Prison Architect - formerly from Introversion, acquired by Paradox

[Destroid]

https://www.prisonarchitect.com




https://af.gog.com/game/prison_architect?as=1649904300

Spoiler

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-09-29-prison-architect-paid-alpha-makes-USD100-000

Cashing in on the kickstarter craze without giving up 10% to the man seems pretty clever. Shame they gave up on that other game they were working on, it looked very interesting.

 

[Haba]

$30?

Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng.

 

[Turisas]

Bitch where's my Uplink 2 at.


Does it even have tasteful prison shower gang rape?

 

[Destroid]

Watching a few of the gameplay videos on youtube, looks like the gameplay is heavily derived from dwarf fortress.

 

[Tzaero]

A presentation on what went wrong with subversion and prison architect.

 

[xilo3z]

$30?

Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng.

Yeah the developers explained it, and its actually ok. The reasoning for the $30 is that its literally just for the beta and full game. The real game at release will not cost $30. The reason they are making the preorders cost so much is they want to ensure the quality of the beta test. The more money people invest to be part of the beta the more likely they will do everything in their power to truly beta test the game and get the quality up to par. On the other hand imagine if it were say a $5 beta test. The majority would be throw away testers who would just quit playing when ever anything went wrong because they really dont have any attachment to the game.

 

[Haba]

Yeah, business wise it is probably a very brilliant move. Or well, following the standard models

 

[Damned Registrations]

$30?

Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng.

Yeah the developers explained it, and its actually ok. The reasoning for the $30 is that its literally just for the beta and full game. The real game at release will not cost $30. The reason they are making the preorders cost so much is they want to ensure the quality of the beta test. The more money people invest to be part of the beta the more likely they will do everything in their power to truly beta test the game and get the quality up to par. On the other hand imagine if it were say a $5 beta test. The majority would be throw away testers who would just quit playing when ever anything went wrong because they really dont have any attachment to the game.

I would imagine they also did their reasearch and realized they aren't losing much money going this route anyways. Most money raised through kickstarter drives comes from a few large donations, not the swarm of 5$ guys. The main advantage of the smaller donators is their word of mouth advertising, not their actual donations.

 

[Ulminati]

That's an amazing Let's play waiting to be written.

 

[Trash]

Played the alpha for a bit. Had fun, then it crashed. It's kinda slow and obviously a work in progress but amazingly enough it is already a game that I kept wanting to play. If they polish this up a bit I can see it becoming a neat builder. Going to steer clear of it untill then as I don't want to burn myself out on half-assed versions.

Prisoners are nasty little bitches btw. I loved how the game gave little clues to those really paying attention to what asshole to search and detain.

 

[Ulminati]

Yeah.. I might splurge $30 on this on release, but I don't wanna burn out on a bunch of alphas. I also really wanna see prisoners being named after codexians, a warden named DarkUnderlord and a 30+ page let's play.

 

[asper]

Whoah, Introversion still makes games?!

I'm a big fan of Introversion, but a lot went wrong with that studio. What did they do with all the years of work they spent on the awesome-in-concept bank heist game? Really, big props to them for still going on after all what happened, I thought they had real jobs forever by now...!

In any case, when they really put a lot of content into this, It's probably going to be awesome. Amazing that it's the work of one man..

"Press H to aim the hose" - isn't this another example of Introversion getting lost in the details? Like with that bank heist game, where after 5 years of development they had a complete random city generator, but no idea what the actual gameplay would be like. It really takes a Tarn Adams to build these ridiculously feature-full games and not bog down in the details. By the way, Dwarf Fortress really seems to be very influential in non-mainstream gaming...


@Tzero -- ah, nevermind, thanks for posting that link, very interesting. Introversion really make me think of early iD software, with the great ideas, design and programming..

 

[Haba]

It really takes a Tarn Adams to build these ridiculously feature-full games and not bog down in the details.

DF has been out for six years now. We now have proper bloody footprints to show for it, complete with direction, the kind of shoe if it was a shoe and not a foot, that kind of thing.

