Ron Paul 2012: The Video Game - Updated
Submitted by Evil Warlord on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 23:54Here's a crazy idea. I figured why don't we make a Ron Paul video game and sell it to raise campaign funds? It's crazy, but it could be educational, entertaining, and it would help us immensely.
Off the top of my head, here are some issues to be addressed:
1. Who's going to run the project?
2. Can we develop it entirely with volunteers? (I'm more than willing)
3. Can we develop it so it works on all platforms?
4. As much as I like games where soldiers stomp zombies, it will obviously have to be nonviolent.
5. It would have to be very educational.
6. It would have to be action packed.
7. It'll need a good storyline and play, almost like a GTA game.
8. How much do we sell it for?
9. Can we get it professionally packaged?
10. How do we resolve legal issues regarding organization? 501(c), or what?
11. Can we get The Big Man's permission to use his likeness and quotes?
12. How do we coordinate and collaborate this project?
13. Is there anything else I missed?
**UPDATE**
Here's some people we're going to need, and this is by no means exhaustive:
1. Project manager.
2. Game story writers/concept developers.
3. 3D modelers and animators, graphic artists.
4. Programmers proficient in OpenGL. DirectX is nice, but it won't work on Mac or Linux without kludges. OpenGL is cross platform, and it doesn't require parallel coding environments.
5. Programmers who can cross code for the Windows API (most likely MFC, for performance reasons), the standard C libraries in Linux, and possibly Cocoa, unless Mac uses the same C libraries as Linux.
6. Sound effects and soundtrack specialists.
7. A web developer who knows PHP, MySQL, and AJAX, as well as web security, code versioning and tracking, and can figure out ways to collaborate this project with streaming voip, webcams, and cloud based desktops.
8. Game testers.
9. Someone to handle legal affairs, like getting rights, checking facts, making sure our code doesn't infringe on someone else's rights, etc.
10. Web marketing specialist.
Great Idea!
I use to work on video games. I can't make a game solo though.
I could help brainstorm ideas as the first step is to have a concept of exactly what you want the game to be.
Maybe call the game "President Paul" and be about what he would do in office? Maybe the main goal is to balance the budget and have mini-games for:
1. Withdrawing troops: Have a little helicopter game where you pick up troops.
2. Vetoing Bills: can throw X-Stamps at unconstitutional legislation.
3. Proposing cuts: and then have a mini-game where you need to get the votes for have your cuts approved, maybe something that teaches non-violent communication in the process.
4. Stop deflation: Can replace people's savings with Gold/Silver, watch the value deflation stop!!! Buying power increase!
Already this would be a huge project. I think the hardest part would be limiting the scope of the game in order to actually get it done, so many great ideas...
If you are into gaming, you might like my other website: http://forceofdork.com/
And my game: http://irl-rpg.com
Jack Wagner
The Free Independent-Sun
Chip-In for Nassim Taleb Fundraiser
Go For It
I do not think your idea is crazy at all. Think of all the ideas that bore major fruit that people called crazy, silly et et. If you are passionate about it(which you seem to be) and can garner the necessary support to make it happen, please give it a shot! At worst, you have made a game that mainly RP supporters would either purchase for fund-raising or play for free, whichever you decide to do. Or at best, you have provided yet another great tool to really spread the message. If you do end up making it, and do sell it, I would pay up to $60.00 for it, the same price for a brand new xbox or ps3 game. Good luck if you decide to go for it! :)
Silk30
I built a Ron Paul video game
So, I went ahead and built a Ron Paul video game. I put it up on a server today at www.ronpaulgame.com. The game is about ending the fed. Really, it's Ben Bernanke zombies and Woodrow Wilson flying planes, and the 10 bosses are the people standing in Ron Paul's way on his historic march to the Presidency.
You don't have to register, and it's free to play for anyone. It links to the Facebook App I made for him. Anyway, I can make the code available to anyone. I made the game with a great jQuery plugin for building games. It would be cool to make something more complicated and educational. It would be a fun project. I don't get paid to do any of this, it's not my day job, but the cause of liberty is my life job.
I love your game
It's so fun! XD
"Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God." -Thomas Jefferson
My blog: http://anna4ronpaul.wordpress.com/
Computer Programmer Here
Will contribute to anything that will help Ron Paul....
Personally I think it should be geared to the mobile markets the easiest way to do that would be to do a web based app. There should be a desktop app also but I believe the mobile app would be most beneficial because of the huge markets available. I also agree with some other post it should be free to get as many people as possible aware of Ron Paul.
Play as other candidates
I think we should just use it to bash other candidates. Here were my ideas for each guy:
Cain-- You could have a simple game where you throw pizzas at poor people and he yells 9 every time you hit one. Either this or you should have to try and grab women without anyone else seeing.
