(Suggestion) Unique special abilities for prisoners

[GiantSpacePuppy]

So I was discussing Monaco in another thread here. Prison Architect and Monaco are two of my favorite games I've played recently. Their game worlds mix pretty well, one being a game about criminals and the other obviously about prisons.

So that naturally led me to the idea of what if the characters from Monaco were in Prison Architect.

Meaning I could see there being unique, extra dangerous prisoners with special abilities. Abilities like:

break down walls
charm/fool guards
disguise
hack/disable CCTV
etc.

The idea is that they would be really rare and have only one ability, and that as they arrive in the prison, you don't know who has what ability.. they look just like ordinary prisoners. Only as they use their ability will you find out, and in that eventuality you will have to design a special cell for them, taking into consideration their special ability.

Basically plagiarize Monaco.. imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

[GiantSpacePuppy]

Introversion could even ask the guy who made Monaco to let them use the names from Monaco.. some indie-to-indie love! Plus free advertisement for Monaco in Prison Architect. And how cool would it be to have The Mole locked up in your prison!

[thekillergreece]

Chris makes their own features..I mean IV makes. They dont copy features from other copies..



Anyway lets start about your ideas.
Can you break down walls with your OWN hands? Ofc not, how can prisoners smash down walls?
Fool guards..Hmm...
Disguise?What
Hack/Disable CCTV? This is not hacking game. If you want hacking game, wait for Watch Dogs to be released... Or, some events, 25 mafia arrive and attack prison, provoking Guards armed with pistols attack mafia gangsters.

[GiantSpacePuppy]

Chris makes their own features..I mean IV makes. They dont copy features from oth
er copies..



Anyway lets start about your ideas.
Can you break down walls with your OWN hands? Ofc not, how can prisoners smash down walls?
Fool guards..Hmm...
Disguise?What
Hack/Disable CCTV? This is not hacking game. If you want hacking game, wait for Watch Dogs to be released... Or, some events, 25 mafia arrive and attack prison, provoking Guards armed with pistols attack mafia gangsters.

Prison Architect is already basically Dwarf Fortress+Theme Hospital+Dungeon Keeper with a prison theme. Nothing wrong with that, just saying.

You can do a lot of stuff in video games you can't do in reality.. like breaking down walls. It's all about what makes fun gameplay.

By hacking CCTV I mean just disabling them. That's what hacking means in most games. Just like in Monaco.

Disguises would work so that the prisoner would suddenly change to look like a guard or a civilian, after which the guards think he is one of them and he would try to escape through staff doors, or if he has the keys, the main gate.

Mafia event? Not sure I understood. Yeah I think it's a fun idea that the mafia could attack the prison to free a certain prisoner, but that is another feature.

[thekillergreece]

Chris makes their own features..I mean IV makes. They dont copy features from oth
er copies..



Anyway lets start about your ideas.
Can you break down walls with your OWN hands? Ofc not, how can prisoners smash down walls?
Fool guards..Hmm...
Disguise?What
Hack/Disable CCTV? This is not hacking game. If you want hacking game, wait for Watch Dogs to be released... Or, some events, 25 mafia arrive and attack prison, provoking Guards armed with pistols attack mafia gangsters.

You can do a lot stuff in video games you can't do in reality.. like breaking down walls. It's all about what makes fun gameplay.

By hacking CCTV I mean just disabling them. That's what hacking means in most games. Just like in Monaco.

Disguises would work so that the prisoner would suddenly change to look like a guard or a civilian, after which the guards think he is one of them and he would try to escape through staff doors, or if he has the keys, the main gate.

Mafia event? Not sure I understood. Yeah I think it's a fun idea that the mafia could attack the prison to free a certain prisoner, but that is another feature.

It would be stupid for prisoners smash down walls..At least some fire can do that, instead of smashing it with hands..We want here something serious game, instead of unfair features.

This game is not monaco, so forget about hacking or disables. But wait!!! If prisoner went crazy and rage, he will start hit the CCTV camera, destroying it, losing the visibility whats going on. So, that prob is disable, but guards will always be alarmed if someone do that...

