Mr. President News

[p]Hey everyone,[/p][p]We’re thrilled (and a little nervous) to announce that the demo for Mr. President: The American Presidency 2000–2020 is now available as part of Steam Next Fest! We plan for this demo to be live only during Steam Next Fest, which runs from June 9th to June 16th.[/p][p][/p][p]This is our first playable public build, and while there’s still a lot under construction, we wanted to get the game into your hands early. If you’ve been following the project, you know Mr. President is a different kind of political game — it’s not about running for office, but about what comes after: governing.[/p][p]What’s in the demo?
You’ll get a hands-on preview of several core systems, including:[/p]

• [p]Crisis events, both historical and counterfactual[/p]
• [p]A full Activation Segment for the People’s Republic of China, showcasing how one of the two Peer Rivals in the game operates[/p]
• [p]Domestic, diplomatic, military, and Presidential player actions[/p]

[p]Some systems are still in progress — think of this as a guided tour through a construction zone. You’ll see the structure taking shape, even if the scaffolding is still up. That said, what’s here should give you a strong sense of the game’s direction and depth. Make sure to check out the tooltips we’ve added to almost all of the game pieces and components - they’ll help you learn the flow of the game.[/p][p]Whether you're trying to push legislation through Congress, contain international crises, or just keep your approval rating above water — this is your first chance to step into the Oval Office and see what the job really feels like.[/p][p]We’re a small team building something ambitious — and your feedback means everything to us. Try the demo, and then let us know what you think. The good, the bad, and the confusing: we want to hear it all. Please drop your feedback on this Google survey or under this Steam sub-forum![/p][p]Thanks so much for your support. We can't wait to hear how your presidency goes.[/p]

[p]Come watch Ananda Gupta, the game designer for digital Mr. President, play through the Steam Next Fest Demo at 4pm Pacific on Tuesday, June 10![/p][p][/p][p][/p]

In the real world, India and Pakistan had a sequence of violent confrontations. There’s still a lot we don’t know about those events: the casualties and air kills, the course of the mediation and the degree of U.S. involvement in bringing about the current ceasefire, etc. In Mr. President, part of the fun for players is in imagining the narrative of such rapid and dramatic events when they occur in the game.



The most obvious model for the real-world conflict this month is Crisis card #90, “Violence in Kashmir Escalates.” It’s a sharp event, and not a Cascading Event, that adds tension to the map and also boosts the India/Pakistan Conflict Track by one box:



Conflict Tracks are how Mr. President models the closeness of serious armed conflict between plausible adversaries in 2000-2020, and who will start with a military advantage. There are ten of them, and India appears on two (India/Pakistan and India/China). The Status column is a 1-5 scale; if the marker moves to 5, war breaks out. For two of the tracks - China/Japan and Russia/NATO, if this happens, the game is over. For the rest, the war system is used, with an immediate War Progress check and then more such checks as long as the war is going on. The Relative Strength column is a bonus that one side or the other gets added to its base strength when the war begins.

Going back to the Kashmir Crisis card, we can see that the card immediately escalates this conflict track by one box, and adds tension to both India and China (with India engaged, China has two reasons to escalate its own actions - India’s distraction, and the danger posed to Pakistan, with whom China has been building a strategic and economic partnership during this period). It’s unlikely this card by itself will start a war, unless mediation fails. Note that the player has the option to bow out of mediation by declining to spend two Action Points - but even if they do, and cooler heads prevail, they’ll still reap some political benefits).

So this card all by itself has a few different narrative possibilities - and the card doesn’t specifically describe the violence. The player can use their imagination to fill in those specifics, as well as what happened in the ensuing clash. And whether or not the Conflict track was pushed to 5 would influence the story quite a bit! But what if the player had previously drawn this card as well?



Now the Kashmir violence could be imagined as a purely military retaliation, or a spark ignited from the heightened tensions generated by this border skirmish. The Regional Crisis increase seems like an afterthought, but a Regional Major Crisis could add more fuel to this fire, in the form of additional, or leveled-up, Terror Groups, refugee crises, or Stability penalties.

And what about all those tensions markers that are getting added by these cards? Well, if you don’t tamp that down, India is much more likely to get a high result on their Unilateral Action table - which will occur during their Ally Group activation.



See that 13+ result? And the fact that this d10 roll gets +1 to its final result per Tension value on India? Now it’s easy to see how what seems like a calm Conflict track, sitting at 2, can rocket up to 5 - and war - when the key events and actions happen in a fateful order. But if the order is changed, the scene changes, and so does the story in the player’s head.

James Dunnigan referred to historical tabletop wargames as “paper time machines.” But Mr. President is also a story-making machine. Each playthrough will prompt the player to envision new ways the movement of the pieces, the results of the table rolls, and the draw of the cards might have manifested as real life events. We hope you’ll have many hours of fun writing the story of your own presidency in digital Mr. President!

I’ve already written about the Crisis deck in Mr. President, but that post covered just the basics, and the concept of Cascading Events. Here I want to talk about even more specific types of Crisis cards: Natural Disasters and Terrorism events.

First, let’s look at some Natural Disasters.



