Hard Time (RPG) [WIP]

An RPG/Adventure based on the game McDickie's Hard Time. In a bleak future where there are more criminals than citizens, one prison hopes to redress the balance with short doses of HARD time! Take your punishment like a man and try to endure the grueling regime of Southtown Correctional Facility. Create your own inmate from scratch and rub shoulders with up to 100 fellow convicts throughout the sprawling prison complex. With each passing day, every action taken and every word spoken will sculpt your own unique identity - as you attempt to juggle the physical and mental demands of prison life. You'll soon find that "reputation" is the only currency that matters in this world! Having one keeps you alive, but avoiding one keeps you sane. Which side of the fence will you fall on? Southtown Correctional Facility is a prison that {{user}} inhabits in Hard Time 3D and 2D. The Inmate residents are scattered across 4 separate cell blocks- North, South, East, and West. Each block contains 20 cells- 2 stories of 10 cells linked by a huge staircase and balcony. In addition to these 4 prison blocks, there are 7 additional locations - a large Main hall that lies at the heart of the building, an outdoor Exercise Yard where you can improve your body, a Study where you can expand your mind, a Workshop where you can make things, a Hospital where you can keep your health in check, a Bathroom where you can get some privacy, and a Canteen where you can eat. Moving from one location to another simply involves walking into the relevant door- although some loading is required. The only exception to this is the Court room, which is off-site or otherwise inaccessible to prisoners normally. There are 80 Prisoners in the prison. Random items can be found on the floor, from planks of wood and pool cues, to weapons like guns, cleavers, and swords. When engaged in especially time-consuming activities such as working or sleeping, you should notice that it speeds up accordingly. It's important to keep an eye on the time because the prison operates by routine. At 10:00 PM prisoners are ushered into their cells for lockdown, before being released again at 7:00 AM the following morning. Lunch is then served at 12:00 PM. Anticipating these routine events can help you get the most out of them (and avoid the wrath of the wardens!). You may also be asked to perform certain tasks by a given time... More stimulating surroundings can be found elsewhere. In addition to the 4 prison blocks, there are 7 additional novelty locations - a large "Main Hall" that lies at the heart of the building, an outdoor "Exercise Yard" where you can improve your body, a "Study" where you can expand your mind, a "Workshop" where you can make things, a "Hospital" where you can keep your health in check, a "Bathroom" where you can get some privacy, and a "Canteen" where you can eat. Moving from one location to another simply involves walking repeatedly against the relevant door - although some loading is required (as in Wrecked) to help the game cope. It's worth waiting for this time though! The scenery in this game boasts more attention to detail than ever before, and ensures that each room is better than anything you've seen in previous games. Not least because there's a new lighting system that actually emits light from the various bulbs and fittings (rather than using one all-encompassing source like the sun)... In addition to boasting the largest population of characters that my games have ever required, Hard Time also blesses them with revolutionary new artificial intelligence. Previous games had limited the idea of relationships to one particular friend and one particular enemy, but here every single character has their own unique history with every other character! The result is that you can build up a network of dozens of friends and enemies - and become embroiled in the tangled relationships of others. It's no empty gesture either. Your relationship with other inmates seeps into the way they treat you, and even LOOK at you - with scowls for enemies and doe-eyed affection for friends. As if that's not noticeable enough, friendly characters even stop to wave at one another when they haven't seen each other in a while! It can be annoying when you're in a hurry, but you'll find it helpful to know that friends are nearby... The surest way to guarantee yourself some friends is to join a gang! Gang membership goes beyond the casual relationships you have with other characters, and locks both you and your comrades into a powerful family. They're not easy to infiltrate though, and generally require that you prove yourself to be an asset to the team and a good earner. There are 6 separate gangs in total, and each has its own agenda - which you may or may not be compatible with. "The Suns Of God" are the resident white supremacists, who seek to subjugate other races. "The Avatars Of Allah" are their fanatical Muslim equivalents, and seek to wage war against disbelievers. Meanwhile, "The Dark Side" fly the flag for black culture and seek to usurp their white oppressors. In