Prison Architect

humanji · 28-09-2012 9:12am #1

Has anyone else bought into the Alpha version of Prison Architect?

It's a game by Introversion, the people behind Uplink, Darwinia and Defcon.

I was curious about it for a while, as I quite like those Theme Hospital style game, and thought I'd take a chance with getting the Alpha. And I'm loving it.

It plays like most of these sim games, you start with a blank area, put in buildings for the various facilities needed and try and keep your prisoners happy while balancing the budget. As it's the alpha, there's still plenty of work to do. But what they have so far works really well.

Sadly, there's no real tutorial (there's a basic one that gives you an idea of what to do, but it leaves out a lot of stuff) and you have to trawl through the developer forum to find info on some aspects of it (for example, it took me about half an hour to figure out to use a drain in the shower room), but again, it's the alpha so this is all to be worked on.

The mechanics of it are pretty cool. Other than a few basic shape and content requirements, the design of the prison is up to you. But it's the behavior of the prisoners that makes it fun. Keep the cooped up or not give them access to basic needs and they'll riot. Every now and again one will steal a knife from the prison kitchen and stab a fellow inmate. I even had a couple jump off the prison transport and run away, which I think was a bit unfair as I'd no chance to catch them, but it was still cool to watch.

At heart it's a fairly simple concept that has loads of room for the developers to expand on. If you've got the money to spare, I'd recommend supporting them. If not, I'd still recommend you keep an eye on it.

Their webpage has a kind of kickstarter payment option list and the obligatory "funny" developer video showing the game in action. There's also loads of Youtube videos that'll show you the game in action.

Stev_o · 28-09-2012 11:47am

30 quid = no buy.

I just can't see how this is supposed to be entertaining for more then 10 minutes.

ShadowHearth · 28-09-2012 12:02pm

Tropico 4. Best prison simulator ever!

Kiith · 28-09-2012 12:10pm

It looks fantastic, and i'll almost definitely get it at launch, but €30 for an alpha is a lot. I get the idea behind it, but i can't justify forking over that much for it yet.

Reekwind · 28-09-2012 12:12pm

I'll probably look at this on release but €30 is too much for alpha entry. Let's se how it shapes up

Stev_o wrote: »

I just can't see how this is supposed to be entertaining for more then 10 minutes.

You've clearly never played Theme Hospital...

humanji · 28-09-2012 12:16pm

Reekwind wrote: »

You've clearly never played Theme Hospital...

Or any sim game. :P

€30 is definitely on the high side for an alpha, so if it wasn't for the previous games they released and knowing how addictive they are, I wouldn't have gone near this until it was finished. But it's still fun having input into the game, even if they probably will choose to ignore my women's prison porno mod idea.

Kiith · 28-09-2012 12:37pm

They do make some fantastic games. Still go back to Uplink every now and again, if only for the soundtrack.

Stev_o · 28-09-2012 1:10pm

Reekwind wrote: »

I'll probably look at this on release but €30 is too much for alpha entry. Let's se how it shapes up

You've clearly never played Theme Hospital...

I have, in fact Theme Hospital is one of the best games I ever played as a child growing up it was so addictive. But one of the massive things TH had going for it was throwing new scenarios at you, new diseases, emergencies, surgeries, David Beckham.

I don't see how IV will be able to replicate these sorta systems into PA. I think it would be more fun creating the prison then playing as a indivdual inmate and trying to survive or escape.

humanji · 28-09-2012 2:45pm

That would be pretty cool. I doubt they'd add that it, but someone may be able to mod it.

There is a fair amount of variety at the moment. Now, obviously it's going to be reasonably samey as it's just the alpha, but they haven't implemented things like the story missions concerning specific prisoners yet. For anyone who enjoyed the "Theme" sim games, there's no harm keeping an eye on this. It plays pretty much the same, although it does lack the humour (again it's early days).

pablomakaveli · 28-09-2012 2:58pm

Theres also prison tycoon which has done this whole premise already.

Reekwind · 28-09-2012 10:41pm

Stev_o wrote: »

I have, in fact Theme Hospital is one of the best games I ever played as a child growing up it was so addictive. But one of the massive things TH had going for it was throwing new scenarios at you, new diseases, emergencies, surgeries, David Beckham.

I don't see how IV will be able to replicate these sorta systems into PA

Yes, I can't possibly imagine how a prison might throw up various dramas and scenarios...

Stev_o · 28-09-2012 11:33pm

Reekwind wrote: »

Yes, I can't possibly imagine how a prison might throw up various dramas and scenarios...

Good indepth reasoning there, bravo.

Local-womanizer · 29-09-2012 12:12am

Stev_o wrote: »

Reekwind wrote: »

Yes, I can't possibly imagine how a prison might throw up various dramas and scenarios...

Good indepth reasoning there, bravo.

But in fairness he has a point!

Keeping prisoners happy with accomadation, food, physical activity, re-educating, facilities.

Add in prison riots, guard strikes, political pressure on your treatment of the population, prison gangs, corrupt staff, financial restrictions etc etc and you have a game that would keep you on your toes!

Plenty of scope in a prison to keep things interesting.

Overheal · 29-09-2012 3:35am

If they can make Theme Hospital awesome, they can do the same for a prison came ffs.

Reekwind · 29-09-2012 8:23am

Stev_o wrote: »

Good indepth reasoning there, bravo.

