- Road to Release - 13 September 2026
Hi all!You might have noticed that I've officially set the release of The Electorate for October 27, 2026!This has been a long journey, and I'm so excited to finally get to share my work with you all.A few notes about release:I'm confident that the game will be complete for an October 27th release, but any delays will be short, and announced by Early October. If I, for some reason, feel like I need to push the game back, it would release no later than November. It would largely be last minute bugs that would prevent the game from releasing on time, so please bare with me there.The game will be $24.99 USD, with a 20% launch discount.I will be very active during launch week to squash any bugs and ensure the game is in a good state.I plan to continue developing The Electorate, with hopes to eventually expand to new countries, create new systems, and more! Thank you to everyone who's been s…
- Dev Log #14 - Events - 28 April 2026
Hi all! After a quick break, I’m back to doing dev logs. Today we're covering the events system.Events are important for creating immersion and adding replayability to campaigns. In The Electorate, events can come in a wide number of forms. Scandals, rogue journalists, campaign staff whistleblowers, town hall Q&As, interactions at a rally, and even assassination attempts. My main inspiration for the events system is how events are handled in Crusader Kings III, where character-focused interactions prevail and make sense in the context of the game. I believe this brings the game to life in a meaningful way, and I wanted to replicate that same idea in The Electorate.How Events Are BuiltEvents can be triggered after a turn is completed or after an action is taken on the campaign trail. Events are based in game context, but are selected randomly out of a pool of hundreds of eligible events.…
- Dev Log #13 - Media Outlets - 12 March 2026
Hi all! Today's dev log is all about the media system, one of the more complex and dynamic systems I've built (and still building) for The Electorate.As we all know, the media has a major impact on election cycles. The first competitive US election was in 1796 between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. One of the key features of that race was the use of newspaper outlets to smear or promote each candidate. Back then, the only way to really learn about a candidate was through the papers, so control over the media was essential. That brutal campaign was eventually won by Adams, but it gave a gloomy foreshadowing of just how nasty American elections would get in the future. In The Electorate, I’ve tried to model the media landscape in the US as best I can for now. This is a system that you could spend an endless amount of hours building on, but I think this is a good start for inclusion in t…
- Dev Log #12 - Demographics & Customization - 24 February 2026
Hi all! Today’s dev log is going to focus on demographics and the customization options you’ll have access to. Customization is the single most wanted item in the game, and luckily for you all, that was my plan from the beginning.However, because of the demand for it, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how deep I can go with customization while still depicting an accurate electorate, and ensuring candidates and their positions still make meaningful changes, while also integrating more options into the game’s voting system.Let’s get into it.How Demographics Impact IdeologyA key feature of the game that I’ve discussed in previous dev logs is the ideology system.There was recently a discussion about how demographics should impact voting behavior in our Discord (join here if you haven’t already), and I want to take this time to explain why I believe the best way of modeling that is thr…
- Dev Log #11 - Campaign Staff - 10 February 2026
Hi all! Today’s topic is Campaign Staff. Before we get into that, I have a couple of announcements and shameless plugs. First, our Discord and Steam Community have grown significantly over the past week. We can all thank Reddit for that. Feel free to join and engage in the conversations happening in those communities.Two, If you haven’t already, share the game with your friends who might be interested in a game like this, because that seems to be a big source of discovery.Three, I have some UI screenshots in this dev log. These are a work-in-progress and still not finalized. With that said, let’s get into it.When I started planning the campaign staff system, I wanted to build something that felt interactive. It would have been easy to just make it so that you simply hire a few advisors who give bonuses to your activities and call it a day, but that would have been boring.Instead, I want…
- Dev Log #10 - Election Night Preview - 27 January 2026
