Prison Architect Alpha 16 Released

Introversion, creators of Prison Architect, have released a new video to coincide with the release of the 16th update to their alpha, available via the Early Access program on Steam.

Defined by Chris Delay, Director of Introversion, as "a big one", this update brings a whole stash of features.

First off, all 'Name in the Game' customers can now customise the size, face type and colour of their prisoners. For two weeks only, you can purchase an upgrade for $10 (which doesn't include the base game) to be able to put your name in the game.

Along with this, "extensive improvements to the AI" have been made which now allows you to fully segregate prisons based on the category. You can, for example, create an entirely self-contained 'wing' within your prison for maximum security prisoners. The AI improvements also mean that the kitchens, canteens, workshops and laundries all work more efficiently.

Prisoners can now also tell if their route to freedom has not been locked. This means that you can no longer leave your doors wide open to increase traffic flow. If you do, your prisoners might escape.

New options for procedural generation have been added to spice up your starting landscape. You can now add lakes, forests, sand and derelict buildings into your starting land. Lakes block all construction on them, adding in another layer of difficulty. Forests can be cleared but lumber is a resource your workman can collect. You can then use this lumber in your Workshop to create planks of wood that can be sold.

Steam Workshop can now be used to share and gather mods, allowing you to subscribe to a mod and for it appear automatically in your mod window.

A new Road Gate has been added which spans the width of the road. This is operated like a Jail Gate and requires a guard to open it. With this addition, you can make your prisons a lot more secure.