The point is so obvious that it hardly needs elaboration. Prisons have, in any medium, historically been a font of drama and disasters. As the countless TV prison dramas over the years can testify to. What are vomiting waves when compared to prison riots or gang wars or overcrowding or fires/disasters, in addition to the other events mentioned by Local-womanizer?

This is particularly true given that the dev team have spoken of their intention to make use of narrative events to ram home the everyday sordid drama of running a prison and throw up dilemmas for the player

So yeah, there are plenty of reasons why this game may not be for you but a potential lack of "new scenarios" or drama shouldn't be one of them

VinLieger · 29-09-2012 1:02pm

Looks great and id be likely to pick it up at launch, but as said above 30 quid for an alpha is ridiculous, half it and ill maybe think about it

Dualtagh · 26-02-2013 6:01pm

Yeah I bought it, and I love it.
Everyone saying it's too expensive, bear in mind it's $30 not euro, also you can use 'Sacriel' as a voucher to get $5 off..I paid 18 euro for it

VinLieger · 26-02-2013 6:03pm

Dualtagh wrote: »

Yeah I bought it, and I love it.
Everyone saying it's too expensive, bear in mind it's $30 not euro, also you can use 'Sacriel' as a voucher to get $5 off..I paid 18 euro for it

Still ridiculous for an aplha

gizmo · 26-02-2013 6:34pm

VinLieger wrote: »

Still ridiculous for an aplha

You're not paying for an alpha, you're paying for the game and early access to an alpha as an added bonus. It's no different to many Kickstarters in this respect except in this instance Introversion don't need to give Kickstarter a cut nor stick to a rigid timeframe.

There's a nice little summary here: Who Needs Kickstarter? Prison Architect devs want total control

Dualtagh · 26-02-2013 6:47pm

VinLieger wrote: »

Still ridiculous for an aplha

Not really, 18 euro is still cheap for a game. And you're getting a full game, it's just not finished yet.

Banjo · 26-02-2013 10:45pm

Neither is subversion! while its unlikely PA will go the same way at this point, let's not pretend IV have never not finished a game before despite years of work going into it

SeantheMan · 27-02-2013 4:13am

I was impressed by the latest developments in the game, as per the latest Alpha vid below, it looks good. Still won't be buying it till release though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP3PgRP0Vz4

Sephiroth_dude · 27-02-2013 9:58am

Seeing as its in alpha I'm guessing it'll be a while till its released?

hooradiation · 27-02-2013 11:47am

gizmo wrote: »

You're not paying for an alpha, you're paying for the game and early access to an alpha as an added bonus. It's no different to many Kickstarters in this respect except in this instance Introversion don't need to give Kickstarter a cut nor stick to a rigid timeframe.

I was wondering how long it'd take until someone had to point out the stunningly obvious.

VinLieger · 27-02-2013 12:08pm

I know how the system works i just think its still expensive for access to an alpha and to help test the game, if it was in beta the price might be reasonable.

gizmo · 27-02-2013 12:14pm

VinLieger wrote: »

I know how the system works i just think its still expensive for access to an alpha and to help test the game, if it was in beta the price might be reasonable.

Would you still consider it expensive if the game was $29.99 on release?

hooradiation · 27-02-2013 3:30pm

VinLieger wrote: »

I know how the system works i just think its still expensive for access to an alpha and to help test the game, if it was in beta the price might be reasonable.

There is something deeply fucked up going on when people are pre-ordering a game, getting access to the alpha for free as part of that pre-order and somehow the fact that it's an Alpha makes the preorder price of the game unreasonable.

What is this, I don't even....

VinLieger · 27-02-2013 3:43pm

gizmo wrote: »

Would you still consider it expensive if the game was $29.99 on release?

No its a full release completely ready and able to go, this is not you are helping to make the game surely that deserves a small discount?

hooradiation wrote: »

There is something deeply ****ed up going on when people are pre-ordering a game, getting access to the alpha for free as part of that pre-order and somehow the fact that it's an Alpha makes the preorder price of the game unreasonable.

What is this, I don't even....

Its not a pre-order you are buying the game at what i personally consider too much for early alpha access, thats my opinion and im not gonna change it.
Of course it makes it unreasonable, they are asking you to pay to test their game yes you also buy the game but its a cheap way for them to outsource alpha and beta testing. Im all for that i just consider it too expensive for what you are currently getting and being asked to do

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 27-02-2013 4:02pm

VinLieger wrote: »

No its a full release completely ready and able to go, this is not you are helping to make the game surely that deserves a small discount?

you're not getting a discount but you are getting a free product (of sorts). you're getting to play the game and you're not required to pay anything extra than you would have to upon final release.

hooradiation · 27-02-2013 4:56pm

VinLieger wrote: »

Its not a pre-order

Then you might want to take that up with Introversion, who offer the following at the 30 dollar tier

Get Instant access to the Prison Architect Alpha (PC and Mac) and you also get a pre-order of the full finished game

Looks like a pre-order to me.....

Magill · 27-02-2013 5:34pm

gizmo wrote: »

Would you still consider it expensive if the game was $29.99 on release?

Yes, because it looks like a cheap indie game. Just looking at the the video on their website of the game and having an idea what the game is about, i wouldn't pay more than $15.

Prison Architect

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