Hello, Wardens!

We just deployed a new update addressing several reports we saw reported from players and modders.

Thank you for all your feedback. We are grateful for our extremely passionate community!
The Prison Architect Team

Changelog:

• Reduced the Prisoners’ clothing and Hygiene needs.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused supply items to come by batches of one.
  
• Planned Objects and Flooring now work outside of Planned Foundation.
  
• Cloning a room will no longer double object cost.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused the Prison Story “Gabos” to start with missing prisoners.
  
• Solved a Mod functionality positioning issue.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused occasional crashes when loading a modded save file.

Hello Wardens,

We just published a new update for the PC, Mac, and Linux version of Prison Architect containing more fixes to issues and bugs you reported, overall improvements based on both players’ and internal feedback… and some cool new features for Island Bound!

First of all, we are happy to announce that the new Island Generation tool is now available! This tool will allow you to draw a box on open water, and it will randomly generate a new Island in the selected area.



We’ve also spent some time implementing several community suggestions to other core areas of the Prison Architect game experience.

We hope you enjoy the new features and fixes to Island Bound and other legacy issues, and we’ll continue as always to monitor your feedback and suggestions.

The Prison Architect Team

Changelog:

• NEW FEATURE - Island Generator: Players can use this tool to create a random island in the selected area.
  
  • You can find this new tool in the “Landscape & Islands” menu.
• NEW FEATURE - Expanded Map start option: On new games, you can choose to start with an already expanded map, with all the adjacent land or sea purchased.
  
• Added newer, improved versions of the Premade The Rock and Alcatraz Island maps.

Implemented suggestions from the Prison Architect Community:

• Elite Ops Team is not included in Danger Level factors.
  
• Guard dogs are invisible whilst in kennels.
  
• During lockdowns, doors cannot be opened manually.
  
• Each checkpoint search counts as an unnecessary search, which can increase a prison temperature.
  
  • Checkpoints can now be placed outdoors as well.
• Criminally Insane inmates will no longer arrive in your prison while Intake is set to closed.
  
• Improved efficiency of deliveries for the Forestry
  
• The player prisoner in Escape Mode can now board ferries with a new contextual right-click action that appears when standing near or on the ferry boat.
  
• Implemented quality of life changes to services and deliveries connections
  
• The Food supply system and food delivery have been improved.

Implemented fixes to issues reported by the Prison Architect Community:

• Fixed an issue that occasionally prevented Laundries from working correctly.
  
• Checkpoints will no longer cause issues with prisoner pathing.
  
• Fixed an issue where Fill to Capacity Intake was closed despite players having spare cells.
  
• Enclosed Yards will no longer cause warnings about the need to be enclosed.
  
• The game will no longer pause while building foundations on Mac.
  
• Snipers will now be correctly assigned when moving Guard Towers.
  
• Guard deployments to Pavilions are now saved.
  
• Players will be now able to complete the Canteen sprinkler task in the Palermo Chapter of the Campaign.
  
• Purchasing additional land no longer causes a performance drop.
  
• Solved an issue that caused prisoner corpses to accumulate in one corner of the map after an Intake round.
  
• The Fast Delivery Mutator is now working properly.
  
• Food is now delivered to prisoners in Solitary or Lockdown.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused the game to display pathing fail notifications during big constructions.
  
• Implemented a change to visitation booths to address the reports of prisoners and visitors swapping.
  
  • If you are experiencing this bug, you can remove and replace the booths in your prison - this will fix the issue.

Other Improvements:

• Implemented improvements to the overall intake system and events, and a couple of fixes to related issues.
  
• Generated Islands look more varied and interesting on Island Bound.

Hello wardens!

As mentioned last week, we are currently working on a new patch for Prison Architect to address several issues we saw reported, implement the new Island Creation tool, and do some bug fixing.

We were initially planning to release the patch this week - but we assessed we need a bit more time to work on it to make sure it lives up to your expectations. We are currently looking at releasing it on Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

Thank you all for your feedback and all the reports, rest assured that we are listening!
The Prison Architect Team

TL;DR: New patch coming next week!

Hello Wardens,

We’re back with another update this week with more investigation into reported issues, fixes and improvements. They’ll be more next week too but we wanted to get the latest out to you. In addition to fixes, last week we rolled out a new Island Expansion feature, which has been improved further. When playing with an island and expanding the land, the islands generated in the water are more varied, and players now have the option to generate these islands, or just water, if they wish.




We’re also working on a tool for you to quickly generate random islands in the location of your choice.

Thank you for all your feedback.
The Prison Architect Team

Changelog:

• New feature: When expanding a Island map, a pop-up will give the choice to have only water or generated Islands.
  
• Staff will again respond to player directions now.
  
• Solved issue with Forestry Prisoner Labour assignments not being saved.
  
• Fixed so you can assign a cell to a prisoner by selecting the prisoner and right-clicking on an empty cell.
  
• Fixed the Spiritual guidance and Parole programs not occurring after the first day of implementation.
  
• Fixed the issue with the eating animations.
  
• Fixed that the Health Bureaucracy text mentions guards instead of Doctors.
  
