture wars. 
2 Likes
Actually I would argue that street smarts is the thing the elected official needs. Politicians are generally just the head/public face for a network of staffers and administrators which does the actual governing. Book smart you can hire; think tanks and professors will throw themselves and their ideas at you and the president can hire from just about any policy shop on their political side. Personnel is policy, as the adage goes; no elected official can hope to thoroughly grasp all the issues they will encounter on a regular basis in our extremely complicated age. A politician is reliant on their staffers and advisors for technical knowledge and in some cases even background knowledge. What a politician really needs is stellar communication skills, the capacity to read people, and generally good instincts. The bookish rarely win elections in the era of broadcast anyways. One must appeal to the everyman.
8 Likes
A lot of incredible comments and feedback I’ve gotten in the past 24 hours on this thread. I’ll do my best to get back to all of them!
I absolutely don’t mind the political discussion in this thread, it does help with writing. There is also an exclusive Politics Thread, though, which some people here may also be interested in checking out.
These are great ideas, I was planning on the ability to go on a Presidential Retreat (most U.S. Presidents take advantage of Camp David as a vacation spot). But the idea of adding more background to your character’s relationship with their spouse through an anniversary scene is a great one. I’ll be sure to write that in to one of the upcoming chapters.
Some Executive Orders will be challenged by the Supreme Court, not so much by the Congress (you’ll be dealing with them trying to get your chief piece of legislation passed during the first 100 days.
First of all, a huge thank you @Fredrick-No-E, detailed and thoughtful posts like yours really help to keep me focused and energetic about this ambitious little project of mine.
To address this first part of your post, I’m glad to hear it – I of course have my own political views but it was my goal from the beginning of writing this to write all points of view equally into the story. No matter what policies you pick, there isn’t always going to be a perfect option.
What I’ve been working on a lot since I released the demo was a huge re-write of Chapter 1 (more on that when I release my first ‘Writer’s Diary’ later this weekend. In it, I do add a lot of other options for you on your way up.
This is excellent feedback, while I wanted to write a more serious, realistic Presidential ChoiceScript game, I’ve been working hard to make sure there’s still some humor and wit written into the story. There was a great idea to include a White House Correspondents Dinner scene which I think would be a great way to keep that balance going.
To the point about the son being sick – that scene does go on to reveal that your son was just pretending to get a chance to see you. A huge update to your family options is coming with my re-write of Chapter 1, though, and I completely agree with you that customization adds so much to a story.
I’m glad to see this has been the general reaction from playtesters so far. I know that romance is usually a huge part of ChoiceScript games, so I was a bit nervous about writing a story where you exclusively begin with a character that you’re already married to. While you will have the option to divorce, have an affair, etc. the vast majority of the focus will be on family dynamics, not so much the romance part.
It is something I’m thinking over, but I don’t know if I’d be able to write it well enough. I also think, to go back to another comment, if I do write in an assassination ending, it’d only be for unpopular Presidents. While there might be an assassination attempt that’s unsuccessful, I didn’t want to penalize players for being too popular – even though it would make sense realistically.
10 Likes
None of those are necessarily street smarts. The one thing Boris Johnson can do, when he feels like it, is communicate (how much of it is truthful is another thing) but really street smart he is not.
But it is true you can certainly hire book smart people too, still it helps to have a keen mind of your own to make sure you don’t get scammed either way.
A bit of both is probably best in the end but street smarts are really only necessary if you have been poor or lower class, otherwise they are optional and they also tend to be something the truly fortunate, of whom there are many among the rich and powerful due to generational wealth, tend to look down upon.
6 Likes
That’s fair. By street smarts I suppose I mean strong intuition when it comes to evaluating people’s intentions, trustworthiness, and qualifications. Also, the ability to be a canny negotiator and play hardball without being impossible to work with.
4 Likes
To clarify I didn’t mean to say book smarts were useless. They are Useful. I said that for a couple of reasons. 1. What the pompous pricks running most universities spread isn’t the only useful skill to exist, no matter how elitist they are. Anyone who read Starship Troopers (Which has basically nothing to do with the movies that shall not be named.) Knows that it is about philosophy. I don’t agree with all the points, but the part about the revolt of the scientists makes sense. They may be the smartest, but they don’t care about you, and they generally think they’re better than you. Meaning the only difference would be a change from suit jackets to lab coats. This is not to say no scientist should ever run for any position. I’m more than happy to get the Tyrant I don’t know over the tyrant I do. Though being a scientist in my opinion does not magically make them competent. As they say “Intelligence is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is knowing that it doesn’t go in a fruit salad.” This brings me to my next point. Having a wider array of solving problems is always welcome. I didn’t mention business degrees because I was fond of CEOs, but because there is a president for that variety, and variety is the spice of life. I tried to have examples from both sides to show that both sides had it. Besides I already know which third-party bucket of bolts has my vote.
