Q&A #1. The future of the Plutocracy
Hello and welcome to our new heading where we will answer the questions you sent us some time before!
[h2]About the game[/h2]
Q: How will the world confront the player, since this opposition looks unconvincing now? Can we fight the government by controlling politicians?
A: Indeed, at the moment, there is practically no opposition to the player. After the demo update, there are many more difficulties and questions that players will have to solve to maintain their empire. In general, after significant updates (politics, and then the stock markets), we will tackle the issue of confronting the player to make the game look more attractive.
As for the fight against the government - yes, you can fight it by controlling politicians, both through lobbying and choosing the people you need for key regional and state posts.
Q: Will we be able to become part of the government (be elected, as a governor)?
A: This issue is being actively discussed within the studio.
In the original concept, we did not plan to make the player a politician, because he is a shadow figure, a manipulator. You don't have to be in plain sight of this. Rockefeller or Morgan were not politicians but took an active role in the country's political life. We want to keep the original idea and allow the player to lobby laws and politicians, being in the shadows, like a true plutocrat.
Q: Right now it feels like the in-game menus are lagging, do you have any plans to fix this in the future because it messes up the game?
A: We devote quite a lot of time to optimization. The game is continuously expanding, and during early access, this can be inconvenient. Still, after the implementation of the main functionality planned by us, we will be able to devote even more time to optimization and solve all the problems associated with it.
Q: Any advice for lenders? Every time I lend money to someone, the characters just refuse to pay, is there any feature that can make them do it?
A: Yes, of course. You need to get in contact with the collector (Mika Pshishtov) - this is his specialization.
Q: When will the game be ported to another engine?
A: We are not currently considering this possibility. The fact is that any game can run with some delays on any game engine, and in general, developers have to deal with these delays on absolutely any engine. By the time the game leaves Early Access, we will try to resolve all optimization issues so that the game feels confident about the minimum possible hardware.
[h2]New features[/h2]
Q: When will global markets such as Asian or European markets be realized?
A: We will start working on the global markets right after all the mechanics for the US are implemented. We need to focus and follow through on all the critical mechanics before using them in other countries and connecting them.
Q: When will more than one opponent be added to the game?
A: We will deal with this issue right after we add the stock market to the game.
Q: Will there be energy companies represented that have provoked the tariff wars?
A: Yes, energy companies are included in our plans. They will be implemented as soon as possible.
Q: Will there be war bonds and global economic events?
A: The economic impact of war is a severe topic, and of course, we are going to uncover this connection in the Plutocracy.
Global economic events also will be featured in the game. We will deal with them after we have implemented all the fundamental mechanics of the game.
Q: How do you see the stock market work?
A: It would be too difficult to describe the stock market mechanism in a short answer format. We already have a working prototype that was tested long before the game went into Early Access, and we will build on it anyway. The real work of the stock markets will undoubtedly be discussed in one of the future dev diaries.
Q: Will we see a political update? When are you planning to release it?
A: Of course, you will be able to see a political update soon. We plan to release this update as early as September or October. With a fully fleshed out and working political system, with elections and laws.
Q: Will there be a stock market split and a reverse split in the game?
A: Stock market split and the reverse split is a relatively simple thing to implement. So far, this is the first request for such a topic, and if it gets community support, it will indeed be implemented.
Q: Will there be automation tools? (managing a group of companies by hired managers, rearranging technologies, automatic processing of typical events such as accidents, strikes, etc.)
A: Yes, we want to implement something like this to improve many of the mechanics responsible for running the company.
Q: Will there be controller support in the game? (has a lot of clicks so that controller support would be a good idea)
A: This is the first request we’ve had for that. We could explore the possibility of adding it sometime in the future.
Q: When can I chase Rockefeller?
A: After the sandbox mode is more fleshed out, we plan to start making a singleplayer campaign against Rockefeller.
Q: When will sandbox mode become more functional?
A: We hope to be able to finalize the sandbox and fundamental mechanics this year. Also, at the moment, we are striving for the maximum of those opportunities that are currently blocked.
Q: Will economic simulation ever deepen?
A: Yes, we have plans to deepen the economic model of the game further, but at the moment, we are focused on politics, so we will return to finalizing the economic functionality immediately after it.
Q: Are there any more plans for a global map? If so, will other countries differ to what extent, which businesses will be available? If not, what are the differences?
A: Yes, there are such plans, and we see the solution in assigning specialization to countries in one or another type of company so that the player interacts with the world.
For example, if you are building an oil monopoly, you will need to interact with countries engaged in the extraction and processing of oil.
