Prison City News

We’ve had so much fun seeing all of the awesome fan art made for Prison City! To celebrate the end of the first week of the game’s release, we’re excited to show some of the art made by our community!

[h2]1. Here’s an amazing design by comic artist Steve Gregson (@RoboticSteve)![/h2]
https://twitter.com/RoboticSteve/status/1693684602206875993?s=20


[h2]2. Up next we've got this sweet custom Lego scene made by our resident master builder, Ed![/h2]
https://twitter.com/Retroware/status/1697366062205940095?s=20


[h2]3. Followed by this amazing drawing by Bunny Tripper (@Cartoontriper1)![/h2]
https://twitter.com/Cartoontriper1/status/1696944991367754165?s=20


[h2]4. Finally, @xanderarnot decided to weigh in with his own masterpiece![/h2]
https://twitter.com/xanderarnot/status/1693691994172764317?s=20


Thank you all for your artistic support, and thanks to everyone who picked up Prison City this week!

Look forward to even more very soon!

Sometimes you gotta take a break from all that infiltrating! Check out all 4 of Prison City’s Minigames!

[h2]1. Smash the Car![/h2]
Hal takes a break after defeating the Hind D Warden and takes his anger out on a car! Destroy it before the time runs out!


[h2]2. Juggle the Sports Balls![/h2]
Following the fall of the Jumbotron Warden, Hal finds himself back in the Stadium for a round of juggling! Tennis balls, footballs, and basketballs! Oh, my!


[h2]3. Disarm the Bombs![/h2]
Who knew there was a dam near the Factory zone? Turns out there is! The Techno-Terrorists have set up six bombs in this underwater area. Your job is to find them within the time limit and ensure they all don’t go ka-boom!


[h2]4. Break the Targets![/h2]
Think you’re an ace with the chakram? Then prove it! This Minigame will test your speed and chakram-throwing skills to see if you’re really cut out to be a “Ripper Legend.”


Wanna play these Minigames for yourself? Hop into Prison City and play through each of the four Minigame zones!

Prison City is available NOW!!

Note: If you would like to enjoy these bugs for yourself, I suggest holding off on updating until your curiosity is quenched. Just make sure you read through the changelog to know the severity of the bug before you try to replicate it!

[h3]2023-8-31[/h3]


[h3][New Features][/h3]

• Level select now shows that an upgrade has been collected on the level card.
  
• You can now press a button to proceed from the Rest screen quicker.
  

[h3][Gameplay Adjustments][/h3]

• Juggle minigame timing has been adjusted a bit so it's less horse sh%@.
  
• On Easy mode (or when infinite lives are active), the minigame now gives you the Power Chakram upgrade immediately instead of dropping 3 upgrades. This is to prevent a graphical glitch where Hal pauses mid-upgrade transformation.
  
• Made Footballers always able to be tripped. This is a hidden mechanic, but it was previously only possible when the footballer was charging, but during no other state.
  

[h3][General Bugfoolery][/h3]

• Fixed issue where the stinger doesn't play when you beat Juggle.
  
• Fixed a specific situation where you could crash the game by pressing down+jump to dismount from a hang while the snow grinder is destroying the snow block. Frame-ish perfect! Thanks Silent Hero (@silentherolive on Twitter)!
  

[h3][Graphical Changes][/h3]

• Fixed a foliage misplacement in Preserves (Normal Mode)
  

[h3][Upcoming/Planned Update Preview][/h3]

• Select minigames directly from the level select if you've completed the level they belong to. Just select the level they're attached to and a new menu pops up! You can use this to get some extra lives/power chakram upgrades (on Easy) if you beat the minigame.
  
• As a result of this, new graphics have been made to support the minigame level cards~
  

[h3]1. So, you made it! How does it feel to finally get Prison City out onto Steam?
[/h3]

Programancer: Feels great! Of course it may be out, but there's still a lot of work to be done- it just feels good knowing people get to experience this baby I've been brewing for the past year! In terms of the journey- probably a boring answer, but I'd say it was "iterative" on both fronts! For me, it helped me refine and reinforce skills and techniques I've been using for years, and for the game it helped do the same for its mechanics, and I think for the most part we're both coming out better than we were before!


[h3]2. What do you hope players take away from playing your game? Why do you think it's important to keep the retro style of games alive today? And what do you think sets Prison City apart from other titles--both modern and other retro-inspired games?[/h3]

Programancer: I mostly just want players to be swept back to a simpler (albeit more challenging) time of gaming, and build new memories! I want them to have that feeling of growth and accomplishment when they not only beat that one level that’s been giving them trouble, but begin to breeze through it with ease! I think that growth is the essence of these sorts of games.


I feel like it’s become incredibly niche to have a game that lets you learn how to get better instead of holding your hand through the experience, and there are definitely people like myself that yearn for this kind of back-to-basics experience. The options are there to tweak the difficulty and make it suitable for your play, but the game will always be fair in how it treats the player- everyone has the ability to get better at it without realizing it!


I think those two points are what sets it apart from both modern and retro games- it respects and even emphasizes the player’s ability to grow and learn without shoving it down their throats- you may take damage or even lose to a pattern a boss throws at you, but rest assured once you lose to that pattern, you know how to avoid it the next time- and if you still need help, you can turn Infinite Lives on, or Respawn From Pits, or any other amenity you could only get with Game Genie on retro games!


[h3]3. What do you think were some of the biggest challenges--technical, logistical, anything of the sort!--getting to this point?[/h3]

Programancer: Biggest challenges are storefront requirements. Hands down. I can’t go into details because of NDA stuff, but some deployments are way more difficult than others. The amount of adjusting you have to do last minute to satisfy certification is overwhelming to say the least! A huge loop of rinse-wash-repeat when it comes to coding and testing. Sometimes you have to rewrite something integral to your game just because it doesn’t work in case C when it does in A and B!

We pulled it through, though!


[h3]4. Can we expect more games to come from Programancer??[/h3]

Programancer: No.




Just kidding. Yes.



We're so excited to finally launch Prison City on Steam! We'll be actively reading and watching what players have to say about the game, and we appreciate all your feedback!

Prison City is available NOW!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2179860/Prison_City/

Note: If you would like to enjoy these bugs for yourself, I suggest holding off on updating until your curiosity is quenched.
Just make sure you read through the changelog to know the severity of the bug before you try to replicate it!

[h3]v1.0.1.1[/h3]
[h3][General Bugfoolery][/h3]

• Fixed issue where footballer can stand on the edge of the screen in one spot of the Stadium.
  

[h3]v1.0.1.0[/h3]
[h3][Gameplay Bugs][/h3]

• Fixed issue where dying under the snow grinder when it comes to a stop would apply damage to the player after they've died and before they respawn at a checkpoint, causing the player to start with 0 health.
  
• Jump activated yoku blocks don't set safe coordinates, so in Easy Mode it was possible to do some creative navigating to get stuck inside of one after respawning from a pit and requiring the player to exit the level to proceed- this has been corrected.