Defending The Accused: Prison Architect

They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity and that’s particularly true if you respond to that publicity with decorum and finesse. That’s the situation Mark Morris and Chris Delay of Introversion Software found themselves in when their upcoming game Prison Architect received a critical mauling at the hands of journalist Paolo Pedercini. However, this was nothing to do with Prison Architect being a ‘bad’ game in the playability sense but more to do with it being a morally and socially dubious one.

Of course, making a game which allows you to effectively build and run your own penitentiary was always going to raise eyebrows, but unlike others, Pedercini had no truck with the basic idea of Prison Architect. “I believe there's nothing inherently wrong in the choice of a subject,” he wrote for videogame blog Kotaku. “It's the way a subject is treated, the way a real-world phenomenon is translated into a playable model that is susceptible of criticism.”

As such, Pedercini took umbrage with a few of PA’s systems and design choices, notably an abundance of riots that neutered their effect when compared to their real world counterparts, a failure to acknowledge the huge influence drug convictions have on prison numbers and no focus on rehabilitation, assuming that prisons work solely to punish and contain criminals. As games’ previews generally go, it’s a pretty heavy read.

“We hoped we would get criticism,” claims Mark Morris, producer and co-founder of Introversion, a company who have dealt with weighty topics with past titles, such as nuclear annihilation in 2006’s DEFCON. “It’s what helps us to improve and it's always an honour when someone devotes that kind of attention to our games. Paolo was the first guy who saw the full potential of what we were aiming for with Prison Architect and we really appreciated his article.”

Morris and creative director Chris Delay responded with a lengthy YouTube video, accepting some of Pedercini’s criticisms whilst rebuking others. However, it was all handled with a maturity sometimes lacking in more typical articles and forums centred around game criticism. “We felt it was worthy of a response,” explains Morris regarding the decision to handle their rebuttal in the way they did. “People seem to love our (Prison Architect) videos and I thought it might be interesting for them to hear our conversation about it.”

Indeed it was, with the whole saga only bringing more positive attention to the game itself. If there is one thing that shines through the debate, it’s that both parties only want to see the best game that can possibly be made. “Prior to the article we hadn't worked on many of the left-wing systems in the game that pertain to rehabilitation,” concedes Morris on one way he and Delay have sought to improve their baby. “We'd always intended to do them but I think (Pedercini’s) piece bumped their priority.”

It’s a reminder of just how important video games can be; that even a retro-styled, top-down, 2D simulator can invoke a discussion about ethics and morality and lead its creators to go beyond the easy shrug of ‘it’s just a game’ retort. It’s also a plus point on the current trend for alpha and beta gaming, where developers release early access versions of their games to gain valuable feedback from keen players.

However, it can also backfire and both Morris and Delay have defended some of their games’ traits as a product of teasing out the various kinks that always dog development, whether it’s behind a curtain or not. “The majority of the critique of Prison Architect has been positive [and] we don't think that's an accident,” claims Morris. “When we launched ‘alpha one’ we'd put over a years’ worth of development in and we believed that you could already have a positive gaming experience. As we've gone on with the alpha we've only tried to release substantially finished systems. The process in which all those systems interconnect isn't something we can do until the end and the majority of journalists are aware of this.”

It’s this underlying defence that Morris and Delay put forward against many of their accusations whilst acknowledging and pleading guilty to others. “Alpha has fundamentally changed the way that we make games,” he continues. “In the past we might have got lost for months at a time with some system or technology that didn't provide any gameplay, whereas now we're acutely aware of the tempo which means we have to put out updates that are meaningful and have been quality assured. This puts us under a lot of pressure but has made the process more tightly focused and I think we're a better company for it.”

However, having been available since September 2012, and with an update coming every four weeks, are Introversion susceptible to continually tweaking their work, like a painter who can’t quite put the finishing brushstroke to his masterpiece? “Unsurprisingly people ask us this all the time,” concedes Morris. “But we genuinely do not have a date for completion. Even Chris doesn't know himself. At the moment there are still so many things for us to explore within the game and so we don’t want to commit to a specific deadline. That said, we will eventually release a finished version.”

In the meantime, Prison Architect remains on parole, but with some strong rehabilitation under its belt already, we feel confident it will be a veritable pillar of society upon its eventual release.