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Managing Prisoners in Prison Architect 2 is a riot!

[h3]Watch Stuff+ show how to manage your inmates in Prison Architect 2![/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
⚠️ Please note: The visuals and gameplay footage showcased in this video are from earlier development phases and may not accurately reflect the final game. Anticipate improvements in quality upon release.

The Devs have some additional words to accompany this tutorial - read more about what the devs can tell us about the inmates' needs below!

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Hello again, architects. Has it been a week already? It’s time to talk about the most important part of a management game: Management!

[h2]Putting the Management into Simulation Management[/h2]

Perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the key menus in Prison Architect 2 is Management. This covers a lot of the core of the game, particularly: who can go where, and when should they go there? We’ve covered Deployment and Patrols in a previous update, so for now we’re going to focus on the others: Regime, Room Labour, Permissions, and Programs.


[h3]Regime Work Makes the Dream Work[/h3]

The Prison Regime drives every aspect of your Prisoners’ lives. It determines everything from when they wake up, through to how often they’re fed, and the amount of time they are allowed to work, hang out in the Yard, or roam free and socialize.


There’s a default daily Regime set up automatically when you start a new prison, one which should meet the basic early-game needs of your Inmates. And presets for quick Lenient or Strict regimes. But as your population and prison grows, with more rooms and facilities, it’s prudent to go and customize your Regimes to allow for the efficient operation of your prison machine.d1

The Regime is split into one-hour blocks, and inmates will only start moving to their new Regime slot once it’s begun, so make sure that the Regime slots are in a sensible order and rooms are appropriately spaced. If your layout and Regime are inefficient, you could end up with inmates wasting all of their time walking to the shower block and not actually having time to wash their stinky bods.


If you don’t want your Min Sec and Max Sec inmates mixing, you can adjust the Regimes of each Security Level to avoid this. This means you can maintain a single Canteen or Yard, but set the inmates to use them at different times. This will save you Construction time and money, and make sure you have plenty of space to build more Cells.
[h3]Permission? Impossible![/h3]

So with Regimes, we’ve already told our inmates WHEN to do stuff. Now we can use Permissions to tell them WHERE they’re allowed to do it. Permissions are an incredibly important tool for keeping everyone in their proper place.

On the Permissions tab, you can choose from a list of preset Permission groups. These are split by Security Level (Min, Medium, Max, Super Max), as well as NPC types including Staff Only and Staff and Visitors. The Permissions will essentially bar certain characters from entering the space (unless they’re using it to escape when they don’t really care).

If you designate a space as Staff and Visitors only, then no inmates avoid those spaces. If you mark a Cell Block as Medium Security, then other inmates can’t be assigned to those cells. You can use these Permissions to add a great deal of control to the flow of characters around your prison, and even make whole Single-Security wings with their own facilities.


[h3]Get With the Program[/h3]

Reform and Education Programs are an essential part of Prison Architect 2 life, allowing inmates to access training courses for various issues. Be aware that inmates can only attend classes when they’re in a Free Time Regime slot, so it’s important to make these available for the Security Levels you wish to allow access to education.

Once you’ve built a Classroom, you can schedule Education Programs such as Higher Education and Kitchen Safety. Once you’ve built a Common Room, you can schedule Reform Programs like Behavioural Therapy and Addiction treatments.

From the Programs tab you’ll be shown all of the classes available for you to set up, as well as the associated costs, your current Qualifications and the prisoners who are interested in enrolling.


[h3]Hard Labour?[/h3]

Using the Room Labour menu, you can assign different Staff members to specific rooms around the prison. For example, you might notice all of your Doctors hanging out in one Infirmary and ignoring the one full of dying inmates. In this case, a quick visit to the Room Labour tab will allow you to choose how many Doctors to assign to each- allowing for a healthy spread of minimum staff levels.


In Prison Architect 2, you’ve also got two choices for Inmate Labour: the Laundry and Kitchen. As soon as you have a Laundry room, you can assign inmates to take over clothing duties, but inmates will need to have completed the Kitchen Safety Program in order to work in the Kitchen, and cook meals for their cellmates. Assigning inmates to work in your Laundry and Kitchen will save you money on wages in the long term, as well as meeting the Reform needs of inmates, and even boosting their chance of passing a Parole hearing.