Hi all! Today’s dev log is about Election Night.This feature, along with the polling system, is ultimately what drove me to make this game. It’s by far my favorite feature that I’ve worked on, and it’s so fun that I’ve lost a few hours of development time just watching it.And for good reason. Election Day in America is my Super Bowl. It’s especially great during presidential elections, but even the midterms and off-year special elections are fun to watch. My personal preference is to watch CNN’s John King explain vote counts and dive into electoral history on his “Magic Wall,” but plenty of other TV stations have capitalized on the spectacle that is Election Night.Additionally, online sources like the New York Times and Decision Desk HQ have created in-depth maps and analysis where you can watch real time votes get counted, track against previous years, and search for early signs of whi…
- Dev Log #9 - Offices & Congressional Districts - 13 January 2026
Hi all! I’ve been ramping up development over these last few weeks and lots of progress is being made. No exact dates on a launch schedule, but it’s getting close. Today, I’m going to be discussing the mechanics around campaign buildings, their impacts, and the finances around them.Building a Ground Game“Ground game” is a common term you’ll hear in American elections, but it’s just another term for “campaign infrastructure.” A good ground game usually features a strong base of volunteers, a clear organizational structure in a county, and some sort of operation for turning out voters.In The Electorate, you’ll be planting the seeds of a ground game through the use of campaign offices. In each county, you’ll have access to four distinct buildings that give passive effects each turn:County Campaign Headquarters: Establishes a presence in the county.Canvassing Center: Volunteers make contact…
- Dev Log #8 - Update on Congress and Primaries - 1 January 2026
Happy New Year! I hope you all enjoyed your holiday.Today’s dev log will talk about what I’m thinking about doing with the congressional system in the game, explain the thought process behind it, as well as give a quick update on primaries. I first want to start by addressing the fact that The Electorate’s scope has evolved significantly from when I first started this endeavor. At first, I planned on making a basic presidential election simulator with just the 50 states and DC. That turned into all of the counties in the country. Then, after several other increases in scope, I realized that this wouldn't be complete without congressional and gubernatorial elections. I added it as a post-launch feature to be developed, but after discussing with some of you and gathering some feedback, I feel like it’s important to deliver a better experience at launch, with features to add post-launch. H…
- Dev Log #7 - UI Updates - 25 November 2025
Hi all!Today’s dev log will finally be image heavy. I’ve been stuck in the weeds of UI, and I’m happy to say that a lot of progress has been made. Much of the original UI was thrown together quickly, and while somewhat functional, it was certainly not pleasant to look at. With many elements of the game programmed at this point, I 1) needed a break from programming, 2) felt the need to start showing more of the game as we get closer to release and 3) got tired of losing track of temporary debug buttons.So, that brings me to now. I’ve gone ahead and completely rehauled the original UI, using a new visual style, color palette, and the introduction of dark mode, which became very necessary after using the old UI. While still a work in progress and not production-ready, the overall visual style is complete, and I’ll be giving you a brief preview of some of the things I’ve been working on.Sel…
- Dev Log #6 - Rallies and Fundraisers - 6 November 2025
Welcome back to another dev log! Today, we’re going to discuss an important subset of campaign activities: rallies and fundraisers. Other activities, like advertising, are larger and more intricate systems, along with media events and whatnot, and require their own dev logs. The following are the moves you’ll be interacting with more often than anything else, so I figured it would be good to get a full overview of how these work.Overall, rallies are used to boost turnout, and fundraisers are used to raise money. Let’s talk about each activity.RalliesAt the core of your campaign are rallies. As we know in the real world, rallies are a boisterous representation of a political campaign. It’s a chance for candidates to connect with their supporters in an engaging setting where they can take their political masks off and be a real human. It boosts enthusiasm, makes voters feel connected to t…
- Dev Log #5 - Ideology Groups - 21 October 2025
Hello! Welcome back to another dev log! Today, we’re covering ideology groups, and how they impact each election in a huge way.How Voters VoteIn a general sense, voters vote based on the issues that matter to them. Whether it's about how the economy should be run, if they think AI should be more or less regulated, or whether healthcare is a human right, voters tend to pick candidates that most closely identify with their personal positions. Furthermore, these positions are informed by their ideology.In The Electorate, this dynamic is modeled through ideology groups, of which make an evaluation about who they want to vote for based on their position on issues, and their weighted importance of those issues.There are eight ideology groups and 10 key issues in any given election scenario. Today, we’ll discuss the 2024 scenario as our example, but these groups and issues will differ by year…
