You are a dictator of a small island somewhere in the caraibean (or oceania or somewhere similar). You manage the economy, build infrastructure and deal with rebels, coups, uprisings. And don't forget the propaganda, so people love you or at least don't try to rebel so often.

So, any ideas for propaganda mechanic in such game?

Tropico did this fairly well I think. You can take over the radio station, run tv ads, etc. They all just say how amazing you are.

Tropico did this fairly well I think. You can take over the radio station, run tv ads, etc. They all just say how amazing you are.

There was no propaganda in Tropico as far as I remember... except for spreading "respect". And only rebels could take over station, not the player. As for "ads" I remember only "hola presidente" edict (which was a no brainer and I always clicked it). Maybe there was some expansion for these?

In earlier versions I seem to recall being able to do ads that talk you up. Either way, I'm just giving ideas :)

It depends on how complex a system you're looking to develop. It could be a simple conversion rate of one currency (money) to another (loyalty). If you do it this way, you'll probably want diminishing returns.

At the complex end of the spectrum is Democracy 3, where different groups view the player differently, and the player could lose the next election or get assassinated based on how different factions view her, and how different factions view the player depends on the policies the player enacts.

This let's play video goes over the UI for Democracy 3.

In earlier versions I seem to recall being able to do ads that talk you up. Either way, I'm just giving ideas

Oh, you meant Tropico 1, I completely forgot how that one looked like :) Do you remember maybe if this was better than the system in Topico 3 & 4?

Overall, I can think of 3 aspects of propaganda (I'm not sure all of them are worth implementing):

1) Coverage - how many people are exposed to propaganda (like not all can read so newspaper alone can't give 100% coverage, not all have radio, etc)

2) Efficiency - how effective the propaganda is vs those exposed to it (some skills systems? level of journalists? charisma of the dictator?)

3) Goal - the purpose of propaganda, it could be positive (to make people love and respect the dictator) or negative (to make people not believe those pesky protesting students or dismiss the rumours that we used army to suppress strikers)

I think, for the sake of gameplay, the population of the country should be somewhat gullible, so if you have the coverage, it's enough, they will believe you. But also there must be some hard die rebels that will never believe you and always plot ot get rid of you.

It depends on how complex a system you're looking to develop. It could be a simple conversion rate of one currency (money) to another (loyalty). If you do it this way, you'll probably want

No, I don't think money should be involved, at least not directly. I was thinking more like, you have limited propaganda capablities (which you can increase to some extend) and you decide how to use. But I'm not sure how exactly that could work :)

Why don't you have to suck up to the media so they'll like you ?
(and threaten them if they write something bad about you)

Why don't you have to suck up to the media so they'll like you ?
(and threaten them if they write something bad about you)

No, no. Not that mood :)

You are the *DICTATOR*, the absolute (or almost absolute) ruler of a small banana republic. 100% of media is under your control, and if someone writes something wrong about you, he gets executed (or at least fired and severly punished if you are in a very, very, very good mood :D).

But there are evil rebels, conspirators, "US" spies and underground groups printing anti government leaflets (an idea: part of the propaganda activities could be shutting down underground press).

So, there is no free press of any kind. Only your press and underground anti government press (and word to mouth, shutting doewn all anti goverment printing sites does not mean instant win of the government propaganda). And the whole propaganda is kind of struggle between these both forces.