Checking in
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Writer’s Diary #43
April 14th, 2024
Hi friends! I apologize for the delay in getting this Writer’s Diary published – I’m currently nearing the end of my final semester of college and it’s been beyond busy juggling essays, preparing for exams, and attending various academic conferences to fulfill my graduation requirements. I do (of course) still have some updates to share with you!
The Updates
- The National Convention opposition scene is written! There are now (quite a few) important choices for you to make in setting up your own convention as well. How well the convention goes will determine how much of a post-convention bump you get against your opponent
- There’s also the ability to dump your previous VP to select a new one (there are three options to choose from; two existing characters and one new one)
- Once I finish writing the scene for the PC’s National Convention, I have a list of general election events that will determine the extent of your victory or loss (still working on figuring out a campaign finance system, though)
Feedback Appreciated!
One thing I’d love feedback on is how you’d like me to approach policy choices on the campaign trail. Since your character starts as President, the campaign will be an opportunity to solidify your character’s stances on the issues that haven’t appeared in the story yet. What I’d love your thoughts on is how great (if any) a degree you think your policy choices should have on the election.
Obviously, continuously taking positions completely against your party will have a negative effect, but my main concern is not wanting to penalize people too harshly for their (or their character’s) views. For your awareness, the election (right now) will be decided on a 1-10 scale. While it makes the coding and writing process easier, there is the downside that all decisions that impact the election have to have a net increase or a net decrease in your overall support. What this means is that it isn’t currently possible for decisions to help you in one demographic while hurting you in another.
I know there isn’t an exact question I’m asking here, but I’d appreciate just hearing your general thoughts about the system and the degree to which I should take policy proposals into consideration.
In any event I do apologize for the delay in getting this posted – I will likely continue to post less frequently until I’m wrapped up with my degree and lining up jobs toward the end of May. I’ll still be writing in my free time and absolutely am planning on writing more once my only concern is a job!
Thanks again for bearing with me!
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I wouldn’t mind if you gave political positions a larger impact; politics is messy, you’re always gonna piss off somebody. I wouldn’t see it as certain views being penalized.
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That’s easy to handle by a secret magic trick. When you decide what a decision does, consider whether it:
1: Pisses off people to turn out against you.
2: Riles up the base and gets them to turn out for you.
3: Makes it more difficult for your opponents’ voters to make it to the polls…oops, did I say this one out loud? 
That will thus affect the election without expressly requiring you to manipulate demographics. Unless, of course, approval or disapproval with demographic X or Y gives a bonus or penalty to the final election count.
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Is it possible to win the midterms, or is it always an opposing party landslide?
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There’s like 3 different results depending on the decisions you make in the 3rd chapter
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I do have to ask, during the midterm elections, your asked to have a rally with a moderate, conservative, ir liberal member of your party, will that choice take affect later on, like it’ll be easier to past conservative or liberal laws if you picked to meet that specific candidate.
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I upset off the motorist demographic so I passed the “polling place clarity act.” Changing all the street signs away from the polling stations!
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Would be nice, if you had to time to add the President attending the White House correspondents dinner cracking jokes and making speeches
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Hi all – no writer’s diary this week due to school work and finishing up graduation requirements! May is going to be a very busy month for me so I’ll likely be taking a short break from writing and from posting updates.
I hope all of you in school are having a good end to your semester, and for the rest of you: I hope your April has been pleasant! Expect to hear from me again with updates in early June, if not earlier!
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Really Enjoyed it so far
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First let me say that I am LOVING this! I am brand new to this stuff. In fact, The People’s House is the first and so far only one of these that I’ve played. Wow, what an introduction! As someone who has been interested in politics for years, I was very intrigued by political simulation games. I’ve played The Political Process which I’ve enjoyed, but as someone who has always loved story-driven games, it’s definitely lacking on that front. Made me wish that a company like Telltale Games (which made The Walking Dead games, for anyone who doesn’t know) would make one focused on politics. I knew that was very unlikely though. I guess zombies bring in a larger fan-base than politicians lol.
Well, Telltale may have let me down (and…went bankrupt), but RFKramer swooped in to save the day! And that’s exactly what The People’s House is like: playing a Telltale game without the visuals. Which is fine, I have an imagination!
Sorry this post is already getting long, I just had to express how much I’m enjoying this and appreciate what is being created here.
However, I’m running into an issue. In order to explain this issue, I’m going to have to briefly mention part of the game, so here’s the always-appreciated SPOILER ALERT for anyone reading. If you don’t want to risk it, turn back now…
Okay, so I got to the part where I’ve been impeached (don’t judge me, I was role-playing a politician after all) and won in the Senate. But then I get stuck on a never-ending loading issue. The last page I can read ends by saying the blinking light had finally been fixed. Tried re-loading my save, but it did the same thing on the same page. Tried making a different choice leading up to that point, but same issue.
It seems from what I’ve been reading in the comments that the game has been made past that point. Anyone else running into this problem? Like I said, I’m new to all this, so any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
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Are you playing the public demo?
I believe that you have reached the end of the public demo; what comes next is still only for the patreon demo.
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Oh okay, that would explain it. Would probably be better if there would be some kind of “end of demo” page instead of endless loading. Makes it seem like a glitch.
Thanks Snowflower, I appreciate the help!