Thanks once again for reading! The team put so much time and love into this game, so we’re excited to see people getting a headstart and boning up on the core mechanics. Once you get your hands on the game, we can’t wait to see what you end up doing: will you build hermetically-sealed full-service Cell Blocks for each security level, or try to eke out as much efficiency as possible with a conveyor-belt approach to Regime management?

The Dev Team
Prison Architect 2

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[h2]Next up on Prison Architect Academy:
Personality & Relationships[/h2]

Next week we’ll be telling you all about the inmate’s personalities and relationships in Prison Architect 2 - Click the bell on the YouTube premiere below to get notified when the video is live 🔔

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Make sure to subscribe to the Prison Architect YouTube to not miss out on any new tutorials, teasers, and more!

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾

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How to keep your prison Secure in Prison Architect 2 - Explained!

[h3]Watch Stuff+ show off Security in Prison Architect 2![/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
The Devs have some additional words to accompany this tutorial - read more about what the devs can tell us about the inmates' needs below!

⚠️ Please note: The visuals and gameplay footage showcased in this video are from earlier development phases and may not accurately reflect the final game. Anticipate improvements in quality upon release.

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
Hello again, architects! Your friendly local Prison Architect 2 devs here, swinging by with some more insight on an important game area: Security!

[h3]Serve and Protect[/h3]
What is a prison without Security? A complete failure, that’s what. This week we’re going to talk about the ways you can keep your Inmates indoors, the methods you can use to observe and protect, and the options you can use in the most extreme situations. Operating an unsafe and insecure Prison is a really good way to get yourself closed down, whether that’s from failing the game due to a high number of deaths, escapes, or losing your lockup to an out-of-control Riot.


[h3]Lock the Damn Doors![/h3]
It doesn’t matter how many CCTV Cameras and Metal Detectors you have set up if your Prisoners can just wander through an open Fence Gate. Some doors (such as the Jail Door) are automatically locked, but standard doors aren’t. To make sure your prison is actually secure, move to the Security Info View. This will colour the zones of your prison (any contiguous area fully surrounded by Boundaries and Doors) either green or red. Green means Secure, while Red means that there’s an unlocked path directly to the edge of the map. If you leave doors unlocked, your Inmates in Prison Architect 2 will realize and may just wander off to freedom!


Check all your floors too; Inmates are able to plan an escape through an insecure area, even if they have to go around the prison, up to another floor, over the roof, along a gantry, and back down again!

Players have a lot more control over doors, and regardless of their colour, style, or size, you can toggle the locked status of a Door by selecting it and adjusting its open/closed status or whether it needs a key. Inmates aren’t provided keys of course, but they can steal them, so be careful which staff members you provide keys to via your Prison Policies.


[h3]On Guards[/h3]
When is a Guard, not a Guard? When they’re an Enforcer, Sniper, or Dog Handler of course! On top of your classic Prison Guards, you can hire specialist Security Staff who will have varying skills and priorities. There are positives and negatives to each group of staff, so think hard about who you want to hire, where you want to station them, and what jobs you’ll expect them to do. Need to cover a large open area prone to running Escapees? A sniper perched up on a high wall or patrolling from above using Prison Architect 2’s new gantries, is probably your best bet. Players can get creative with multiple floors, balancing a guard’s vantage point against keeping them at a safe distance.


Got a problem with Contraband being smuggled from certain rooms, or suspect an escape plan is afoot? Send in your Dog Handlers, who are great at sniffing out illicit substances and tunnels. With a new upgrade, you’ll be able to perform searches specific to Dog Handlers, whilst the rest of your guards perform their day-to-day duties.


[h3]Patrol With The Punches[/h3]
Patrols and Deployment might be some of the most basic Security features, but they’re some of the most useful. By drawing a Patrol Route, you can ensure you’ve got regular Security presence along your most trafficked routes or rooms. Prisoners know when there are staff nearby and will use this information when deciding whether or not to Misbehave. So setting up a Patrol Route along a Cell Block not only means you’re more likely to notice crimes being committed but also means that they’re less likely to happen in the first place. Security staff assigned to a Patrol Route will follow it the best they can, and will only leave the route if high-priority incidents arise. Patrols can also cross over, and continue up and down stairs.


