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By Dean Austin Ever want to stop what you are doing and retreat to your own island paradise? Well, until you win the lottery, we have a slice of Caribbean real estate just for you! |
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Enter a virtual island on your Macintosh where the world, and lives, of the native Tropicans are yours to control. As El Presidente, you set the islands political and economic policies. Vent your fury or celebrate your greatness! Over a period of up to 70 years, you’ll make every decision on your way to (hopefully) creating your own utopia.
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Tropico was developed by Pop Top Software and published by MacSoft. The decision to set the game in the 1950’s maelstrom that was the US-Soviet geopolitical Cold War was not an arbitrary one, but rather a specific design choice intended to recreate a simpler and clearly adversarial time. PopTop liked the isolation that island communities tend to conjure up in people’s minds. It’s just you and your island, and nothing short of a super power has the time or resources to meddle in your affairs. There also seems to be an unspoken absolute rule mentality with island governments. |
“You have a tenuous control over the island at first,” explains MacSoft product manager Al Schilling. “To maintain control, you have to do the standard things to keep people happy: they want food and good housing, they want good jobs, and they want it to be safe.”
Unique Strategy Games
For those of you who enjoyed PopTop’s Railroad Tycoon II, the good news is that both games share the same philosophical approach. “We’re interested in doing unique strategy games,” says PopTop’s Franz Felsl, “so the similarity in gameplay is there. However, Tropico’s engine is a next-gen design from the Railroad Tycoon II engine, so the look has some similarities. Since PopTop also wants to make mostly non-violent games, both are mostly about economics and building things instead of destroying them.”
You designate your background as El Presidente, as well as how you inherited the mantle of power. Both of these factors will set the parameters of the game, which offers many paths to a (hopefully) successful conclusion.
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Farms, housing, human services, entertainment, and overall infrastructure are all issues that you must take into account. Looking closely, you may see influences of some of your favorite board games, including Junta and Hidden Agenda, as well as your favorite videogames, such as Railroad Tycoon, Sim City and RollerCoaster Tycoon.
Gameplay movie (3.3MB)
A Resource Challenge
Generally, you have few resources when you start and prioritizing is a must (the island is different every time you play). Creating a tourist paradise is tempting but not easy when hotels, nightclubs, pubs, casinos, housing and electric needs must all be taken into account. Oh, and did we mention Churches? That’s correct, the spiritual needs of your people also have to be considered.
When discussing the first moves of the game, Felsl indicates that housing is his primary focus. “On a general random map,” he says, “it is best to get your people out of shacks as soon as possible. They are the single most destructive force when it comes to your people’s happiness.
A Caribbean paradise in the making.
“The other thing I’m quick to do,” he adds, “is cut back the number of teamsters till I have more industry. I’m a big fan of mines when I can get them, but that’s just a personal preference.”
