Prisonscape - a prison RPG

[Abu Antar]

I like the backgrounds, they look good. I'm not sold on the pixel characters, and I love 2D pixel games.

 

[PekkaK]

Yeah that's definitely the biggest problem - none of the bigger sites seem to be interested in the game. Maybe the game is just too niche or the graphics aren't appealing enough or the idea is boring. One can only guess.
If I had to wager a guess, i'd probably say it's the graphics. Pixel art stuff is really a niche in this day and age. Either that or the fact that prison levels in video games aren't very well liked, as far as I'm aware. They're the levels where weapons, abilities, etc. gets taken away from the player, and players don't like to feel that sense of de-empowerment, probably. Especially considering that prison levels are usually tightly constrictive in terms of player choice and freedom of action (almost like being in prison! :shock.

Aesthetically, it kind of looks like an RPGmaker game. People probably look at it and wonder why an RPGMaker game is looking for 50k. Have to say that I wondered the same, despite an interest in the subject matter.

I like the backgrounds, they look good. I'm not sold on the pixel characters, and I love 2D pixel games.

Yeah, it's probably all this. We just have to see how the Kickstarter goes and then iterate, iterate and iterate on the graphics and especially animations. We already got some good feedback about the graphics on /v/ today.

 

[SuicideBunny]

iterate, iterate and iterate on the graphics and especially animations.

putting up some higher res widescreen screenies instead of lowres 4:3ish (which are typical for rpgmaker games) would already change a lot about how people perceive the game without requiring any work on the graphics themselves.

 

[Lhynn]

Have you tried playing around with the art style? for example real life/anime/some other known style in paintings, newspaper, profile pictures? I know its a commonly used technique, but i kinda like how it changes how you perceive the rpgmaker graphics. It also works well to set the mood.

 

[Ogg]

You need to get this game on the front page of some gaming blogs/news sites.

I know it has not been easy.

Yeah that's definitely the biggest problem - none of the bigger sites seem to be interested in the game. Maybe the game is just too niche or the graphics aren't appealing enough or the idea is boring. One can only guess.

If you want your KS to succeed, don't spend too much time here. The codex is a devoted community, but we don't have as much visibility as you'd hope.

 

[PekkaK]

Short video about Events:



Next one will be about combat.

 

[veryalien]

Have you guys considered reaching out to the Prison Architect devs and seeing if they'll post about the campaign on their forums? Synergy and all that.

 

[Abu Antar]

I'm not sure I'm a big fan of the font used in dialogue boxes. Something easier to read would be nice.

 

[PekkaK]

We have our own hosted forum now on Codex, you can find it here:

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?forums/prisonscape.92/

 

[WhiteGuts]

Good, good. Let the Codex flow through you.

 

[Monty]

We have our own hosted forum now on Codex, you can find it here:

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?forums/prisonscape.92/

Hope the curse of a Codex hosted forum doesn't strike again! Good luck.

 

[anus_pounder]

We have our own hosted forum now on Codex, you can find it here:

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?forums/prisonscape.92/

Hope the curse of a Codex hosted forum doesn't strike again! Good luck.

Did it ever? Genuinely curious.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Did it ever? Genuinely curious.

Chaos Chronicles, Dark Triad, Prelude to Darkness... These just the ones I remember.

Oh, right-

Spoiler

Age of Decadence.

 

[GarlandExCon]

A couple of random things I noticed:

-Most tools kept under heavy lock and key. This includes kitchen knives, wood shop tools, hobby craft tools and barber's scissors. The COs in charge of those areas have the keys. Once a trusted inmate is given the materials by the CO, he generally is left unsupervised, so perhaps another inmate could make a deal with that inmate to get or use those things as weapons... Or, it's also possible you could bribe a CO to look the other way. While bribery isn't usually of a nature that will actually cause inmates to get hurt in prison, it does happen in maximum security.

-At most prisons inmates don't wear orange. This is something that is the attire in only county and regional jails. In most prisons more bland colors are warn, like whites and tans and grays. Maybe light blue at the most. In the federal system we wore tan/beige/khaki (Low/Medium/High) and inmates at Camps wore green.

-If you don't have Muslims being a major gang/faction in prison, especially the Nation of Islam, that's a huge flaw. They also need to have pixel Kufi's on their heads.

 

[Kem0sabe]

A couple of random things I noticed:

-Most tools kept under heavy lock and key. This includes kitchen knives, wood shop tools, hobby craft tools and barber's scissors. The COs in charge of those areas have the keys. Once a trusted inmate is given the materials by the CO, he generally is left unsupervised, so perhaps another inmate could make a deal with that inmate to get or use those things as weapons... Or, it's also possible you could bribe a CO to look the other way. While bribery isn't usually of a nature that will actually cause inmates to get hurt in prison, it does happen in maximum security.

-At most prisons inmates don't wear orange. This is something that is the attire in only county and regional jails. In most prisons more bland colors are warn, like whites and tans and grays. Maybe light blue at the most. In the federal system we wore tan/beige/khaki (Low/Medium/High) and inmates at Camps wore green.

-If you don't have Muslims being a major gang/faction in prison, especially the Nation of Islam, that's a huge flaw. They also need to have pixel Kufi's on their heads.

They should hire you as a consultant. Pay you in meth magic.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Dude, he IS the consultant.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Dude, he IS the consultant.

I know

 

[GarlandExCon]

Magic meth sounds fun... and also like a probation violation. :ehue:

 

[GarlandExCon]

How about integrating prison cooking into the game?

 

[Qiu222Be]

You won't be seeing any prison movies where you're going...PRISON!

Do you have excellent movies to recommend? Waiting for the positive reply. Hahah.....

 

[Qiu222Be]

Looks pretty fucking good, is someone in charge of the music/sounds in the game? Also will you be able to cross someone elses grid? ally grid, enemy grid, etc?

Hey Lhynn, sorry for the late reply.

You can hear some samples here https://soundcloud.com/kc_portman/prisonscape-soundtrack-teaser.

I'll probably start implementing the grid in the beginning of next year, so we'll see how the grid falls into place. For now we've been trying to get the alpha ready, i.e. finishing all the stuff you can do in the County Jail.

Did Pekka contact you about alpha testing yet?

If there is any progress, please share it here. Expertise in this field. Hope to be someone like you!

 

[GarlandExCon]

You won't be seeing any prison movies where you're going...PRISON!

Hilariously people in prison LOVE watching movies about prison or TV shows about prison. When I was there this drove me crazy. I kept thinking "why the hell do you want to watch MS-NBC Lock-Up when you're locked up! You're living this!"

 

[Badman]

I saw a reference on the blog calling gang heads "shock collars," but it's "shot caller."

 

[Norfleet]

Hilariously people in prison LOVE watching movies about prison or TV shows about prison. When I was there this drove me crazy. I kept thinking "why the hell do you want to watch MS-NBC Lock-Up when you're locked up! You're living this!"

This seem weird, but then there's the NASA guys playing Kerbal Space Program...

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Is this dead?