Security Staff can be assigned to a patrol route, but also a zone or room, via the Deployment tool. Security Staff on Deployment will then cover that area, keeping an eye on everything that’s going on. Deployment is a little more flexible than Patrols and allows Guards and other Security Staff to handle some jobs (such as opening doors) whilst remaining on Deployment.

[h3]Big Brother[/h3]
When your Prison Population starts to grow, you might want to think about some Security automation. Supplementing your Security Staff with Metal Detectors and CCTV. This Security equipment may cost more money upfront, but it doesn’t have a daily wage fee to pay. It’s also much safer to have CCTV Cameras in a highly-populated area, with guards at a safe distance, to respond if necessary.

Cameras can detect crimes in progress and alert your Security Staff to go and deal with the issue.

Metal Detectors will automatically scan any character walking through, with a high chance of discovering metallic objects stashed in the pockets of Inmates. The detector will then trigger an inmate search, so make sure you have some Guards nearby to do a thorough search and carry out any punishments.



[h3]In Case of Emergency[/h3]
So far we’ve talked about day-to-day security operations, but what about when things start getting out of hand? At the bottom-right of the screen, a new Security Measures button provides access to a whole host of prison Security commands including Contraband and Tunnell Searches, sending inmates back to their Cells with Bangup, or even calling in Riot Squads and Paramedics. Some of these features need to be unlocked on the Bureaucracy menu but once you have access, you will have a full arsenal of tools at your disposal.


We’ve only scratched the surface of what’s covered by Prison Architect 2’s vast Security systems, so make sure to check out the accompanying video for other sneak peeks.

Prison Architect 2 was a passion project for the team at Double Eleven and we’re excited to be showing you features ahead of the game’s full launch. We can’t wait to see the solutions that players come up with for handling Security in their prisons, and Paradox will continue working closely with the community to collect and respond to your feedback!

The Dev Team
Prison Architect 2
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[h2]Next up on Prison Architect Academy: Prisoner Management[/h2]

Next week we’ll be telling you all about how you can manage your inmates in Prison Architect 2 - Click the bell on the YouTube premiere below to get notified when the video is live 🔔

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Make sure to subscribe to the Prison Architect YouTube to not miss out on any new tutorials, teasers, and more!

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾

✅Join our communities
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What are Prisoner Needs in Prison Architect 2?

[h3]Watch CharliePryor show the Prisoner Needs in Prison Architect 2![/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
The Devs have some additional words to accompany this tutorial - read more about what the devs can tell us about the inmates' needs below!

⚠️ Please note: The visuals and gameplay footage showcased in this video are from earlier development phases and may not accurately reflect the final game. Anticipate improvements in quality upon release.

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
Hello fellow architects. The devs of Prison Architect 2 here, back again with some insider details on this week’s video subject: Prisoner Needs!

[h3]Meeting Needs[/h3]
At the heart of every prison is your inmates, and at the heart of every inmate is their needs! Whether it’s the basics like Food and Sleep, or more complex desires like Reform and Safety, providing for your inmates is essential to a smooth-running lockup.


[h3]The Hierarchy of Needs[/h3]
At the top of the Needs list, is our ‘essentials’. These are the core Needs that govern the immediate requirements of prison life. Inmates need to eat, sleep, bathe, and use the bathroom in order to maintain a baseline of happiness. It’s important to make sure you’re meeting these basic needs first and foremost, from your first intake of minimum security inmates, all the way up to a supermax prison with 200 inmates. When inmates’ core Needs begin to fail, the outcomes can be disastrous.

But once inmates feel their ‘Essential’ needs are being catered to, they’ll start to care more about ‘Well-being’, and then ‘Reform’ Needs. This Needs hierarchy is influenced by real life Psychology, and in gameplay terms also serves to help avoid overwhelming new players in the early stages of their prison.

Make sure each inmate has access to a bed and toilet, and time in their regime to eat, sleep, and shower. To ensure your inmates can eat, you’ll need a working Kitchen, Canteen, and Cooks.


