- Politics and Industry from map takes now much less points away from player.
- Provided slowly increasing Action Points so its safe to fund now.
- Decrease funding costs in Projects.
I am Your President
Balance Update
Time for YOUR presidency!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/844980/I_Am_Your_President/
But before you start shaking up American politics watch our Community Manager struggle to stay afloat or power through her way through the first term! Who knows!
Devblog #22 - A Few Words Before Release
The time has come to have a little chit-chat about the last few years of development. Some of you are new here, others have been with us for years, and all of you are waiting for the next week’s release! We dug up some ancient screenshots and decided to unearth some old features that haunt us to this day. Some of them got substantial upgrades while others were banished to the shadow dimension.
The entire UI got a facelift, we decided to ditch the see-through brown color scheme and make the game actually pleasant to look at. Reading is a huge part of the playthrough, so better contrast and nicer colors will strain your eyes much less.
The map has gone through more iterations than we can count. To reach this state of readability we had to change almost everything a couple of times. Countries show their names in a more readable manner and filters will help you optimize your strats. Even interactions have become more cohesive and readable.
Stats may seem the same, but a lot has changed under the hood. They have become much more predictable and easier to understand. We added helpful hints to allow so more controlled drops and rises.
The game's internal websites were given a more modern look. They no longer look like something straight out of the 90s. News sites will be one of the most crucial sources of knowledge when it comes to your citizens' opinions.
The Oval Office doesn’t look like a mix of random assets anymore. We fixed the horrible lighting and installed new furniture. On top of that, we added a brand new set, which will be a part of the overall experience, so have fun in the Air Force One.
We dropped the card game, who wants to play a dumbed-down version of war with coin flip? In its place, we added new features we hope you will like. Negotiations have become much more immersive, as they are a part of the story and crisis that you will have to survive through.
When works on I Am Your President started we were much younger and it taught us a lot. In the end, this game tested our abilities and challenged our ambitions. This has been a crazy journey for the entire team as well as all people who have supported us over those years. So we hope that you enjoy our experiment as much as you enjoyed the Prologue we released before.
Thank you for your patience and support, we could have not done this without you.
The entire Dev Team
Release Date, News and Friendly Catch Up.
YES, the rumours are true! We are ready to release the game on February 27th, 2023. This is the moment we've all been waiting for! So iron your shirts and prepare your red ties! The Oval Office is being prepared for you!
On top of all preparations for the release, we're currently writing a devblog with a rough summary of the hard work done since the start of the development process. You will find out the highlights and regrets we accumulated over the years.
A new trailer is also on the way, it will be released the upcoming week, so be on the lookout for that! It will be available on our YT channel and here on our Steam Page.
We can't wait for you to play the game! Let us know about your hopes and expectations! See you in our discord or on social media!
Devblog #21 - Things Are Moving Along
The past few months have been a crazy ride! On top of many tweaks in UI or mechanics and constantly balancing the game, we’ve spent countless hours playtesting. There have been larger and smaller hurtles along the way and many moments when the game and some bugs made us laugh. So let’s talk about some things we’re tweaked, changed, and balanced out. Then some funny bugs we’ve encountered and fixed.
Constant tweaks
The Map is one of the most complex elements of the game. The relations between countries other than The US and their collective approach to your presidency are a tough element to show. We created filters and color-coded systems showing specific relations. The most important element of this was changing the way we display some things on the Map. Even the smallest countries have to clearly show up, so you know who to negotiate with or wage wars against.
Another element that we tweak, especially visually, is the Projects tab. We want every part of the screen to clearly show you how your points investments will affect your statistics and placement on the political compass. Your choices here may also affect the story, so we want everything to be very clear and intuitive.
A revamp of tutorials and the way we display them was also a big element of our work in recent months. Looking at mechanics from a perspective of a novice player can be difficult when you’re the one who made the game in the first place. Now the introduction to everything is gradual and allows the story to flow with mechanics better. Additionally, every mechanic has its separate and dedicated tutorial, which of course can be immediately skipped by more experienced players.
Balancing the game
After playtesting the game over and over again, some testers developed strategies that completely broke the game and made it impossible to lose. Every time we fix that, a new strat emerges. So we are constantly working on that problem. Number’s game is the most dangerous one in game dev.
On top of fighting with game-breaking strategies, we are trying to find a balance between playthroughs for first-time players and returning ones. We want to make sure that the beginning explains every mechanic organically. The start of the game and how we introduce different elements have been changed multiple times so far.
Bugs we squashed!
Oh dear… a lightning round of the more fun visual bugs!
