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Prison Architect

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Prison Architect
Developer(s)Introversion Software
Publisher(s)Introversion Software
Producer(s)Mark Morris
Designer(s)Chris Delay
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, Android, iOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Release
  • October 6, 2015
  • 'Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux'PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
    • Q2 2016
    Android, iOS
    • 2016
Genre(s)Construction and management simulation
Mode(s)Single-player

Prison Architect is a private prison construction and management simulation video game developed and published by Introversion Software.[1] It was made available as a crowdfunded paid alpha pre-order on September 25, 2012 with updates scheduled every three to four weeks.[2] With over 1,000,000 copies sold, Prison Architect made over US$10.7 million in pre-order sales for the alpha version.[3] Prison Architect was an entrant in the 2012 Independent Games Festival.[4]

The game was available on Steam's Early Access program, and was officially released on October 6, 2015.

Gameplay

The game is a top-down 2D (with optional 3D mode)[5] construction and management simulation where the player takes control of building and running a prison. The player is responsible for managing various aspects of their prison including building cells and facilities, planning and connecting utilities, hiring and assigning staff, including a warden, guards, workers, and more. The player needs to recruit staff to unlock more aspects of the game. The player is also responsible for the finance, and keeping their inmates content. The player's role is of both architect and governor with sandbox micromanagement themes such as choosing where to put lights, drains and how they connect together. The player is also able to add workshops to the prison as well as reform programs that reduce the specific prisoner's repeat-offender rate. The player tells the prisoners what to do indirectly by setting their schedule.[6] The game takes inspiration from Theme Hospital, Dungeon Keeper, and Dwarf Fortress.[7]

The first "official" (non-beta) release introduced an expanded story mode as a tutorial and an escape mode which allows the player to take control of a prisoner.[8]

Development

Prison Architect was developed by British video game studio Introversion Software. The game was announced in October 2011, shortly after Introversion postponed the development of their bank heist simulator game Subversion.[9] The game was first made available on September 25, 2012 as an Alpha version.[2] The game was then crowdfunded with pre-orders, making over US$270,000 in two weeks with close to 8,000 sales.[10] Developer's co-founder Mark Morris explains that independent crowd-funding has allowed them to have no time limit on the Alpha version, as well as no fees associated with crowd-funding platforms.[10] As of December 2013, the developers have raised over US$9 million.[11] Since then, the game has received 37 major updates, with the latest on October 7, 2015.[12]

Introversion Software also announced that a mobile version of the game is in development[13] and the PC version of the game will launch officially on October 6, 2015.[14][15] In Introversion's alpha 30 video,[16] they confirmed Prison Architect was coming to iOS and Android in October 2015 with the games official release. The developers posted a tweet on March 21, 2013, that "I guess Prison Architect won't be coming to iPad then! YOUR LOSS APPLE", with a link to a PocketGamer article talking about "Apple's war on serious games".[17]

Introversion announced on January 20, 2016 that it would be bringing the game to Xbox 360, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 platforms in the second quarter of 2016.[18]

Reception

Upon the full release, the game has received positive reviews, scoring 83 out of 100 on review aggregator site Metacritic.[19] IGN awarded it a score of 8.3 out of 10, saying "Prison Architect is one of the most in-depth, satisfying builder games in ages, if you can get past the initiation."[20] On 7 April 2016, Prison Architect won the 2016 BAFTA award in the Persistent Game category.[21] Prison Architect was also nominated for the 2016 BAFTA award in the British Game category, which was won by Batman: Arkham Knight.[21]

Sales

As of September 26, 2015, the game grossed over $19 million for Introversion Software, and over 1.25 million units of the game were sold.[22]

See also

References

  1. ^ Geere, Duncan (November 30, 2011). "Prison Architect lets you build the jailhouse of your dreams". Wired News.
  2. ^ a b Rossignol, Jim (September 26, 2012). "Introversion Unveil Prison Architect's Alpha Launch". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
  3. ^ Steinbach, Jonas (January 9, 2014). "Prison Architect rakes in nearly $11 million". Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  4. ^ "IGF 2012 Main Competition Entrant: Prison Architect". The 14th Annual Independent Games Festival. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  5. ^ "How to activate Prison Architect 3D". Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
  6. ^ Francis, Tom (July 31, 2012). "Prison Architect preview". PC Gamer.
  7. ^ "Official Prison Architect Page". Introversion Software. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
  8. ^ "Prison Architect at EGX 2015 video". Retrieved September 27, 2015.
  9. ^ Senior, Tom (October 20, 2011). "Introversion's new game is Prison Architect". PC Gamer. Future Publishing. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  10. ^ a b Rose, Mike (October 10, 2012). "Who Needs Kickstarter? Prison Architect devs want total control". Gamasutra. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
  11. ^ Cook, Dave (December 5, 2013). "$9 million and counting: why Prison Architect underlines a changing tide". VG24/7. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
  12. ^ "PRISON ARCHITECT ALPHA BUILDS". Introversion Software. August 28, 2015. Retrieved September 28, 2015.
  13. ^ Wesley Yin-Poole (January 30, 2015). "Prison Architect will launch in 2015". Eurogamer. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  14. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (July 30, 2015). "Prison Architect set free October 2015". Eurogamer. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  15. ^ "Prison Architect Mailing List Archives". Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  16. ^ "Prison Architect Alpha 30". YouTube. February 27, 2015. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  17. ^ "Intoreversion Software tweet".
  18. ^ G. Macy, Seth (January 20, 2016). "Prison Architect Headed To Consoles". IGN. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  19. ^ a b "Prison Architect for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  20. ^ Cobbett, Richard (October 6, 2015). "Prison Architect Review". IGN.
  21. ^ a b BAFTA - Games in 2016
  22. ^ Purchese, Robert (September 30, 2015). "Prison Architect earns $19m from 1.25m sales - but what's next?". Eurogamer. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
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