Prisonblock - Early Alpha

[Mufasa]

So, I bought prisonblock.com late last year from a certain individual and started to revamp it in Feb. The original site ran GRPG, was full of holes and just wasn't fun -- not to mention it felt like a cheap rip of the other popular prison game. So I set out to recode it and make it unique.

I've been working on this new version as sort of a pet project and then I realized that it's taking way too long. I've got so many features I want to add, but while I take the time to add them, the current site is growing stale, I don't have a pool of users to test current functionality, and quite frankly, I'm getting a bit sick of it (actually took some time off to launch another site http://www.skthemer.com which I got done in record time!).

So with that in mind, I'm going to take the current site: http://www.prisonblock.com and import all accounts into the new site: http://v2.prisonblock.com/ and soft-launch it 7/13 with whatever is currently done. I've already stripped features like gangs, land and adventuring, but I've still got a lot to go.

Would you guys mind signing up and taking a look around and letting me know how it all feels so far? I've still gotta do some sort of wiki for new users, and probably find a way to get players right into the game (perhaps make your avatar, then you get an event saying head to the gym right away or head to the plastic surgeon to change your face to git in), but it's playable.

Here it is: http://v2.prisonblock.com/

[codestryke]

Layout and graphics are top notched, very nice job.

The image maps to show where you can go gets annoying really fast. Trying to find where to mouse over to see the tool tip get confusing as they often appear / disappear as you move around. It's neat when you first start but soon the novelty wears off. As a suggestion maybe at the top of the graphic where you have what location it is like Prison Yard you could list horizontally all the places so those that have been playing a bit can go directly to where they need to and new players can also see everything that is available.

Next thing I did was training, clicked once and used all my energy. I couldn't find anything after that to do. If I was just checking out the game as a casual player I would of left right then and there. I know you are working on a wiki or something but the game leaves the player with absolutely no direction at all.

After moving around some more I found the only thing I could do was scan the yard. Ok so you want me to click a button 100 times a day?!?!?! You have to be kidding me, by the 30th click I gave up, the only game I click like that for is Diablo Maybe change that to a text box to allow the user to enter the number of times to search, I would have to think it would be easier on the user then clicking all that time and the added benefit of less trips back and forth to the server.

Jobs, hooker? For some reason it didn't fit with the genre, maybe they call a hooker in prison something else.

Graphics are awesome, game play, eh, not enough to do in the beginning. At least I'm not pointed in any direction to do anything. If it really is only train once and click a button 100 times then there is not enough to keep a new player playing IMHO.

[Hypemaster]

The graphics looks great. The explore prison, well its cool but hard to find all the places, need to like hover around to find out. And i'm confused a bit what i can do and stuff. A wiki or tutorial would be nice. And 100 times clicking a button is alot. Why not make it less and reward more or something. I dont like clicking 100 times every day on the same button. Would be nice if you could search at different spots etc.

[Mufasa]

Layout and graphics are top notched, very nice job.

The image maps to show where you can go gets annoying really fast. Trying to find where to mouse over to see the tool tip get confusing as they often appear / disappear as you move around. It's neat when you first start but soon the novelty wears off. As a suggestion maybe at the top of the graphic where you have what location it is like Prison Yard you could list horizontally all the places so those that have been playing a bit can go directly to where they need to and new players can also see everything that is available.

I agree. I was considering adding it to the left column on those pages (since the page jumps you down anyway).

Next thing I did was training, clicked once and used all my energy. I couldn't find anything after that to do. If I was just checking out the game as a casual player I would of left right then and there. I know you are working on a wiki or something but the game leaves the player with absolutely no direction at all.

After moving around some more I found the only thing I could do was scan the yard. Ok so you want me to click a button 100 times a day?!?!?! You have to be kidding me, by the 30th click I gave up, the only game I click like that for is Diablo Maybe change that to a text box to allow the user to enter the number of times to search, I would have to think it would be easier on the user then clicking all that time and the added benefit of less trips back and forth to the server.

Again agreed. The current game uses all searches at once, I think a text box with the amount of searches is optimal. What also needs to be made more obvious is that when you train, you can actually change the amount of energy you want to use.

