Prison Architect by Introversion

[Citizen]

I have Zomboid and Prison Architect. Architect is updated almost monthly with a new build. I think I purchased when it was Alpha 3. I like the changes in Alpha 6 a lot, definately the best update yet.

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Can anyone confirm that prisones are getting released paroled propertly?

[Vix]

Alpha 8 (and 7 whoops) released annnd... now you can join the alpha direct on Steam. People who already joined the alpha have Steam keys.

Alpha 8 release notes.
Alpha 8 Youtubage

Quick synoposis of major changes:
Fine tuned the game for Steam release and added some polish.

Alpha 7 release notes.
Alpha 7 Youtubage

Quick synopsis of major changes:
Guards are the only ones who can unlock locked doors.
They improved the AI.
Added a new "emergency" button Lockdown (closes and locks jail doors). (Renamed other emergency option as Bang Up - returns prisoners to cells).

[wonderpug]

These youtube videos are a major incentive for making me want to bite on this. I really love seeing developers care about sharing their progress and keeping a relationship with the community.

[Unagi]

These youtube videos are a major incentive for making me want to bite on this. I really love seeing developers care about sharing their progress and keeping a relationship with the community.

Then these guys are your guys. Seriously - they have really impressed me in that exact department. They are like the exact opposite of the Project Zomboid team.

[Lordnine]

This game really interests me but I’m annoyed by their price model. The developers have stated that the game will actually be CHEAPER on release than it is right now. I’m happy to support a small developer but not if I have to pay more than retail for an unfinished game to do it.

[Holman]

This game really interests me but I’m annoyed by their price model. The developers have stated that the game will actually be CHEAPER on release than it is right now. I’m happy to support a small developer but not if I have to pay more than retail for an unfinished game to do it.

Wait, what? Why?

I was just getting tempted by this game, but I don't love bugs enough to pay extra for them.

[Lordnine]

Their rationale is that this way only people who really have a vested interest in the game will pay the premium and be able to leave feedback on the forum. Basically, you are paying extra to help guide the game towards what you want the finished product to be.

I’m not sure if they have a price set in stone but I see $20 thrown around a lot so expect to pay about $10 less if you wait than you do if you buy now.

[Sepiche]

Their rationale is that this way only people who really have a vested interest in the game will pay the premium and be able to leave feedback on the forum. Basically, you are paying extra to help guide the game towards what you want the finished product to be.

I’m not sure if they have a price set in stone but I see $20 thrown around a lot so expect to pay about $10 less if you wait than you do if you buy now.

Do you have a link for that? That's the first I've heard of a price *decrease* on release. It sounds like your confusing that with their justification of their relatively high alpha funding price.

Here's the original PCGamer interview with the comment about the pricing:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/09/26/priso ... ew-within/" target="_blank

PCG: Isn’t $30 a little higher than normal for alpha or beta access?

MM: There are a couple of reasons for that. We’ve got a pretty close relationship with the Humble Bundle guys, and we were talking to them a lot about how they do things. Another is that we’re more interested in a smaller number of players that are more engaged in what we’re doing, than a huge audience that want to pay less. There’s a quality bar we’re putting in there.

Imagine the [alpha] went on sale for $10. This is all “ifs”, right? But imagine it goes on sale for $10 or $20, and people chose to buy it, and it doesn’t work for them, and they say, “This is bollocks. I hate this. It’s crap. It’s broken. It doesn’t work.”

[Citizen]

If you don't own the game you wouldn't see this, but I (and I'm sure others who paid) can confirm that the developers regularly post "What should we work on next?" polls. I've seen at least two since Alpha 3; and, without fail - the next version of alpha always focuses on what option won the poll. I think thats pretty cool. A lot of game devs post "tell us what you think" threads and then either ignore the playerbase or backtrack on promises. Prison Architect seems pretty legit. It's a fun game and I feel that it is more "sim" in nature that the graphics might lead one to believe, which is A OK with me.

Is it worth $29? Personal choice, I guess, but it's better than Kerbal Space wanting $22 and not even offering a demo that runs, or Sim City asking $60 and then borking it's player base in the ass while telling lies and then going on sale for $39 3 weeks later. I support hard work and the truth, and so far Prison Architect is the cat's meow.

[Lordnine]

That’s the regurgitated version I read on the forums; it may be just hear say but if it is there is an awful lot of it. I did find this which talks about choosing $30 as a deterrent from uncommitted people.

[wonderpug]

A premium price for early access does feel weird, but I guess it's not unlike a Kickstarter pricing scheme where a few extra bucks gets you the 'bonus' feature of alpha access, or where you pay a bit more than the price of the product because you're also funding the project itself.