Perry-- You could just have a duck hunt game, but in the back ground is the niggerhead rock and every time you kill a duck he says a stupid quote.
Gingrich-- I was just thinking you could kill hookers from a limo and have him say quotes as you shoot.
Romney-- You should simply have to beat up middle class/ poor citizens and return the money to a big building labeled wall street or goldman sachs.
Obama--You can do predator strikes of innocent civilians. It can even give you extra points if you kill American citizens.
Final Level-- You're a mexican being chased by drug cartels, but you have to jump a series of electric fence barriers while the other candidates are in the background laughing/ shooting at you.
After you play the game it should say something like... "Ron Paul, like you want one of these guys"
how about a game where you
how about a game where you play a candidate, that starts out of as a mayor of xyz city, then either build up your reputation by hosting grass root rallies.
As you progress, either the media and establishment support you, or they work against you (hiring political commentators that say you "can't win", or prop up other establishment candidates).
Not sure you'd need all kinds of opengl, but maybe for a "debate minigame", with candidates on stage.
There's not a lot of time left in the campaign, only thing I can think of being feasible would be a mini-game, and make it browser-based.
Even just a debate mini-game with webgl can probably generate a lot of buzz, since webgl is new, and people would be interested to check it out just for the technology aspect of it, I bet a few tech sites might blog about it.
Ron Paul - The Game "the goal is to win"
This is a free online project tool! perfect for your idea!
www.zoho.com (projects)
Я Ξ √ Ω L U T ↑ ☼ N 2012!
watch this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HYAgNdHmGs&feature=related
BUT Don't do the easy thing and attack other neo"conservatives" or Hannity, as much fun as a snowball throwing game would be...don't do it!
Focus on education and the Fed as the enemy...we need to woo all conservatives w/ this game...not put them on the defensive.
Just launched http://iroots.org/
Activism Training.
Make it educational AND fun with a Hannity snowball bonus round
Make it educational AND fun with a Hannity snowball bonus round!!
Have a "dodge the lobbyist" round, Breakout-style "bounce the check from Geithner and Bernanke" round, "tunnel through the federal debt" round with Pelosi and Obama pouring ten-year notes from a private jet, and so on.
"Cowards & idiots can come along for the ride but they gotta sit in the back seat!"
Don't Attact but Educate
Educate, don't attack. I agree. Oh, those clips are funny and inventive. Quite creative! I love free people!
School's fine. Just don't let it get in the way of learning. -Me
I don't want do discourage anyone who really wants to do this
but I would scoff at playing the game nonetheless passing it on to "the youth" in some attempt to turn them onto Ron Paul. As a 29 year old who goes through a gaming phase here and there occasionally, it just seems uninteresting.
if you're gonna do it though, I would highly recommend it be flash based as others have suggested. if anything it needs to be easily embedded in other sites (message boards, etc.) as I see no mass appeal in downloading a Ron Paul game.
Simple Game, Complex Game
I agree, stuffaduf. I think the first game should be simple. Simple doesn't mean disgraceful or childish. Simple means simple. Get the message across. That message: freedom. Point to the how freedom is obtained, lived. Point to the Constitution and just as important, to Natural Law, one document that enshrines and one concept that conveys freedom.
Complex gaming would be something to consider when there's a year to a year and a half to spend making a game. To me, the flash game appears to be the right choice. Still, I'd want to hear from Warlord about this idea, the practicality of a game. I just don't know what's involved in making a game. *Shrugs Shoulders*
As it goes, I've not talked about making a game before this post Warlord made. Heehee. Talking about game production here is the furthest I've gone in game production. Pun intended: I'm game, though. *Chuckle*
School's fine. Just don't let it get in the way of learning. -Me
if the manpower is there, I certainly don't want to discourage
so on that note, one drunken idea. it has to be simple like you mentioned, in that it is addicting in an impulsive way. make it a one click or couple key stroke game. basically that if you were to gut it from any political message it would still be fun for someone to play a few times (or a thousand if they get addicted to it). use the bill of rights. people know WHAT the bill of rights is even if they don't know what they contain. you start with freedom of speech. make it like crush the castle or angry birds. you have the 1st amendment to do something with a simple click or keystroke (a time based objective). when you complete a certian number of levels, you get the 2nd amendment. this is obviously an extra weapon or something of sorts that allows you a little more power to accomplish a similar task as the previous level(s).
and so on.
