Alpha 23 has been released!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcwr91LOI3g

Remote Access systems
You can now build a number of interconnected systems and servos in your prison, to automate access through locked doors.
These new objects are unlocked via 'Remote Access' in the beauracracy screen, and available in the Utilities menu.
All of these systems can be connected together using the 'Connect' tool in the Utilities menu.

- Door Servo : Attaches to an existing door. Can be triggered electrically to open the door.



- Door Control System : Operated by a guard in a security room. Allows guards to open doors remotely.
The system is connected to servos via the new 'Connect' tool in the utilities menu.
Note: The operator can open a maximum of two doors per second, so don't overload a single system with too many servos.
Note: If a Door Control System becomes broken, ALL connected doors will spring open.

- Door Timer : Another way to control doors automatically, based on time of day. Click on the door timer to access its schedule.
All connected doors will be opened when the schedule says they should be.

- Remote Door : A strong metal door that cannot be opened with Jail Keys. You must connect this door up with a Door Servo
and control it remotely somehow.

Cctv overhall
The old cctv system has been replaced, using the new Connection mechanics developed for Remote Access Systems.
Cctv Monitors must now be connected to cameras using the 'Connect' tool.
A single Cctv Monitor must now be operated by one Guard, and a Guard can only operate one monitor at a time.
A Monitor can be connected to as many cameras as you wish, but has only eight screens.
If you connect it to more than eight cameras, the monitor will cycle through them, giving only partial coverage.




[ADVANCED FEATURE] Logic Circuits
Two new objects have been added purely as an experiment, and are not required for any normal prison.
These objects can be used to build advanced electrical circuits.

- Logic Circuit : A boolean logic gate with X inputs and 1 output.
Available operations : And / Or / Not / Nand / Nor / Xor
Right click on the circuit to cycle the operation.

- Logic Bridge : Can be used to send a signal via Electrical Cable (normally used to power your prison)
Place the Logic Bridge over a cell containing Electrical cable, and that entire cable will have the same signal value.
Any Logic Circuit sitting on the same Electrical Cable will receive the signal as one of its inputs.
This is specifically useful for transmitting a common signal around your circuit - eg a Clock signal,
without requiring thousands of seperate wires.



Contraband Smuggling continued

- Contraband can now be smuggled in via materials in a Delivery Truck. Anything brought in via Delivery Trucks can be used.
Eg Food ingredients, metal sheets for the workshop, prisoner uniforms, construction materials etc.
Dogs will detect narcotics in these items, and metal detectors will spot metal items.
Guards can now search these items on request.
Once brought into the prison, the contraband will remain in its material until a nearby prisoner picks it up.
Note: The types of contraband smuggled in this way will be determined by the Supply and Demand within the prison.

- Contraband can now be thrown in over the external walls.
Prisoners 'arrange' this when phoning home, or when talking to their visitors in Visitation.
They will arrange to go to a pre-determined place at a certain time, and collect a specific item.
The item chosen will be based on the needs of that prisoner.
If there are guards near the collection point, the contraband will not be thrown in.
The maximum throw range is 10 squares, and cannot happen in sectors marked as 'Staff Only' as prisoners cannot get there.

- Intoxication is now a type of Misconduct, and is 'detected' when a Guard searches a prisoner. He will notice they are high/drunk.
You can now set the punishment for Intoxication in the Policy table.
Being caught Intoxicated automatically refers the prisoner to the relevent 'Rehab' program, if it exists.

- Utilities mode now filters the display based on what you are building, to give a clearer view.
Only relevent objects and connections will be shown depending on the mode - Electrical, Pipes, Circuit wiring.

- Fences are no longer free (YOU try getting hundreds of metres of fences for free)

- You can now expand and contract the Todo list to free up screen space

- More info has been added to the tooltips in the Build Toolbar

- Kitchen Sinks now require a water pipe connection

- The 'Day X' timer in the top toolbar now shows the total 'Real Time' played on this prison

- Fixed a subtle bug in the audio system that caused audio corruption sometimes - buzzing, popping, clicking

Alpha 23 has been released!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcwr91LOI3g

Remote Access systems
You can now build a number of interconnected systems and servos in your prison, to automate access through locked doors.
These new objects are unlocked via 'Remote Access' in the beauracracy screen, and available in the Utilities menu.
All of these systems can be connected together using the 'Connect' tool in the Utilities menu.

- Door Servo : Attaches to an existing door. Can be triggered electrically to open the door.



- Door Control System : Operated by a guard in a security room. Allows guards to open doors remotely.
The system is connected to servos via the new 'Connect' tool in the utilities menu.
Note: The operator can open a maximum of two doors per second, so don't overload a single system with too many servos.
Note: If a Door Control System becomes broken, ALL connected doors will spring open.

