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We need more feedback

Have the beta? We need more info!

from JoeUser Forums

We are really looking for more feedback on the beta. We know hundreds of you have the beta, but we're not getting a lot of feedback. Especially in specifics.

We will be letting those who pre-ordered the game on its own (as opposed to getting Drengin) start getting it next week. But in the meantime, we really need your help in this. The game is going gold and we're in crunch time now (the amount we can do in 4 weeks you'll be amazed by). 

What things would you like to see that can be reasonably implemented? (i.e. don't suggest primaries or some other completely new game mechanism).  What play balancing do you think we need? Does it crash? If so, we need to know your video card and OS info and make sure you're running DirectX.

Thanks!

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52,110 views 63 replies
Reply #26 from JoeUser Forums Top
Ok I played another game this time as GWB vs. John Edwards:

- Create Ads screen says "monthly" expense instead of weekly

- I placed two radio ads in PA and had only one radio icon show up in the state. I removed the first ad, and the second was nowhere on the map to be found, although it did still show up in PA in my ASSETS list

- I think some things should be more dynamic. For example, endorsement costs should be variable--like, the NRA endorsement should cost Bush 4 capital, but Kerry like 20 capital or something. However, as Kerry makes pro-gun speeches, this cost would come down throughout the campaign...

- HQ contributions should also be dynamic I think. Amounts collected should be functions both of awareness in a state and a candidate's position. If Kerry and Bush both have HQ's in Texas, Bush's should pull in a LOT more money than Kerry's. Plus, basing this figure on Awareness simulates lots of things, such as I could go deliver a speech in a state and then see a small boost in donations due to the speech's Awareness boost. Or, I go do well in a nationwide interview, and this results in boosts in donations due to the nationwide awareness boost.

This would also simulate "momentum" I think (in friendly states anyway), since Awareness leads to more cash, leads to more speeches or ads, which leads to more awareness, which leads to more cash, yada yada yada.

- I was surprised that my fundraisers yielded the same amounts regardless of which party I was (I regularly collected $300,000 in CA whether I was Kerry or Bush)....

- Frankly, as it is now, a candidate's positions don't seem to make much difference. In my last game Bush easily won Massachusetts (could this ever happen in real life??) just cause Bush's awareness there was higher. Haha, but then, maybe this IS more realistic (so depressing...)

Just a few more ideas. I'm excited about this game--I will say that the interface, graphics, and personality of Political Machine are vastly superior to those of President Forever...
Reply #27 from JoeUser Forums Top
Played another game. Ran Al Franken against Rush Limbaugh on the second highest skill level (painful?). Al won handily in the electoral college although he lost by six million in the popular vote.

I like Bob Vila's idea about making the game more variable in terms of the money that HQ's generate. I suggest going a step further: some states should cost more to build a HQ than others. California, for example, would naturally be more expensive to build than, say, Delaware.

Ditto for advertising.

One bug I found: If you're in a state and fly in a smear merchant or spin doctor, the color on the space updates but the poll numbers do not. You need to re-click on the space in order to see the updated numbers.

And I agree - this is shaping up to be a great game. Can't wait to play the next version.

--Aaron
Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #28 from JoeUser Forums Top
Suggestion: Someone else talked about doing a move-by-move arrangement within a turn. So that you move, then the other person does, then you, etc. The point here being that it prevents a race to grab the question marks when they appear.

I kinda liked this idea, although I understand it's a matter of taste (hmm, a game option?). Should you go with it, you might want to make it a 50/50 chance of who starts each turn (perhaps modified slightly depending on the skill level of the game). But if you end a turn with stamina points left, those points will give you a greater chance of starting first the next turn.

--Aaron
Reply #29 from JoeUser Forums Top
Another gamer and I tried to get the multiplayer function to work. Unfortunately it didn't. I can type in my IP, but pressing "refresh list" results in a crash to dos. This happened several times.

--Aaron
Reply #30 from JoeUser Forums Top
Here is my current list after a game with the current beta.

