You are the Prisoner

[DiamondExcavater]

I tried out being a prisoner, it is very fun i must say, I wish there where an option to be a prisoner at the touch of a few buttons. Some problems i found is that it keeps saying I'm trying to escape and my fists are up trying to punch, is there going to be a control to escape or to start punching? I know its only been around for 1 update, it is a cool feature, maybe add a little bit more control, one last thing i was able to dismantle, dump things, get guards to search me and sack people, by clicking on them, I think you should have a look, or is it like that cos you were the owner of the prison before?

[xander]

I tried out being a prisoner, it is very fun i must say, I wish there where an option to be a prisoner at the touch of a few buttons. Some problems i found is that it keeps saying I'm trying to escape and my fists are up trying to punch, is there going to be a control to escape or to start punching? I know its only been around for 1 update, it is a cool feature, maybe add a little bit more control, one last thing i was able to dismantle, dump things, get guards to search me and sack people, by clicking on them, I think you should have a look, or is it like that cos you were the owner of the prison before?

Direct control of a prisoner is a failure mode. You are not supposed to be a prisoner unless you screw up. It isn't really intended to be a gameplay mode, just something to do after you run your prison very badly.

That being said, you can take control of any prisoner you like with a little save game editing. The details are on the forum, and can be found by either searching or reading over the topic titles on the first couple of pages (as of this post).

xander

[Samuelskinner]

In their update video, the developers mentioned that they are considering the expansion of this "mode".
If this is the case, my personal opinion would be to have a key which takes out your fists/current inventory item (You can only hold one item at a time). Clicking the left mouse button would use the item. Clicking the right mouse button would drop your current inventory item or pick one up. Left clicking without an item equipped would interact with the environment (Eating, showering, working, etc.).
Just my opinion.

[PatrickV]

I actually like this mode. It could be used for a number of things.

[Concor25]

All i hope is that Chris and the team make it so you can actually live,like having to see to your needs,slowly getting contraband and making that tunnel to freedom or when a riot is happening raiding the armory and joining in with your fellow inmates.All i hope is that they broaden this mode to make it even funner then it is (PS.sorry for the poor grammar/spelling)

[DiamondExcavater]

I have made about 12 prisons that are very good, then i made copies and failed them on purpose to be in my own prison, i love it, but I can't wait till its finished.

[Lorox]

Even though I haven't tried this personally (when I did cause enough deaths to be arrested, I sat on a truck for ten minutes because the delivery trucks were backed up, so I gave up) it does look pretty neat. Now I know it's a fail state and the game is Prison Architect, but it would be nice to see at the very least the feature expanded just a tiny bit so you can sneak your way out of prison and then the save finally ends. I'm not sure if you can actually escape currently, but even if you can, the only option is to tailgate a door, so just a limited set of actions like perhaps being able to punch things to cause damage, annoy other prisoners etc.

Although...

This feature could be expanded further, and it would probably be a substantial amount of work, so I sincerely doubt it would be worth the payoff, but as our introversion overlords are some of the best devs I've ever seen, I might as well throw it out there:

Multiplayer.

When I first started playing PA, a thought very briefly crossed my mind; what if this game was multiplayer (admitedlly, this crosses my mind with most non-multiplayer games). No, that's a stupid idea. What would you do? Build a prison while you watch your friend build theirs over the road? Thrilling. Simultaneously plan and control the same prison? The amount of co-ordination to actually play that in any way that worked would be painful at best.

Playing as a prisoner offers an alternative mode, though. Imagine a game mode where player 1 has a limited time to build a prison (maybe a little more than the usual one day), after that the game starts as usual, but with one tiny change. Player 2 (or even 3, 4 etc.) are in control of some arriving prisoners. Their goal? Escape. Your goal? Stop them.

Suddenly you're not only trying to balance needs, you're on constant vigil to keep intelligent prisoners from getting loose. You need to build a new cell block for the umpteen prisoners coming in four hours, but if you take your eye of Joe Bloggs for two minutes he'll probably be gone! To add further confusion, maybe player 1 doesn't even know who player 2 is. Do I watch Joe Bloggs or John Smith? Both are looking a bit shifty but I can't be in two places at once, three if you count the construction of the new cell block!

Like I said, pretty blue-sky thinking, but might as well pitch the idea.

[mcglone]

Direct control of a prisoner is a failure mode. You are not supposed to be a prisoner unless you screw up. It isn't really intended to be a gameplay mode, just something to do after you run your prison very badly.
r

But wouldn't it be great if it was a feature, for example;

Architect Mode

Prisoner Mode

Architect Mode would be the standard mode we're all used to and the Prisoner Mode would be like the failure condition but either from one of your own already made prisoners, a pre-set prison or a community made prison where you either have to try to escape or do your time and abide by the regime

[DiamondExcavater]

what happens after the 10 years of jail? do you go back to going on with your prison? or will your stay just be prolonged by the constant message of escape attempt? Most of you say it is a failure mode, i love it! i try to fail, but mostly its just too hard, which is a good thing if you don't want to lose. i like the idea of an online prison 1 person hosting and the rest living it! so those developers reading these posts, try it out and if it is bad than get rid of it, i mean most of us learn from mistakes. so start making some and we will help (we = community of players) except people need to learn its an alpha, yet it's the best alpha i know

[HerrJoebob]

what happens after the 10 years of jail? do you go back to going on with your prison?

QFE, I haven't seen an answer to this anywhere. Haven't tried this feature myself but it seems intriguing.

[Bobylein]

I like the idea of being able to just choose to play a prisoner to make some trouble in your prison or something when it runs too smoothly.

But I still wonder where I find these details how to edit the save game in the meantime, because the failure conditions seem to be buggy and won't let me go to prison but just stop me from manage my prison.

That being said, you can take control of any prisoner you like with a little save game editing. The details are on the forum, and can be found by either searching or reading over the topic titles on the first couple of pages (as of this post).

xander

I searched the forums with all kind of words, also went manual through 20 pages but I couldn't find anything about that, do you mind posting a link or telling me what the title was?

Thanks!
Bobylein

[xander]

viewtopic.php?f=43&t=48249

xander

EDIT: There is now a wiki page. Someone with greater patience for wiki formatting should probably clean it up a bit, but the information is there, more or less.

[Bobylein]

http://forums.introversion.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=48249

xander

EDIT: There is now a wiki page. Someone with greater patience for wiki formatting should probably clean it up a bit, but the information is there, more or less.

Thank you!

[111none]

I believe Chris has stated the multiplayer aspect of the game to be; not probable, your thoughts Xander?

[xander]

I believe Chris has stated the multiplayer aspect of the game to be; not probable, your thoughts Xander?

...

Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

xander