- Door Timer : Another way to control doors automatically, based on time of day. Click on the door timer to access its schedule.
All connected doors will be opened when the schedule says they should be.

- Remote Door : A strong metal door that cannot be opened with Jail Keys. You must connect this door up with a Door Servo
and control it remotely somehow.

Cctv overhall
The old cctv system has been replaced, using the new Connection mechanics developed for Remote Access Systems.
Cctv Monitors must now be connected to cameras using the 'Connect' tool.
A single Cctv Monitor must now be operated by one Guard, and a Guard can only operate one monitor at a time.
A Monitor can be connected to as many cameras as you wish, but has only eight screens.
If you connect it to more than eight cameras, the monitor will cycle through them, giving only partial coverage.




[ADVANCED FEATURE] Logic Circuits
Two new objects have been added purely as an experiment, and are not required for any normal prison.
These objects can be used to build advanced electrical circuits.

- Logic Circuit : A boolean logic gate with X inputs and 1 output.
Available operations : And / Or / Not / Nand / Nor / Xor
Right click on the circuit to cycle the operation.

- Logic Bridge : Can be used to send a signal via Electrical Cable (normally used to power your prison)
Place the Logic Bridge over a cell containing Electrical cable, and that entire cable will have the same signal value.
Any Logic Circuit sitting on the same Electrical Cable will receive the signal as one of its inputs.
This is specifically useful for transmitting a common signal around your circuit - eg a Clock signal,
without requiring thousands of seperate wires.



Contraband Smuggling continued

- Contraband can now be smuggled in via materials in a Delivery Truck. Anything brought in via Delivery Trucks can be used.
Eg Food ingredients, metal sheets for the workshop, prisoner uniforms, construction materials etc.
Dogs will detect narcotics in these items, and metal detectors will spot metal items.
Guards can now search these items on request.
Once brought into the prison, the contraband will remain in its material until a nearby prisoner picks it up.
Note: The types of contraband smuggled in this way will be determined by the Supply and Demand within the prison.

- Contraband can now be thrown in over the external walls.
Prisoners 'arrange' this when phoning home, or when talking to their visitors in Visitation.
They will arrange to go to a pre-determined place at a certain time, and collect a specific item.
The item chosen will be based on the needs of that prisoner.
If there are guards near the collection point, the contraband will not be thrown in.
The maximum throw range is 10 squares, and cannot happen in sectors marked as 'Staff Only' as prisoners cannot get there.

- Intoxication is now a type of Misconduct, and is 'detected' when a Guard searches a prisoner. He will notice they are high/drunk.
You can now set the punishment for Intoxication in the Policy table.
Being caught Intoxicated automatically refers the prisoner to the relevent 'Rehab' program, if it exists.

- Utilities mode now filters the display based on what you are building, to give a clearer view.
Only relevent objects and connections will be shown depending on the mode - Electrical, Pipes, Circuit wiring.

- Fences are no longer free (YOU try getting hundreds of metres of fences for free)

- You can now expand and contract the Todo list to free up screen space

- More info has been added to the tooltips in the Build Toolbar

- Kitchen Sinks now require a water pipe connection

- The 'Day X' timer in the top toolbar now shows the total 'Real Time' played on this prison

- Fixed a subtle bug in the audio system that caused audio corruption sometimes - buzzing, popping, clicking

Alpha 22 has been released!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xer0X1zYbag

No more shall all your laundry baskets gradually migrate to a single laundry room, leaving all the others empty!

No more will you be able to install Garbage!

No more will your dead prisoners slide off morgue slabs and hearses, and lay there in the road forever!

No more will your entities get stuck (FOREVER) on walls, corners, doors, and just about everything else in their way!

We decided to do things differently this month. This month was a Bug Bash.

Generally speaking the monthly release schedule is an incredibly healthy process for us - it motivates us to work hard and finish things to deadline, and gives us a monthly routine to work to. However the process is not without its faults. We’ve become increasingly aware of the number of bugs that have been creeping into the game with each new release, and with just four weeks between alpha launches there is almost no time to address them. The result is a bug tracker filled up with literally thousands of bug reports. We had to do something about this.

So for the month of June, all the programmers on the team worked exclusively on fixing bugs. (That’s Chris, Johnny, Leander, Gary and Andrew, for those who keep track). Five programmers working for an entire month, just clearing bugs. For those who didn’t notice our messages in the main menu, we also released regular test builds via steam so that the community could test out our fixes and report back to us. Many thousands of PA fans got new builds every few days rather than once a month.