· After clicking Candidate Info and clicking Done you cannot open up Candidate Info again.
· Is there a way to see the Candidate Qualities during the game?
· The online documentation says that the Opposition quality “determines how much this candidate motivates the opposition to get out an vote.” Does this mean voting for or against your candidate?
· None of the state issues show anything in the columns (thumbs up or down as in the first beta). The online documentation states that when “you click on a state and look at its detail, it will display the 5 issues the citizens of that state care about the most with what percentage of the population is in favor of a given issue and what percentage is against. You can also break it down by Republicans and Democrats”. I don’t see any of this.
· Is Presence the same as Awareness?
· When any overlay window is open any mouse activity should not affect the background, such as the Turn button.
· What are the two numbers separated by a slash next to the Awareness tag for each state?
· The Rich Donor shows “to ‘s campaign” (leaves out the candidate’s name).
· The Definer’s description window was illegible gibberish.
· After an interview on the O’Malley show the lower left quadrant of the main screen was corrupted with text remnants, preventing you from seeing how much money you have.
· Where are the personal characteristics you can attack in a campaign speech?
· The lower right hand corner should always show the current state, I believe, but it doesn’t always update with your movements.
· Assets, Charts, & News buttons don’t have any effect.
· When the election occurs some of the display has text gibberish and some states are overlaid in gray splotches.
· Something should happen, even just a pause, when a candidate gets enough electoral votes to win the election.
· The article text for the newspaper announcing the winner simply says “String Not Found”.
· What exactly do the Exit Polls number mean? For example, if the issue is Unemployment and the numbers say ALL 6%, GORE 71%, BUSH 28%, what does that tell me?
Reply #31 from JoeUser Forums Top
I'm really enjoying it so far but I really would like a electoral vote counter on the side based on the current polling data.

Also add a screen capture feature (F12 for screenshot). And maybe automatically generate one at the end of the election so I can the electoral vote breakdown?

For those who didn't noticed there are PMIssueEditor.exe and PMQuestionEditor.exe in the PolMachine\Data folder, it may require some dlls, just google the file names and you're find them.

Nice little easter egg with the "uncovering of alien cons." for New Mexico.

I'll make a list of stuff the next time I play a game.
Reply #32 from JoeUser Forums Top
Hi there,

I still can't get the game to run. It crashes immediately after starting up the game. I envy the ones who can get the game run at least.
I tried everything. I added the nointro command to the command line. I even tried all the settings of the hardware acceleration. Nothing works. The only thing I can do is have a fresh install of Windows, I guess?

I run Windows XP Professional on a 1000 MHZ Pentium 3 with 256 MB RAM, S3 Savage MX (8 mb) graphics card..

Anyway, here's some information from the crash, I get the following error:

AppName: polmachine.exe AppVer: 1.0.0.1 ModName: polmachine.exe ModVer 1.0.0.1 Offset: 000a2935
Reply #33 from JoeUser Forums Top
Here's my list, in addition to the one in post #30, from my most recent game:

· Fantasy game set up is completely nonfunctioning.
· I finished a game as Gore vs. Bush. When I reloaded TPM to start a new game both candidates were set as Al Gore and when I went in to change the candidates there were 3 Al Gores at the top of the list.
· The game should save the Player Name and game settings as the default for the next game.
· What is the range of candidate characteristics? 1-10?
· When selecting a candidate for your game you can click in their characteristics, lengthening or shortening the bar, yet there is no change in numbers or apparent change in the game. You can also do this while viewing the candidate’s characteristics in game.
· What is the Media Bias characteristic?
· What is the Religious characteristic?
· What is the Money characteristic?
· The documentation says that you start with 50 Presence in your home state. This does not appear to be the case.
· Clicking in the Top State Issues box in the main map selects other states in the union.
· Does an HQ cost maintenance?
· According to the docs HQs allow you to create ads but it seems only your candidate can create ads.
· Any window overlays that have a State Details option opens the State Details behind the current window, requiring you to close the active window to see the State Details.
· If you upgrade an HQ in a state that doesn’t contain your candidate the news ticker substitutes the name of the state with the candidate for the actual state.
· HQs should show how much Awareness they are generating.
· Endorsements need to tell you what they affect in the game.
· How do you interpret the Candidate Issues screen, and what effect do Endorsements have on this?
· The scroll bar for the Candidates Issues screen is misaligned.
· When hiring a Smear Merchant it was placed behind the candidate, requiring the candidate to move before being able to move the Smear Merchant.
· Are all effects of ads and speeches (thumbs up, thumbs down) applied to your candidate and never the opposition?
· When you create an ad stating your position a newspaper pops saying that you are attacking your opponent.
· Sometimes ads in states are placed so that they can’t be selected due to other icons.
· More main map graphics corruption coming out of the Operatives screen.
· The docs say Ads take 2 Stamina. They actually take 3.
· The docs say Campaigning takes 3 Stamina. It actually takes 5.
· The docs say HQs cost 2 Stamina. They actually cost 4.
· Does a P.R. man affect your interview if you move him to the site of the TV camera before moving your candidate there?
· What is [Persuade] in TV interviews?
· Where is the option to meet the local press?
· Where is the debate?
· When you place a War Hero, is it intended to be a permanent placement?
· Jaded Consultant text is incomplete.
· Moving a Webmaster to an existing ad doesn’t decrease the maintenance cost. Should it?
· The “Let Hunger Motivate the Poor” TV ad response is cut off.
· No options on options in-game menu.
· No way to save your game.
Reply #34 from JoeUser Forums Top
Sorry, I forgot to add the error I get:

