Games built on systems, not scripts.
Lakeside Games is an independent studio. We build a persistent political world that advances every hour, a 3D transit builder that imports real cities, and an election campaign game covering 34 races in six countries.
Persistent political MMO · Live, Beta 2
A House Divided
You start as one politician in a live world of hundreds. The world takes a turn every hour, around the clock: campaign funds move, bills pass, markets clear, races get called. Log off for a day and you come back to a different country.
Start in the State House and climb through the governorship and Congress to the presidency, or win a seat in one of seven other parliaments: the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Japan, China, Nigeria, and Brazil. Or skip the ballot and build an empire instead: found corporations, issue bonds, trade currencies, and fight for control of whole industries. The offices above and below you are held by other players, competing with a simulated cast of over a thousand politicians.
- One turn per hour, every hour, for over a thousand turns straight
- Eight playable countries, from the State House to the White House
- A player-run economy: corporations, bonds, currencies, central banks
- Free to play in the browser
3D transit builder · Alpha
MetroForge
A transit builder for people who love real cities. MetroForge renders ten American cities in 3D from OpenStreetMap footprints with true building heights: Manhattan's canyons, Chicago's Loop, Cleveland's lakefront, all at their actual scale.
Lay subway lines through the streets that exist, place stations where the density is, and let the demand model tell you whether anyone would actually ride. The full game is a native desktop client for Windows, macOS, and Linux; a free browser demo lets you try Cleveland first.
- Ten real cities: New York, Chicago, LA, Boston, SF, DC, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Seattle, Cleveland
- True building heights joined from OSM and Microsoft footprint data
- A demand simulation scores every network you draw
- New alpha builds most weeks
Election strategy · Live
Electioneer
Pick a campaign and run it week by week. Electioneer covers 34 real elections across the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, and Australia, from Reagan and Thatcher to the 2024 rematch. Each one starts from its real polling and plays out its real story beats: the debate stumble, the October surprise, the late swing.
You manage the money, the staff, and eleven actions a week. American presidential duels, British multiparty brawls, and French two-round runoffs all demand different plans. Lose Pennsylvania and you will feel it.
- 34 campaigns in six countries, 1980 to 2024
- Presidential duels, multiparty parliaments, two-round runoffs
- A new daily challenge scenario every day
- Free daily challenge and starter scenarios
The A House Divided world, right now
25
Players on in the last hour
1,033
Turns simulated, one per hour
314
Politicians in the current world
2,524
Elections in progress
51
Player-founded parties
8
Playable countries
The studio
Two people, a lake, and too many spreadsheets
We are a two-person studio that would rather model a system than script a cutscene. Questions, partnerships, or press: pick whichever channel suits you.