http://www.kongregate.com/games/delosford/clout-the-game
This is a game I’ve built from scratch in PHP/MySQL. It’s been up and running as a Faceook game for a while now, and I decided to port it to Kongregate after some people wanted to play but didn’t like the idea of Facebook games in general.
Obviously there aren’t really many political simulators out there, so it’s a bit difficult to describe the gameplay. I’ve tried to make it as newbie-friendly as possible with explanations for everything, so the best way to learn about the game is probably to jump in, but I’ll try to give a general description:
First, you create a character. You are playing a politician, but also very likely a corrupt and psychopathic politician, so don’t necessarily feel compelled to pick a party you agree with.
Once you’re actually in the game, the general idea is to gain Clout by passing bills, helping allied bills pass or acting against the bills of your political opponents and getting them to fail. You act on bills by playing abilities that roughly correspond to a debate tactic. This posts some text to the bill, consumes energy, causes stress, influences the bill, and sometimes does other things (ability depending).
The Clout that you gain from this acts both as a currency and a sort of experience point indicator. More clout means… more clout, effectively. You can spend it to introduce bills or buy abilities. The special ability “Poison Pill” also costs some Clout to use.
That’s all just the basic gameplay, though. There are various other aspects such as investigations, skullduggery, scandals, drugs, failing to win re-election, permadeath, and the overarching nation/world stats where you can see how the bills you pass actually affect the nation.
It’s a very intricate and unique game, so it’s difficult to explain everything concisely. You should know enough by now to know if you’re interested, so give it a try already!