[h2]About the studio and our plans[/h2]
Q: How did the developers come up with the concept / idea of the game?
A: The idea was born out of Theodore Dreiser's trilogy “The Financier”, the biographies of the early billionaires, and the study of phenomena such as plutocracy. The influence of this phenomenon on the entire history of humanity, in our opinion, is invaluable, and until now, its whole essence remains undisclosed to the end.
Q: What are your expectations for the game in the future?
A: We would like to see Plutocracy become the best political and economic simulator of its kind. At the same time, we strive to make sure that a high degree of replayability is achieved.
We will consider our goal fulfilled if the game is not just fun, but also the purpose of educating people in a way that will be useful.
Q: Could having more working hands help the game?
A: Yes, but we are limited by budget, so at the moment, we can ourselves attract more developers to speed up the process. Over time, we plan to expand, but this will depend on the games and their success.
Q: Do you work on the game full time?
A: Almost the entire team is working full time, so we are as focused as possible on the game.
Q: Who are these guys making my favorite game? Where is your studio located, and what prompted you to make such a game?
A: Our head office is located in the Siberian region of Russia - Barnaul.
The idea of the game was hatched for about seven years. We did not see similar games that would convey the role of individuals in economics and politics, their connection with each other, often through corruption and lobbying, as authentically as possible. We also wanted to play a more realistic simulator, where the player not only buys or sells something, competing at the production level but also uses all the levers in the form of political pressure. We wanted to create a model based not just on numbers but also on people because the human factor in real life means a lot when reaching high levels of financial power.
Q: What are you planning to add to the game that hasn’t been announced yet?
A: Let this be a surprise, but we can say that some ideas are born during the development process or when communicating with the community.
Q: Is this the only project the studio is working on?
A: Yes, we are focused only on this project now.
Q: When is the release planned for (v 1.0)?
A: Our aim isn’t to release it from Early Access as soon as possible just for the sake of it. First of all, we want to make it as playable as possible, and until we are 100% sure of its playability, we will work on it. It should be worthy of the title of “Full Release”.
As for the question, in an extremely optimistic scenario, we could consider the possibility of leaving Early Access at the end of the year.
Q: Are there any unsolvable problems?
A: Not unsolvable but difficult.
Globally - multiplayer. We have discussed how to implement it, but have not yet come to a common point of view on how it should be arranged, so we have postponed the solution of this issue to a later date.
[h2]About the game[/h2]
Q: How will the world confront the player, since this opposition looks unconvincing now? Can we fight the government by controlling politicians?
A: Indeed, at the moment, there is practically no opposition to the player. After the demo update, there are many more difficulties and questions that players will have to solve to maintain their empire. In general, after significant updates (politics, and then the stock markets), we will tackle the issue of confronting the player to make the game look more attractive.
As for the fight against the government - yes, you can fight it by controlling politicians, both through lobbying and choosing the people you need for key regional and state posts.
Q: Will we be able to become part of the government (be elected, as a governor)?
A: This issue is being actively discussed within the studio.
In the original concept, we did not plan to make the player a politician, because he is a shadow figure, a manipulator. You don't have to be in plain sight of this. Rockefeller or Morgan were not politicians but took an active role in the country's political life. We want to keep the original idea and allow the player to lobby laws and politicians, being in the shadows, like a true plutocrat.
Q: Right now it feels like the in-game menus are lagging, do you have any plans to fix this in the future because it messes up the game?
A: We devote quite a lot of time to optimization. The game is continuously expanding, and during early access, this can be inconvenient. Still, after the implementation of the main functionality planned by us, we will be able to devote even more time to optimization and solve all the problems associated with it.
Q: Any advice for lenders? Every time I lend money to someone, the characters just refuse to pay, is there any feature that can make them do it?
A: Yes, of course. You need to get in contact with the collector (Mika Pshishtov) - this is his specialization.
Q: When will the game be ported to another engine?
A: We are not currently considering this possibility. The fact is that any game can run with some delays on any game engine, and in general, developers have to deal with these delays on absolutely any engine. By the time the game leaves Early Access, we will try to resolve all optimization issues so that the game feels confident about the minimum possible hardware.
[h2]New features[/h2]
Q: When will global markets such as Asian or European markets be realized?
A: We will start working on the global markets right after all the mechanics for the US are implemented. We need to focus and follow through on all the critical mechanics before using them in other countries and connecting them.
Q: When will more than one opponent be added to the game?
A: We will deal with this issue right after we add the stock market to the game.
Q: Will there be energy companies represented that have provoked the tariff wars?
A: Yes, energy companies are included in our plans. They will be implemented as soon as possible.