The Air Force One is a lie:
Well technically... your stats can be too high...
Snow in the Oval Office.
Gigantic Babushka is NOT REAL I PROMISE…
We’re constantly playtesting the game to see where we can improve performance, elements of gameplay and balance. There are also many smaller things we can’t share in detail like supplementary sound effects, new story elements and original music added to the game. While we continue to put work and effort into polishing the game to the point where we’re happy with every aspect. This unfortunately takes time, but we’re positive we can finish soonish. Let us know what’s the most exciting change we listed here. You can do that here in the comments, in our discord or on our social media.
Devblog #20 - Tidying up
We are in the last stretch! There are still a few things we must do before you can sit behind the Resolute Desk and rule with iron fists. We are working on tidying up some leftover parts of the story that were a bit forgotten during development, as well as many fixes and adjustments to the gameplay. Here are a few small quality of life changes and fixes that we worked on in recent weeks.
We revamped the economy surrounding Action Points. To make it more pleasant to players, Action Points will be a part of their daily income. There will be moments when some actions can change the number of points players receive. Passive income or spending on Map Events will influence your daily balance, so player choices will matter without stopping them from continuing their game.
UI changes and fixes were necessary for some parts of the game. The way the Action Points bar showed was changed for clarity. There were some problems left that the players helped us discover during playtests. We struggled with how the UI was displayed on the Map and what info was shown. It needed some tweaks and fixes, but ultimately every window should be the right size and shape to fit all data points.
This may be the last devblog before the release as we are switching into the final stages of development. Soon we will be inviting you to the final playtests which will help us complete the last tasks we have on our agendas!
So keep your eyes out for announcements on our social media and Steam!
Politics Are Changing and so Are We
An inevitable element of the long development process is the constantly changing dynamics and important events happening one after another. This is especially true when the game is rooted in American and global politics. We decided to work on updating parts of the game to make sure it’s not falling behind the current state of affairs. There are three areas of the plot and smaller details which need to be added or changed:
- Updating certain plot points - US politics have become more insane in recent years and we have to follow this direction. The last few years welcomed many changes in how politicians behave and conduct business. Facts became blurry and reality got kind of distorted. We want the game to reflect this while trying to avoid having to rewrite huge chunks of code and story.
- Map events - changes on the global political stage have been speeding up with many crises popping up almost daily. With the Map serving as a hub of global events, we decided to update the problems you may encounter as the President. This is where our creativity and research will shine. This is also where your help may come in handy, but more about that later.
- Additional dialogues - conversations in the White House revolve around the current events and plans, and we want the game to reflect that. Adding new dialogues will be another way of freshening up the game, so your subordinates will talk to you about events, which you may know from the last few years.
These content changes will not influence the game’s core mechanics or the main storyline, but they will help fight the feeling of staleness. These changes are still happening and will be implemented in at least a few days. If you have any ideas on what important events from American and global politics we should add, don’t hesitate to comment here or contact us on our Discord. They can be serious, tragic or memeable, it’s up to you, we will look through them and implement the best ones.
Devblog #19 - Politics Are Changing and so Are We
An inevitable element of the long development process is the constantly changing dynamics and important events happening one after another. This is especially true when the game is rooted in American and global politics. We decided to work on updating parts of the game to make sure it’s not falling behind the current state of affairs. There are three areas of the plot and smaller details which need to be added or changed:
- Updating certain plot points - US politics have become more insane in recent years and we have to follow this direction. The last few years welcomed many changes in how politicians behave and conduct business. Facts became blurry and reality got kind of distorted. We want the game to reflect this while trying to avoid having to rewrite huge chunks of code and story.
- Map events - changes on the global political stage have been speeding up with many crises popping up almost daily. With the Map serving as a hub of global events, we decided to update the problems you may encounter as the President. This is where our creativity and research will shine. This is also where your help may come in handy, but more about that later.
- Additional dialogues - conversations in the White House revolve around the current events and plans, and we want the game to reflect that. Adding new dialogues will be another way of freshening up the game, so your subordinates will talk to you about events, which you may know from the last few years.
These content changes will not influence the game’s core mechanics or the main storyline, but they will help fight the feeling of staleness. These changes are still happening and will be implemented in at least a few days. If you have any ideas on what important events from American and global politics we should add, don’t hesitate to comment here or contact us on our Discord. They can be serious, tragic or memeable, it’s up to you, we will look through them and implement the best ones.
Simulate the POTUS life
Open up the demo and start playing as POTUS! Let’s YOUR presidency!
Simulate that POTUS life
Experience it now during the Simfest and play the demo to I Am Your President!