Debug Message: ******* Starting Game Shell *******
Debug Message: Going Fullscreen
Debug Message: Preparing to change display settings.
Debug Message: InitializeDirect3D Failed.
Debug Message: Now Fullscreen
Debug Message: Shell initialization complete
Debug Message: ***** Initializing Game *****
Debug Message: Timer Frequency is 0 369e99
Debug Message: LoadAllModelsInDirectory: No files matching mask *.mdl.
Debug Message: LoadAllModelsInDirectory: No files matching mask Gfx\*.mdl.
Debug Message: LoadAllModelsInDirectory: No files matching mask Setup\*.mdl.
Debug Message: Added fonts: font2 font1 Arial13B Arial16B2 Arial10
Debug Message: Added fonts: Arial12 Arial12B Arial14 Arial14B Arial16
Debug Message: Added fonts: Arial16B Arial18 Arial18B
Debug Message: Initializing sound card.
Debug Message: No Event Music\*.mp3 files in current directory.
Debug Message: Create setup screens.
Debug Message: Parsing screens\MessageBox.ini
Reply #35 from JoeUser Forums Top

That's the gotcha: S3 Savage MX (8 mb) graphics card..

You need 16mb of video RAM right now. We're working on reducing that but it's going to be hard. It's a 3D engine based game and 8mb is really hurting in that area. You running on a laptop or something?

Changes from today:

1) The AI is now much more intelligent and will buy and use operatives.

2) Operatives increase in cost as you buy them. So your first smear merchant will now only cost 2 politlcal points, the next one 3, and so forth.

3) TV ads now give you a +5% national awareness boost, radio +2%.  We did this so that taking out an advertisement would have a more significant and immediate effect in the polls.

Things that are coming:

Much better explainations in game of what the different mechanics are.

Answer to questions:

What is media bias? Basically it's a "freebie" slant that we give certain candidates that gives them an edge in overall polling. It's our way of modeling media bias.

Range of characteristics is 1 through 10.

HQ's no longer cost maintaincen and instead give you money.

Generally speaking, the docs need to be updated based on our tweaking.

Reply #36 from JoeUser Forums Top
Hi there,

Thanks a lot for your reply. I do use a laptop indeed. The 8mb graphics card sucks! Anyway, I hope that there will be someway you can reduce the minimum of 16 mb ram for the graphics card
Reply #37 from JoeUser Forums Top
Just successfully played my first game through. A few thoughts:

There should be a running total of electoral votes throughout the campaign, "as if the election were held today." Yes, I could figure it out with a pencil, BUT...

As others have mentioned, some of the text strings are too long - particularly on the TV interviews.

Some sort of "reality meter" needs to be worked into negative campaigning and negative ads. As Schwarzenegger (it has a "T" in the game - is this a deliberate typo?), I beat Kerry simply by promoting job growth, and claiming that he was against it. Rinse and repeat, ignoring all other issues completely. With a negative TV ad in New York, I even grabbed THAT state away from him, despite the fact that he started with something like a 20-point lead. I know negative ads are powerful, but there needs to be a "common sense" bit as well.

On the "reality meter" topic, endorsements are always the same price. It's unrealistic that the Christian Coalition (or whatever it's referred to in the game) and the union endorsements are exactly 8 capital points apiece. It would be logical that the price would be inversely proportional to a candidate's affiliation with their views, or at least with those of their political party. It should NOT be possible for a Republican to get the union endorsement for the same price as a Democrat, for instance. How about a pro-choice Democrat buying the endorsement of the Church?!? This needs a bit of work.

On the whole, the concept is well done, and the comedic artwork goes well with the subject matter. Sort of in the same vein as Dr. Strangelove treating a global holocaust as a black comedy. I'm definitely looking forward to the next revision.
Reply #38 from JoeUser Forums Top
Why does the "More Jobs" campaign speech feature a picture of a gun? Is this some sort of deep political statement, or a bug?

Where is my stamina going? I notice that my stamina per turn decreases over the course of a game, with no comment or warning.

For "Polical Capital", I think you should accumulate a certain amount over time, just by doing good things.

What can I do with the fractional stamina left over at the end of the turn? If I have 2 stamina points, but don't want to waste the money flying to another state, there's nothing to do besides waste the stamina.

I would like to see an overall reduction in action costs, or an increase in the stamina allotment per turn. I know you can get up to 15 points, but I'd like more.