• Fixed the issue with janitors using the ironing boards from a distance.
  
• The Chefs now cooks more meals in the kitchen. (We are still investigating the supply issue).
  
• Solved the issue with Firefighter’s truck riding on the water after dismissing a helicopter on Island Plot map.
  
• Fixed the issue with Capacitor and Power Switch not conducting electricity after changing their rotation without moving them.
  
• Fixed the issue with missing french localization strings.
  
• Solved the issue where warden can go beyond the map in Warden mode.
  
• Improving the generated islands when expanding the map to look more natural and varied. (We will improve this even further in the coming week)
  
• Solved the issue with Sedation sometimes didn't work.
  
• The Laundry and Janitor cleaning jobs have been changed to make them more effective.

We are also investigating the following issues as a priority for next week’s update

• New Feature [In Progress] - Island ‘Quick Builds’ to stamp down various island shapes in open water.
  
• New Feature [In Progress] - “Island generator”, similar to a building construction that will generate an island where you want it to.
  
• Improvements - Some jobs are being reworked to improve their efficiency and general stability of the game.
  
• Performance - A round of optimisation and performance testing.

Hello Wardens!

We just published a new hotfix for the Mac and Linux, as mentioned last week, to address several issues that you reported. We are still looking into solving more, and you can find the changelog here.

Thank you all for your feedback!
The Prison Architect Team

Hello Wardens!

We just published a new hotfix for the Windows edition to address several issues that you reported. We are still looking into solving more, and we plan to have another update coming next week. You can find the changelog and a list of some of the issues we are currently investigating at the end of this post. This hotfix will be published on Monday for Mac and Linux.

We also saw several reports about the game generating areas with only water when purchasing new “land” on island prisons. With today's hotfix, the game will automatically generate new islands when you expand your prison. This is the first iteration of this tool, and we plan to improve in further iterations - in the meanwhile, please try it out and let us know what you think!

Additionally, we are currently working on a couple of new features including a Quick Island Generation that allows players to draw a box and generate a new random island. This tool should help you to add more islands when expanding your land.
We will have more information ready to share with you during the next week.

Thank you all for your feedback!
The Prison Architect Team

Changelog:

• New Feature: When expanding an Island Map, new islands will be generated, rather than empty sea.
  
• The game will leave an empty area for existing shipping lanes.
  
• All the Island Bound assets are now showing in the Cheat/Debug mode.
  
• Solved pathfinding issues caused by Security Checkpoints.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused the game to crash when deploying a modded room.
  
• The game will no longer crash if you intake a corrupted Name In the Game Prisoner.
  
• Tyre Apparatus can now be rotated properly.
  
• Air Paramedics will now be able to leave the map if their Helicopter is dismissed.
  
• Criminally Insane prisoners will now properly attack trees when they acquire a weapon if they really have strong feelings against that tree.
  
• Fixed several localization issues for Traditional and Simplified Chinese.

Currently investigated issues:

• Cooks not being as productive on Island Maps.
  
• Janitors having unexpected behaviors.
  
• Issues with logistics settings of Docks and Helipads

Wardens,

We just deployed a hotfix for Prison Architect to address an issue that was preventing Mac players from launching the game when using a fresh install.

We are planning more updates in the upcoming days.

Thank you for your support during this release!

The Prison Architect Team

Wardens,

The new expansion Island Bound is now available!

This expansion will allow you to create Island Compounds with no access road. You will have to bring your logistics game to a whole new level with these prisons, as you need to use a variety of new tools to make sure they run as intended. From ferries to helicopters, you will be able to maximize efficiency by linking them to specific deliveries – but be careful, as this also means more access points to sneak in contraband into your prison!

Luckily, you will also have new security objects that will allow you to inspect deliveries and prisoners as they enter the prison, or at key security checkpoints.

If you are looking for a complete changelog, you can find it here.

You can also stay in touch with us on social:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PlayPrisonArchitect
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PrisonArchitect

Thanks for your support, we look forward to hearing your thoughts on Island Bound!

New Delivery and Transport systems

• Docks: use 4 new boat vehicles to replace the standard road services.
  
• Civilian Ferry, Inmate Ferry and Supply Boat.
  
• Helipads: use 3 new helicopters to replace the standard road services.
  
• Supply Helicopter and Prisoner Intake Helicopter.
  
• Contraband is available for prisoners at both Docks & Helipads.

New Helicopter Emergency Services

• Air Fire Fighters: the Air Firefighter Helicopter transports a squad of firefighters and is able to fight fires itself from the sky, Firefighters connect their hoses to the Helipad they land at instead of the road-based hydrants.
  
• Elite Ops: the Elite Ops Helicopter transports a squad of the new “Elite Ops” units. They are a level higher than the usual Riot Guards. The helicopter is able to deploy these units wherever the player chooses.
  
• Air Paramedics: the Air Paramedics Helicopter transports a squad of paramedics.

New Logistics options

• Deliveries: manage the linking of Helipads, Docks, or the road to their designated locations (Delivery, Garbage, Export, Storage, or Reception rooms).
  
