The new "play as a prisoner" feature.

[sum0]

I love it and was totally surprised by it!
If you ask me it should be taken much further. A former prison chief would have alot of knowledge about how to plan a prisoner escape (I think). Maybe we could rally other prisoners to the cause or pickpocket keys'N stuff?
Great idea to play as a prisoner in the prison you built.

[Tarô11]

For my part, I really hope they will focus on the "normal" game than on this new feature. Because I have no interest to play as a prisoner, that's not what I bought the game for and if the game had been planed to be a game where we play a prisoner since the start I wouldn't have bought it.

It is cool, yes, it adds something to the game, but I really hope it won't be their focus.

[Kyrah Abattoir]

Personally i believe it's a great way to streamline how the actors behave and interact with the game, and an useful bug testing tool at the very least.

[Thorwan]

Really love the feature, but I agree that they should focus on the main game for now.
But hell, this is cool!

[MagnesiumDew]

I love the idea, but obviously want to see the main "Architect" theme focused on first. But I would still love to play as a prisoner, though I would suggest that you be able to 'assume' prisoners to see what your prison is like, rather than having to wait till the endgame.

[Szlater]

I don't think this will be a major feature, but instead just an amusing consequence of failure. What might be interesting is if you could hire (and then control) "security consultants" to test the security of your prison. They would arrive as normal prisoners, but then immediately start attempting to break out/smuggle contraband, and then when they complete their deployment you receive a report on the security of your prison and details of weaknesses and what you can do to rectify them.

[Mr-Flame-Head]

i love it, i want to see it expanded but at the same time the core game is building a prison not roaming around one, so maybe a little improvement each or every other update with the main emphasis on the core game

[Squizzel]

This is actully a really intresting feature. If it was fleshed out (inventory system, able to dig tunnels and manage needs), it would suddenly turn "Prison Architect" into "Prisoner Escape", which would prolong the games life. I'd Love the idea of custom prison maps where the whole Point is to escape, by dodging guards, stealing contraband, kicking off riots and all sorts. Using the tools in a different way. I think one update where they finish it up, at least mostly, would be pretty good. Then as they add in new features to the "main" game, they only need to update small things for "Prisoner" mode.

Think I'm saying is Yes, just needs to be fleshed out. Then it becomes a feature, not just a neat little thing that's fun for 5 minutes.

[ryryryan]

After just watching the video, I absolutely want this feature to be fleshed out!

Currently it seems flawed though, as you will only go into your prison once it has become unstable. As such, I doubt the prison will work once you are thrown inside it!
It would be nice to 'opt in' to become a prisoner.

In terms of fleshing it out, I love the idea of trying to escape... being able to go to work in the kitchen, bring back a spoon, and start digging my way to freedom.
There would need to be some fairly decent AI to keep the prison going I guess, but the potential here seems huge. Yes, I want a Prison Architect game first and foremost, but this seems like true end game stuff to be able to be a prisoner in your own prison and live life on the other side. Love the update guys!

I agree with the post above, it could just be a main update one month (if it's not too much work load for that month). Not necessarily any immediate ones, but having a full feature instead of a bit of fun would really prolong the life of the game.

[Squizzel]

I'm going to make a comparison here, so bare with me.

Minecraft has done a simallar thing three times over the games deveolment. They relised that people were doing alot of building, and mods were being made to allow this (NEI, WorldEdit, etc, etc), and so they made creative mode.
They then did this with adventure maps became the thing and added adventure mode + loads of custom commands, even adding command blocks to run these commands, and carry on the games life.
They've done it again (though not to a greater exstent as the other two times) with spectator mode, as mini games became more and more popular (thanks to the updates they did for adventure maps).

Basicly I'm saying that this "Prisoner" mode Should be a fully fleshed out mode, with endless possiblities to run havor in a prison. It even makes the workshops ablity to ship over maps really good, as you could allow for "prison breaks", or even some (admittly proablly strange) Adventure-ish maps (no idea How that would work, but it's there).

On my ramble of fleshing things out, I'd kind of like an easier way to set up senarios, if possible. It'd be really fun to try and break outta a prison while a gang attacks it or the National guard are only hours away from stepping in and taking it down!

[robmobz]

How about perhaps making a multiplayer mode so that you can be a prisonor in somebody elses prison?

[lugaru]

I dont get to test it out until when I get off work tonight, but that said 'play a prisoner' would have never really occured to me, but that would give me a real reason to download other peoples prisons.

"Download prison camp... wow, looks nuts... now let's go live there"

[Watsons27]

How about perhaps making a multiplayer mode so that you can be a prisonor in somebody elses prison?

Think mmo PRISON architect hahaahhahahahahahaha sooo many stabbings.

[christhekiller]

It'd be cool if an AI attempted to fix your prison. Like it analyzed what's going on and logically attempted to fix it, ie, adding phone booths and visitation to the prison to fix family need, added chefs and various other things to attempt to help with the eatery.

Naturally this will inevitably ruin the look as AI don't really tend to worry about aesthetic as players might (at least I do, and I know having an ai plop random shit throughout my prison would be a pretty good punishment.

[balfro]

This is feature is THE BEST OF ALPHA 20! I am not afraid to say that. Because Chris did not put much work to it. You can break it to the point where it is just funny. It also shows you how BORING! it is to be in solitary for 12 hours Grrrrrr.... Now also. I used it with alcatraz. ARMED GUARDS EVERYWHERE! So yeah. I got shot when trying to escape. And i got some out of body experience. Also. If you pause. You get the same thing. You cannot right click doors to open em. But you can lock them open. You can order guards and sack em if you want. I got a shotgun as my random thing. AND I COULD NOT FIRE IT! WHY? Make it so that you can steal contraband. And that you can shoot em shotguns. Or fight with your fists if your that kind of guy