Form the very first moment I have decided to do a management simulator I have been thinking of so many different projects/games that can serve as my contexts and inspirations. To make a good managemenet simulator, one must know good managemenet simulators. I will not play all of them, I am not insane, but I will delve deep into their mechanics and explore and identify things and ideas that can serve me in my design. First that came to mind was Prison Architect – a game ranked highly on Steam and by various gaming sites.
Prison Architect may be a very weird context for what I am trying to achieve. There seems to be an inherent “wrongness” to this game as it tells a story of a prison manager who not only needs to keep their prisoners safe and sound but also needs to turn a profit. As much as I think there is little enjoyment to have in a game where you kill human beings you were meant to reeducate (in theory), even if simulated, I do believe that Prison Architect can teach me something about management simulators.
Firstly, it very vividly highlights the problem of dehumanisation of non player characters when protrayed in a cartoonish, slightly silly style. I strongly believe that this game would not be viewed the same if it had realistic portraits of the inmates. The more you try to mimic humanity in a game, the more the gamer will respond to it. In Prison Architect, people tend to be treated like animals even, ones that need to be contained and tamed. The game itself has a way of handling the topic of imprisonment through the humanitarian lens, but ultimately the game is about money and profit.
In my game, I want people to be sort of a resource, that the player can manipulate – use to explore, build, gather, etc. But I also need the player to care about them- humans – individually. If not for everyone than for most of them. I cannot make them cartoonish and goofy, there needs to be a layer of realism, a bridge of understanding, between the player and the situation of a single human in their care. In that way I can make the decisions more meanigful – better, gut-wrenching choices, that involve character you know and has grown to care for.
Prison Architect makes a coincidental (or maybe intentional) case of dehumanisation of people in rigid system. When you have a set goal of turining a profit, you will most likely choose profit over human life when faced with some in-game decisions, because that is expected of you. In my game I want the goal to involve caring for a human life, especially your humans’ lives.
Watching a lot of reviews and reading up on the topic of Prison Architect I have encountered another frequently pinpointed problem – aesthetics vs usefulness. In the game, there is no clear cut distinction between aesthetic improvements and the ones that actually influence the behaviour of the inmates. You need to refer constantly to the Prison Architect Wiki to understand how different elements that can be built will affect your prison. It is something that hinders the ability of the player to distinguish important elements of the gameplay from myriads of options presented in the menus.
It makes sense to add elements strictly for their aesthetic value in some games, but in a game focused on conveing meaning and emotion I would not go for it. In my project everything should have an impact, even if small, it should influence the world, to uphold the message of interconnectivity between decisions, actions and consequences. That also means limiting the choices, that in Prison Architect may be overwhelming the player. My game will not be about influencing the aesthetics of the surroundings.
To sum up, Prison Architect highlights for me two things:
– the importance of relatability of humans in-game for building a connection
– the case of no direct influence of game elements
Prison Architect serves well as a manager simulator. It delivers on its promises and appeals to the designated audience. I am not that audience, but I do believe we can learn from games that we dislike. The elements that I highlighted may work for the game itself, but they are also roadsigns (or stop signs) for me to create my own game. I will be using this findings in my future contexts and reading.