/drunken rant
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SELL THIS
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SELL THIS GAME. If you're planning on developing a game that costs the player ANYTHING, plan on nobody caring except for people who already know Ron Paul and have an interest in all things Ron Paul. I know this is the place where planning begins, so I hope you take my advice on this one. There are literally thousands of viral games being created and dropped to market DAILY for free, so a non-game creating community attempting to tap into the gaming market with some sort of playable game in a short period of time, WITH a political message that will only serve to limit the audience even further will fail horribly if it is marketed in any direction other than virally.
In the simplest terms possible, this project, if attempted will fail horribly if not accomplishing a couple of basic marketing goals:
1) It has to be free
2) It has to be easily distributed/hosted/embedded online, meaning flash or silverlight, etc.
3) It needs to be fun and simple
If you need more than a handful of testers, this project will fail. I love the enthusiasm of everyone coming forward volunteering to beta test, but I don't see it as a huge step forward in the idea. It must be simple, I cannot stress that enough.
If these first hurdles can be accomplished, there's a chance it can possibly do something to convert/educate people on Ron Paul and his message. Anything short of these few suggestions will be a big fail. i promise.
This is all meant to be productive if not harsh
Why not just make it in flash?
Less dev time, less complicated, and multi-platform.
I'll volunteer as an alpha/beta tester.
Ron's main weapon would be the constitution, rolled up. It could have a throwing option where it resembled a boomerang. In close combat it would be used like a club.
End goal would be to get Ron in the whitehouse. He would start off in the halls of congress, smacking baddies with the constitution to collect gold and silver coins. You could have various similar levels Iowa, N.H., S.C., etc. Between levels, the bonus rounds would be debate like where he has to duck and evade media talking heads like Hannity. You should try to incorporate money bombs in there somehow.
Anyhow I think it sounds like a neat idea.
Also I'm not sure about selling it. Put it out there for free or develop it for Droid/Iphone and put a 99c price on it.
I'm currently beta testing
a game written w/ Silverlight. It's smoooooooooth compared to Flash games in the same genre.
Defend Liberty!
Grade A Idears
Zero, yes, great ideas! You got me thinking about the layout of the game.
*50 states, a path throughout them
*campaigning
*history lessons on the campaign trail
a) lessons in various formats:
1. candidate appears on radio and talk shows, answering questions correctly (read: Constitutionally and in Natural Law, which will defy a couple amendments) and wrongly (nonConstitutionally). This format is where Jeopardy format comes in: Hannity sits in one chair, RP in another chair, question pops up in commentary bubble over Hannity, answer's appear in commentary bubble over RP, one answer is right. Player must answer question correctly to move to next place in campaign trail, say, next state. OR player can answer incorrectly but a tally of his answers is given at end of game.
*answers determine whether player's knowledge suffices to earn party nomination and then presidency, from which party candidate squares off against other party or parties' candidates. This determination could spoil plot of RP reaching the White House. What can be done to rectify this delimma?
(to be continued)
School's fine. Just don't let it get in the way of learning. -Me
dont they have quiz games
or role playing games on youtube that you can make? ive seen them before. i'm not sure if they still have that program available anymore though but that would be easy and free.
How bout this idea
Ben Bernanke is at the helm of a printing press shooting razor sharp FRN's at you with that stupid shit eating grin on his face. You have to disable the printing press with gold and silver bullets, article 1 section 8 nades and legal tender bombs before he drowns all the sheep with inflation. I wish I had programming experience I'd start on it right now.
Gold, Silver Bullets Shoot Down Fed Printing Press
Awesome! I love it!! LOL.
School's fine. Just don't let it get in the way of learning. -Me
In the end of the game you
In the end of the game you have to fight Ben Bernanke, but once you beat him, he mutates into a giant octopus with Bernanke's head and you have to paper cut all the tentacles off with the constitution haha!
According to Numbers 5:11, abortions are supposed to be performed by priests, not doctors.
אני מקלל אותך עברית כי אתה לא שווה את המאמץ לקלל באנגלית
Game's Ending
Super cool, dude. I'm lovin' that ending. Reminds me of the Super Nintendo game Zelda: A Link to the Past. In that game didn't Link's arch foe Ganon have to be slashed? Anyway, sounds good -- and fun!! :p
School's fine. Just don't let it get in the way of learning. -Me
I'm just a 60 year old Libertarian dinosaur
who would not touch a video game, but didn't Obama get his name on popular video games when he was running?
Maybe we should just get Ron Paul's "peace" message out on the hot video games, whatever they happen to be, like Obama did.
I think the peace message is the one message that would resonate with the younger people, even the video game zombies.
We need an age check on the haters.
