https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/app/2512090/The_Political_Machine_2024/

Stardock announced the latest iteration of its hit political strategy series, The Political Machine 2024 today. The game, which allows players to simulate a run for the American presidency, features an updated roster of politicians and introduces new gameplay mechanics that reflect the ever-evolving landscape of U.S. politics.

The Political Machine 2024 allows players to step into the shoes of current political figures like Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and Ron DeSantis, or create a completely customized candidate with the game’s in-depth creation workshop.

Building on the series’ robust political simulation model, which has been recognized by major news outlets for its accuracy in predicting previous election outcomes, the 2024 edition adds some much-requested features including:

• Primaries: Players can choose to run against other candidates to win their party’s nomination for President.
  
• Debates: Candidates will face each other in a simulated debate on the issues of the day.
  
• PACs: Political Action Cards that players can use to bolster their campaign or thwart their opponents.

At its core, The Political Machine 2024 is a sophisticated simulator, where each state's political leanings and issues are meticulously researched and updated to reflect the latest demographic data and current political climate. Players with a deep understanding of the real-world political landscape will discover a game that rewards strategic thinking and political savvy.

"The Political Machine has always been about capturing the spirit and complexity of the American election cycle," said Brad Wardell, Creative Director of Stardock. "With the 2024 edition, we're bringing even more depth to the experience with new features that mirror the real-world tactics used in political campaigns."

Stardock invites players to explore the nuances between candidates within the same party, appreciating the ideological spectrum that differentiates a Democrat like Bernie Sanders from one like Bill Clinton, or a Republican like Ronald Reagan from Mitt Romney.

It's almost here - the moment we've all been waiting for - Election Night 2020!

Of course, being 2020, experts warn that the surge in mail-in ballots may result in an 'Election Month', but...whatever. I know WE'RE pumped! And with early voter numbers being shattered, it looks like most of the electorate is pumped too!

But enough about the horse race - let's talk about v1.4!

In the Advanced Setting popup, you can now play with the Randomization of Issues and State Data. Want a crazy game where all the state values are scrambled and the big issues are "Banning Soft Drinks" and "Giving Frogs the Right to Vote"? Want a regular game with just small randomization tweaks made to top issues? In v1.4, all those randomization options at your fingertips.

We've doubled the number of available achievements to unlock, giving hardcore players rewards for their mastery of the game! Masochistic wins for Trump, Biden, and several other candidates will give you an official badge of honor for your accomplishments. Wear them proudly!

Keeping up with the news has been hard the last few weeks, but we've added & boosted several issues that are coming up in the final stretch of campaigning.

• Investigating Hunter Biden
  
• Herd Immunity
  
• Saving the Middle Class
  
• Court Packing
  
• Dangers of Socialism
  
• Second Stimulus Package
  
• Nation Mask Mandate
  
• Election Integrity

We've also updated the Biden and Trump Ideology trees to reflect their 2020 campaign messaging.


NEW FEATURE: Issue and State Randomization

• You can now access Randomization options under the ADVANCED SETTING tab when setting up your game.
  
• Issue randomization can result in 'Some Randomization' or a 'Very Random' game, where even the most crazy fringe issues can bubble up in importance.
  
• State Data can have Wealth, Electoral Votes, Party Affiliations, or 'All The Above" randomized.
  
• Election Night: Updated the '270 to Win' text to be driven by the actual number of electoral votes.
  
• Note: This only works in Single Player modes.

10 NEW ACHIEVEMENTS
There are now a series of 10 achievements, many of which tied to beating the game on Masochistic difficulty with specific candidates.

• Trump Train
  
• President Joe
  
• #YangGang4Ever
  
• Tea-Party Triumph
  
• Feel the Burn!
  
• Obama's 3rd Term
  
• Romney 2020
  
• A Vote for Extinction
  
• A Totally Random Win
  
• Beating the Coronavirus

New Issues

• Investigating Hunter Biden
  
• Peaceful Transfer of Power
  
• Saving the Middle Class
  
• Socialism
  
• Election Integrity
  
• Herd Immunity
  
• Court Packing
  
• California Wildfire Assistance

Updated Issues

• Higher Importance: Fracking, Filling Supreme Court Vacancy, Second Stimulus Package
  
• Lower Importance: Building the Wall, Funding Nasa, Stopping the Coronavirus, National Mask Mandate, Defund the Police, Prosecuting Rioters
  
• Updated State Demographics: Alaska: D +1, R +8, I -9 / Oklahoma: D - 5, R +3, I +2 / Texas: D + 6, R -1, I-5 / Virginia: D +2, R -2 / Washington: D +2, I -2 /

Updated Candidates

• Donald Trump: Ideology Tree given several new issues: Saving the Middle Class, The China Virus, and Dangers of Socialism, +1 to Minority Appeal, Notes: One of the big areas where President Trump is outperforming his 2016 numbers is with Latino voters, so boosting his 'Minority Appeal' stat made sense for this update.

