Tropico Interview

Fancy a bit of absolute power? Yeah, Tropico is the upcoming Sim. Dictator game from Pop Top Software that throws players in the boots of an authoritative dictator of a Banana Republic. No, the game doesn't include whacked out fruit models, silly! Banana Republic is a term used to describe the revolution-happy states in South America. You know, smoking a big fat Cuban and having your way with the prettiest chicks in town! How can you say no to such an offer? We'll let Pop Top's Artist/Designer Franz Felsl explain the rest:

Fluffy clouds.

Town square...

Action Trip: Give us a basic overview of the game.

Franz Felsl: Tropico is about being the ruler of a Banana Republic type Caribbean island perpetually in the cold war era. On this island you must build up it's social, political and industrial infrastructure while balancing the countries budget, filling your Swiss Bank Account and juggling the peoples loyalty. While doing this, the world around you changes and makes demands of your resources. This all takes place in a 3D simulated world where each person in the game is an individual and makes his or her own decisions and opinions, goes to work (if you've provided jobs), gets married, has children and in general goes about their daily lives. Their lives are modified by the laws you pass and the structures you build. Do things well and you'll stay in power for a long, long time. Do things poorly and you'll be rowing a small boat away from the island in the middle of the night... if you're lucky!

AT: What is the game's goal?

FF: In most cases, stay in power... However, there are scenarios like, build up your population to 500 people in 35 years, or have $10 million dollars in your Swiss Bank Account in 20 years. Also, since Tropico is a single player only game you will have the ability to fully edit scenarios and set the parameters for randomly generated games.

AT: I've read somewhere that players can select their leader's flaws. As many as they like, in fact... Could you name some, and how will the flaws influence our ruling? Give us a basic gameplay example.

FF: The character creation is an important part of Tropico. Depending on how you design your dictator, you may have an easier or more challenging time running your island. Not only do you have flaws that you must pick but also qualities, background, and your rise to power.

Some flaws are: Alcoholic, Womanizer, Tourett's Syndrome, and Compulsive Gambler. As an example, a Compulsive Gambler might get caught spending the government's money on a bad night at the craps table, or often losing money from their Swiss Bank Account. Sometimes these things can be very difficult depending on the type of game you're playing.

AT: Can you name a few examples of the more interesting buildings? I heard there's going to be more than a hundred of them in the game.

Town church...

I guess this is your house?

FF: There are newspaper, radio, and TV stations and you'll be able to determine what type of programming they play daily. This can be perhaps Religious TV shows to make the religious people on your island happy, or Military music or perhaps Political propaganda to help soften any negative impact your policies may have?

Actually, there are approximately 80 buildings (though the game is not finished yet) plus multiple upgrades for the industry buildings like the Rum Distillery.

AT: Tell us a little bit about the game's characters.

FF: As I mentioned above, each person on your island has a personality. Everything from family members, interests, job training, and opinions of you, just to name a few. It's the sociopolitical intermingling or web that makes Tropico interesting. Do one thing and some people act one way while others act another and so on. There is no one easy way to stay in power and things change over time. Since you don't tell your people to go about their lives directly you must provide incentive to do the thing you want them to do like pay better wages, bribe or provide amenities they want. In Tropico, you lose when the people no longer what you around and you don't have the resources available to repress that urge.

AT: If you had to compare Tropico to other PC games (be they upcoming or released) what would you compare it with? Concept-wise and appearance-wise...

FF: Appearance, nothing is like this that I've seen. We have a rotateable map, deformable terrain, 3D objects, and high-resolution sprites (rendered at 3200x2400). The game has multiple zoom levels and can support resolutions of 640x480 up to 1600x1200 all changeable on the fly within the game world. Tropico is pretty and functional. As for game play, the most accurate comparison would have to be something of a cross between Sim City, Settlers, and The Sims.

AT: Finally, when do you expect to have a clearer picture on the game's release date?

FF: We're pretty sure we're on target for a Gold Master by the end of February 2001.