 

[asper]

Yeah, but the point is, DF has been released and is eminently playable. Subversion hasn't and isn't.

By the way, thanks for making me look again at the DF dev blog. Holy shit..

I rescued my first batch of prisoners from a goblin prison under their tower yesterday, after sneaking past watch towers through some trenches, and then passing through a living area underground. The captives were mostly children of the dwarven duchess from the next fortress over. We still need to handle reunions, but that'll definitely be going in when we get to fortress maps (which are going in before the release). It'll be cool to finally get some dwarves back home after all these years.

 

[Trash]

I anticipate the DF dude to come up with a UI for mortals in about twenty years. Untill then I'll enjoy the LP's.


And hey, Introversion actually has a working and playable alpha out now. That is fun. Shocking. But hey, before we start comparing aspie levels the introversion game as it is now is really more of a theme prison game than a df. As I said, I got good hopes that it will actually become neat. Then again, I digged those theme games.

 

[Metro]

I'll wait for the sequel: Prison Rape.

 

[Konjad]

This game interest me, but I am not sure if I should buy it. There is no demo to try out, so I will ask you: Is it playable at the current stage? Does it have a lot of bugs in the current alpha? How is the game itself, good as it looks or disappointing? I also heard that the price might drop when it is in beta/final, is it true? Is PA worth getting at the moment or should I forget it or at least wait until it's far more into development?

 

[Konjad]

DarkUnderlord

 

[DarkUnderlord]

It's playable. Only real bugs include it going slow for large prisons and workers getting stuck on corners from time to time.

Only issue is once you've built a prison with everything you need there's nothing else to do other than build another one.

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

PA is pretty awesome, if a bit buggy, at the moment. The devs are working constantly on it, and the updates are frequent.

If you are cheap, you may want till they have the final version out, as it will most likely be less expensive than the alpha access they sell now.

 

[Konjad]

-66% on Steam now, meaning it's quite cheap now. Developers might be slowly burning out and trying to cash in whatever they can. That's at least my personal prediction. Anyway, is it a good game by now? Or should I just stick to Dwarf Fortress?

 

[Emily]

There is nothing that can hold a candle to DF so it is kinda a moot point

 

[Metro]

Wake me when it hits beta. They've been taking forever and, personally, I'm done buying Early Access games that have no chance of being in release state within a year.

 

[Konjad]

There is nothing that can hold a candle to DF so it is kinda a moot point

Yeah, but is it a fun game on its own at the current stage of its development?

 

[Emily]

There is nothing that can hold a candle to DF so it is kinda a moot point

Yeah, but is it a fun game on its own at the current stage of its development?

for me the answer is no.
It is too simple and there is not much to do after a while.

 

[asper]

-66% on Steam now, meaning it's quite cheap now. Developers might be slowly burning out and trying to cash in whatever they can. That's at least my personal prediction. Anyway, is it a good game by now? Or should I just stick to Dwarf Fortress?

There used to be a counter on the main PA page that showed how much money they had made with sales. It was about 10 million pounds. Now they've removed it for some reason, but I don't think they are struggling for cash. I mean it's just one programmer, one community manager working fulltime on the game, with some hired contractors for art etc.

edit, found an article about their sales figures from a while back
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-11-06-alpha-of-prison-architect-raises-almost-USD8m-sales

Anyway, the game is very different from Dwarf Fortress. It has a great UI. There are never too much of Theme- or DK clones, so just play them both.

 

[Metro]

No pressure to produce = ten year development cycle.

 

[Destroid]

I hope they mail Toady a $100k check.

 

[Disgruntled]

I got it in the sale. Its pretty good so far and adequately challenging for a new player. I like how the AI performs, and every person goes about their business as you would expect them to. Everything from zoning to building progression is well thought out.

The eternal alpha does disturb me somewhat, obviously profit oriented. But to their credit you can tell that the content additions are done with the care and balance afforded by such a relaxed schedule.

Too early for me to see the gameplay flaws but i got my money's worth already.