Prisonscape Beta

[PekkaK]

First of all, let's launch this Beta thread with Beta 1 release notes:

Trucking along. This is a smaller release, mostly to get Prisonscape working in Steam.

NOTE1: Release notes might contain spoilers!
NOTE2: Please wishlist Prisonscape on Steam!

Features

Implement Steam build
Implement JAR file to EXE build process

Tasks

No changes.

Bugs

No changes.

Editor

Fix world object labels in editor

 

[PekkaK]

Second, I'm very happy to say that so far the Beta has been a fun experience! We've had some great feedback on the game, and people have been (too) kind with their feedback. We're pushing updated at much faster pace now, as we want to see how these changes affect the current player base.

If you want, you can join our Discord: https://discord.gg/7d4KTCjy

Also, if you want to join the beta testing team, let me know!

 

[PekkaK]

Prototyping the character creation screen.

 

[Humbaba]

What steps will you take to set apart your game from the seminal and highly influential RPG classic "Hard Time"? Or is this meant to be something of a spiritual successor?

 

[Haba]

What steps will you take to set apart your game from the seminal and highly influential RPG classic "Hard Time"? Or is this meant to be something of a spiritual successor?

Are you kidding me? To truly immerse themselves in the prison culture, the devs did prison time in Bolivia. They literally commited some crimes just for the prison experience.

That's also why the game is taking so long to make.

 

[Humbaba]

Are you kidding me? To truly immerse themselves in the prison culture, the devs did prison time in Bolivia. They literally commited some crimes just for the prison experience.

That's also why the game is taking so long to make.

Well damn, consider me a passenger.

 

[Abu Antar]

 

[PekkaK]

We are working on Beta 4 now, the plan for Beta 4 & 5 is to complete the following stuff:
- Combat
- Finish cutscenes and fix plot holes
- Some game-related toggles, for example quest giver markers for NPC's for those players who have hard time exploring and finding out things by themselves.

We just finished pre-combat where player has many options to avoid fights. Success-% is related to the player character's skillset.

 

[Haba]

You are only missing the "seduce" option.

Also, it is kinda hard to "hide" when you are surrounded. Shouldn't it be "flee" or something?

 

[PekkaK]

We implemented easy mode for lazy gamers.

It just show quest indicators on top of NPC's, reducing the need for exploration and actual gaming.

 

[PekkaK]

You are only missing the "seduce" option.

Also, it is kinda hard to "hide" when you are surrounded. Shouldn't it be "flee" or something?

Fixed! I added seduction option for some NPC's.

 

[Haba]

You are only missing the "seduce" option.

Also, it is kinda hard to "hide" when you are surrounded. Shouldn't it be "flee" or something?

Fixed! I added seduction option for some NPC's.

Something to tell the kids. "Your daddy did that!"

 

[rusty_shackleford]

We implemented easy mode for lazy gamers.

View attachment 23207

It just show quest indicators on top of NPC's, reducing the need for exploration and actual gaming.

rename it to "codex mode"

 

[PekkaK]

Beta 4 released: https://www.prisonscape.com/blog/?p=880

NOTE1: Release notes might contain spoilers!
NOTE2: Please wishlist Prisonscape on Steam!

Changes

Implement combat v3
Implement pre-combat
Implement difficulty levels v1
Implement NPC walk speed
Remove player response from dialogue
Add character information after character creation
Add level statistics to editor
Mark quest items in inventory
Show tips in the game over screen

+ lots of balancing and bug fixes!

 

[PekkaK]

Here's a more detailed list of new stuff:

Combat v3
- New enemy AI: fight against damage dealers, defenders and medics!
- Combos and grappling: grab a hold of a gang member's head and knee them in the face!
- Watch spit and blood fly!

Pre-combat
Use your skills to evade combat situations:
- Intimidate or bribe enemies
- Hide or run away
- Or just head straight into combat

Difficulty levels
- Play on Easy or Normal
- Playing on Easy mode will give you more XP and loot and also helps you in finding quests
- Normal difficulty is quite challenging and targeted at veteran roleplaying gamers

 

[CyberWhale]

PekkaK never finished the demo (due to buggines) or provided feedback (due to your lack of interest, Steam discussions were lacking and Discord is not a proper substitute, sorry).

- add characters to the map once they are discovered
- add numbers beside cells so they can be more identifiable (on the map as well, don't remember if they were present or not)
- change Easy to Normal and Normal to Hard
- combat needs to be more balanced overall, random encounters included. Also shorter, exchanging blows without any need for tactics is boring

Few more:
- sound design was disappointing to say the least: music and ambient sounds were lacking, regular sound effects (like character steps for example, basic stuff in general) as well
- many encounters were set up in such a way that you fight multiple same enemies at once, make them more versatile

 

[Late Bloomer]

One of the few games where the lopsided diversity quota actually makes sense. Go crazy with it. After reading the Easy difficulty, I want a hard mode difficulty just to see the description.

 

[Bigg Boss]

I am hyped for this!

 

[PekkaK]

PekkaK never finished the demo (due to buggines) or provided feedback (due to your lack of interest, Steam discussions were lacking and Discord is not a proper substitute, sorry).

Thanks for telling this, I never realized that people provide feedback via Steam. We'll get better at this!

- add characters to the map once they are discovered

You mean character names, right? This is coming in the near future. We thought about adding it only to the Easy mode, but I guess it makes sense to add them to Normal, too. With +300 NPC's it can be difficult to remember where each one is located.

- add numbers beside cells so they can be more identifiable

Great idea, thanks!

- change Easy to Normal and Normal to Hard

This makes sense, too.

- combat needs to be more balanced overall, random encounters included. Also shorter, exchanging blows without any need for tactics is boring

This has been partly fixed in the new version. You can get henchmen earlier and we now have resistance/immunities, combat roles (healers, defenders, damage dealers) and weapon system with simple crafting.

If you have time, please take a look at the new version! I'll start providing support for Steam.

 

[CyberWhale]

If you have time, please take a look at the new version! I'll start providing support for Steam.

I'll try, but probably not soon (playing Elden Ring ATM). Please recheck my answer since I've made some updates. Honestly, I think your game is overambitious for its own good. IMO you should have made a simpler, more linear and traditional JRPG set in prison and then eventually reused assets and build up from there to create your dream game.

For steam discussions, I would recommend you make several basic threads and provide information there. From new version and updates, to discussing some basic game elements. FAQ as well, obviously. Also try to redirect your fanbase there partially, it will make the community livelier and potentially draw new ones.

 

[PekkaK]

The game itself has become much more FUN. Even I enjoy it, and I've played the damn thing through maybe three hundred times. Combat is still boring and tedious, but not as much as before. We now have more varied random encounters and there are different ways to build your character/group. It's still far from Codex standards (and probably always will be...).

Here is our current combat "fix list":

- Faster combat (10-30 seconds for random encounters, 1-2 minutes for named encounters and 5-10 minutes for boss fights)
- Scale henchmen damage/heal/buffs/debuffs to player level
- Reduce hp for both player and henchmen for later levels
- QTE's for attack and defense
- Area/multi-target attacks/defenses
- Indicators for resistances/vulnerabilities/immunities
- Prerequisites for henchmen attacks (currently they have too high DPS)
- Emphasize the combatant roles (defender defends medic/DPS)
- More status effects?
- Unique weapons for henchmen, increase stats/damage
- Re-structure Intelligence-based attacks and their effects

 

[PekkaK]

Here's some gameplay videos from the current build:



Any feedback is highly appreciated!

 

[Modron]

The only real beef I have is with the typewriter effect it's really aggravating when it's slower than you can read, I assume you can turn that to instant text display. The only good form of text crawl is line by line.

 

[PekkaK]

The only real beef I have is with the typewriter effect it's really aggravating when it's slower than you can read, I assume you can turn that to instant text display. The only good form of text crawl is line by line.

We'll add an option for instant text! We also might add another font option, some people dislike the one we currently have.

let me play it

Wanna be a beta tester? We are always looking for quality feedback, similar to what we got from CyberWhale.

 

[PekkaK]

So far I have been struggling with the addition of picking pockets to the game. The current solution is as follows:

- Player can pick NPC's pockets via 'hard skill check', i.e. they need to have Pickpockets at certain level (levels go from 1 to 3) to be able to steal stuff
- Level also affects what items the player gets - the higher the level, the better the items
- Player may also get better loot after combat if they the skill
- They can also put stuff in NPC's pockets - this can be useful with some quests where they have to frame someone for a crime
- The skill is also used when stealing stuff from various containers (cabinets, etc.). If the check fails, the player is usually attacked
- Player with high Intelligence and Intimidation and/or Manipulation skill can talk themselves out of these fights, though