It’s been a fantastic experience, and many serious bugs have been tackled. We could have ticked off hundreds of trivial fixes, but we instead attacked the list starting with the biggest and most terrifying AI fixes. In total, 73 major bugs were fixed. This may not sound like many - it represents about one bug resolved per man-day, which in the Software Engineering world is a fairly respectable rate. But it puts it into perspective just how long bug fixing can take, and makes it clear to us that we shouldn’t be ‘saving up’ the bug fixing for some mythical end date just before the v1.0 launch.

Our community really rose to the challenge this month and gave us invaluable assistance. Our bug database is full of duplicate bug reports (most people don’t search first when reporting their bugs), and we’ve just never tackled that. Several community members organised into a group and closed well over 1,000 bugs during June, all duplicates. They also helped us to confirm our fixes worked and to test against regressions. Thanks guys! We wanted to give special shout outs to these community members who went above and beyond:

Reef : Thanks so much! You were a huge help to us this month. We are gifting you a free ‘Face in the Game’ upgrade as a token of our thanks.

mazetar, RGeezy911, _alphaBeta_, koshensky, Phydaux, Guvnor, Mhoram : You guys were incredibly helpful, thank you. We are gifting each of you a free ‘Name in the Game’ upgrade.

Normal service will resume next month, and we’ll have a set of lovely new features for alpha 23. But in the mean time, enjoy the new version.

Here's a full list of bug fixes:
http://forums.introversion.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=49215

Alpha 22 has been released!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xer0X1zYbag

No more shall all your laundry baskets gradually migrate to a single laundry room, leaving all the others empty!

No more will you be able to install Garbage!

No more will your dead prisoners slide off morgue slabs and hearses, and lay there in the road forever!

No more will your entities get stuck (FOREVER) on walls, corners, doors, and just about everything else in their way!

We decided to do things differently this month. This month was a Bug Bash.

Generally speaking the monthly release schedule is an incredibly healthy process for us - it motivates us to work hard and finish things to deadline, and gives us a monthly routine to work to. However the process is not without its faults. We’ve become increasingly aware of the number of bugs that have been creeping into the game with each new release, and with just four weeks between alpha launches there is almost no time to address them. The result is a bug tracker filled up with literally thousands of bug reports. We had to do something about this.

So for the month of June, all the programmers on the team worked exclusively on fixing bugs. (That’s Chris, Johnny, Leander, Gary and Andrew, for those who keep track). Five programmers working for an entire month, just clearing bugs. For those who didn’t notice our messages in the main menu, we also released regular test builds via steam so that the community could test out our fixes and report back to us. Many thousands of PA fans got new builds every few days rather than once a month.

It’s been a fantastic experience, and many serious bugs have been tackled. We could have ticked off hundreds of trivial fixes, but we instead attacked the list starting with the biggest and most terrifying AI fixes. In total, 73 major bugs were fixed. This may not sound like many - it represents about one bug resolved per man-day, which in the Software Engineering world is a fairly respectable rate. But it puts it into perspective just how long bug fixing can take, and makes it clear to us that we shouldn’t be ‘saving up’ the bug fixing for some mythical end date just before the v1.0 launch.

Our community really rose to the challenge this month and gave us invaluable assistance. Our bug database is full of duplicate bug reports (most people don’t search first when reporting their bugs), and we’ve just never tackled that. Several community members organised into a group and closed well over 1,000 bugs during June, all duplicates. They also helped us to confirm our fixes worked and to test against regressions. Thanks guys! We wanted to give special shout outs to these community members who went above and beyond:

Reef : Thanks so much! You were a huge help to us this month. We are gifting you a free ‘Face in the Game’ upgrade as a token of our thanks.

mazetar, RGeezy911, _alphaBeta_, koshensky, Phydaux, Guvnor, Mhoram : You guys were incredibly helpful, thank you. We are gifting each of you a free ‘Name in the Game’ upgrade.

Normal service will resume next month, and we’ll have a set of lovely new features for alpha 23. But in the mean time, enjoy the new version.

Here's a full list of bug fixes:
http://forums.introversion.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=49215

Alpha 21 has been released! Here is our video demonstrating the new features:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7nQODdpby4

Narcotics
Prisoners can now take drugs (typically smuggled in through visitation), and develop addictions. Addiction gets stronger with each use of a drug, and prisoners go into withdrawal if they do not get their drugs fix quick enough. Some prisoners arrive with existing addictions, other prisoners try drugs when bored or dissatisfied. All drugs have a chance to cause an overdose, which is lethal unless immediately treated by a Doctor.

Currently included:
- Heroin
- Cocain
- Alchohol

Two new Reform programs have been added to help combat drug addiction:
- Methodone program, a chemical suppliment that helps remove the craving of addicted prisoners
- Alchoholics anonymous meeting, a group therapy session aimed at reducing the psychological dependence on booze

Prisoners who refrain (or are prevented) from taking drugs for long enough to make it through withdrawal have a chance to cure their addiction, Cold Turkey style.

