Mr President Demo Quick Thoughts
Also thoughts on complexity and transparency in game design
GMT’s Mr. President has a free demo on steam this week, and I tried it for an hour.
The video game just moderates the board game. The graphics are the image of the board and counters. (I’m fine with that). Dialogs present your options (and the DRMs). There are certainly rules behind the surface, but it was enough to at least go through the motions and play. I assume its just as overwhelming as the board game. It did make me at least go the GMT page for the game and download the how to play booklet and governing manual and start reading them. I probably should make either the board game or videogame an auto-buy … much cheaper than bowling … but I’m torn on which, because:
There is more than a whiff of Magic Realm’s complexity; but Mr. President’s complexity is more opaque and hidden … once you know the Realm’s combat system you can look at your character and the monster’s counter and decide if the battle is automatic (either way) or how much luck it will take. To analyze (say) China’s position means having an idea of what the various charts in China’s booklet are, as well as the deck of event cards, etc.
I would love — love — more games that emulated Magic Realm’s entangled systems (but with understandable rules). Mr. President’s theme deserves it; this tries to deliver, but I feel that the volume of details buried in those 8 pamphlets means the systems won’t feel connected: that is difficult to tell from the demo.
More details of the demo:
- It plays part of a year, but does appear random as to what rolls/events are made (I played the demo and then redid it, and different crisis events showed up).
- Entire subsystems are marked as “Not yet available” so it’s tough to judge those. The demo mostly shows you how to use the main “You get X actions of these types” and “Now stuff happens.” It is certainly enough to grok the basics.
- The UI is reasonable in showing the actions and then letting you pop one open and it will tell you the restrictions, Die Roll Modifiers (based on your current game state), and results, along with the “Take Action” button (or “Take action and buy a DRM.”)
- The UI is a not great at showing the results, simply moving the counter and not really highlighting it. I mean, it shows it, but if you aren’t looking at the right part of the screen it can be hard to miss. I’ve submitted some feedback to the designers.
- I’d like the ability to examine a detailed log that explains step-by-step every decision, die roll, modifier, etc.1
- Amusingly (to me), the game uses the unreal engine when — as near as I can tell — the entire graphics are just the board, the counters, and a few die rolls and “flashing highlight” gifs.2
What themes deserve a MagicRealm type “highly entangled” system?
I’ve actually been thinking about this for a few years, but Mr. President re-ignited the concern.
- I personally think a Jane Austen “The family wants to marry off their daughter” game would work well. (What is more complex than human relations?) Combining it with a ridiculously complex rule-set is probably not a best-seller. (Imagine that “The Daughter” wants to marry for love, “The Father” wants a wealthy son, “The bitter aunt” wants to thwart a happy marriage, etc….)
- Various employees of a corporation both running it and trying to ascend. (John Company already does this).
- Italy City/States Communi period.
- Taking a page from Mr. President, various congressional factions trying to produce legislation (while of course maintaining/consolidating power).
I’m sure there are plenty more.
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