Prison Architect Alpha 19 fiddles the finances

Remember everybody; crime is money.

A new update to the Prison Architect title means another entertaining 20-30 minute video presentation from the chaps at Introversion, outlining the latest changes and developments. We’re now at Alpha 19, which will automatically download if you have the Steam Early Access version of the game, or can be grabbed from here if you don’t.

This update is all about finances, economic changes and balancing budge … hey, wait, come back. If you want to keep your prison running, you’re going to need a cash flow. According to Introversion, this hasn’t really been all that easy up to now and most people have just been cheating and giving themselves one million quid to start off their prison empire with.

Now, Prison Architect has a few more financial options for you to play with. There are more grants available than before, though you can only have two active at once (three once your accountant gets busy) and some have pre-requisite conditions to meet. If you really screw up, a “government bailout” option will keep you going – but only once.

Money can be borrowed from the bank, with hourly interest payments. Doing this improves your credit rating, allowing you to borrow even more cash. And what could possibly go wrong there?

If you want to make Prison Architect even more sinister than it already is, you can sell portions of your prison to private investors. These investors will want to see a return on their cash though, which plunges you deep into the terrifying concept of running prisons for profit. Holy shit that’s dark.

Good produced in your prison workshops will now be shipped off to a specially built export area near the road (rather than automatically sold off at midnight in a lump sum,) so you’ll get income throughout the day from those.

For more in-depth details on all of these changes, have a watch of the video below.