Jobs, hooker? For some reason it didn't fit with the genre, maybe they call a hooker in prison something else.

Graphics are awesome, game play, eh, not enough to do in the beginning. At least I'm not pointed in any direction to do anything. If it really is only train once and click a button 100 times then there is not enough to keep a new player playing IMHO.

Again agreed. Out the gate, the user needs to be pointed somewhere. Where? Haven't decided yet. I, and the other users, feel it's a step up from the current game, but to be honest I much prefer an adventure-style RPG with some story.

Appreciate the feedback!

[codestryke]

Have to ask.. Did you do the graphics or did you hire someone to do them?

I agree if you break down the training so you could do it more would add some more play time for the player. I also think with this style of game you could go a long way with a poker game, multi-player would rock but difficult to code. Single player against NPC would be less work. I'm just pulling ideas from the show OZ and what they did with all the down time they had.

Problem with betting games is balancing the economy as gambling can really bring in a lot of un-needed cash. I briefly played the other prison game once before and I can't remember but you could gamble cigs and use those as an alternative currency that you could exchange for cold hard cash.

[Mufasa]

Have to ask.. Did you do the graphics or did you hire someone to do them?

I hired someone to do the layout and then customized it. I can design, but hate doing it from scratch. Here's a quick comparison of the designer's layout and my version:

Designer: http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/5436/pbingame.png
Mine: http://easycaptures.com/fs/uploaded/278/6071429923.jpg

Designers are great, but I find most want to make a quick buck and move on. Very few actually want to put time and thought into UI. I think my version is an improvement, but maybe it's not. Made me happy though

I agree if you break down the training so you could do it more would add some more play time for the player. I also think with this style of game you could go a long way with a poker game, multi-player would rock but difficult to code. Single player against NPC would be less work. I'm just pulling ideas from the show OZ and what they did with all the down time they had.

Well training can be done anytime you have energy. Energy depletes when you use it and recovers 10% every 5 minutes. So in under an hour you could train using all of your energy again.

I tried to add some RPG elements to the game with the cell, but I need a good way to introduce and explain it to the player. Basically the items you add to your cell can improve or be a detriment to your stats. For example adding self defense books can raise your defense.

Screeny of my cell: http://easycaptures.com/fs/uploaded/278/9417360413.jpg

I'll have some rare and non-tradable items to hopefully make it more interesting too.

Problem with betting games is balancing the economy as gambling can really bring in a lot of un-needed cash. I briefly played the other prison game once before and I can't remember but you could gamble cigs and use those as an alternative currency that you could exchange for cold hard cash.

Yeah... I added flash games to the first prison (New Jersey), and soon found some of them made you TOO much money so I had to add in taxes and stuff. Poker and Blackjack were big requests, but something I figured that could wait until I got more players (since it'll likely be PvP and the time needed to set up FMS would be worth it then). As for the currency, I considered making it so you win favors from the warden, but even in my own head it got too complicated.

Anywho, I appreciate the fresh eyes guys, I've already made changes based on suggestions

[jannesiera]

Have to ask.. Did you do the graphics or did you hire someone to do them?

I hired someone to do the layout and then customized it. I can design, but hate doing it from scratch. Here's a quick comparison of the designer's layout and my version:

Designer: http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/5436/pbingame.png
Mine: http://easycaptures.com/fs/uploaded/278/6071429923.jpg

Designers are great, but I find most want to make a quick buck and move on. Very few actually want to put time and thought into UI. I think my version is an improvement, but maybe it's not. Made me happy though

I think your version is definitely clearer to the player. I like it better, but it has lost a little bi of it's edge. But I see what you mean by designers wanting to make a quick buck. There are some details just not taken care of (like the health meter etc looks teribble without a box around it).

I haven't actually played your game yet, but at first sight the "cell" thing looks very good!

[Mufasa]

codestryke, I've been playing with a new way to do the image maps. This way will have a slight outline:

http://v2.prisonblock.com/prison-page2.php#map

For those not registered and can't be bothered to haha: http://easycaptures.com/fs/uploaded/281/5580094937.jpg

You'll notice the slight outlines

I haven't actually played your game yet, but at first sight the "cell" thing looks very good!

thanks