This would appeal to the younger voters no doubt. There are a lot of college aged kids that spend a lot of time on their computers and are very open to this message of liberty and sound money. I think the problem is the haters don't seem to understand that video games are not all that hard to create unless your trying to be cutting edge. Games can be fun and catch on without being graphics intensive. Angry Birds is the most popular game app for iphone and android and is very simplistic. As far as being a waste of money and resources. Iphone and Android apps are free to post. Pc and Mac games require no license, all you need is the software to create these games and permission from Ron to use his name and likeness. Besides that it's just the people's time put into creating the game. It doesn't have to be the most kick ass graphics you've ever seen, it just has to be fun, and should have a sarcastic Carlin esque humor to it. Could be a great tool for promoting money bombs and campaign contributions as well.
I don't care if the haters
I don't care if the haters hate video games as long as they like Ron Paul.. hell, I don't care much for video games myself, but it's a good way to reach the younger audience.
I think a lot of the naysayers out there don't realize how far rapid development packages for games have come. I've been looking at this Unity 3D software, and it would be an excellent way to get games developed of all types, they might even give us fully licensed copies just to promote their product as a tie-in with the RP movement.
As for graphics quality, there's no reason why we couldn't come up with thousands of different games ranging from flash animated pong games all the way up to call of duty. We've certainly got enough people in our movement, especially young educated folks, that we are statistically far more likely to have the man power than any other candidate.
According to Numbers 5:11, abortions are supposed to be performed by priests, not doctors.
אני מקלל אותך עברית כי אתה לא שווה את המאמץ לקלל באנגלית
Terrible idea
This is what you would call a "misallocation of resources."
The only people that would buy this game are Ron Paul supporters, and any money they spend on this game is money that won't be given to moneybombs or other fundraisers.
Video games are not easy to produce. There is a reason why successful video games are put out by large, well funded development studios. The average video game costs about 28 million dollars to produce and only about 20% of video games make a profit.
Instead of spending all our time and money building some glitchy soapbox game with poor mechanics and shoddy graphics, lets focus our efforts on something that might ACTUALLY WORK!!!
If you must try something like this, make a flash game.
Challenge everything and the path will be clear.
Good point; the licensing
Good point; the licensing agreement must contain a clause that says:
"No person shall be coerced into playing this game without his consent, nor shall any person coerce another person into playing this game without his consent, nor shall any person of the age of majority be prohibited from playing this game without his consent. Any person who violates this provision commits a no-no of the nth degree."
Happy?
By the way, one of my hobbies is hyperrealistic 3D human simulations that make Tron Legacy's young Jeff Bridges look like an 8 bit Nintendo game. So much for shoddy graphics.
According to Numbers 5:11, abortions are supposed to be performed by priests, not doctors.
אני מקלל אותך עברית כי אתה לא שווה את המאמץ לקלל באנגלית
Ron Paul Video Game
Do it!
I'd be a tester if I had a fast computer, but my computer is slow. If you can get it onto a disk to run off of PS2 and xbox 360, drop me a line. I'll test it.
Meanwhile, I'll visit this entry routinely to post ideas or to see what else is here, or both.
One idea that comes to mind is the gameplay. Would it be simple or complex? Will there be action, questionaires, puzzles, single player or multi player? Or all of these game types can be in the game?
Here's a spectrum of games in their simplicity and complexity that came to my mind:
1. Jeopardy Game Show
2. Atari's Jungle Hunt
3. Pac Man
4. Dig Dug
5. X-men Lengends or Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Reasons for those games:
1. Self explanatory broadly speaking.
2. Simple idea -- jumping over pits, boulders and to swinging vines. Convert these objects to Constitution and history contexts
3. RP goes through maze chomping, or beating, congressmen and -women writing unconstitutional bills. Bills are votes away from becoming law. So, if a bills become a law, RP could beat a law, which is more powerful than a bill, into oblivion too. Beat, as in, say, unfurl the Constitution infront of the bill or law and point to it, asking where in this is your reason to exist?
4. RP is the little guy who blows up unconstitutional beings, beings who are creatures. Creatures of Congress, the worst one: the Creature from Jekyll Island, the Fed! Ahhhhh!!!
5. Multi Player action. Unlock United States' Founding Fathers and other historical freedom people, even if they were outside and/or before the United States came to be, such as Ghandi. Each character can have his streghth.
Anyway. That's it for now. Talk with you later.
School's fine. Just don't let it get in the way of learning. -Me
Looks like Unity could work.
Looks like Unity could work. It's $1500 for Unity Pro, but I might decide to shell out the dough for it anyway just so I can make games for profit.
Way easier than coding everything in C++!
According to Numbers 5:11, abortions are supposed to be performed by priests, not doctors.
אני מקלל אותך עברית כי אתה לא שווה את המאמץ לקלל באנגלית