Game Design, Programming and running a one-man games business…

Democracy 4 GUI update

cliffski

We are still working away on Democracy 4…although I have not blogged about it much. This is partly because Jeff is doing a lot of ‘under-the-hood’ debugging and GUI support stuff, so there has not been that much to show for it yet. Unlike many sequels we are doing this GUI first and Mechanics / Content second, so for a while, it will look like a beautifully re-skinned democracy 3, until we start adding all the new events and policies etc.

Anyway… I sometimes forget how much slicker and cleaner the new UI is because I stare at it a lot, but here is a side by side comparison of the electioneering ‘perceptions screen’ for both games:

(BTW we likely will not use those same Democracy 3 icons for those 3 things, they are placeholder).

Re-sized screenshots do not do the GUI justice really, because its vector based and super-super-crisp. I do think that having a proper UI style guide, and vector graphics is going to make the new version feel SO much nicer to use. The previous game is from 2013 and starting to look like it…

There will be a lot more updates to come once we start putting in the new events. We just ordered all of the event graphics (and there are 95 of them this time, for even more actual events) and I’m looking forward to blogging about the new stuff we are adding.

Oh and in case you didn’t realize from the above screenshot, ALL of the content from Social Engineering, Extremism, Clones & Drones and Electioneering will ship in Democracy 4 as standard.

8 thoughts on Democracy 4 GUI update

  1. The main question is: will you fix the missing/wrong elements presented in D3?
    Like the population is not increasing even though migration is at its highest.
    Or to be able to continue playing in opposition.
    Or things like adding a parliament
    I could continue ’til tomorrow.

    D3 had so much potential yet nothing was implemented. Foreign affairs? wars? etc etc
    D3 is still looking like a game thats in pre-alpha.
    You coud maybe polish SOMETHING about the new things coming in D4. We are still blindsighted.

  2. Besides a new and sleeker UI and some new events and policies, will Democracy 4 fundamentally have any new mechanics that D3 doesn’t? Like multiple parties that you have to woo/antagonize, a parliament mechanic, dictatorship options (which were sorta kinda there in D3 Africa), social movements, inner party mechanics, more options for radical politics and the like. I really enjoyed D3 but if D4 turns out to be little more than a reskin I would be disappointed .

    1. Same question here. I’m especially worried about the core gameplay of adjusting sliders / enacting new policies to improve stats and get rid of red issues (which was totally great in D3 btw). Having essentially the same core with a few dlc-like additions on the side definitely does not make me exited to play D4.

      I would love to see the core reworked and/or deepened, but I don’t think starting from re-skinning the UI leaves any space to experiment and iterate on that.

      1. Well the GUI was looking kinda old and crap, so we wanted to change it anyway. changing the way we render stuff in no way limits what we can change about the simulation. But we are not going to completely change the mechanics. Its a game about adjusting policy decisions, making choices etc, presented in iconic/graph form, and will still be that.

        1. “Its a game about adjusting policy decisions, making choices etc, presented in iconic/graph form, and will still be that.” – that’s great! I loved that in D3 and D3 really is a unique game. Let me just ask, without ANY ill will on my part and with no wish to be a jerk, will D4 have any new mechanics that a steam workshop mod for D3 couldn’t potentially already add?

  3. By the way, what is the development status of “democracy 4”? In what countries can I play?
    Also, I want to support not only ipad but also iphone.

  4. I’m enjoying the progress that the game is making. I’d say that Democracy 3 was one of my most favourite games, and I love the style and looks of Democracy 4 so far. I’m curious to see how fake news and social media will be implemented!

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