[h3]Everyone is Different[/h3]
Inmates are individuals, and that also impacts their Needs. Take some time to get to know your inmates by checking their Bios, where you’ll find plenty of helpful information including individual’s Traits. These Traits dictate the personality of the Inmate, but they can also give a clue about which of their Needs matter most to them; Loners don’t need as many Social interactions as an Extrovert, while a Coward will need more Safety than someone who is Fearless.


[h3]Wanting More[/h3]
Once you’ve got the basic Needs met and your prison population begins to grow, it's time to deal with their more complex, long-term needs. Inmates who are staying for more than a few days may become bored, lonely, and long for Reform services.

Yards and Common Rooms are perfect to fill with Recreation, Exercise equipment and Phone Booths. Visitation Rooms provide a great opportunity for Inmates to have strong Social experiences without letting them mix freely and cause trouble. Classrooms with scheduled Programs will help those inmates who are craving Reform opportunities, and can even entertain them if you have the right upgrades!


[h3]Balancing Act[/h3]
It can be a fine line between meeting one Need and negatively impacting another, so be careful to keep checking in on how your Inmates are doing. It might be tempting to install hundreds of CCTV Cameras when your inmates are screaming out for more Safety, but it can be easy to cross the line and destroy their feeling of Privacy as a result. Sure, the guards might be able to spot that a cellmate is wielding a blade, but who truly feels comfortable when they’re being watched 24/7?

[h3]Consequences of your Actions[/h3]
When Needs fail, things can get sticky fast since failed Needs often lead to a variety of negative consequences. Failing needs will contribute to growing Frustration, which may directly trigger inmates to misbehave. Since mass Frustration is the thing that causes Riots, make sure you meet as many as possible, otherwise you’re going to have a bad time.

You could counteract the spread of Riots by building an extremely Secure prison full of Enforcers, but heading these issues off at the source (ie actually looking after the human inhabitants of your lockup) can prevent them from happening altogether. Remember: every action (or inaction) has a consequence, and only you can dictate the direction of your Prison.


[h3]In Summary[/h3]
Make sure to keep your Laundry clean, your inmates fed, and your Arcade Machines in good working order. You never know what could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back!

Much care was taken to maintain the heart of what makes the classic Needs system so good while making it as straightforward to understand as possible for new players. We can’t wait to see the scrapes your inmates get into if you forget to build showers!

[h3]Closing Comment[/h3]
We love Prison Architect (1), which was developed (in part by us) and molded over a span of 12+ years. Similarly, we also see Prison Architect 2 as the start of a journey; taking fans, feedback, and feature requests along the way to grow the game for YOU, the passionate player base, and the modding community.

As such, if you have any queries about the aspects covered here, cool expectations or ideas for the future in this area, we, the devs, would love to hear and collate them.

If you haven’t already, please check out Charlie’s previous video here, and some of our accompanying insights.

See you soon for the next video :)
Prison Architect 2 Dev Team

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
[h2]Next up on Prison Architect Academy: Security[/h2]

Next week we’ll be telling you all about how you can keep your prison secure in Prison Architect 2 - Click the bell on the YouTube premiere below to get notified when the video is live 🔔

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Make sure to subscribe to the Prison Architect YouTube to not miss out on any new tutorials, teasers, and more!

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾

✅Join our communities
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What’s up with Rooms and Objects in Prison Architect 2?

[h3]Watch CharliePryor show the Rooms and Objects in Prison Architect 2![/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
The Devs have some additional words to accompany this tutorial - read more about what the devs can tell us about the rooms & objects below!

⚠️ Please note: The visuals and gameplay footage showcased in this video are from earlier development phases and may not accurately reflect the final game. Anticipate improvements in quality upon release.

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
[h3]Hello fellow architects! [/h3]
The devs of Prison Architect 2 are back with some additional notes and tidbits related to the topics of Charlie’s latest video.

[h3]Embracing 3D [/h3]
3D presents many cool opportunities in this area, but also challenges. We realized very quickly we’d have to develop character pathfinding from the ground up in Prison Architect 2, to ensure characters aren’t constantly walking through 3D objects and furniture, which is more acceptable with a 2D, top-down approach.

