I have completed the first aspect of my game, about managing the country. This fulfilling the economics requirement (and europe, once my europe-map-generation code is done). A friend of mine came up with a good idea of how I could incorporate the emblem into my game, without simply using a flag - the country you start with is made up from outcasts from other countries, who are outcast because of a birthmark they have. Said birthmark is the emblem.
Anyway, I have a latest version up here for anyone who cares to test it. Windows and linux versions. I'm disappointed with how boring it is, but hopefully after some minor additions and tweaking, it'll be better.