The Dildo Factory Mod, Etc.

The last Alpha update for Prison Architect last year finally opened up the game to mods.  Clever people had already figured out a way to hack mods onto the game, but by opening up the gates PA's fans were finally allowed to go buck wild with their imaginations.

1. The Dildo Factory

When I sent a tweet to @IVsoftware notifying them of this mod, all they had to say was "surprised its taken them this long".  

2. Star Wars

Awwwww yeaaaah.  This is what modding was for right?  Those custom Stormtroopers are just plain adorable.  They have R2 droids too!

3. British Boarding School

Fancy playing a top-down version of Bully?  Well you're in luck! Coms complete with plush carpeting and everything.  Surely a Hogwarts mod is on the way.

4. Seasons Mod (4 seasons, get it? GETIT?)

This was one of the first mods that came out when the Alpha was released, and the aim is provide a different mod for whichever season we're currently in.  This was winter, so it featured snow on the trees, Snowmen as your workmen, and Santa Wardens.  Winter lends itself to this kind of modding, so I'd be curious to see what they do with spring (Easter Bunny Wardens?) and summer (Baywatch Prison?).

5. Clearer Needs Mod

This mod gave me the most pause, because it's very obviously critiquing my own work.  Specifically it takes issue with the iconography I used to describe the prisoners' needs.  If the mod were badly done I could laugh it off, but the thing is I sort of agree with this modder that the icons I made are unclear, especially at smaller sizes.  I got caught up with the idea of the body language of my prisoner icons helping to inform the icon and neglected the fact that at smaller sizes a lot of the detail would be lost.

I'm no stranger to critique and indeed I'm happy that someone took the time to think over the same design problem that I did.  However my built-in insecurity about the worth of my work reared its ugly head.  I had been paid to create those icons, and the guy that made this mod did arguably a better job than I did. So he should get my job, right?!?!?

But looking at the other mods I realized that essentially every modder thinks that he can do a better job than the original designers.  It's the very nature of modding!  So people will tweak the code, the settings and the art and make it something they think is "better".  It might be, but better is usually a matter of personal taste, in the same way that I'm using a launcher that completely changes the way Android works because I thought it was cool.

The moral of the story?  Just work as hard and as smart as you can and stop worrying so much about other people.  Looking forward to some more amazing mods!

Prison Architect Pop Culture Reference Maps

My last blog post about my favorite prison Architect Maps got a bit of attention, so I dug into the Steam Workshop again this evening to pick out some interesting maps.  The sheer creativity of our players is still amazing to me, and this time I decided to pick out the maps that had some sort of pop culture reference to them, starting with...

The USS Enterprise Prison Map

I love that this map comes with a background story:

In the year 2344 while protecting a Klingon outpost the U.S.S Enterprise C (NCC-1701-C) was attacked by four Romulan Warbirds. It was assumed the ship and all crew perished in the battle. The once thought destroyed USS Enterprise Recently Reappeared though a temporal rift. Due to the current conflicts the severely damaged Enterprise was decommissioned and sent to an outer laying planet to be used as a penal colony. 

The Shawshank Redemption Map

It's gotten a little hokier upon multiple revisits, but the Shawshank Redemption was one of my favorite movies when I first saw it.  Now I'm wondering if I can sneak Morgan Freeman's "Red" into the game somehow.

Fox River (Prison Break)

Steam user stubby looks like he's making a habit of recreating pop culture prisons, seeing as he was also the man who put together the Shawshank Redemption Prison above.  I never got into Prison Break, but I'd love to hear what fans of the show think of this prison.

Kestrel (FTL)

FTL is a game I've never played (for lack of time, not interest) but even I instantly recognized the Kestrel prison since it's so prominent in FTL's PR stuff.  Seeing this just makes me want to play FTL all the more.

You can check out my original list of my favorite Prison Architect maps here, which include a Panopticon and someone who mistakenly thought PA was Sim City.

High resolution Polaroids for Prison Architect

In the game Prison Architect there's a main story arc that introduces the player to the key components of running a prison.  In those story arcs PA's cartoony characters act out different scenes, while illustrations in the form of polaroids fall out of the sky to depict the same scenes in more realistic detail.  

For reasons of efficiency those polaroids have been drawn at pretty low resolutions, meaning they can't really be blown up and used for promotional purposes (say, in posters or possible boxed sets).  However since we had a bit of down time in terms of art needs Chris asked if I could redo some of our favorite polaroids to be hi-res. I jumped at the opportunity because some of those polaroids are at this point 2 yeas old, and reflect my skills as an artist back then (ie they look terrible to me now).  Giving them a fresh lick of paint made me feel a whole lot better.  We're not sure what these will turn into eventually, but it's possible that they might become prints or some sort of merch for fans. 

The image you see above of Edward (bit of trivia: Edward's character design was very much influenced by pre-Heisenberg Walter White) in cuffs should be familiar to anyone who's ever played Prison Architect.  The other two polaroids? I think I'll leave that open to speculation.

Top 5 Prison Architect Maps

The players of Prison Architect continue to amaze me with the creativity they've shown in making their prisons.  Steam's workshop has given them a venue to show off their work to their fellow fans and I've picked some of the most ridiculous and wonderful to show off here.

The Panopticon

OK so it's not quite the Panopticon, but the ability to build Jeremy Bentham's dream prison was one of the first questions raised by Prison Architect fans when it first came out.  This proves it IS possible, even given the crude tools that we've provided for the creation of circular building (there aren't any).

The Tower of London

Recreating real world spaces has always been a pastime for fans of this genre, so it shouldn't be a surprise that the famed tower now has a replica in PA (inset is a satellite image of the real tower).

Dami Inn

We're treading into liberal hippie territory here, with a prison designed to function almost like a hotel (hence the "Inn") with prisoner rooms coming with their own personal shower.  Sure the rooms are still tiny, but anyone who's slept in a Japanese hotel room should feel right at home here.

Cathnicle Town

We're definitely in a drug induced hippie daydream now, with a prison that's essentially been built as a little town.  Regular prisoners stay in dormitories while good prisoners get a tiny house and lot for their own.  it looks like there are even conference areas, where presumably the prisoners hold town hall meetings to decide their next town improvement project.

The Turtle

Now this is a PRISON.  It looks vaguely like a prison layout you'd see in a sci-fi movie, and also resembles a turtle if you squint your eyes hard enough.  No?  Try it again.

The sheer creativity on display and the dedication it takes to map these prisons is beyond my comprehension.  I am humbled by the work these player put into the game and also ridiculously embarrassed  that they're doing it with my work.  If the good folks at Introversion give me time, I would love to update and add even more awesome stuff for these architects to play with.

Prison Architect Alpha now Available!

I've been working on Prison Architect for a year and a half now, so it's great to finally see it out in the wild, even in alpha state.  Comments and reviews have mostly been positive, with the majority of naysayers complaining about the high price (something that I tend to agree with, though I understand Chris Delay's reasoning).  Regardless, at least one of each tier of this Kickstarter type launch has been bought, including the $1000 create a warden tier bought by Colin Northway.

If there are folks in the Philippines turned off by the high price, you might want to attend an art talk I am going to give next October on the art of Prison Architect.  We will be raffling off some free copies of the Alpha, and I'm hoping to tie that in somehow to a donation to prison reform in the Philippines.  No details yet, but stay tuned.  Till then, thanks to anyone who bought the Alpha, and I hope you like the game!

Digital Criminal : A Sneak Peek at Prison Architect

I'm just gonna leave this here and let the speculation begin.