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[Suggestions] After running a 90 population prison

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 6:10 am
by pudd1nG
I've ran a pretty large prison, see screenshot here -> http://i.imgur.com/w5V2a.jpg

Here are my suggestions to what I think would improve the gameplay. I absolutely understand this is alpha (and v1 even) so I will keep my suggestions rather broad.

- Currently every prisoner that arrives at your facility is a 'lifer'. They have no release date. Prisoners need a release date, which could be pushed if they do bad. If they make it to their release date (which could be as little as 1-2 days) they would get on a bus and leave, with the prison getting a decent payout for a successful 'rehabilitation'. With these sentences we could still have lifers, and we could even get death row sentences with a date of execution we must get ready for.


- Some kind of event feed, even just a scrolling ticker. Would be nice to have something to watch to know the current happenings, fights, solitary sentences etc. We could even be told what's on the menu today alongside other satire. Simcity style. It would also be nice to know how someone escaped via this feed, like showing the guards report of what happened.


- Cells should get a rating (be it visible or not) to their comfort, size etc. Lighter sentence or good behaving prisoners should get the nicer cells.


- Allow multi occupant cells, it currently doesn't behave like it should


- Simply right clicking an injured inmate should dispatch a doctor, just like right clicking an escaping prisoner should automatically dispatch a guard.


That's all I've got. Loving the game so far and looking forward to the updates already :D

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 6:38 am
by SuperConductiveRabbi
These are awesome suggestions, and I frankly haven't heard them yet.

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 7:37 am
by RuN
Excellent suggestions, wholeheartedly agree !

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 7:44 am
by randommonicle
I concur with all these suggestions :)

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 9:53 am
by Chapal
nice ideas,
I especially like the different types of sentences, it could be a good idea to split the prison between small sentences and lifers (to avoid inmates which should be released soon to get into huge fight and get 1 week more)

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 11:15 am
by JimTheDog
I particularly like the idea of an event feed ticker. Bonus points if I can get a daily report of fights/events relating to each prisoner. EG: Who got found with contraband today, etc etc etc.

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 1:49 pm
by ronanc
These are really really good!

with the prison getting a decent payout for a successful 'rehabilitation'. With these sentences we could still have lifers, and we could even get death row sentences with a date of execution we must get ready for.


About this one.. I wonder if once a prisoner is released that if they reoffend down the line you could get a fine. This would encourage the player to actually try to rehabilitate the prisoners, not just house them.

Allow multi occupant cells, it currently doesn't behave like it should


I'd love to be able to install bunk-beds. Would be a simple way to have more prisoners in the same size area.

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 9:14 pm
by pudd1nG
Thanks for the support guys, judging from the poll IV put up though they have some strange ideas on what's important, so maybe these ideas will take awhile to get any real attention :\

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 11:24 pm
by a__gun
pudd1nG wrote:Thanks for the support guys, judging from the poll IV put up though they have some strange ideas on what's important, so maybe these ideas will take awhile to get any real attention :\


Sorry but I have to disagree with you here. Whilst most of your suggestions are good ones, none of them are vital to implement for a second alpha release. Being able to stop your prison burning to the ground is more important, as is having guardsmen that actually work.

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 11:27 pm
by Hessen
Constructive suggestion threads, always encouraged.

Suggestion threads where you try to tell the devs what is best for their game, are not.

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 11:33 pm
by pudd1nG
I was referring to the tunneling situation, one of the biggest suggestions has been a way to have a flow of prisoners without having to let some escape, yet we didn't see anything to solve that in the IV poll. Sure firefighters will be good, but we do have sprinklers at the moment. I really do look forward to the guard patrols, but they are already mentioned in the game, so we could assume they were going to be implemented without having to vote on it.

These are all just MY OPINIONS, this is a forum remember, no one is trying to tell IV what to do but for $30 we're all allowed to put forward what we think is important.

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 11:34 pm
by a__gun
Thee vote is about what Chris will focus his efforts on for the next release. All three of them WILL be implemented at some point so its no good saying 'they were already doing that'

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 11:36 pm
by Hessen
pudd1nG wrote:These are all just MY OPINIONS, this is a forum remember, no one is trying to tell IV what to do but for $30 we're all allowed to put forward what we think is important.


Indeed, as I said constructive feedback is welcomed.

Whinging that some other ideas have been implemented ahead of yours, isn't constructive.

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 3:44 am
by georgetownhoya
How is it unconstructive? He's pointed out numerous good ideas for features he thinks should be included. He has also stated he believes IV is prioritizing relatively trivial features, which he thinks is a mistake. I fail to see any problem with that. Surely, it is good for Alpha participants to criticize the developer when the developer makes what they feel is an error, right?

He has given honest feedback to IV in this thread. All you have done is act like Introversion's coddling mother. They're big boys. They'd rather have frank assessments by the community than people like you trying to stick up for their authority or whatever.

That said, personally I think Alpha polls are kind of silly. (Endless Space did it too, and it was really not effective.) These polls are meant to get the community "engaged," but really, they are too binary. I'd rather know IV is carefully reading and thinking about the boards, than just checking to see which of 3 pre-determined features we voted on.

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 5:24 am
by pudd1nG
Well put George. Regardless of what IV do I have no doubt in their ability to create an amazing game. Hell, they did all of v1 without us and it's bloody brilliant.