[Vix]

^^ This is exactly what they did... it was a self-started kickstarter.

[jztemple2]

Just saw this article over on Kotaku about the game... color me interested. And the video is actually pretty funny

[Vix]

Alpha 9 has been released.

Alpha 9 Video
Alpha 9 Release notes

Oh my goodness this is a GREAT update. They added in the ability for prisoners to work and also have added visitation. So now we have...

A working Laundry system -> prisoners do laundry.
Cleaning supply room -> prisoners clean in the prison.
Kitchen (upgraded) -> prisoners can work in the kitchen.
Workshop -> Press and stamp license plates... and more prison industries coming at a later point.

[Sepiche]

Awesome. I might need to give this one a shot. One of the things holding me back from getting too into it yet was the lack of a real economy, and being able to make money off your workers is a good first step in that.

[Lordnine]

This is currently 10% off on Steam. $27. Not great but might be worth it if you were on the line.

[Sepiche]

New patch out today too:
- Lots of new sounds
- Fully functional riots
- Riot police
- Paramedics

The new video really looks cool:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... AvyvTYhB-E" target="_blank

They also show off a new "temperature" feature where the prison will start to get angrier and more violent as you fail to meet the prisoners needs. They also mentioned though you could take the approach of having a well run, easy going prison where you keep inmates in line by keeping them happy and meeting their needs, or a harder prison where you don't meet their needs, but keep things in line by having lots of guards and punishing prisoners soon after they break the rules.

[astyanax]

I'm keeping my eye on this one- I liked a lot of other Introversion games.

It also sounds a bit like reverse-Sims, which could be pretty cool.

[Lagom Lite]

I just bought the Introversion package on Steam that includes all the other Introversion titles as well as Prison Architect (Multiwinia, Darwinia, Uplink and DEFCON), since I've never played any of them before. Pretty good value. Downloading now.

I've watched some of the Yogscast clips on early Prison Architect Alpha builds, it does look like fun.

[Citizen]

Some guy made a scenario called "TyHollow". It's pretty fun and changes up the normal building process. It's on steamworkshop. Check it out (not sure if link works):

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... earchtext=" target="_blank

You're basically renovating an old castle into a prison with limited cash.

[jztemple2]

Picked this up today from the Steam Sale

[msduncan]

Still think it's overpriced. Even with the sale.

Pass for now.

[Lordnine]

I think $20 is a fair price. The amount of interconnected systems in play in the game is really impressive and I’ve had a lot of fun with it. It’s still not done but it’s close enough now that you shouldn’t feel like you’re playing a tech demo.

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

Still think it's overpriced. Even with the sale.

Pass for now.

I picked it up, and from what I have seen, it's a pretty deep strategy game, not to mention pretty dark in its storytelling.

[jztemple2]

I would recommend trying out a sandbox saved game from the Steam Workshop which gives you a lot more money and unlocked bureaucracy. The one I found was called "Sandbox (Cheat Map)". This at least allows you to concentrate on building without being hammered by lack of money early on.

[jztemple2]

For those who weren't following things on Prison Architect through other sources, Alpha 13 was released last week, but with a major path-finding bug. A hotfix, alpha13b, was released today. Steam users will get it automatically, others need to go to Introversion and download manually. Alpha 13 introduced prisoner escapes by tunnel(!) and prison policy functions. And in alpha 14 we can expect guard dogs!

[Unagi]

Well, they must be a little bummed that they didn't get an update released in September.

They have managed 1 release each month for over a year. Pretty sure this next update will include dogs.

[Rip]

Alpha 14 is out.

Will be two months before the next release, Chris got his wife knocked up again.

[jztemple2]

Alpha 14 is out.

Will be two months before the next release, Chris got his wife knocked up again.

Thanks for posting this! It's still going to be a few days till I can get home and give this a try, but I am looking forward to those guard dogs

[Rip]

Alpha 14 is out.

Will be two months before the next release, Chris got his wife knocked up again.

Thanks for posting this! It's still going to be a few days till I can get home and give this a try, but I am looking forward to those guard dogs

They are pretty fun. I have taken to running a somewhat less "country club" prison becuase I like to see a prisoner get froggy every now and then so I can sick the dogs on him.

[Rip]

Alpha 15 is out.

[Sepiche]

New patch is out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... cKEBYIjdMs" target="_blank

= Procedural landscape generation
- There are new options when generating a new prison:
- Forests adds random collections of trees, including new types of tree (Oak, Pine, Orange, Cypress, Palm)
- Buildings are usually derilict and can be used or demolished as you wish
- Lakes provide additional construction challenges by forcing you to work around them.
- Warning: Including lakes can make your map totally unplayable. Experimental!

