Overview
Embark on a thrilling political journey with our innovative game project, set against the backdrop of the US Presidential Election. In this local multiplayer experience, players assume the roles of either Democrats or Republicans, competing to dominate the political landscape by capturing more states than their opposing leaders.
Chijike’s Role
My responsibilities focused mostly on system design and game design. I researched prior elections and compiled data over multiple years. I created the comprehensive manual the user sees and the behind-the-scenes technical document. The state data I gathered helped to adjust the systemic design based on real world variables and allowed us to showcase individual state data influencing gameplay dynamics such as state acquisition, adjacent state effects, and difficulty levels.
Inspiration & Design
This multiplayer local game was conceived with a focus on systemic design principles. Inspired by contemporary election data from 1990 to 2021, our team crafted a variant of that cumulative political race election info, infusing it with unique elements drawn from other diverse political and state-related data. Our game introduces elements of speech and social media systems, requiring players to consider the best approach for acquiring a state, with a chance of failure, adding an exciting twist to the gameplay.
Join us in this dynamic gaming experience where politics meets strategy, and every decision counts. The game not only mirrors the thrill of a political race but also offers a unique and engaging take on systemic game design, making it a standout addition to the realm of local multiplayer gaming, all programmed within the familiar environment of Excel.
Player Character (Base Attributes)
Democrat
Speech: 2
Social Media: 5
Republican
Speech: 5
Social Media: 2
Game Flow
- Player 1 and Player 2 make the crucial decision of aligning with either the Democratic or Republican parties.
- Each turn, both players receive a financial allocation of $1000 from their respective political parties.
- The initial player then strategically chooses a state to pledge allegiance to during each turn.
- Armed with data on the target state’s attributes, the player has the option to employ a media tactic each turn.
- Players have the freedom to switch their focus to a different state at their discretion.
- After committing funds to a state, the votes and subsequent outcomes are tallied at the conclusion of both players’ turns.
- The primary objective is to secure 75% of the vote for a specific state, and the player achieving this threshold acquires the state.
Game Instructions
Playtesting & Learned Lessons
Playtest 1
Observation
Both players were overly rich to the point that tax and other mechanics couldn’t noticeably offset the total amount and the match itself was taking exceedingly too long.
Solution/adjustment
Increase the tax value to be $1000 per state, and increase the tactical effect value for both speech and Social Media
Playtest 2
Observation
One of the players almost won but became bankrupt due to the taxpayers. Players said Republicans are overpowered, since social media influence feels low.
Solution/adjustment
Increase social media, decrease tax pay per turn
Playtest 3
Observation
Supporting rates in surrounding states could also be affected by the supporting rate inside the target state
Solution/adjustment
Make social media something along the lines of an AOE “attack,” and speech a single “attack” when the player uses it. We had to give up the news value because we preferred to design a balancing system rather than a reinforcing system.
Setup Instructions
- Open file in excel
- Go to File -> Options -> Customize Ribbon -> check the developer option and press OK
- Now click on the developer tab -> Visual Basic (first option)
- On the left side, panel click and expand forms -> double click on userform1
- With the form selected, click on run -> run userform1 (first option
- To close the game, just click X (the close icon) in the game window.