- Official Roadmap - 7 October 2025
Hey everyone! I've received a lot of questions from many of you over the past couple of months wondering about the inclusion of certain key features, a release date, whether the game will receive post-launch support, and more. So, to clear the air on some of these questions, I'm releasing the official roadmap for The Electorate, with plans going as far as 2027!This is a broad stroke look at where the game is headed, but it should answer some of the most prominent questions I've received. Yes, primaries will be included. Yes, you will be able to customize the elections that you play, from randomizing populations to changing voting rules to editing ideology groups and more. You'll be able to see your previous elections and stats. And, at some point, even play Career Mode, where you'll choose a party and run candidates in persistent elections, where each election result impacts the next.Bu…
- Dev Log #4 - The Polling System - 30 September 2025
Welcome to the fourth dev log! I apologize for the two-week delay. I was on vacation during the first Tuesday, and then fell ill the moment I came home. Needless to say, development has been slow this month, but luckily, we’re entering October back in rhythm, barring any sort of October Surprises.Before we get into today’s dev log, I have a few announcements. First, these dev logs will be moving to a bi-weekly cadence going forward. While there’s a loyal base of readers, and I appreciate you all for the enthusiasm you have brought to The Electorate, I’m a little behind on development after the fiasco that’s been the last few weeks, and I need to prioritize that over these logs. They aren’t going away, so don’t worry, but they are going to be coming out every other Tuesday from now on. Second, The Electorate has new art!If you haven’t seen it already, here it is! I partnered with an arti…
- Dev Log #3 - Candidate Attributes, Traits, and Media Spin - 9 September 2025
Welcome to Dev Log #3! Today’s discussion is all about candidate attributes. Last week, we covered the voting system and how votes are divided between candidates based on a number of factors, ranging from the difference between a county’s issue position and the candidate’s, to favorability and momentum.This week, we’re going to narrow the focus and spend more time talking about what candidates are made up of, how they are unique from one another, and how those differences can lead to different outcomes.The FrameworkThe candidate system has been built to make characters feel and play distinct from one another. A campaign as Kamala Harris should feel and play differently than JD Vance. To do this, we include multiple layers of data that apply to each candidate, the first being attributes.AttributesEvery candidate has a set of attributes scored on a scale of 1-10. The attributes are:Charis…
- Dev Log #2 - The Voting System - 2 September 2025
Welcome to the second dev log! Thank you for the positive reception from last week’s announcement! Today is all about votes, specifically, how the votes in the game are calculated and the systems that sway votes as your campaign goes along.Before we get into the mechanics of how votes change throughout a campaign, we first need to understand where the data is coming from and how it’s loaded into the game.The Base ElectorateThe base electorate is what makes up the initial vote tallies when the scenario you’ve selected begins. Ultimately, it’s one huge US Census database with some modifications to reflect recent voting trends. For example, the 2024 election works off of the latest Census data in combination with the final results of each county. It’s the same for other elections: the 2000 election works off 2000, 1996 works off 1996, and so on. The goal is to provide the most accurate exp…
- Dev Log #1 - Introducing The Electorate - 27 August 2025
Hello, Candidates!I’m Matt. Now that we’re officially listed on Steam, it is my absolute pleasure to introduce you to The Electorate, a new election simulator that’s launching in the very near future. This will be the first of a weekly dev log, where I’ll be giving you an inside look at the gameplay, systems, and design behind the many features included in the game. Today’s dev log is about introducing you to me, the game, and the mission.Without further ado, let’s get into it.What is The Electorate?The word “electorate” means “a body of people entitled to vote.” What that means for us is that the game is ultimately about the voters themselves, not the candidates. To me, when we take the focus off of candidates and instead build a game to tell a rich story about how voters interact and vote for candidates, you wind up with an election simulator that simply feels more weighty, realistic,…