= Wood industry
- You can now cut down trees using "Dismantle" from the objects menu, and each tree will produce wooden Logs
- You can sell the logs for an immediate cash boost ("Sell" from the objects menu)
- Or if you have a workshop, your prisoners will cut the logs into stacks of wood planks, which sell for more
- Gardeners are now required to plant trees, and trees take time to grow from saplings
- Stacks of finished wood planks will auto-sell at 1am

= Steam Workshop for mods (Steam versions only)
- Mods can now be shared via the Steam Workshop, just like prisons
- The mods menu now lets you publish mods, highlights mods you have published, and shows newly downloaded mods
- Mods will automatically download when an update is available
- Adding FileID "-1" to your mod's manifest.txt will stop the game asking users to publish the mod. Useful for mods shared outside of the Steam Workshop.

= Full segregation support
- Extensive AI work means you can now fully segregate your prison by prisoner category
- You can create self contained wings (eg for Max Sec only) containing their own cells, yard, canteen, laundry, workshop etc
- New zone type : Med Sec, for medium security prisoner ONLY (orange)
- Note: The default zone colour (White) is SHARED, meaning all prisoners are permitted to enter

Work/Employment/Industry AI improvements
- Kitchens are now significantly more efficient (Chefs waste much less time)
- You can now build any combination of kitchens and canteens, and your chefs will figure it out (Eg one kitchen serving multiple canteens, or each canteen having its own kitchen etc)
- Fixed: Multiple chefs would sometimes go to collect a box of ingredients from the deliveries zone, wasting time
- Fixed: Chefs often stood around doing nothing in the kitchen when they should be cooking
- Laundries and Workshop jobs are now performed more efficiently and intelligently
- Laundries will only service zones of the prison that prisoners working in that laundry would be permitted to reach
- Janitors will now help out with the prison Laundry service

Prisoner cell re-assignments now happen without requiring shackled guard escort (if possible)
- They will be shackled and escorted by a guard if they are not permitted to make the journey themselves

New object : Road Gate
- Can be built spanning the entire road
- Acts as a secure door, requiring a guard to unlock it whenever a vehicle or person wants to pass through
- You can use this to span your prison across the road, or build a totally contained drop off zone

Doors now open at different speeds. A normal wood door is the fastest. The large road gate is the slowest.
- The Large jail door opens slower than the normal jail door.

Prisoners will now "make a run for it" if they are near the exit and you leave too many doors unlocked
- Be careful when setting zones to "Unlocked" (green), or setting doors to "Locked open"
- Note: More dangerous prisoners are more likely to take advantage of lapses in security

New red marker icon for escaping prisoners

Electrical items no longer short out when wet
- It is now safe to use Firemen in the kitchen, or to repair laundry machines without having to worry about electrocution
- EXCEPT the power station which now explodes most spectacularly when wet

Workshop balance nerf
- The workshop has been judged far too ridiculously profitable
- Cutting sheet metal and stamping license plates now takes twice as long as before
- Sheet metal now costs $10 per sheet, and produces 2 license plates which sell for $10 each, giving $10 profit (Previously $3 per sheet, producing 3 license plates selling at $10 each, giving $27 profit)
- Workshop saws and presses now cost 50% more to build

Prisoners will now make better use of their stolen contraband when misbehaving:
- Lighters if they are feeling destructive
- Weapons if they get into a fight
- Tools if they are escaping

All staff now have a base toughness of 5 (previously 1) so they no longer die from a single punch
Offices must now be indoor
Vehicles will no longer be blocked by entities, objects, trees etc
Fixed : Purchasing neighbour plots of land sometimes caused the game to get the road location wrong.
- Vehicles spawned in the wrong place and construction was blocked in a stripe down the middle of the prison
Fixed : Purchasing land west or north of your prison broke all in-progress escape tunnels
Fixed : Prisoners who are digging escape tunnels will now be rumbled if a guard comes to escort them somewhere
(Previously they were able to keep digging despite being taken to a different place!)
Fixed : Some long running prisons had active escape tunnels that were being dug by prisoners who were no longer on site - either dead, escaped or released.
Fixed : Sometimes workmen took a very long time to finish foundations, leaving them unfinished for hours
Fixed : Trees will no longer be generated on the road
Fixed : Workers will no longer get stuck in the first delivery truck trying to do a job
Fixed : Guards no longer need to use their keys to open wood doors
Fixed : Mod system now correctly loads replacement font graphics every time
Fixed : Mods can now override the base grants with their own if the grants share the same name
Fixed : Dead visitors will no longer float home
Fixed : Historical contraband moved when you purchased a neighbour plot of land
Fixed : Released prisoners will no longer get stuck on the toilet or in bed
Fixed (Alpha15b) : Right click to cancel stopped working
Fixed (Alpha15c) : All existing contraband was being lost after level load

[Octavious]

Oh wow that's a pretty big update. Haven't played it in a while. Might load it up this weekend.