This meant that rooms would also need more space, and the prison map would need to be bigger too. Multiple floors were a resounding benefit for providing more creative and construction space, in addition to more land to expand on, on both sides of the road. Players should be able to expand in all directions and create much bigger compounds.


[h3]Objects[/h3]
Many new objects provide new functions, as well as audio and animations. Shelves added to the Storage room will see your Workers stack delivery crates and supplies, making use of the game’s verticality. Fuse Boxes act to protect against power surges, only shutting down branches of your electricity network and not the entire prison.

Any new objects will interplay with the new prisoner Connections system in Prison Architect 2; a chess table for example gives two inmates a place to bond and build a connection. Similarly, adding a bunk bed to a cell will provide the opportunity for a cellmate, and social interaction.


Object placement can help to cater to inmate needs and daily routines too. Adding a shower to an inmate’s cell may save them a journey to the shared shower block. Alternatively, outfitting their cell with other ‘enrichment’ objects such as a radio or arcade machine (if you’re really generous), will help reduce Comfort and Recreation needs. This may also help cater to their ‘Privacy’ need, giving them more reasons to enjoy more time alone in their cells.


[h3]Aesthetics & Decor[/h3]
Prison Architect 2 will launch with tons of aesthetic objects. In early playtests of the game’s new 3D world, we found ourselves wanting to decorate and make the outdoor areas of some prisons look more realistic or peaceful with various flora and fauna. So we added a wide variety of objects in their own menu tab, which we think will appeal to creative players.


All the surface (or flooring) types and trees in our environment generation at the start of a new Sandbox game, are also available to place in desert, urban or rural maps.

The new 3D presentation, along with new options to install dramatic lighting (which we’ll talk about later), allows players to build something both functional and beautiful.


[h3]Rooms[/h3]
Decorating rooms is also very simple, as Charlie touched on. ‘Area Fill’ options allow players to carpet or wallpaper a whole room, area, or corridor really quickly. And the control is still there to decorate on an individual tile (or wall column) basis.

Prison Architect (1) players will also be pleased to hear we brought back the Quick Builds (Rooms) feature that we developed for console, and then brought to PC. Quick Builds, along with Cloning, allow players to for example ‘quickly’ copy and stamp down cells next to each other, and above, creating instructions for their workforce to build a multi-floor cell block in no time.


Lastly, Room minimum-size guidelines are now based on area, so players can create L or other oddly shaped rooms more freely.

The new ‘Intake’ room (or zone) is a personal favourite! Similar to Deliveries, Garbage, or Exports, players can now essentially decide where the bus transporting their new prisoners will stop along the road.

[h3]Lights[/h3]
Within a 3D world with a day/night cycle, lights are now more aesthetically relevant and provide a lot more creativity for players. Windows and now skylights (since we have roofs) can allow sun and moonlight into rooms, and a whole variety of floor, wall, and ceiling lights can further illuminate the prison during the night.

An optional setting also exists for players to choose to let the sunlight flood into their prisons, vs the more realistic default of global light being blocked by ceilings.


In the future it could be quite cool to perhaps expand in this area, there are a lot of future possibilities.

[h3]Closing Comment[/h3]
We love Prison Architect (1), which was developed (in part by us) and molded over a span of 12+ years. Similarly, we also see Prison Architect 2 as the start of a journey; taking fans, feedback, and feature requests along the way to grow the game for YOU, the passionate player base, and the modding community.

As such, if you have any queries about the aspects covered here, cool expectations, or ideas for the future in this area, we, the devs, would love to hear and collate them.

If you haven’t already, please check out Charlie’s previous video (on Construction) here, and some of our accompanying insights.

See you soon for the next video :)

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[h2]Next up on Prison Architect Academy: Prisoner Needs[/h2]

Next week we’ll be telling you all about the needs of your inmates in Prison Architect 2 - Click the bell on the YouTube premiere below to get notified when the video is live 🔔
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Make sure to subscribe to the Prison Architect YouTube to not miss out on any new tutorials, teasers, and more!

