[Guide] A guide to starting a new prison

[GC13]

We have a guide for Prison Architect's interface, but I figured it was high time we had a guide for a new player trying to get their prison started. I know when I was playing, I just straight up ran out of cash because I got overly excited with the building for my first two prisons. It was only when I learned to think small that I could go big.

The text version of the guide is hosted at the Steam workshop, under the name GC13's Easy Guide to a Successful Prison.

The first video in the Alpha 13 is up on Youtube.

Here's the stuff for Alpha 11:
Since the natural response to the end of an alpha build's lifespan is to make a seventy-minute-long tutorial video, there is also a video version of guide hosted by Youtube. I'll just add that making a tutorial video is hard, as you're spending so many brain cycles explaining what you're doing that you fail to notice crucial details.

So, anyone who's having trouble starting out in Prison Architect, please read/watch and enjoy. Let me know what you think, and any unanswered questions you still have. Don't think you need to see both before you tell me what you think I missed: if I only cover something important in the video, that means I left an important bit of advice out of the text guide.

[GC13]

I've started a new tutorial series after Alpha 12's release. I've fixed some audio volume difficulties that the first video suffered from, and this time I will remember to designate Staff Only areas!

Check out the first video on YouTube.

[GC13]

The second video of the tutorial is up. A day late, since OBS decided to give me a scare with the power when I tried to run new cables. It and I seem to have reached an accord though, so I'm hoping it was just a one-time thing.

[GC13]

Video number three is finished and uploaded.

[GC13]

Video #4 is up. So much money. What to spend it on, I wonder?

[GC13]

It took a while (had to roll back to OBS 0.542 to stop recording from murdering my frame rate in a manner most foul), but I've finally gotten started on the Alpha 13 version of my video tutorial.

http://youtu.be/f4J4wq1Cn-U

[comanoodle]

Very interesting, waiting for the next part of Alpha 13. I can't make a self-sustainable (at least for long) prison, and it looks like you'll explain a bunch of stuff that are non-obvious, especially prison labour and how to and when to satisfy needs.

[Argelle]

Nice video, I will definetely await monday for the following of your alpha 13 tutorial
One thing I'm curious about, is why on earth prisoners did not attempt to escape at the first free time they had, since the staff door at the upper left corner was left open?

[GC13]

Nice video, I will definetely await monday for the following of your alpha 13 tutorial
One thing I'm curious about, is why on earth prisoners did not attempt to escape at the first free time they had, since the staff door at the upper left corner was left open?

That's a jail door (or at least it should be), and all that matters is that you have it there; locking it open still counts as "secure" at the moment. In later versions, I fully expect that prisoners will attempt to sneak through it, meaning I'll need a slightly more involved front gate. The final design will have plenty of jail doors, but for Alpha 13 they'll all be locked open (just there in case of a riot).

[GC13]

Alright, video #2 is up. I gotta be honest, this one gets a bit tricky. Maximum security prisoners don't start out as kitty cats like they did in Alpha 12.

[Argelle]

Oh, the guide with 3 psychologists? I'd loved the last video, for jolting my imagination, and I can wait to see the effect of a ward of psy on prisonners.
3 shrinks, 4 diagnosis?

[GC13]

At least four diagnoses.

Yeah, three psychologists. That's what I get for opening up a Report before I close the menu I'm in.

[Argelle]

Joke apart, I quite enjoy the last video of yours. It would be nice to see the prison with more inmates as the layout is clearly not suitable for a small prison. Quite question: why opening this 3rd door in the workshop? I did not quite understand when you explain it. It think you spoke about setting the coridor to "staff only" but it looks that it can be done without an extra door. It may be for the worker but again it does not make the way shorter so much for them.

[GC13]

It's a door strictly for workmen, so they can get in just a little bit sooner than if they had to round that corner. Once the second workshop is in they'll ignore it and just walk through it instead, but my previous prison's workshop was so poorly optimized I may have gone a little overboard.

[GC13]

Alright, video #3 is up and compensating for its tardiness by being the first of my much nicer-looking videos, as well as being a bit longer than normal.