Prisonscape - a prison RPG

[PekkaK]

This game could be an AoD killer. What do you guys think?

Probably not. AoD and Prisonscape are completely different games and AoD has the RPG element on whole different level. I'm not saying that PS is a bad game compared to AoD, they are just different. AoD has been in development since 2004, PS was started in November 2012 and we are planning on releasing this year, so the scale of the game won't be anything similar to AoD. Statistics, skills and previous choices affect dialogue options, dialogue options affect the outcome and going into fights should be considered carefully as they affect the prison environment and social interaction quite heavily. I'd say those are the only similarities between the two games.

Have you considered a less explicit alert level? As in, no GTA style lights or anything, but some comment by some inmate when you ask him how things are, e.g.-
Player: How're things?
With possible responses being-
Convict: Things are quiet.
Convict: A beat up here or there, same old.
Convict: Things aren't looking good. The guards're getting jumpy.
etc.

The reason why we consider using the visible alert levels is that since the player actually lives in the prison, he is quite aware how alert the guards are. For the same reason we show health, sanity, reputation, etc. These are values which the player is aware of. Putting all this in NPC dialogue would bloat the dialogue trees too much (in my opinion).

Are there going to be drug lines in the prison?

The warden has no interest in any of that - prison is supposed to be a form of punishment for your crimes, not place where you get drugs for free.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Fair enough. Makes sense in a place as small as a prison.
Bribing guards is in right?

 

[PekkaK]

Bribing guards is in right?

Yes. Also, snitching. You can build up your reputation with the guards which can give you some benefits (it's easier to go to the infirmary, lower chance of ending up in SHU after fighting, etc.).

 

[Crane]

The warden has no interest in any of that - prison is supposed to be a form of punishment for your crimes, not place where you get drugs for free.

What's the setting of the game? Where is the prison? Who is the warden?

 

[PekkaK]

What's the setting of the game? Where is the prison? Who is the warden?

It's not based on any real prison, but it is located somewhere on the west coast of US. The warden actually has no name, but we got some inspiration from a real person who's name could or could not be Joe Arpaio.

 

[Crane]

What's the setting of the game? Where is the prison? Who is the warden?

It's not based on any real prison, but it is located somewhere on the west coast of US. The warden actually has no name, but we got some inspiration from a real person who's name could or could not be Joe Arpaio.

Ok, well, your statement about "free drugs" was kind of shocking to me (it also strikes me as very naive), so I recommend that you become more familiar with the subject. I'm not expecting Newjack in video game form, or anything, but it never hurts to know more about your setting.

 

[PekkaK]

What's the setting of the game? Where is the prison? Who is the warden?

It's not based on any real prison, but it is located somewhere on the west coast of US. The warden actually has no name, but we got some inspiration from a real person who's name could or could not be Joe Arpaio.

Ok, well, your statement about "free drugs" was kind of shocking to me (it also strikes me as very naive), so I recommend that you become more familiar with the subject. I'm not expecting Newjack in video game form, or anything, but it never hurts to know more about your setting.

The statement was supposed to be the opinion of the warden, not mine. Sorry for being unclear with my reply... I come from Finland where we have drug lines and I know that for example methadone treatment can be extremely helpful for many inmates and addicts.

One of the difficult things with the game is to find the middle line between realism and interesting gameplay. Our goal is to make the game as entertaining as possible which is challenging since prison itself is kind of boring place.

 

[PekkaK]

Here's a short trailer video with some new footage we did for EGX Rezzed indie showcase:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkRU14WF580

 

[PekkaK]

We are very close to finishing the first area of the game, here's a short introduction about it:

http://www.indiedb.com/games/prisonscape/news/introducing-county-jail

 

[Onholyservicebound]

Can't play as a nigger? That's like not being able to play as dwarves in dwarf fortress; 0/10 no purchase.

(But seriously, looks good, although I wonder how well the dialogue heavy angle will pan out in a prison setting..)

 

[PekkaK]

We finally have a logo!

And here are some screenshots and animations from the second area of the game, the Miranda unit:

If everything goes well, we'll launch the Kickstarter campaign next week. Really excited about this one...

 

[Haba]

Looks nice. I hope you have loaded your batteries, running a KS can be hell.

 

[PekkaK]

Looks nice. I hope you have loaded your batteries, running a KS can be hell.

Yeah it's gonna be a tough month, since most of us have full-time jobs, also. Fortunately we have a quite big team and everyone's participating.

 

[Abu Antar]

I really hope this turns out great. I have wanted a prison rpg for some time. I liked the time you spent in prison in Mafia 2, but they didn't do as much as I had hoped with it.

 

[PekkaK]

We're on Kickstarter now: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lunarenigma/prisonscape-0

Also, Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=244631114

 

[curry]

care to explain why most of the prisoners are white and not black? are you a racist?

 

[PekkaK]

care to explain why most of the prisoners are white and not black? are you a racist?

Actually, most of the inmates in Prisonscape are Mexicans. Then the blacks, then the whites. Not racist, but I don't really like cats that much.

 

[PekkaK]

Are you gonna do an interview with the codex? Get you kickstarter on the main page.

Well, shit... if that's possible, yes. Gonna have to look into that tomorrow, been awake for too long now.

 

[Haba]

Looking good. Hopefully you have a lot of publicity lined up, 50k is a tough nut to crack if we look at prior kickstarter projects. But the theme and the art should sway some hearts, methinks.

 

[PekkaK]

Looking good. Hopefully you have a lot of publicity lined up, 50k is a tough nut to crack if we look at prior kickstarter projects. But the theme and the art should sway some hearts, methinks.

Yea 50k is a lot of dough for unknown studio/game. We have some articles lined up which hopefully speed up the pledges a bit.

 

[Crane]

I worry that you won't reach the lofty goal of 50K, but I'm excited to see more regardless. There was a recent project that had some press on the codex -- it was asking for around the same amount of money, but didn't reach the goal AFAIK.

 

[I_am_Ian]

Gotta love the pixelated gore. Can we expect more of that?

 

[veryalien]

Backed. Why? Because you guys are doing something new and I support new RPGs made by real indies.

Thanks!

 

[PekkaK]

I worry that you won't reach the lofty goal of 50K, but I'm excited to see more regardless. There was a recent project that had some press on the codex -- it was asking for around the same amount of money, but didn't reach the goal AFAIK.

We'll make it, I'm sure!

Gotta love the pixelated gore. Can we expect more of that?

There will be some, yes. The thing is, we don't want to show too much gore without context because people would get the wrong idea about the game - it's not JUST violence - there's a lot of interaction, scheming, solving some puzzles, exploring the prison, etc.

Backed. Why? Because you guys are doing something new and I support new RPGs made by real indies.

Thanks!

Thank YOU.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Whats with the monsters at the end? Is the main character Jackie Estacado? is this the darkness rpg i have been promised by the voices under my bed?