[jztemple2]

New patch is out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... cKEBYIjdMs" target="_blank

Those videos are a lot of fun. I normally wouldn't sit through 22 minutes of explanation but those two guys have such a good time

[jztemple2]

Alpha 17 is out, here's the video.

= Armed guards
You can now hire armed guards to patrol your prison, intimidate your inmates, and put down trouble
You must research the Armoury first, and your armoury requires a weapons rack and one locker per armed guard on site
Armed guards have a strong "Supression" effect on all prisoners near them, making the prisoners less likely to misbehave
They can be instructed to follow a patrol from the Deployment screen
They will only use lethal force if you give them permission - by clicking the "Weapons Free" emergency button
They will always shout a warning first, unless a Prisoner is attacking a member of staff (guard, armed guard, administrator etc)
They will also shoot on site any prisoner who is about to escape, without shouting a warning, so long as they have "Weapons Free"
Note: Armed guards who genuinely fear for their lives may still shoot, even if you have not given them permission via "Weapons Free"
Note: The Armoury must be very secure. Your most dangerous prisoners will attempt to raid it during a riot or mass escape event

= New Forestry zone
Automates the process of growing trees for the purposes of felling them and using the wood
Saplings will be planted automatically by Gardeners
Fully grown trees will be felled, and the logs taken to Storage or your Workshop if you have one
Trees now take much longer to grow to full size : 5 game-days on average
Trees no longer scale up as they grow. Instead there are three discreet sizes : Sapling, Young, and Old.
You can no longer remove tree stumps. These will vanish over time after a tree has been felled.
Note: The forestry will spend your money by ordering tree saplings automatically. Be sure you have enough

= Objects toolbar filtering
The objects list was becoming too long to manage, and no longer fitted on a single screen
A new filtering method hides any "room specific" objects unless you are looking at that type of room
Eg the Cooker, Fridge and Sink will only appear in the list if you are looking at a Kitchen
Note: You can press the + button to show the full objects list at any time

= Modding continued
- materials.txt is now additively loaded
- The mod loading screen now looks better and displays the mod name, author, screenshot and description during load
- Added a "Find more mods (Steam Workshop)" button that opens the steam workshop
- Renamed "Steam Workshop" to "Prison Sharing", and made it list prisons only (not mods)
- Made Prison Sharing sort prisons by subscribed time (newest subscribed prisons at the top of the list)
- Fixed manifest.txt files from being corrupted due to newline breaks in Steam file description. May require people to redownload the mod.

- You will now be asked "Are you sure" when purchasing neighbour plots of land (to prevent expensive mis-clicks)

- The Main Menu screens now scale correctly to high resolution / high DPI screens (eg Retina Mac at 2560x1600)

- Guards now target the nearest misbehaving prisoner during fights, rather than choosing one randomly from those in range

- When prisoners urinate or soil their suits (Bowel/Bladder need maxed out) there is now a corrisponding particle effect

- Fixed : Selling finished license plates or wood manually generated only half the correct sale price

- Fixed : Subscribing and unsubscribing to your own mod in Steam Workshop will no longer delete your mod from your hard drive

- Fixed : The scrollbar in the Staff and Prisoner list screens now works correctly

- Fixed : Prisoners can no longer tunnel under lakes

- Fixed : The contraband window sometimes massively overestimated the supply of contraband

- Fixed some subtle bugs in the Misconduct System, whereby misconduct attributed to prisoners who had long since left was still recorded

- Fixed : Sectorisation of the world could fail if you had a lake covering the top right of the map (All sectors marked as NO ACCESS)

[Unagi]

Big update. Alpha 18

= Reform and training programs
•
You can now run daily programs to train, educate and reform your prisoners
These are administered from the new Programs tab in the reports interface
Each program runs during a scheduled time during the day, and costs money per session
Different programs provide different benefits to you and the prisoner
Prisoners may only take part in one program at a time, and may only attend one session in that program per day
Most programs are voluntary. Prisoners will be less likely to volunteer for programs if they are badly treated


Available reform programs:

◦ Foundation education program
◦ General Education qualification
◦ Workshop Safety Induction ← required to work in the Workshop
◦ Carpentry Apprenticeship
◦ Kitchen Safety and Hygiene ← required to work in the kitchen
◦ Behavioural Therapy


• Prisoners must now complete the workshop safety / kitchen safety courses before they can work in those rooms

•New : Classroom / School desk / Teacher
You require a functioning classroom before you can begin educating your prisoners
The teacher is an external freelancer who will enter your jail to teach his class, then will leave when done
Some prisoners have more affinity for academic topics than others.
In addition, the level of concentration of your prisoners is a major factor on their chances of success
(Prisoners concentrate best when all of their needs have been taken care of)

•New : Carpenters table
Prisoners who have a natural afinity for practical work can attempt the Carpentry Apprenticeship.
If successful they will be able to use the new carpenters table in the workshop
They will use stacks of Wood to produce high quality furniture (currently a high quality wooden bed)
Full production chain : [Gardener] → Tree → [Cutdown] → Logs → [Saw] → Wood → [Carpenters table] → Furniture

• Behavioural Therapy is run by the prison psychologist
Prisoners are automatically referred to this program if they behave violently within your jail
Prisoners who successfully complete the Behavioural Therapy program are less likely to cause trouble in future

= Prisoner experience
• Experience is now being recorded for all prisoners during their stay in your prison
You can view this data by clicking on them to bring up their rap sheet, then click the new Experience tab
◦Activity : Shows the breakdown of their time within your prison, and what they were doing during that time
◦Mood : Shows the amount of time spent in a good / bad / neutral mood. This is a simplification but a useful one.
◦Condition : Shows how long the prisoner has been suppressed, injured etc.
◦You can also see the progress of their current reform program - their attendance and chance of passing the program
◦All programs completed are listed at the bottom of this page, showing if they passed of failed the program

= Armoury upgrades
• You can now purchase additional weapons and equipment once you have an armoury on site.
Your guards must return to the armoury to pick up their new equipment as you unlock it, and there is a cost to pay per item equipped.
◦Body Armour : Available to all guards, armed guards and dog handlers.
Absorbs 50% of all damage taken, but slows down your guards by 30%
You must pay an additional $100 per guard for body armour.

◦Tazers : Available for all Armed Guards. This is a non lethal weapon which instantly incapacitates the target, without causing any damage.
Can only be fired once, then the battery must recharge before it can be used again (1 hour recharge time)
There is a cost of $400 per tazer to be paid as the armed guards collect their new equipment.
Note: Armed guards will use their shotguns instead as soon as you give the weapons free order

◦Tazer Rollout : Equips all guards and dog handlers with Tazers as well as your armed guards.
There is a cost of $400 per tazer to be paid as the guards collect their new equipment.


= Other improvements
•User Interface scaling
Work continues to make the game scale correctly to any resolution and any size of display. There is now a 'UI Scale' override setting to adjust the size of all onscreen elements to your taste. Use the PLUS and MINUS keys to adjust this value in game, or edit it directly in preferences.txt

•The rooms toolbar now shows the number of each room type that already exist
•The fog of war effect is no longer rendered into timelapse videos
•Status effects like Suppression no longer cause such massive drops in walking speed
•Visitation will now come to an end immediately during a riot or a bangup
•You can now build utilities under the road : Electrical cable, Small pipes, Large pipes
•Tweaked the routing system - entities should get stuck on walls much less frequently
•Fixed : Sometimes very small Laundries / Cleaning Cupboards would not show up in the Deployment/Jobs screen, meaning you could not assign prisoners to them even though they were perfectly valid rooms
•Fixed : Armed guards now (sometimes) shout warnings at inmates before firing, unless those inmates are attacking staff or about to escape
•Fixed : Face-in-the-game entries are now sorted to the top of the community biographies list
•Fixed : Sun shadows on trees were sometimes rendered much too large
•Fixed : Dogs were unwilling/unable to enter staff only zones
•Fixed : You can no longer build road gates over lakes, or at the edge of the map
•Fixed : Actors no longer get tired (Eg edward, his guards etc)

[Island Dog]

Nice update. Might have to give Banished a rest for a day or so and hit this again.

[naednek]

Big update. Alpha 18

Did they put out a video like they normally do?

[naednek]

The game is incredibly fun, but I always run out of money even after building workshops. I'm always spending money on repair damage caused by mad inmates. I can never keep them happy.

[Unagi]

Big update. Alpha 18

Did they put out a video like they normally do?

Yep, sorry - here's a link