Amm, for disguises, probably it will only happen in Campaign(I have seen some icons of it in game files),so...Disguising in sandbox mode, is difficult for prisoners(And mainly, the coding/programming), because when prisoner goes crazy and fights one guard, and finally kills one, nearby guards will immediately go to the scene and violently hit the prisoner. It will also happen if guard is alone vs 20 prisoners..

[GiantSpacePuppy]

It would be stupid for prisoners smash down walls..At least some fire can do that, instead of smashing it with hands..We want here something serious game, instead of unfair features.

This game is not monaco, so forget about hacking or disables. But wait!!! If prisoner went crazy and rage, he will start hit the CCTV camera, destroying it, losing the visibility whats going on. So, that prob is disable, but guards will always be alarmed if someone do that...

Amm, for disguises, probably it will only happen in Campaign(I have seen some icons of it in game files),so...Disguising in sandbox mode, is difficult for prisoners(And mainly, the coding/programming), because when prisoner goes crazy and fights one guard, and finally kills one, nearby guards will immediately go to the scene and violently hit the prisoner. It will also happen if guard is alone vs 20 prisoners..

It's not like all prisoners would have the ability to smash down walls, only one prisoner which you would randomly and very rarely get in your prison.

Difference between hacking and destroying the cameras would be that when hacked, the guards think everything is ok, while in reality you have lost visibility.

Ok so disguising might be in the game in some form.. nice.

I guess the whole point is getting more unpredictability into the mix, so that it isn't so easy to design a break-proof prison.

[GC13]

I'd rather it be unpredictability you could plan for... I mean, how do you contain the guy who can break walls down with his bare hands? It's one thing if he needs a drill, a sledgehammer, and lots of free time on a wall. It's another thing entirely if you have a 1% chance every prison to get Clark Kent, and you have no way of knowing which prisoner he is so you just need to resign yourself to putting a $10,000 Red Sun Generator in each room or having a mass escape when he decides he's had enough of you.

[GiantSpacePuppy]

I'd rather it be unpredictability you could plan for... I mean, how do you contain the guy who can break walls down with his bare hands? It's one thing if he needs a drill, a sledgehammer, and lots of free time on a wall. It's another thing entirely if you have a 1% chance every prison to get Clark Kent, and you have no way of knowing which prisoner he is so you just need to resign yourself to putting a $10,000 Red Sun Generator in each room or having a mass escape when he decides he's had enough of you.

You assign him to be watched 24/7 by a personal guard, for example. Or add another, really expensive wall type which is indestructible.

Yes, the whole point is to design for that unpredictability. You have to prepare yourself for worst case scenarios, which occur rarely, but do happen.. like having guards in the yard, if somebody escapes their cell in the middle of the night for example. It does _not_ mean every cell has to be designed to contain every type of prisoner. You could do that, but it would be really expensive (and boring). Instead you have fall-back strategies and mechanisms to prepare for that unpredictability. It's about balancing the costs and security.

[GC13]

Oh, so we'd know who he was, and he's just a $100/day tax? Wow, that's... Not interesting at all. Unless you have to micromanage the following of him with a guard, in which case I edit my save file or start a new prison.

[GiantSpacePuppy]

Oh, so we'd know who he was, and he's just a $100/day tax? Wow, that's... Not interesting at all. Unless you have to micromanage the following of him with a guard, in which case I edit my save file or start a new prison.

By that train of thought, you can think of all your prisoners as just an expense, if you wish. The game is about designing a prison and having unique parts to it would make for a more complex, diverse prison.. that is interesting to me. And no micromanagement of course, that's just silly.

[GC13]

No, actually that train of thought doesn't apply to other prisoners. If the idea of putting Clark Kent in your prison is to give us a unique challenge, you completely short-circuit your goal by making the challenge beatable by hiring one additional guard.

[Tobias2189]

Perhaps someone could just make you a clark kent mod?