“The American Voter Paradox” - A Game Brief
- Alejandro L. Ruata
- Mar 6, 2018
- 8 min read
Updated: Aug 17, 2020
Date: 03/05/18
This week we tackle the uniquely American problem of voter indifference. Read on to discover the beginnings of an idea based off of hit Life Simulator series "The Sims". This whole switching ideas with another team idea was really fun and a unique way to go about the Game Brief this time. Without further ado... "The American Voter Paradox" - a game about the importance of voting and simultaneously presenting how difficult it can be to actually vote in the United States.
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Other Entity For Project 3
(*Entity of team we traded last weeks Brainstormed ideas with*)
Massachusetts Council for Voting Awareness
Goal: To increase interest in state politics and increase voter turnout for non-presidential ballots
Audience: Voting age in MA
Budget: State agency funded $75k
Timeline: 1 year [grant renewable for up to 2 more years]
Other Team’s Shared Doc. [ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NWc3yndwnikN6LdyUJ4I50OQzJnbX-Cz0dQwUNluzYk/edit ]
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Game Title
“The American Voter Paradox” - A Game Brief
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Member Blog Links
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General and Specific Information
Genre: Life Simulator w/ Mini game Elements from the Party Game Genre
Audience: This game targets Massachusetts citizens (of voting age) who identify as indifferent to local state politics and voting (in non-presidential election years) in general. The game will be presented to casual players (with elements that will ideally appeal to more hardcore life simulator/real time strategy gaming enthusiasts) of the gaming market/ MA voting block (18-25 years of age as well as those 40+ years of age). The game will attempt to draw interest from both ends of the age gap and hopefully increase interest and voter turnout in the long run.
Primary Objective: To present apathetic Massachusetts citizens the consequences of not taking part in the voting process on off election years. To then simultaneously present how difficult it is to find the time to vote and commit to your day to day responsibilities. Finally, to present the positive affects your life can have by taking the time to be part of American Democracy.
This objective is three pronged. The reason why there need to be so many things that this one game should do is because voting and the act of getting people to vote… is actually kind of a complicated issue. Players need to be presented an abridged second life of sorts; where you live, interact, and generally be part of an average middle class life experience - essentially, we wanted to make it difficult for people in-game (at first) to care about voting, just like in real life.
We also aim to highlight this second life, “Sims”-like experience with a series of fun, addicting mini games - covered later - that add to your life simulator experience (playing lots of sports mini games will make your player more healthy, engaging in work mini games will earn the player more money, etc.). Periodically, the game will remind you that it’s time to vote (in an off-presidential election, the character automatically takes part in the big elections of course) and you can decide to take part or not.
Voting will interrupt the flow of game (as in real life - interestingly enough, we are one of the only, if not only advanced democracy on Earth to make voting so inconvenient to the average citizen), you may miss work, socializing with friends, engaging in mini games etc. However, as you’ll learn if you don’t vote, the consequence of not taking part can range from mild to severe (with the game presenting opportunities through in-universe news, articles, etc. that try to make sure you’ll know how bad things could get if you don’t vote). In game, mini games can be cut entirely, pay may diminish, healthcare protection may disappear (getting injured in a sports mini game may hold more severe consequences as a result), etc.
Taking the time to vote, on the other hand, may lead to advantages to your character down the road (more money, better rewards from mini games, etc.) - covered in greater detail later. By presenting how voting/ not voting will affect the player in such a way we will be creating a comparison to how voting/ not voting can actually affect the players in their real day to day lives, encouraging them to take more of an interest in politics and actually getting out to vote.
The game will also feature different voting options (different candidates), that will open and close more branches as you play the game, encouraging players in game (and again in real life) to pay closer attention to what they and their community may or may not want and voting for it to happen/ not happen.
Introduction to Game: While in-depth in exploring consequences, the game is not designed to be long. There will only be 5 major off-year elections in the course of the game with 10 in-game days (each day is a few months after the previous “day”) in between each election event. Players will have a real ‘Sims” experience, they can laze around all day, talk to other sims, work, play, etc. Certain actions (like sports) will have mandatory (timed) mini games tied to them that may affect your sims’ stats in one manner or another.
Because games and basic sims actions are timed (and the game as a whole is real time, even in mini games), the feeling of juggling so many actions in your simulated day-to-day will make players not wish to waste their time voting. Voting will interrupt the flow of game, you may miss work, socializing with friends, engaging in mini games etc. The consequence of not taking part in the votes can range from mild to severe. Games may be cut off, pay from work may lessen, etc. (this could all happen if you vote as well, we not only want to encourage people to vote… we want to encourage them to vote smart - in game articles and news channels will help players make informed votes for a better “Sims”-like experience overall).
The game will look like Sims games (see below) and play like Sims games (with mini games thrown in the mix, see below for an example) with the twist being that you not only control the life of your Sim, you partly control his world with the power of his vote (which is exactly the lesson we want to present to our intended audience, their vote does actually matter).
Sometimes you may vote and still not get your way, for that, there are special Sims activist activities (and mini games) you can take part in to help sway minds for the next election (which is the best thing to do in real life to ensure people are informed heading into the voting booth).