I’d also like to add that beating the average politician is a very low bar. In fact you could probably find a random shmuck off the street and they’d probably pass them. Probably wouldn’t go down in history as the greatest leader ever, but they’d probably at least mean well. That’s more than any American president barring only a couple of debatable exceptions can say. Like I said we’re talking about an average of a very low bar. I’m not saying that we should be plucking off random shmucks. We should be making me the empower of all. Vote for me and Poverty global warming will no longer exist, unemployment, poverty, corruption, inequality, and taxes will be things of the past.Because I’m gonna blow up the world.
I should also add that the other side of this argument isn’t one I can fully get behind either. Not because they need both, but because either one can be good. Even if someone had neither it would mean that any attempt to screw us over would be severely hampered. If I had to choose one over the other, I’d be looking at other factors because both have pros and cons. For instance strength, charisma, morality, etc. All of which would be more important, not that they’re the only things, but the street vs book smart dichotomy is neck and neck, aside from the fact that those with street smarts tend to not be from as rich a background.
In a fictional context such as this, however, by far the most important part is options.
You are welcome. Also, I feel like I should share that This is what Democracy 3 is. It’s also what I imagine the Vice President to sound like. The trailers are all very good, and if you want to know more Pravus did some very good lets plays. For I think all countries in Democracy 3, Democracy 3 Africa, along with a couple Democracy 4 playthroughs, and a few moddedplaythroughs.
5 Likes
The First Writer’s Diary!
Welcome to my first “Writer’s Diary” for my WIP ChoiceScript game The People’s House! For anyone who may be new, The People’s House is a simulation game focused on your term as President of the United States – and all it entails. For more of an overview, see the first post on this thread here!
Before I get into the writing bit, a huge thank you. To think that in just a few weeks we’ve gone from just a concept to having a demo released that has 930 clicks, 3.3k views, 76 replies, and a total of 443 likes as of the time of posting this is absolutely incredible to me. Now, enough of me blabbing on!
Schedule Going Forward
Going forward, I’ve decided to do my best to send out regular updates to you all. I do my best to stay as active as I can on this thread – I read and like every post and do my best to respond to as many as possible, and hope to continue to do that as I write.
The purpose of these “Writer’s Diary” entries will be to update everyone on what I’ve done in the past week. These entries will, almost always, be released on a weekly basis (if I’m able to) and will contain new features, minimal spoilers, and any new information about updates coming to the demo.
As for updates to the demo, I really can’t assign a set timeframe for it. While the writing portion takes long enough, I have the additional struggle of going through and bug-testing it which can take days depending on how much new code I’ve worked on.
One last thing: as this first Writer’s Diary is only being posted three or four days after the release of the first demo, this will be a much shorter one. With that being said, let’s get on to the updates I have.
Writer’s Diary: May 20th, 2022
The biggest thing I’ve been working on the past two days has been a massive re-write of the Prologue and Chapter 1. Obviously, not everything has been changed, but I have added an additional 6,000 words worth of storyline to just the prologue. Here are a few of the features I’ve added so far:
- The masses have persuaded me! All 50 states are now in the game for you to choose from. While I decided to keep the regions (Northeast, South, West, and the Pacific West) to make some math easier for me in the future, you now get to choose a specific state!
- More options for your character’s backstory. You will now be able to be commissioned as an officer in the military or to be a lawyer before you run for public office.
- An update to your character’s backstory. Now, as opposed to automatically being made a member of Congress, you instead run for State Senate and get to choose what you run for next; Mayor of a city (yes, the name of the city is unique to the State you pick at the beginning), Congress, Governor, or Attorney General of your state.
- The State and Party you select will also have a unique dialogue. Running for Governor of Idaho as a Democrat will result in a different story than running for Mayor.
- A more customizable family. Now, you’re able to pick the names, genders, and ages of your two children, with every option coming with unique scenes and interactions for you to discover.
- Started developing the outline for Chapters 2 and 3; Chapter 2 will be almost entirely focused on getting your legislation through Congress in the first 100 days, and Chapter 3 will see you shift your focus to issues abroad with Midterm Elections
- Fixed a few (embarrassing) typos
Progress Update: 15% → 17%
Mostly just additions made to the Prologue and Chapter 1, but I have done a lot of helpful work in outlining future chapters.
I likely will be releasing an updated demo of the Prologue and Chapter 1 in the next few days. It’s almost entirely written by now, I just need to go through and hammer out some bugs in the coding before I feel comfortable enough to upload it. Future demos will be released much less frequently but this first update is just a re-write which is why it’ll be out so quickly!
Updated Word Count: 26,000 words
19 Likes
The 50 state thing is probably the part I’m the most excited about… This should be fun
5 Likes
Oh yes very cool. Especially the backgrounds. The fact there are options makes this much better, though the fact there are no actors is slightly disappointing, and no business degrees is just confusing.
5 Likes