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This WIP is basically a quiz on whether or not youd make a good president
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What happens if you choose to keep that program israel gives you for yourself instead of giving it to the military?
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Writer’s Diary #44
May 17th, 2024
This is going to be a longer one so grab your beverage of choice and perhaps a snack! I am, as mentioned, on a brief hiatus from regular posting until early June, but I am still writing and wanted to send out a longer update post to fill you in on everything new. If you don’t care to read my full blabbering, there will be a conclusion at the bottom to get the main points to you.
First of all – please wish The People’s House a very happy 3rd birthday! Three years ago today, I made my first post about this idea in the interest check thread under another title (I believe it was “In The Oval” or something to that effect). That first demo had no individual states, just regions, only one spouse option, and very little content to it – it is so incredible to see how far this WIP has come, and I am forever grateful for all of your support.
If you also haven’t gathered from their incredibly helpful responses on this forum, I also ask that you give kudos to @Snowflower and @11110, who have helped me out with bug testing and so much more throughout the duration of this long process. This WIP would not be where it is today without them!
Now, onto the actual updates and news.
The Updates
- The opposition and player’s party conventions have been fully written – there is a pretty wide variety of choices to tailor the convention to your liking, with those choices determining the size of your post-convention bump
- In this sequence is also the ability to choose from three new Vice Presidential options if you decide it’s time for something new
- In all, I’ve written all the way to the beginning of the general election, where a certain event will demand your attention and time away from the campaign trail
- On the agenda for Chapter 5, covering your re-election campaign, will be your handling of this crisis, an economic forum where you’ll be able to lay out your stances on more economic policy items, the Vice Presidential debate, and then the Presidential debate – with a few surprises mixed in along the way
- Chapter 5 will end with the results of the election, win or lose
Now, onto the bigger update!
TPH: Book One, Coming Soon (?)
After a whole lot of thinking and going back and forth, I’ve finally settled on it: I will split up the People’s House into two books. I know this idea had a lot of support when I first talked about it, but I hope to explain my reasoning to those of you who may be disappointed with this choice.
Truly, the biggest source of this decision is TPH’s length – it’s already a lengthy book as is (around 350k words and not yet finished) and I think it has a lot in it to make for a compelling stand-alone story worthy of being published and read while book two is written. Having already spent three years working on this project, I don’t think it makes sense to keep all of you waiting who knows how long for a full, finished, polished product. On my end, I’m definitely ready to work towards polishing it myself.
Splitting the story into two books is also going to give me a lot of information: 1) how much support for this kind of story exists within the Choice of Games readership base, and 2) what a bigger pool of readers believe to be missing. As an added bonus: going down this route, I hope, can lead to a release date of the Presidential election here in the U.S. (November 5th, 2024). Still, this point is a lot less important given that I’m already anticipating that the editing process will take longer than anticipated 
A lot of people expressed earlier worries that I would abandon TPH after releasing one book – and that will certainly not be the case. I already have a solid outline for Book 2 written and fully intend on writing and publishing it.
Short Term Goals & Feedback Requested
With all of that in mind, I have some big short-term goals. The first of which is going to be to finish Chapter 5 (what I’m currently writing), by the end of August. As a reminder, Chapter 5 is the chapter focused on your re-election. Given that this will be a two-part series, I’ll also include several (somewhat) open-ended epilogues if you win re-election so that the ending isn’t abrupt.
Assuming I’m able to finish up a rough draft by the end of August, I’m planning on opening up a public playtest (as required by Choice of Games), which will include the entire story open to everyone. While CoG only requires one month for edits, given the length of this story (and the fact that I already have a long list of changes now), I want to give as much time as possible to polish things up before sending it off to the copy editors.
In Need of Illustrators!
Lastly, I am starting the process of looking for illustrators now! I know that the process of getting all materials ready can be fairly lengthy, so I’d like to start this process sooner rather than later. If you aren’t an illustrator yourself, but you know one, I’d appreciate it if you sent along their information so I’m able to reach out!
From an illustrator, I’ll need all the lovely things that CoG requires: a game Icon, Splashscreens, Promo Art, and Steam Capsules. I would also like some pretty simple chapter headers made. I’m somewhat flexible on pricing, but from what I’ve been able to gather it seems like around $100-$200 is around what authors have paid in the past. Again, I’m happy to work out the details and more specifics with an illustrator!
In Conclusion/TL;DR
- The People’s House will be split into two books, with Book 1 covering your first term, and Book 2 covering your second, final term.
- I’m hoping to finish writing by the end of August and establish an open play test in early September.
- If all goes to plan, TPH: Book 1, will be published around November 5th of this year, which is the day of the Presidential election here in the United States.
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Vindication! Well wishes on the remainder of book one.
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Guess it’ll become Watergate: electric boogaloo
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I think it’s a good move. Can’t explain why but I feel it’s good.
Good advertising plan. It will help your game to have more audience as everyone will be hyped for it because the air smells politics and everyone want to be president when it’s around elections time.
Here in my country our president just died today because of an accident and we will have a emergency election like around two months from now and I will surely play The peoples house book 1 fully that time.
It will not be my country president simulation but it’s close enough and it has mentioned my country so I’m satisfied. And I’m so political games hungry:) .
Yep
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