These mechanics will hopefully help players understand the repercussions being apathetic towards politics and off-year election voting.
Game Control
PC Game Controls
Mouse click - All of the UI interaction and camera/movement are a result of mouse clicks/mouse dragging.
Scroll wheel - Allows the user to zoom camera in or out.
‘WASD’ or Arrow Keys - Allows for certain interactions with game world (like mouse clicks)
ESC - the ‘esc’ key opens the option menu
Mini Games will have unique, individual controls depending on game. Ex...
Tennis
‘WASD’ & Arrow Keys - move player
Mouse Clicks - Swing Racket
Left Mouse Click Hold - Power Charge Swing
Score/Objective/Winning/Losing/Competition
During the election day, the players may or may not head to the poll office and vote for their favorite candidate. However, the results of the election may or may not have an effect on the player’s continued gameplay experience.
Mini Games will feature a traditional scoring system (in game scoring depends on game, tennis is scored different to baseball, etc.) as well as winning and losing conditions. Final score will go towards player stats. Injuries sustained in mini games will transfer to regular sims gameplay (if hospitalized, game will skip relevant number of days).
Interface/Information
UI - A UI consisting of player portrait, money, basic stats (healthiness, life satisfaction, etc., as well as current people in political power), time of day, day number (day number is number of days played, this is in relation to in-universe day), and more; available at all times!
Smart Voters Guide - An option in the UI will allow players to view in game articles and news clips regarding candidates and those currently in office to make smarter voting decisions (will include information for Town Halls, debates, etc. all activities you can take in game time to view and be part of).
Main User Mechanics/Actions: The main acts that the player will do during the story-focused gameplay will be Select for choosing options the player has available to them as well as Manage. Through Managing their happiness, income, and other variables that affect their daily life, as well as Selecting who to vote for that will affect their daily lives with their policies, the player will directly see how their votes influence their day to day life along with their own choices for jobs, home lifestyle, etc. This will be the main portion of the gameplay, while the mini games will have varying other actions for the player depending on the mini game they choose.
Levels/Environment: The game setting will be in an open world town styled after a typical small Massachusetts town.. There will be residential housing, commercial buildings, town halls, and other buildings that surround it with a grassy field. The environment should invoke feelings of middle class suburbia (in vibe and scenery).
Obstacles, interactive elements, enemies, collectibles, NPC’s, etc
The player will be able to interact with their neighbors and other characters that are around them wherever they live and/or travel to. Through these characters, the player can find out information about candidates, or about possible ways to influence their happiness, income, etc.
There will also be interactive portions of the game, in particular the voting and minigames, where the player can choose to interact/vote and get rewards/bonuses from their actions.
“Smart Voters” Articles - provides knowledge of what may lie ahead of them because of a candidate being elected will be vital to the player’s planning for their livelihood in-game.
Sixty seconds of play: The player will go through a few days out of a month in their life. During that month, the player will go through mini games related to the job they chose and interact with other people around their neighborhood, talking with them about how their lives have been, their jobs have treated them, and what the politics have been like. The player will end off each day recollecting as to how things have been and just what their life is like and what could potentially be improved for their happiness and money.
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WHY OUR IDEA WORKS
Many people say they simply aren’t interested in voting because they think their vote doesn't matter at all. This game aims to simulate the cause and effects voting/ not voting has on the whole community.
An example of how voting/ not voting will have consequences on your “Sims”-like experience. You may find a fondness for the Basketball mini game available to you in the start of the game. So much so that you join a team at the YMCA, by not voting the budget to maintain the building and it's equipment may be slashed to ribbons and suddenly you’re out of a mini game. If you want basketball back (the full version, not just the street version you can start with) you need to partake in activism mini games to sway hearts and minds and ultimately change the budget with the next elected official.
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Reference
Link to video of similar gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37WunnttqjY [“The Sims 4”]
Images of similar look/style:
[“The Sims 4” is the look we’re going for]
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Production
Estimated number of Developers/Designers:
Producer - 1
Artists - 2
Designers - 2
Writers - 1
Programmers - 3
Audio - 1
Any special licensing, expertise, or permissions needed
The Sims 4 Engine
(unique engine used to make The Sims 4” - no special name given, may also need help from Sims Design Team)
Estimated length of time for development in 3 phases:
Concept - 1 month
Pre-Production - 5 months
Production - 6 months
Estimated cost for software/hardware:
Total: Approx. $10000.00 likely (licensing unique engine access as well as standard programs like 3DS Max), any left over money will go into pre-production.
Estimated cost for phase 1 (Concept) production:
Total: $ 15000.00
Estimated cost for phase 2 (Pre-Production) production:
Total: $ 20000.00
Estimated cost for release and maintenance:
Total: $ 30000.00
Plan for post release: For the post release plan, we include an additional patches to fix the remaining bugs or crashes of the game. Once the gameplay is stable, we will focus on improvement of the gameplay. Once the community starts to support the game, we might add payable DLC (including a Candidate Mode, allowing for players to play the game from the perspective of Candidates trying to get citizens to vote and win).
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