Political Arena Development Diary 1: POWER

With Political Arena's development underway, we're pleased to present to you our first development diary. We'll be releasing these regularly to update you on our production and to highlight game features.

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Politics is the accumulation and exercise of power, and politicians amass power in a multitude of ways: Sometimes it’s luring canvassers to your campaign with free Dominos; sometimes it’s begging a regional car dealership magnate for money in their living room; and other times it’s giving the speaker’s nephew an internship in your office because the kid lives in your district.

Political Arena is a game about American power, so it’s only appropriate that for our inaugural dev diary, we discuss…

*screams in Nina Simone*

Steam post image

Specifically, we’re going to provide a brief overview of how power is represented in Political Arena. It all boils down to three currencies: Money, Political Capital and Fame. How much a player focuses on each currency will depend on their own goals and circumstances. All three currencies play off one another, and no playthrough will have the player completely ignoring any single one.

MONEY

Money is the root of all evil, so naturally it plays a big role in politics. In Political Arena, politicians use money to fund campaigns -- both their own and those of colleagues with whom they wish to curry favor -- and by citizens and outside actors hoping to influence the government. Politicians accrue campaign cash through voters, organizations, megadonors and – occasionally – from legally dubious sources. Yes, there will be super PACs, but more on those at another point.

POLITICAL CAPITAL

Political Capital is the currency of Washington: it’s what politicians spend to influence other political actors, whether it’s goading leadership into putting a bill up for a vote, getting a prominent advocacy group to rally around specific legislation or to get a pesky investigation into your foreign campaign contributions dropped. Obtaining higher office, holding key leadership or committee posts, being in the graces of influential special interests and having one’s legislation passed are among the ways a player accumulates Political Capital.

FAME

Fame is central to a politician’s ambitions. Without increased name recognition, a senator can’t be elected president, a congressperson can’t be elected a senator, or, heaven forbid, the 7th-most successful telecom executive in Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District will remain the seventh-most successful telecom executive in Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District … forever. Politicians spend Fame on media appearances, campaign rallies and constituent events. Having more fame translates to polling boosts, media invitations and a greater interest among voters to donate to campaigns and show up to campaign rallies.

One Last Thing...

In Political Arena, as in politics, sometimes you have to wield your influence to gain more power. You’ll often spend these currencies to help increase the rate you accrue them (like spending a set amount of fame on a TV appearance only to watch your fame tick up faster afterwards). Moreover, a great many in-game features and developments can impact the rate you gain power currencies: the triumphs and failures of other politicians in your party, your traits (more on those later) and various events and event chains, to name a few.

That’s it for now. We’ll be back soon with another Political Arena dev diary. In the meantime, enjoy this photo of Ronald Reagan being shown the latest Political Arena developments: