Is PA worth it?

[Ace Rimmer]

Simple question, per the title. I'm on the fence with paypal a click away, convince me I should but, or not?

What are the best features/experiences of the game? Conversely, what's the worst/most annoying?

[paktsardines]

Of course it's bloody worth it. You're not paying $30 for the alpha, you're paying $30 for a copy of the full game, plus you get to help contribute and shape the development of the game. $30 for a full game is perfectly reasonable, particularly when you consider the quality of Introversion games.

It's not a question of whether the alpha's worthy of $30, it's a question of whether you're worthy of the alpha.

[Ace Rimmer]

That doesn't really help. ;p

[paktsardines]

You asked if it's worth it, I said of course it's bloody worth it. Now go and buy it.

Countless hours of entertainment, and alpha 2's now out.

[Hessen]

It's like theme hospital with loads of bugs and only one scenario.

[paktsardines]

You're answering a question that wasn't asked.

No I'm not. I was making a statement. Not every statement is an answer to a question not asked.

And of course I'm coming across a little strong. It's a silly question. I can think of only three things you can get for $30:

1. A month's child sponsorship in a developing country.
2. 15 minutes with a toothless hag.
3. Prison Architect.

Prison Architect wins every time.

Oh, and I'm Australian, so I'm allowed to be rude and arrogant. Bloody hell.

[Ace Rimmer]

I thought it was just the British that were allowed?

Also, any specific reason it's worth it?

[Mas Tnega]

And of course I'm coming across a little strong. It's a silly question. I can think of only three things you can get for $30:

1. A month's child sponsorship in a developing country.
2. 15 minutes with a toothless hag.
3. Prison Architect.

Prison Architect wins every time.

You need to shop around. That or learn to haggle better with your toothless $120/hour hags.


Honestly, I think Prison Architect's a gamble as it is.

Likes:
I could probably script a scenario, if I weren't so lazy. Lua has a very slight learning curve.

Dislikes:
There's no feeling that you're punishing or rehabilitating your prisoners. You just cater to their childish wants and pray they don't decide to beat each other up or, in the absence of other people, punch their toilets into submission. There's no in-game reason not to just cave and give them what they want.
Nothing really happens unless it's a direct result of your own failings in staff deployment/building/regime setting. Once you've learned up to a point, you're just building a prison, responding to the occasional complainer and tediously sending guards to various places ahead of the prisoners.

Other:
The one scenario sets tone more than it does educate or challenge, if the confused posts are anything to go by.

[xander]

I thought it was just the British that were allowed?

Also, any specific reason it's worth it?

If you like management / tycoon style games, you should like Prison Architect. Have you played other tycoon style games? SimCity? Theme Hospital? If so, and you liked them, I would say PA is a definite yes for you. If not, you may want to hold off until there is a demo.

xander

[Ace Rimmer]

Dislikes:
There's no feeling that you're punishing or rehabilitating your prisoners. You just cater to their childish wants and pray they don't decide to beat each other up or, in the absence of other people, punch their toilets into submission. There's no in-game reason not to just cave and give them what they want.
Nothing really happens unless it's a direct result of your own failings in staff deployment/building/regime setting. Once you've learned up to a point, you're just building a prison, responding to the occasional complainer and tediously sending guards to various places ahead of the prisoners.

So, it's just like a real prison then?

Very nice appraisal. Any word/idea if these issues will be addressed in the future?

I thought it was just the British that were allowed?

Also, any specific reason it's worth it?

If you like management / tycoon style games, you should like Prison Architect. Have you played other tycoon style games? SimCity? Theme Hospital? If so, and you liked them, I would say PA is a definite yes for you. If not, you may want to hold off until there is a demo.

xander

Forgot to include New Yorkers, sorry. Also, I have played them a tiny bit, so never enough to really decide.

Once buildings are constructed, can you alter/demolish/replace them?

Thanks!

[Xill]

Yes, it is worth it.

[koshensky]

Very nice appraisal. Any word/idea if these issues will be addressed in the future?

There's no word as yet to what the future of PA will be, but given that it's only Alpha 2, we're a long way off. Given the amount of ideas floating around and the general excitement of the community as a whole I would say that we're going to be looking at quite a promising game in the future, given that you can already have a fun few hours playing in a form of sandbox mode, even with many features that have been programmed in being left out for the time being.

As to it's value - I would say that it is certainly worth the $30. Keeping in mind that you also get to have some input into the final product, which has been mentioned already and sounds a bit peculiar, but definitely worth it when you consider how much input you actually get. It's not like we're sat there waiting for Chris to say "we're doing X, do you agree" and ignoring us regardless of the outcome, we're having (reasonably) intelligent conversations about what would make the game better, and the developers are listening to those suggestions, having already acted on some of them.

Best $30 I spent all year.

[paktsardines]

Best $30 I spent all year

Well said. My hag thinks so too.

[Ace Rimmer]

I went ahead and bought it. Took me three prisons to realize you can't designate a whole foundation as 'cell' and divide it up using walls. (I don't read the forums, hope that's in there somewhere)

So far, I think it's worth it.

[ronanc]

Good on ya. Take a poke around the dev forum and the wiki if you're stuck.