MrP has written an article on the Somoza dynasty. The Somozas were rulers and dictators of Nicaragua for a number of years. This excellent and informative article can be found in the Dictator's Section. Kudos to MrP!

Over at G.O.D.'s website, Askin' Haskins caught up with Phil Steinmeyer and this is what he said about Tropico:

Yesterday I caught up with that steeeenkin’ Yanqui Phil Steinmeyer of PopTop to get the latest scoop on the progress of Tropico, which is slated to hit stores next spring. "Tropico is cruising along," he told me. "We'll be feature-complete by the end of the year. The game looks and plays great, though we still have balancing to do in a number of areas. The art is on schedule to finish up by late January."

Phil also clued us in on the game’s system requirements. "Just today I've been working on performance," he said. "I think the game will actually play quite reasonably on a low end machine (circa P2-266 32MB), and play dynamite on something a little beefier."

Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and a happy holidays! Hopefully in January, I will be able to get back to my regular updates.

I have received a positive initial response to my Dictators Section over at the Message Board, so I guess it will be a regular feature. Today, I added Ferdinand Marcos, the former president of the of the Philippines. He had a very interesting dictatorship, assassinating opposition leaders, declaring martial law and embezzling tons of money to his Swiss bank account. A man any budding Tropico dictator can learn from!!

The character list has been modified again, and we are back down to 46 characters. I had listed the barmaid and the waitress as two separate characters when they are actually the same. Oops!

If you want to read an amusing and entertaining interview, head over to QuartertoThree.com and read their interview with Poptop prez Phil Steinmeyer. It gives little information regarding Tropico. In fact, there is barely a mention of Tropico at all. But it is still a fun interview, so head over there and take a look!

If you have a minute check out this website. It is called Guess the Dictator/Sitcom Character. Basically, you think of a dictator, it will ask you yes/no questions to try to guess out which dictator you are thinking of. Of course, you will have to know a bit about dictators, (unless you go the easy route and choose a sitcom character!) Tropico Paradise will soon be unveiling its Dictators Section, with information on former or present dictators from around the world. If you have any thoughts or ideas for this section (basically a historical primer to prepare you to be a dictator of your own Tropico island), please feel free to email me!

Today's additions are rather interesting. I added the two new characters highlighted at Poptop's site, the banker and the bureaucrat. What makes the bureaucrat so interesting is that it wasn't listed in my list of characters. So that makes a possibility of 47 characters in the game. Perhaps gameplay mandated a need for the new character to be included in the game. The character's description is that "she runs the government that runs your island" and she can be "pretty powerful." It will be interesting to see how this character plays out in island politics.

I will still try to make regular updates through the holidays, but it will be rather difficult. I will be on holiday for the remainder of December, and while I will have my laptop with me, making updates isn't always possible. Please bear with me!

I added a new gallery of screenshots. The nine new screenshots are courtesy of Gamecenter.

One particularly interesting screenshot is an overview screen that shows an overlay of your island. It shows the various parts of your island that are good for building tourist attractions, industry, etc. You will notice in the bottom that the green areas are "natural wonders, combining low pollution, good visibility and nice panaramas." I do not know what the other colors represent. I also wonder what other overlays will be available for viewing. From the screenshot, it appears there will be five overlays available:

I fixed the link for Screenshot 39, Screenshot 40 and Screenshot 41. Apparently, the screenshots did not get uploaded to my server with the rest of the photos. Thanks to Luke who brought it to my attention!

Above is a building bar taken from a screenshot. From left to right, I assume the different categories are:
Housing, Industry, Farms/Mines, Tourism, Entertainment, Infrastructure, Government, Human Services, Landscaping and Bulldoze.

When in building mode, you click on the various boxes to open a screen of available buildings.


The colored buildings (purple and blue) and shaded buildings probably indicate that you can't build these yet. You either do not have enough money or perhaps the building needs something else first in order to build it (like an additional building, army, etc.).


After highlighting a particular building, it will appear to the right of the screen and indicate how much the building will cost.

Looks cool! Only 13 more weeks!

p.s. I sure hope Poptop includes an Undo feature. Nothing was worse in RT2 than accidentally building unwanted track, then have no other way to get rid of it than to bulldoze it, costing even more money!

I discovered another interview with Phil Steinmeyer. This one was found over at The Corporation. It was originally posted back in July. While it focuses on Tropico, it also includes some general information, including Steinmeyer's take that the future of computer gaming will be just two genres -- strategy and light entertainment -- with all other genres migrating to the console. I hope he's wrong!

A new Tropico preview has been written. You can read it at The Corporation. It is worth a look!

