Jump to content

In the Cooler


FullAuto

Recommended Posts

Eurogamer have a preview of Introversion's latest, a sim prison-style game.

 

The idea of the game crystallized after Introversion brain-box Chris Delay visited Alcatraz. At the time, the company was still wrestling with procedurally generated infiltration game Subversion, but things weren't coming together smoothly. So, instead of redrafting its prison level, the team set about turning their ideas into an entirely new title.

 

Prison Architect is a game about managing limited resources - about balancing security with rehabilitation, and pitting punishment against productivity. However, quite uniquely for a management sim, it's also about storytelling and emotion. "I actually think management sims and stories go well together," says Delay, "and we really wanted to have some stories about interesting prisoners to bring people into the game. I mean, prisoners are fascinating characters, and prisons are such a rich area of story."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wrote a big long post, but I can't be bothered with it to be honest, so here's the short version:

 

In my opinion, good graphics are not and should never be a requirement for producing good games. See Armageddon Empires and Frozen Synapse for examples of some pretty basic graphics in some pretty great games.

 

I realise that everything's subjective and some people hold graphics in higher regard than other factors, but bear in mind that not all developers can afford whizzy graphics and certainly not all games need them to be good games.

 

I'm just getting a tad annoyed by the (paraphrased) "this looks rubbish" posts popping up recently - of which there have been a few.

 

The staff here try to post about games that sound like they could be interesting - in the news this usually involves Thorondor scouring through press emails and news sites to write about the ones that he thinks will appeal to our readership (most of whom stop by daily, most of whom never log in and say hi, but we love them nontheless :blush:). The rest of us will chip in from time to time with somethinbg we've found that looks interesting to us and in FullAuto's case, given his track record for reviewing games that I've found enjoyable I tend to look into any game he posts because there's a chance I'll like it too (not that you all should to - it's just what I do because we like similar games).

 

That's not to say you should listen to everything (or anything) we have to say - certainly never take a someone's word for it when they say something is great as everyone will have a different opinion, but instead find out about the game yourselves if it sounds like it will be of interest, or don't - it's your choice, but I would really hope that the majority of strategy gamers would have realised by now that good gameplay is quite often not linked to good graphics (we're all still playing X-COM aren't we?).

 

This game could be either absolutely rubbish or absolutely amazing, but a couple of screenshots that don't meet expectations should not be the deciding factor.

 

Okay, that ended up being even longer than my original post, but I don't care :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is absolutely no correlation, as far as I am aware, between good graphics and good gameplay. The best experiences of my gaming life have been games that did not necessarily have the best graphics (Panzer General, Broken Sword, Alpha Protocol, Dark Souls, Okami, X-Com, Advance Wars, Deus Ex). Some of them certainly had a strong graphical style, but none of them had cutting-edge graphics for their time, yet they're all amazing games.

 

Moreover, all we've seen so far are four pre-alpha-build screenshots. What game looks amazing at such an early stage?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just added a clip to the starting post. I actually find the concept pretty interesting and, as such, worth divulging. :blush:

 

I like good graphics as much as the next guy, but, like Pete says, there are literally awesome games which are not going to appeal to you merely for their visuals if you're not predisposed to keep an open mind and give the gameplay itself a chance.

 

Oftentimes it's even a matter of the developer's own choice - I mean, look at MineCraft or Battle Academy. Both in effect kind of endear themselves to their respective audiences, one in retro style, the other in wargaming cuteness.

 

But if you're looking for wow-effect, look elsewhere.

 

::

 

One thing I'm not bound to do in a hurry is judge a game before I've played it based stricly on the visuals. And it's not like I'm in a more informed position than the developers themselves to say if this style is or isn't the best fit for their game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One other game that deserves mention for being a quality game to play with average graphics even for its time - Sid Meier's original Civilization (and the original Colonization was about as good looking, for that matter)

 

Personally, i value gameplay a lot more than graphics - otherwise, I'd never have even tried the original X-Com, as I had several newer and clearly better looking games in the general genre before i got around to it :blush:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Johnny Reb II, I think it was? On the Commodore 64? Bad graphics, but great gameplay. One of the first strategy titles I ever played, and it looked awful even for its time. I couldn't get past the demo battle, when I played the demo or the full game, what a swizz.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some people see bad graphics in this. I see a unique 2D style that allows for plenty of resources to be allocated to what's ultimately most important: gameplay. Might as well discard everything Introversion has made if you only tolerate cutting-edge graphics. Hell, trash most of the indie scene. Blast it all.

 

I'm quite curious about this. :blush:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had written a long post but somehow I did not submit it and then lost it :) I'll just say that although prison stuff gets me a bit disturbed, but this game seems to belong to a genre that's seems to be overlooked, a genre composed by games like Theme Park / Theme Hospital / Rollercoaster Tycoon. Looking forward to it! :blush:
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
  • Create New...