I'd like to thank everyone who played the playtest and left feedback.
The loop to sell contraband was simple: roam the yard, find someone, try to sell. I absolutely hated it. Almost felt dread while playing my own game. I thought long about what I could do to make it better.
The biggest problem? There's no real relationship between the player and the prisoners. Why would anyone buy from a nobody when the gangs are already selling? I wouldn't say the old system was terrible it was decent enough but something was always lacking. I figured I was doing it the completely wrong way.
We needed two things: a place where customers come to YOU, and a reason for them to keep coming back.
The Dispensary
Your corrupt cop contact introduces you to the prison's head doctor equally corrupt. The doctor puts you in charge of the infirmary dispensary. Supplies come through official channels. You dispense medication to inmates. It's legit. It's sanctioned. And whatever stock you don't actually dispense? The doctor sells on the outside. You split the profit.
So now you're behind a pharmacy counter, first person, with pill machines loaded with five medications and one machine full of filler sugar pills that look identical to the real thing.
An inmate walks up needing anxiety meds. You grab a bottle, fill it 70% with the real thing, top it off with sugar pills, cap it, slide it across. He takes it and walks away.
Or maybe he notices. Maybe the ratio was too aggressive. His trust in you drops and trust is what lets you pitch him your real product later.
The Hustle
Every customer is a tension between two ways to make money.
Skim profit: the more filler you use, the more real pills you keep. End of day, leftover stock converts to cash. Greed says fill every bottle with 90% sugar.
Dealing profit: every inmate at your counter is a potential contraband buyer. But they only buy from someone they trust. Skim too hard on their meds and they'll never touch your product. The dealing money is the BIG money. Skim profit is pocket change by comparison.
Every customer is a judgment call. The junkie won't notice 30% filler and he's a prime mark for a pitch — treat him right, cash in later. The loner with no connections will never buy product — skim him hard, pure profit.
Relationship Overhaul
I gutted the old dialogue system. The original had endless categories, five reaction variants per line, and 150 NPCs all saying the same generic stuff. Nobody used it. Including us.
The new system runs on three bars per NPC: Trust, Respect, and Fear. Each built through different actions, each unlocking different gameplay. At the dispensary, the fill decision IS the relationship mechanic. Honest fill builds trust. Heavy skim kills it. No dialogue wheel needed.
Outside the dispensary, you walk up and Chat. No topic menus, no tone sliders. The NPC surfaces a state, something on their mind pulled from their actual data. "He keeps coming back to his kid." "He's fidgety, keeps hinting he needs something." You see what they're feeling and pick from 3-4 follow-ups: Sympathize, Probe, Exploit, Walk Away. They reveal something specific, a name, a debt, a secret. That opens a second round of options based on what they just said.
Sometimes the NPC asks YOU something. "Heard you've got product, that true?" You can tell the truth, lie, deflect, or turn it around. Lies get flagged. If they find out later, trust crashes.
States aren't scripted per NPC. They're pulled from existing data: personality, family status, memories, world events. Every chat feels different because every NPC's situation actually is different.
When bars cross thresholds, new options unlock: trade, gang info, deals, protection, hiring. All gated behind relationships you built through conversations that mattered.
What This Means
The old loop: wander, find someone, hope they buy.
The new loop: serve a customer, decide how honest to be, build or burn trust, pitch your product, watch the money climb, manage your stock, read the doctor's mood, plan your week.
Same prison. Same contraband. But now there's a counter between you and the customer, a bottle in your hand, and a decision that matters every single time.
I'm also planning on adding a librarian job down the line.
Oh, and we have dogs in the game now. In the yard they can sniff out contraband on you so there's another factor to worry about.
I'm going to push the changes in a few days. If you don't have access to the beta, ask for the key. Wishlist it if you haven't already.
Sayonara