The People's House (WIP) (UPDATED: 2/19/24) - Presidential Sim

Being a TV reporter is probably the closest to an actor I’m including since the stats would be about the same, as for business, you do have the option to serve as an assistant to a CEO.

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True, alright den.

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Wow, loving and appreciating the time you took to show some transparency!

The biggest new feature for me is the new choice of backgrounds. A former lawyer or even Attorney General is perfect for my Democratic Centrist MC, who will be focusing on criminal justice reform and improving healthcare as his first priorities.

Those choices will really add some much needed depth and roleplay opportunities in the beginning of your game, allowing for you to set the stage and begin focusing on what challenges you’ll throw at us as fictional Presidents (fingers crossed for a realistic war scare, as that will really hit home on immersion right now and allow people to express themselves on that troubling issue in a fun way).

Your prose and structuring are impressive thus far. Your writing has an easy, breezy kind of flow while still taking moments to express the surrealism of becoming a leader of an entire nation. Hope we get more of those points as things march on, as they are important to allow the pressures of the scenario to breathe for a bit and let the player be a leader in other ways than just making speeches and passing legislation, such as spending time with family or even recouping after a pressing matter.

Thank you, @RFKramer!

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Should’ve included this in my Writer’s Diary (link) but I forgot to include it.

If you’ve played the demo, you know that one of the first things that happens in Chapter 1 is your meeting with Jackson, your Chief of Staff, in the Oval Office where you receive your schedule for the day.

As I begin writing Chapter 2, I wonder if you liked that system, having a rough idea of what to expect out of the day, or if you’d rather me switch it up for future chapters and have you be guided through your day without seeing the schedule ahead of time.

Not every chapter will be just one day in office obviously, but for those that do I’d be happy to have your input.

Do you enjoy the idea of starting every “day” or chapter with you reading your schedule in the Oval Office?
  • Yes, keep it!
  • No, switch it up!

0 voters

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TBH I just sort of glossed over the schedule itself when reading, but I do like it since I imagine a President would be getting a schedule every morning.

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Yes, I like it, really makes me feel like I’m large and in charge. Plus, you could use it to spring a surprise. For example, do you think JFK’s morning report included the part where he became target practice for the CIA? No because that was a twist ending. Now maybe dying would be a bit far, but the idea is the same.

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I dunno, I always put the exact date of my death on my schedule.

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Really, that’s it? I even write my cause of death in.

A schedule needs to be clear and concise, especially a president’s.

For instance, my MC will be assassinated on January 13th, 2038, while riding through Paris to a meeting. Cause: blunt force trauma induced from projectile baguette launched directly at cranium.

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Absolutely outstanding.

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Just got the chance to play through this. My only real concern so far is the Russia issue. You can choose a Russian ambassador to open the door to the Russian Federation, but even if you don’t, they still offer you a bribe. Just makes that earlier choice feel empty.

I’m not crazy about the “attributes,” which is basically just charisma. That is important, but hardly the only important attribute. I’d personally rather see more attributes or get rid of that one and change it to a general “likeability” rating?

Aside from that, I’m not entirely sure what the tone is (sim/strategy, or story). Some of the commentary seemingly comes more from the narrator than the advisors, and some comments are unnecessarily opinionated, despite this seeming for a more impersonal feel.

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Interesting feedback, I’ll try and go through things point by point for some clarity!

I can promise that this choice isn’t an empty one, picking the ambassador to Russia to serve as Secretary of State combined with cooperation directly with Russia will provide additional choices that just weren’t in Chapter 1.

To this point, I do understand but wasn’t sure what other attributes to include. Charisma will come in to be important for major speeches, campaign events (in the future), and for other dialogue options. I haven’t really found the need for other attributes as likeability is just your approval ratings. I suppose to get around this I could just make charisma a hidden attribute, meaning you don’t see how charismatic or uncharismatic your character is. I’ll think about it some more I suppose.

It’s my hope for it to be both a simulation game while also telling the story of your character. As for why much of the commentary comes from the narrator – the only parts of the demo are the Prologue, where you don’t even have advisors yet, and then Chapter 1 which is largely focused around you building up your team of advisors. After Chapter 1, once you have more advisors and your Cabinet picked out, commentary and advice will be coming from that Cabinet and will change based on who you picked to lead each department.

I’m not entirely sure what you mean here, would you mind elaborating or providing an example so I could better get an idea of how to improve? I’d appreciate it!

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Glad to hear. Maybe a quick dialogue insert of “even though our options aren’t as vast as if you’d appointed [ambassador] as Secretary of State, we can still work together”? Just something to show that there is a difference. In CYOA games, it’s important for choices to both feel and be impactful.

The only thing that comes to mind is to have “familiarity” bonuses based on background choice. Right now, all presidents are former senators, but you could change that. Could be a military background, perhaps former secretary, investor? Those backgrounds might have lower charisma, but grant larger bonuses when speaking on specific issues.

Out of curiosity, have you played Suzerain? Kinda sounds like you are going for that structure and pacing, but could be wrong.

I’m sure I’ll be going through this again as it’s updated, and will definitely do that.

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Then fuck it all by having an affair with everyone.:rofl::rofl::rofl:

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Or just be a normal well-adjusted adult and have multiple consensual polyamorous relationships.

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The choice is yours!

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Honestly if there are choices the most likely ones are “have affair or be monogamous,” since writing polyamory is rather uncommon.

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I’ll be too busy improving my real life country in a fictional setting because it’ll never do so in real life.

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I’ve actually been wanting to play Suzerain for ages and just haven’t gotten around to it yet. I have seen a few videos of gameplay without spoilers, though, and the concept was a source of inspiration for me deciding to write The People’s House.

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Are you able to add a saving system?

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There should be a saving system? It shows up for me after the “Settings” box in the top of the screen.

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