Q: Will there be war bonds and global economic events?
A: The economic impact of war is a severe topic, and of course, we are going to uncover this connection in the Plutocracy.
Global economic events also will be featured in the game. We will deal with them after we have implemented all the fundamental mechanics of the game.
Q: How do you see the stock market work?
A: It would be too difficult to describe the stock market mechanism in a short answer format. We already have a working prototype that was tested long before the game went into Early Access, and we will build on it anyway. The real work of the stock markets will undoubtedly be discussed in one of the future dev diaries.
Q: Will we see a political update? When are you planning to release it?
A: Of course, you will be able to see a political update soon. We plan to release this update as early as September or October. With a fully fleshed out and working political system, with elections and laws.
Q: Will there be a stock market split and a reverse split in the game?
A: Stock market split and the reverse split is a relatively simple thing to implement. So far, this is the first request for such a topic, and if it gets community support, it will indeed be implemented.
Q: Will there be automation tools? (managing a group of companies by hired managers, rearranging technologies, automatic processing of typical events such as accidents, strikes, etc.)
A: Yes, we want to implement something like this to improve many of the mechanics responsible for running the company.
Q: Will there be controller support in the game? (has a lot of clicks so that controller support would be a good idea)
A: This is the first request we’ve had for that. We could explore the possibility of adding it sometime in the future.
Q: When can I chase Rockefeller?
A: After the sandbox mode is more fleshed out, we plan to start making a singleplayer campaign against Rockefeller.
Q: When will sandbox mode become more functional?
A: We hope to be able to finalize the sandbox and fundamental mechanics this year. Also, at the moment, we are striving for the maximum of those opportunities that are currently blocked.
Q: Will economic simulation ever deepen?
A: Yes, we have plans to deepen the economic model of the game further, but at the moment, we are focused on politics, so we will return to finalizing the economic functionality immediately after it.
Q: Are there any more plans for a global map? If so, will other countries differ to what extent, which businesses will be available? If not, what are the differences?
A: Yes, there are such plans, and we see the solution in assigning specialization to countries in one or another type of company so that the player interacts with the world.
For example, if you are building an oil monopoly, you will need to interact with countries engaged in the extraction and processing of oil.
[h2]About the studio and our plans[/h2]
Q: How did the developers come up with the concept / idea of the game?
A: The idea was born out of Theodore Dreiser's trilogy “The Financier”, the biographies of the early billionaires, and the study of phenomena such as plutocracy. The influence of this phenomenon on the entire history of humanity, in our opinion, is invaluable, and until now, its whole essence remains undisclosed to the end.
Q: What are your expectations for the game in the future?
A: We would like to see Plutocracy become the best political and economic simulator of its kind. At the same time, we strive to make sure that a high degree of replayability is achieved.
We will consider our goal fulfilled if the game is not just fun, but also the purpose of educating people in a way that will be useful.
Q: Could having more working hands help the game?
A: Yes, but we are limited by budget, so at the moment, we can ourselves attract more developers to speed up the process. Over time, we plan to expand, but this will depend on the games and their success.
Q: Do you work on the game full time?
A: Almost the entire team is working full time, so we are as focused as possible on the game.
Q: Who are these guys making my favorite game? Where is your studio located, and what prompted you to make such a game?
A: Our head office is located in the Siberian region of Russia - Barnaul.
The idea of the game was hatched for about seven years. We did not see similar games that would convey the role of individuals in economics and politics, their connection with each other, often through corruption and lobbying, as authentically as possible. We also wanted to play a more realistic simulator, where the player not only buys or sells something, competing at the production level but also uses all the levers in the form of political pressure. We wanted to create a model based not just on numbers but also on people because the human factor in real life means a lot when reaching high levels of financial power.
Q: What are you planning to add to the game that hasn’t been announced yet?
A: Let this be a surprise, but we can say that some ideas are born during the development process or when communicating with the community.
Q: Is this the only project the studio is working on?
A: Yes, we are focused only on this project now.
Q: When is the release planned for (v 1.0)?
A: Our aim isn’t to release it from Early Access as soon as possible just for the sake of it. First of all, we want to make it as playable as possible, and until we are 100% sure of its playability, we will work on it. It should be worthy of the title of “Full Release”.
As for the question, in an extremely optimistic scenario, we could consider the possibility of leaving Early Access at the end of the year.
Q: Are there any unsolvable problems?
A: Not unsolvable but difficult.
Globally - multiplayer. We have discussed how to implement it, but have not yet come to a common point of view on how it should be arranged, so we have postponed the solution of this issue to a later date.