• Joe Biden: Ideology Tree given several new issues: National Mask Mandate, Second Stimulus Package, and Court Packing, +1 to Starting Funds, +1 to Media Appeal, Notes: After some record-breaking fundraising months, we had to give him a boost in funds. We're also seeing the media go pretty easy on the former VP in situations where they'd be tougher on his opponent, so boosting his Media Appeal made sense as well.

Fixes

• When you have a malformed Ideology Tree in the My Games directory, the game will now pop up a message warning you about the problematic XML (This would break the game in earlier versions).
  
• John Adam's home state set to Massachusetts
  
• Various Misc Typos

Hard to believe there are only 6 weeks until election day! With a new slew of issues on everyone's minds, we thought it would be a good week to make some additions to bring the state of the game in line with the state of the race.

• National Mask Mandate: Should the federal government or regional authorities be in charge of determining the laws of mask-wearing during a pandemic?
  
• Additional Stimulus Checks: Do you support sending citizens a second stimulus check and risk a ballooning deficit, or does the rebounding stock market mean the economy is doing fine as-is?
  
• Defunding the Police: Protesters have called for the dismantling and defunding of Law Enforcement, but opposition points to National Rioting as the exact reason we need that Law Enforcement.
  
• Prosecuting Rioters: To protest is American, but what happens when those protests turn ugly?

• #BlackLivesMatter: After the death of George Floyd, national protests thrust the #BlackLivesMatter movement back into the spotlight.
  
• Filling Supreme Court Vacancy: The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg last weekend has flipped the 2016 script, with Republicans looking to fill the vacancy during an election year, and Democrats looking to prevent it.

Battle for your spot in the White House against the founding fathers of America! In the new Founding Fathers DLC, you'll play as political heavyweights like George Washington, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and more. Do you have what it takes to go down in history?

https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/app/1383230

None of the founding fathers could predict where the world would be some 200 years later, but some of their ideals are still applicable anyway! All of the new candidates’ ideologies have been adjusted to tackle current real-world issues. The founding fathers included in the DLC are:

• George Washington
  
• Thomas Jefferson
  
• Alexander Hamilton
  
• James Madison
  
• John Adams

States’ rights and a way to keep the national government in check were the cornerstones of the Democratic Republican party’s ideals. Founding fathers Thomas Jefferson and James Madison will take on real-world 2020 issues like lower taxes, Wall Street regulation, liberty, and much more!

A strong government and a powerful executive branch were the basis of every Federalists’ belief system. Founding fathers Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, and John Adams bring their beliefs into 2020 by fighting for things like free market capitalism, taxing the rich, subsidizing domestic industry, and much more!

Race for the White House in style! New customization parts from hairstyles to clothing choices give you more options when creating your own candidates.

In addition to the DLC, we're releasing the FREE v1.3 update today! v1.3 introduces a couple of new candidates and is packed with new features and game improvements that will spice up your campaign and get your voters fired up for the big election.

The 42nd President of the United States is the first new candidate to grace the election trail: say hello to Bill Clinton. He is joined by Sarah Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee from Alaska. They're both ready to fight to earn their seat in the White House!

You've been asking to be able to upload your custom candidates to Steam, and now you can thanks to the Candidate Workshop. With just a few clicks, you can share your custom creations to the Steam Workshop - we can't wait to see all the presidential contenders that you come up with!

The electoral map is the ultimate source of information for you when you're playing, showing you which states you have a lock on, which states are battlegrounds, and which states your opponent is taking. Thanks to the new animated Dynamic Map system, you'll be able to get all of that information at just a glance. Now, states will bounce, flash, and visually inform you when a choice you've made results in a change.

In order to give you more agency, we've changed the randomized campaign events system. Now, when you see a state with a bouncing yellow "?", you can visit there and receive a message from someone wanting to help your campaign. You can use these opportunities to earn more money, ideology points, political operatives, and more!

https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/app/1188680

Greetings fellow Armchair Politicians!