This card represents a catastrophically severe drought in California. Natural Disaster cards share a format: they usually allow you to spend some Action Points on your initial response - and this is one of the key reasons to retain some Action Points throughout the year, in case of a natural disaster - and potentially make some political gains. Moreover, you’ll notice that on the best possible result (which is not available unless you spend at least 1 Action Point), the second stage of this card is skipped; it goes to the ‘3’ pile, so you can only draw it once more.

The drought is also rare in that in its future recurrences, there’s a chance you’ll just get bailed out by the weather, and the card goes straight to Discard with no further effect. Most natural disasters aren’t like that, though:



This card can’t get discarded by a lucky rain result (indeed, rain would make this one worse!). But, like the California drought, it’s a blow to the US economy, and the political fallout if you under-invest your Action Points (political capital) can be dramatic. The aftermath can also create a drag on your domestic tracks, which is very dangerous in year 2 when you need all the domestic track position you can get to maximize the chances of a good result in the midterm elections (or, in year 4, your re-election campaign!).

There’s also a hidden risk. Note that the aftermath effects can include Domestic Crises. If you don’t manage these correctly, you risk a Domestic Failure (that’s what happens if your Domestic Crisis level rises to 3). To control that risk, you’ll need to spend precious actions on “Address a Domestic Crisis.” So it’s not just public disapproval and tension with Congress and the Cabinet that these cards can drive - they’re also a subtle action drain.

Now let’s take a look at a Terrorism Crisis. These vary in structure much more than Natural Disasters do, and their effects and resolution depend on the target. For example, here’s a domestic terror attack:



Here, your Homeland Security level is paramount. A Homeland Security check is a d10 against the track rating, which ranges from 8 (robust capabilities) to 3 (compromised). If you pull this card, and pass that check, the attack is averted (well done!). You’ll get public approval and an RNG-free ding on a terror group anywhere you like.

But for an attack like this, the price of failure is severe. FOUR Tensions markers go on your Cabinet Priorities list, which means that anything but your top two priorities won’t even get rolls at the next resolution. And the Legislative Segment is skipped (possibly twice, if this is drawn early in the year)! However, you’re able to start an air campaign against the Rogue State you deem responsible, without needing to wait until an Action segment or spend Military actions to move the necessary air assets or actually kick off the offensive.

For a very different example, let’s take a look at this card:



This card represents a wave of terror attacks and operations in multiple African countries, rather than a single attack. As such, it’s handled as a Cascading Event rather than a one-time event. It leads to the buildup of African terror groups’ strength (represented in the card by Boko Haram), and pushes Regional Crises there pretty hard. Since a Major Regional Crisis in Africa can cause a refugee crisis, the spillover risk is significant. But you can play around this by aggressively assisting African states with anti-terror support - if you’re able to bring terror groups’ strength down such that there aren’t any at Level 2 or higher when you draw it again, this card will get pitched.



Here we have a dramatic terror attack against a highly symbolic target, but not in the U.S. In this case, the French will take unilateral action to deal with the attack, and will expect your support. If you don’t provide it, that’ll bruise relations with the EU - but in this case, the 2 Action Points provide a big die roll modifier, representing close collaboration and relationships between American and European anti-terror institutions and agencies. If the free Intel attempts result in identification and targeting of the responsible group, you’ll also get a free SpecOps raid against that group, likewise with a bonus.

I hope this deep dive on some of the nastier events in Mr. President has been exciting, if a bit worrisome!

Mr. President is a game about putting yourself in the Oval Office. We want to do as much as possible to ensure that players can envision themselves as POTUS, which means a variety of player avatars. Many strategy games don’t even have a player avatar; sometimes that’s because the player identity or gameplay and setting are abstract. Other times, the avatar is part of the game itself, and can change as a result of gameplay, as in dynasty simulators like Crusader Kings.

In Mr. President, the avatar itself doesn’t have any gameplay effect (although your Presidential Attributes certainly do!). So why invest scarce development resources into a beautiful selection of presidential portraits? Why not follow the board game and leave the president’s appearance to players’ imaginations?

It’s because Mr. President is an aspirational game, in which we want players to feel that someone like themselves could sit in the big chair. Mr. President is not a satirical game; it’s a serious treatment of a subject that’s both historical and contemporary, with an ultimately optimistic vision of the presidency as an institution. That optimism means we want players to feel as welcome and natural in the game as possible, and be able to realize the presidential fantasy of having a portrait in the White House. And that means players should have some choices about what that portrait would look like. Joshua Balcaceres, the art director for digital Mr. President - and whose specialty is character art - has some further thoughts to share.



In designing the Presidential Portraits for Mr. President, our goal was to reflect a broad spectrum of players while honoring the dignity and gravitas associated with the office. We began with a traditional image—a male, older president in the mold of historical figures like JFK or Teddy Roosevelt—but quickly saw the creative opportunity to expand that vision. Each portrait aims to present a leader who feels authentic, commanding, and worthy of being remembered—no matter their background or style. That meant pushing past convention, exploring diverse visual cues, and reimagining what a modern president might look like while still capturing the seriousness and stature of the role.

Some presidents might have a nontraditional style that hints at their individuality, but the core message remains the same: this is someone who leads a nation. The portraits are not just aesthetic—they’re invitations. They say: this could be you. And in a game that encourages players to step into the Oval Office, that sense of possibility is essential.