• Transport: Allows users to toggle the specific services available to Docks, Helipads, or the Road (Deliveries, Intake, Civilians, and Exports), each service is then split further to allow users to toggle either the entire services or parts of it.
  
• Deliveries - Building Materials, Food, Mail, and Workshop Materials.
  
• Intake - Minimum Security, Medium Security, Maximum Security, SuperMax, Death Row, and the Criminally Insane.
  
• Civilians - Visitors, and Teachers.
  
• Exports - Garbage, and Exports (logs and workshop items)

New “Crate Scanner” Machine & Monitor

• The crate scanner allows for crates to be scanned (for contraband) before being brought within the prison’s walls.
  
• A monitor must be placed and manned by a guard for the scanner to operate.
  
• The monitor must be wired to the scanner in the same way as CCTV monitors.
  
• Multiple scanners can be wired to the same monitor object.

New Checkpoint Object

• This object works similarly to the metal detector object, prisoners will move through the checkpoint and be searched by guards.
  
• This object will also be manned by guards. Otherwise, prisoners will ignore it.
  
• This object can be used to enforce inmate searches at certain key points within the prison.

2 new Prison Plots:

• The Island Plot: An island plot surrounded with water, with no road at all, but an auto- generated boat dock.
  
• The Connected Island: An island plot surrounded with water, but connected to the road still via an auto-generated bridge.

Landscaping options

• Shallow Water (Flooring item)
  
• Placing certain objects on water (Stepping Stones, Buoy, Fountain)

New water tiles

• Visual Water Blend
  
• Shallow Water
  
• Deep Water
  
• Standard Water

Flooring

• Water (Shallow)
  
• Dock (Wooden)
  
• Water
  
• Water (Large)

Objects

• Wind Sock
  
• Deck Chair
  
• Stepping Stones (Ice)
  
• Fountain
  
• Helipad
  
• Checkpoint
  
• Scanner Machine
  
• Scanner Monitor
  
• Stepping Stones (Lily Pad)
  
• Boat Dock
  
• Ferry Dock
  
• Buoy
  
• Life Ring
  
• Light (Green)
  
• Light (Red)
  
• Metal Barrel
  
• Mooring Bollard
  
• Stepping Stones
  
• Stepping Stones (Pallet)
  
• Stone Water Spout
  
• Wooden Barre

Landscaping options

• Placing Water over land tiles
  
• Placing land tiles over water tiles
  
• Placing utilities over water
  
• Visual Water Blend
  
• Cliff Edge

Dynamic Reputations
When prisoners perform certain actions/behavior or spend time in certain areas, they will gain a rising % chance to earn or lose a Reputation trait. With the available reputations being as follows:

• Deadly
  
• Fearless
  
• Quick
  
• Skilled Fighter
  
• Stoical
  
• Strong
  
• Tough
  
• Volatile
  
• Expert Fighter
  
• Extremely Deadly
  
• Extremely Quick
  
• Extremely Strong
  
• Extremely Tough
  
• Extremely Volatile
  
• Legendary
  
• Escape Artist
  
• Workaholic
  
• Addiction

• Fixed an issue that caused Snipers to go to occupied Guard towers.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused Cooks to operate CCTV Monitors, Phone Taps and Door Controls.
  
• Fixed an issue that could prevent teachers from arriving at the prison.
  
• Setting custom security sectors will no longer block some programs.
  
• Fixed an issue that prevented the use of “Free Fire” in Unlocked or Staff Only security sectors.
  
• The Appeal Tooltip for Death Row has been improved.
  
• Fixed a visual issue with new wall types in Utility view.
  
• New walls are no longer transparent for Gunfire/Taser line of sight.
  
• Fixed an issue with inmates stuttering their way to the Yard.
  
• The “Force Riot” function is now working properly.
  
• Custom security sectors do not block Escape Mode cell assignments anymore.
  
• Fixed an issue that prevented armed guards from shooting on GABOS.
  
• Fixed an issue that prevented external staff from walking through Visitor Doors.
  
• Fixed some crashing issues.
  
• Implemented some quality of life improvements for clients in a multiplayer game.

• The Warden can go beyond the map boundaries in Warden mode.
  
• Dismissing the helicopters of the new Air Emergency Services can lead to some visual and gameplay
• issues.
  
• The unit will remain on the map (Air Paramedics).
  
• When dismissing the Air Firefighter unit, a fire truck will drive past the map (potentially on water).
  
• MAC: Setting build priority does not work as indicated to the player (Alt+Click).
  
• Air Paramedics can't leave the map after dismissing their helicopter on Island Plot map.

Wardens,

We’re excited to announce that the Island Bound expansion will launch next Tuesday, June 23!

Starting next week you can create your own Island Compounds - but be sure to level-up your logistics game with these prisons!

Launching alongside Island Bound is “The Rock”, a free update that will be available for all players. The Rock will introduce Dynamic Reputations for your prisoners, quality of life improvements, and implement multiple bug fixes.

Finally, we showed a new trailer for the expansion during Paradox Insider, you can find it below!

Sea you next week!