We have been working hard on Prisonscape and all the basic features are coming along nicely - it is so much fun to actually PLAY the game! One of the features that we have been giving a lot of thought lately is the combat system. As we wrote in an earlier post, we decided to do complete overhaul on the first combat system because it was simply boring. We expanded the traditional 1 versus 1 combat system with menus into a grid-based combat and added a special skill system that we call "the book of dirty tricks". You can read more about that from here.
In addition, we decided to add consequences to the fights. First of all, every fight ends your current turn since all violence puts the prison into a lockdown. After every fight there's also a chance that the guards will catch you after the fight. This will immediately give you some hole time of course confiscation of any possible drugs, weapons or other contraband you are carrying.
Sometimes you are not caught red-handed but are still a suspect number one and go to an interrogation into the guard's office. Your interrogation dialogue options are determined by your Intelligence score and your skills. Also, your past as an aggressive inmate will make the guards more suspicious and throw you in the hole more easily. The last, and the best option, is when you get away from the fight without any trouble. This is the only scenario where you actually get loot (if there is any) from your opponents.
The outcome of every battle is determined by the current alert level. Every time there's a fight, drug bust or other event that the guards consider dangerous, the alert level goes up. This level also gradually goes down until another alarming event happens. It is still undecided if this level is visible to the player.
We have had a lot of questions if the game has anything besides prison life. This cutscene we recently finished gives a small hint of what's coming:
Cool, cool and cool!
The alert level should be hinted at by guard behavior. Maybe a bit anxious or nervous at higher levels and relaxed at lower levels.
That's a great idea!