Well...isn't this the craziest election year we've ever seen? I've been on every single version of TPM, and between Coronavirus, Protests, Economic uncertainty, and Biden's "turtle" strategy, I've never seen an election cycle like this!

But that just means it's time to get out an update for The Political Machine! Currently being tested by QA, the 1.3 update will be out soon. In the meantime, here are some of the goodies you'll get when the update hits Steam!

This has been in the works for a while, but with v1.3 you'll FINALLY be able to upload your custom candidates!

Simply select the Upload Candidate option from Mods, choose your candidate, and upload to Steam. Doesn't get much easier than 3 clicks (well, besides 2 clicks or 1 click), but it's still pretty darn easy.

We can't wait to see the presidential contenders that flood the workshop with this update!


One of the big challenges with TPM - especially with our characterized bobbleheads - is to keep any bias from popping up. There was some concern from the community that our version of President Trump was too angry looking, so we wanted to fix that!

Bam! A presidential smile for the ages!


The electoral map is the ultimate source of information when playing The Political Machine. Seeing what states you have a lock on, what states are battlegrounds, and what states your opponent is taking: that information drives all decision making for the player.

With the new animated Dynamic Map system, you will see states flash, bounce, and visually tell you when a choice resulted in a change.

For instance, when you pick an Ideology, when you return to the map you'll see a wave of red or blue sweep across the country.

It's a great way to let you know the direction states are trending and to visually feel the weight of choices being made.


You can't have an update without some new candidates, and for this one we picked the 42th President, Bill Clinton, and the 2008 Vice Presidential nominee from Alaska, Sarah Palin.

We're changing out the old random event system for one where the player has significantly more agency - Campaign Events.

When you hit a state with a bouncing yellow (?), you'll get a message from someone looking to help your campaign. Use these opportunities to get extra Money, Ideology Pts, Operatives, and more!


When Fixers take out an operative, you will now get a nice big newspaper headline letting you know about the event.

Looking for more politics in your pocket? Grab TPM2020 on iOS[apps.apple.com] and Android[play.google.com], out now!

We've tweaked gameplay to be more streamlined, but most of the big features from the core game have made the transition to mobile.

As for v1.3, we'll keep you all posted once we get closer to release. Thanks again for playing!

Greetings from The Political Machine Development Bunker. While Shelter-In-Place rules have us working from home, that hasn't stopped the updates from flowing! Today we released v1.2, with two new highly-requested candidates - each with their own unique Ideology Tree - and several quality of life improvements that should make fans pretty happy.

A blast from the Political Past, players can now recreate that epic 2008 campaign between the fresh faced Obama and the war-hardened Senator McCain. Each candidate has their own hand-crafted 3D assets, along with the custom Ideology Trees "Hope and Change" and the "Straight Talk Express".

OK guys, we finally bit the bullet. When creating your custom candidate, you can now toggle an 'Infinite Mode' where you can spend as many stat points as you want.

Fair warning - any candidate that goes over the allocated points will not be available to play in Multiplayer mode, but it certainly will provide some fun local fantasy match ups.

In mid to late game, we've always had the problem of notifying players when important changes happen on the map. There may be several battleground states that flip but go unnoticed for several turns.

To combat this, we're feeding Battleground info into the News Ticker, where you'll get color-coordinated ticker items as Battleground states pop-up or are claimed by either candidate.

A subtle but important tool for strategists looking for victory in specific states.

One of the big changes to the 2020 version was, by default, bringing the turn count down to 21 weeks. We preferred gameplay sessions at the quicker pace, but certainly understand those players that want a long, serious, 41 week throw-down. To help ensure players of those longer games always have a fresh save ready we've hooked up Autosaves!

Besides the big improvements above, there are also some smaller Quality of Life and bugs fixes that made it into the build. Mac users can now Shift and Left Click to travel to a state (actually, even PC users can do this). The ticker is no longer dirt slow, getting more information to the player faster. And Multiplayer games will no longer block custom candidates with custom ideologies - it'll simply force them to play with the default Ideology Trees for their given party.
After this update, it's full steam ahead to the 4th of July, when we're going to have some BIG new announcements relating to The Political Machine! In the meantime, have fun with the new candidates and keep the gameplay requests coming!

https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/app/1188680/The_Political_Machine_2020/