Thanks to Lantern Games for sending us some additional information on their forthcoming game Frontrunner.

According to Lantern, the gameplay is RTS style, based on swaying key interest groups to your side during the course of the election. These populations are managed based on real demographic, census, and voting data culled from states and regions. The game seemes to be based on a US overview map, which has been sort of a mainstay of election games since Decision 88 (maybe earlier?) I'm curious to see how Lantern adds to this with what they call an "unrivaled 3D interface." Lantern also promises historical expansion packs coming in 2005.

Frontrunner appears to be a different kind of game than the political games I'm working on, which are more focused on individual issues and local interaction, rather than simulating candidacy. I'll be eager to see how Frontrunner presents specific issues in the game.

Speaking of real demographic and census data, this is a good opportunity for me to show off one of the silly little features we built into the Dean for Iowa Game. The names of the supporters you place on the map aren't actually random. I based them on current US Census population distribution data for Iowa, and correlated that data against the historical baby name database also published by the US Census. So, if you look closely, you'll notice that there are more older than younger people, and the Jennifers are 27 while the Myrtles are 80. Frontrunner is using demographic and census data to run "realistic simulation," but I was only interested in using it as a kind of pepper that the player ideally wouldn't even really notice.