When choosing a custom candidate, is there any reason to not choose "California" as your home state? Each possible home state should have a point cost. A candidate from Alaska should get some extra ability points.
Reply #39 from JoeUser Forums Top
I played the game through once, then it crashed every other time I get to the canidate selection screen.

Cheers
Reply #40 from JoeUser Forums Top
Unless I'm missing it, there is no indication whether a candidate is the incumbent. This would have a drastic effect on voter response, particularly as the fantasy setup is adjustable - the incumbent would gain an advantage in a calm or prosperous situation, a disadvantage in hard times, less of an advantage from TV interviews, etc.
Reply #41 from JoeUser Forums Top
Good news is that beta 2 now works on my work laptop (think the 16MB SuperSavage S3 graphic card was the hold up before), but I'm getting a slide show (maybe 1fps at most) on the main screen. I've got 512MB RAM and a 1.3gig processor and it's not really hammering away at the drive, so it's probably graphic card related as well. It runs just fine on the interview screens, it's just the main map that clobbers it. Would be good to have options to turn off the news ticker and have a low-graphics update version to help out systems like this.

Also have a graphical issue where I'm not seeing the button graphics, just the text on them. Also not seeing the slider bars on the create game screen or the interview text for the TV interviews.

I like the idea of moving to the headquarters generating income instead of draining it, but might need a bit of play balancing there. As is, the main thing to do in the early game is run around and make a HQ in as many states as you can before cash becomes a problem and if they're going to be cash-generating now, that'll be an even more viable tactic. Maybe make them more expensive or have the benefits really ramp up on the more expensive upgrade levels? As is, I don't often find the need to upgrade them to higher levels as the base level one along with a fair bit of advertising will win me most states and a little campaigning on top of that will usually make it a lock.

For that matter, are the precise benefits of the different levels of HQs spelled out anywhere?

-BiffMan
Reply #42 from JoeUser Forums Top
So a Media Bias of 10 would be good, meaning that the media is slanted towards this candidate?
Reply #43 from JoeUser Forums Top
I dont know how others would feel about this but i would prefer the news tickers to be atthe bottom of the screen, above the state data etc... I guess it is my training from Sim City I also think it is easier to look at one spot.

I know others have said this but i mis interaction with an opponet. Responding to my negative ads etc.
Reply #45 from JoeUser Forums Top
Just finished a game with the new beta. For some reason Kerry flew to Alaska on week 40, and all of a sudden he was able to win it in the election the week after. This seems unrealistic to me, I would prefer states that would be very difficult to win in real life be difficult to turn. On the flip side of that I was also easily able to win New Jersey as Bush.
Reply #46 from JoeUser Forums Top
Still Crashes after I hit the ready button on the canidate selection screen. I have XP, up to date drivers and the latest directX.

Cheers
Reply #47 from JoeUser Forums Top
Couple more things:

-Canadate Creation: As mentioned before, clicking on the bar moves the bar but not the number. However, move the bar to 10, click the back arrow to 9, and the number changes to 9 and adds a point to points available. I was able to use this exploit to build an "all 10" canadate.

-Suggestion for Canadate Creation: Use points to pay for starting state. Else, why shouldn't everyone start in NY, CA, or TX?

-Suggestion for Canadate Creation: Allow canadate to spend more points than available, and apply the negative modifier to starting popularity or start with unpopular record on issues.

-Exit Polls and Issues: Make issues matter more. Maybe link to fundraisers. Attend fundraisers that modify your stand on issues, either as a random event, or as part of the fundraiser action.

-Issues - Jobs: As has been said elsewhere, it is far too easy to campaign on "I'm for jobs, my opponent is against" and nothing else. If this is changed, the game needs to give info - Your opponent is swaying voters with his stand on X. You need to respond or you will loose votes among (Dems/Reps/Inds)

-Ballance: I've played a couple of games on both sides. Is the game biased to Dems? I can win with both, but I have had 2 games where I have taken all 50 states as Dems.

-Endorcements: NOW (or their in game name) seem to help the Dems a lot. None of the others seem to do much for either side. Could just be my perception. Maybe give some info on what effect on the current situation a given endorcement would have. Hey, I have advisors and pollsters, right?

Hope these help!
Reply #48 from JoeUser Forums Top
Oh, and just once, have someone ask me on my stand on "Uncovering the Alien Conspiracy"
Reply #49 from JoeUser Forums Top
Actually it's in there. On one of the talk shows you can claim that you know of a vast conspiracy to cover up the Drengin Empire invasion. I want to see if I can make it a top issue in the campaign if I mess around enough.
Reply #50 from JoeUser Forums Top
I think that one way to make the issues matter more is to allow multiple issues to be represented in the same campaign speech or ad Either that, or more stamina per turn is needed. Maybe allow 2-3 extra issues for each extra stamina point spent.