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How to build in Prison Architect 2

[h3]Watch CharliePryor walk us through the Building Tools in Prison Architect 2![/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
The Devs have some additional words to accompany this tutorial - read more about what the devs can tell us about the Building Tools below!

⚠️ Please note: The visuals and gameplay footage showcased in this video are from earlier development phases and may not accurately reflect the final game. Anticipate improvements in quality upon release.

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[h3]Hello fellow architects.[/h3]
The devs of Prison Architect 2 here, to provide a bit more insight and some additional cool info bits related to the topic of this week’s Prison Architect Academy video…

[h3]Going 3D[/h3]
So, the decision to jump to 3D we knew would add a heightened sense of production value to Prison Architect 2 and a natural evolution for the game. But, and as Prison Architect players ourselves, the predominant factor behind the decision, was to blow up the creative and construction options for players and deliver on the no. 1 requested feature; multiple floors.

At a high level, during early pre-production, the team talked excitedly about 3D and being able to have proper bunk beds, or windows and wall decor above other furniture. Finally, ceiling and floor lights could appear as such, and how low hedges, standard walls, high perimeter walls, and guard towers could finally look proportionate with each other, how the prison compound could be housed within a 3D environment with a day/night cycle, or how the players’ design could allow sunlight entering the prison through windows and skylights.


But much deeper than that, we started to think about how staple Prison Architect components such as; logistics, deliveries, security, and movement around the prison, could be advanced with 3D construction and multiple floors.


[h3]Multiple Floors[/h3]
Players can create proper multiple-floored cell blocks, just like the architects of real-world prisons past and present. Multiple floors also provide players more opportunities to segregate min-sec from supermax inmates with separate facilities on each floor. Or how about a Canteen above the Kitchen with a stairwell in the middle?

From an optimization perspective, if you want certain rooms close together or near the access road for deliveries, you literally have an added 3rd dimension.


Between each floor is a layer that we think of as a crawlspace or ceiling layer. This allows for utilities, but also prisoners on upper floors to still tunnel down. Early on in development, we didn't want players to be able to just place all their cells off the ground floor to prevent escapes! :)

Of course, you also have a roof, which can be decorated as such, used for inmate or staff areas, or even a rooftop garden if you choose.


[h3]Catwalks[/h3]
Catwalks or gantries were a must-have inclusion for Prison Architect 2 early on, going hand in hand with multiple floors.


When we think about real prisons and those in pop culture, we picture stacked multiple-floor cell blocks with indoor catwalks outside each cell door. Or a prison yard with elevated catwalks for guards to patrol around from a safe vantage point. This is all possible in Prison Architect 2, and under the hood we also developed a 3D perception system so that guards could see, hear, and respond to incidents below them. This might allow you to reduce guard numbers and save on wages, whilst maintaining coverage over inmate hot-spots.


With catwalks, players will essentially be able to create paths above the ground. To keep guards safe, add patrols along, or create separate routes for staff, inmates, and visitors to cross the prison.

[h3]Wall & Doors[/h3]
Instead of hundreds of wall variations, we provide a simple “Building” construction tool, and a separate ‘Wallpaper’ menu for quickly decorating your walls. This also allows walls to be personalized separately indoors and out. For example, you may wish for your Warden’s office to have a wallpapered interior, but a brick-look from the outside.

For Prison Architect 2’s doors, we’ve offered a few looks and styles, but now all door ‘rules’ can be adjusted how you wish - Governing whether they are open or closed, and if they need a key to open. And a separate new policy allows you to choose which staff have keys.


[h3]Closing Comment[/h3]
We love Prison Architect (1), which was developed (in part by us) and molded over a span of 12+ years, Wow! Similarly, we also see Prison Architect 2 as the start of a journey, taking fans' feedback, and feature requests along the way to grow the game for you, the passionate player base, and the modding community.

As such, if you have any queries about the construction aspects covered here, cool expectations, or ideas for the future in this area, we, the devs, would love to hear and collate them.

See you next week for more :)

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[h3]Next up: Prison Architect Academy | Rooms and Objects[/h3]
We have a tutorial made by CharliePryor coming up next week the 30th January - Tune in to learn about Rooms and Objects, tap the bell on YouTube to get notified.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
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