If you haven't stopped by the Message Board, you really should! You can often find some interesting information on gameplay, like the following post by a PopTop employee on holding a general election:

As I understand it (and I'm afraid I can't say this with 100% certainty), holding an election and winning increases the population's feeling of freedom and democratic voice. As a post above says, "you to get the mandate of the Tropicans to rule." The downside is that you aren't guaranteed to win, so it's a pretty big risk. And the more oppressed the citizens' freedoms are, the more they need the election to make them feel better but the higher chance you have of losing.

Tropico Movie!

Poptop unveiled its latest Character Highlights, the male and female students. If you have a college, you can field the high-paying professions with natives who have graduated from your local schools.

I have introduced a Strategy Section to Tropico Paradise. Basically, this section won't contain much until the game is actually released. Then you can find exclusive information on various strategies for playing Tropico. We hope to have the most comprehensive Tropico strategy guide on the Internet.

Just for fun, I wrote a summary of the edicts found in the game. It has been placed in the Strategy Section. It was written mainly using speculation and guesses, so don't rely on it for accuracy. When more information becomes available, I will update it, I will let you know! Check it out and let me know your thoughts and insights!

Game-Interviews.com recently published an Interview with Phil Steinmeyer. No new revelations on the game, but it is always interesting to read interviews with Phil talking about the game.

Courtesy of Gamers.com, I have posted a Graphical Character List. It shows what nearly each character in the game will look like! If you haven't seen what each character looks like, take a peek!

GameSpy.com recently published a Tropico Preview. It is worth a look.

What would a dictator be without an palace to live in?

DICTATOR'S PALACE

I have updated my list of characters for accuracy. There are indeed 46 characters in the game. I added the attendant, who is basically a delivery-child that delivers groceries to homes for the rest of the populace. The attendant is still on-hold as a low priority -- so it may or may not make it into the final release of the game. But there are at least 45 characters in the game. It has been confirmed that the spy has indeed been eliminated from the game. According to developers it wasn't an easy choice to make, since they all liked the idea of a spy in the game, but that's the way it went. Also, the cow, which was originally listed on the character list, has been removed. Craig Matchett created all of the farm animals, which include the cow, the calf, the goat and the kid (baby goat, that is). They shouldn't have been counted as characters, but as animals.

Gamers.com recently published a Tropico Preview. It is pretty informative. One thing that I found most interesting is the list of edicts found in the Preview. Here they are:

Cast on individuals: Draft, Bribe, Brand heretic, Arrest, Deport, and Eliminate.

Cast on a location: Patrol, Investigate, and Prospect. (the first two are carried out by the military)

General policy: Host international summit, Bust the unions, and Announce air pollution standards.

US and/or USSR: Denounce, Form economic pact, Praise, Share technology with, and Form military alliance.

Tourism: Run national tourism ad campaign, Host Mardi Gras celebration, and Host Olympics.

Government stances: Hold election, Form people's army, Declare martial law.

Religion: Hold inquisition, Have book-burning, Request papal visit

Miscellaneous: Contraception ban, Literature program, Sensitivity training, and Prohibition.

Poptop's latest Character Highlight is of the Female Slob Tourist. I have also compiled a list of characters. Most are confirmed, although my list shows 47 characters and according to all accounts there are only 46 characters in the game. The only unconfirmed character is the spy, which is listed as a character on a screenshot. It may have been in the game at one time and is no longer.

On of the things I am looking forward to in Tropico are "edicts", or various laws that you can pass in the game. Poptop has not said what or how many edicts will be in the game, but at one time it was rumoured that there would be over 32 different edicts to choose from. The edicts will most likely be vital to the success of your dictator and will make for interesting and strategic gameplay.

One interesting edict is the Assassination Edict, technically technically labeled "Eliminate". It allows you to peg a troublesome citizen for "early retirement," an order to be carried out by a nearby soldier. On the upside, you clean your hands of the problems Citizen X is causing. On the down side, if the island finds out, it won't be good for your PR. And if other nearby citizens see it happen, it could cause more trouble than it eliminates.

Also, Tropicans can technically "assassinate" other Tropicans. It is possible in the form of rebels shooting citizens (rural farmers, etc) at random times or soldiers shooting citizens during a revolt. But both of those are automatic, and not any kind of edict by you, and would probably fall under general warfare, not really assassination.

In the news from November 29th, I failed to give credit where credit is due. David Deen created half the characters in the game, while Poptop employee Craig Matchett created the other half. Kudos to Craig Matchett for a job well done! The characters in the game of Tropico are outstanding -- and Craig and David deserve a lot of credit for jobs well done. They are definitely good at what they do!

I apologize to Craig for this oversight. I certainly wasn't trying to take anything away from his hard work!!