Advanced regime control
You can now control the regime for each security group independantly - Min sec / Normal sec / Max sec prisoners
Use this to rotate the actions of your different prisoner categories throughout the day
Regime 'Nothing' has been renamed 'Lockup', to better reflect its meaning. Prisoners must return to their cells during Lockup.



Language selector
There is now a Union Jack flag in the Main Menu (top left) which can be clicked on to change the game language. This opens the language selector screen, which shows all currently installed language packs (MODS). In the STEAM version this screen also lists ALL language packs currently available via the Steam Workshop. Selecting any language pack will automatically download it and apply it, and the Union Jack icon will change appropriately.



Surrender
Prisoners now have a chance to surrender when faced with lethal force
Armed guards shout warnings before opening fire. Weaker prisoners will surrender immediately, raising their hands in the air.
More aggressive prisoners may surrender after being shot at or wounded by gunfire.
Surrendered prisoners are immediately 100% suppressed, and will return to their cells after the armed guards have passed.
NOTE : Soldiers still do not shout warnings, and will not accept surrender once they have engaged a target.



Alpha 22 - Bug Bash
Next month for alpha 22 we will be doing things differently. The entire team will be focussing exclusively on bug fixes for one entire month. This does mean that there will be no new features in alpha 22, however the game should improve immeasurably as we tackle some of the biggest long standing issues in the game. And we need your help!

We have a massive database of over 4000 bugs recorded. We can’t possibly fix them all. We need your help to prioritise the bug database so we know what to fix - we will be focussing on the top 100 rated bugs, so your ratings are very important. Take a look at this video for information on how to help us with prioritising the bug database:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9pzYbFEI-Q

We plan to launch new versions more frequently during June, perhaps once or twice a week, so you can get the latest bug fixes quickly and give us feedback as we work. If everything goes according to plan the game will be much more solid within a month, and we’ll all get back to adding some lovely new features for alpha 23.

Alpha 21 has been released! Here is our video demonstrating the new features:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7nQODdpby4

Narcotics
Prisoners can now take drugs (typically smuggled in through visitation), and develop addictions. Addiction gets stronger with each use of a drug, and prisoners go into withdrawal if they do not get their drugs fix quick enough. Some prisoners arrive with existing addictions, other prisoners try drugs when bored or dissatisfied. All drugs have a chance to cause an overdose, which is lethal unless immediately treated by a Doctor.

Currently included:
- Heroin
- Cocain
- Alchohol

Two new Reform programs have been added to help combat drug addiction:
- Methodone program, a chemical suppliment that helps remove the craving of addicted prisoners
- Alchoholics anonymous meeting, a group therapy session aimed at reducing the psychological dependence on booze

Prisoners who refrain (or are prevented) from taking drugs for long enough to make it through withdrawal have a chance to cure their addiction, Cold Turkey style.

Advanced regime control
You can now control the regime for each security group independantly - Min sec / Normal sec / Max sec prisoners
Use this to rotate the actions of your different prisoner categories throughout the day
Regime 'Nothing' has been renamed 'Lockup', to better reflect its meaning. Prisoners must return to their cells during Lockup.



Language selector
There is now a Union Jack flag in the Main Menu (top left) which can be clicked on to change the game language. This opens the language selector screen, which shows all currently installed language packs (MODS). In the STEAM version this screen also lists ALL language packs currently available via the Steam Workshop. Selecting any language pack will automatically download it and apply it, and the Union Jack icon will change appropriately.



Surrender
Prisoners now have a chance to surrender when faced with lethal force
Armed guards shout warnings before opening fire. Weaker prisoners will surrender immediately, raising their hands in the air.
More aggressive prisoners may surrender after being shot at or wounded by gunfire.
Surrendered prisoners are immediately 100% suppressed, and will return to their cells after the armed guards have passed.
NOTE : Soldiers still do not shout warnings, and will not accept surrender once they have engaged a target.



Alpha 22 - Bug Bash
Next month for alpha 22 we will be doing things differently. The entire team will be focussing exclusively on bug fixes for one entire month. This does mean that there will be no new features in alpha 22, however the game should improve immeasurably as we tackle some of the biggest long standing issues in the game. And we need your help!

We have a massive database of over 4000 bugs recorded. We can’t possibly fix them all. We need your help to prioritise the bug database so we know what to fix - we will be focussing on the top 100 rated bugs, so your ratings are very important. Take a look at this video for information on how to help us with prioritising the bug database:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9pzYbFEI-Q

We plan to launch new versions more frequently during June, perhaps once or twice a week, so you can get the latest bug fixes quickly and give us feedback as we work. If everything goes according to plan the game will be much more solid within a month, and we’ll all get back to adding some lovely new features for alpha 23.