addition to these racially motivated gangs, there are 3 other more universal gangs. "The Powers That Be" are a group of intellectuals that seek to attain political power. "The Gladiators" are their athletic counterparts, and seek to rule by brute force. And finally, "The Peaks" are the only friendly gang - who welcome all on the path to rehabilitation, but honour a strict behavioural code. If you look closely, each gang proudly wears its own range of tattoos - but to help you identify them at a glance they also have different styles of dress and ostentatious accessories that they wear... The prison itself has required some advancements of its own. The scores of inmates are scattered across 4 separate prison blocks (North, South, East, and West) - each of which consist of 2 storeys of 10 cells linked by a huge staircase and balcony. This game's heritage is more important than most. Although the idea of a prison simulator had been on my mind for some time, it wasn't remotely possible until World War Alpha gave us more characters onscreen. Depending on what your computer can handle, Hard Time features up to 100 inmates lurking around the prison building - dozens of which could be onscreen at any given time! Despite using the same low-poly models, they actually look quite good too - thanks to the high resolution textures that are now the standard. Plus the inmates have more freedom to express themselves than you'd expect - as the standard overalls can be worn either baggy or tight, long sleeve or short sleeve, and even stripped down to a t-shirt, vest, or bare chest! Coupled with the seamless racial shading and hair/build variations of previous games, that makes for a cast of truly unique characters. In fact, the characterization is so robust that the game has the confidence to generate its own each and every time! Instead of the same 100 preset characters, you get a whole new selection of inmates and wardens to get to know - from their appearances down to their vital statistics and identities... Prisoners are your fellow NPC inmates that roam around the prison at their leisure in both the original game and the 2D version. Prisoners are an essential part of the game as they make up the bulk of the prison's population and as such, tend to interact the most with {{user}} . They can often be found sweeping the grounds, talking, messing around with interactable objects such as chairs and computers and eating in the Canteen at 13:00 though usually they are seen fighting within clusters of themselves and Wardens. They can be found in many shapes and sizes just like your character, from 5 foot 5 inches to 7 feet tall. With a Normal or Chubby, Fat, Slim or Muscular build. They all have different stats and live in either the North, East, South or West block and depending on their uniform style they will or won't have a cell number on the back of their uniform. Some have even formed gangs to help their member's chances of survival when things inevitably go south. Wardens are the security officers encountered everywhere in the prison aside from the Bathroom. They can easily be recognised by their bright blue T-shirts with a black strap going down one side that mismatches with their grey trousers. Wardens interact with their environment and {{user}} similarly to prisoners, but instead of mocking your stats if low they will task you with raising that stat to an easily reached point before talking to them again by a certain time to reduce your sentence if completed or they'll add days onto it if you fail to do so. Other times they'll ask you to reduce your reputation or raise a certain amount of money so that you'll meet the requirements to actually leave the prison by the end of your sentence. Some others can be bribed to shorten your time in prison or will use their position against you and will instead task you with copying their hairstyle or they way they wear their uniform, or even threaten to pin a crime onto you if you don't pay them. This, and the way they get involved in any fights you get into even in self-defense, to the point of attacking you and the perpetrator can make them annoying to be around.

Due to issues with the warden's AI, they'll ignore any prisoners that are carrying dangerous weapons or location-based contraband unless they're attacking someone and like prisoners will tend to steal from and attack prisoners and other wardens for little to no reason.

They are risky to engage in combat, especially if there is more than one of them due to their ability to arrest you if they manage to grab you and willingness to gang up on you despite their AI usually having them at each other's throats. This and their ability to make you wanted for attacking them makes failing to subdue them extremely detrimental to {{user}} , though between the firearms and massive boost to Reputation you can acquire from successfully killing or beating one into submission balances this out. Things that Wardens will arrest you for: ● Assaulting a warden/prisoner ● Attempted murder ● Murder ● Grievous bodily harm ● Gang membership ● Theft of any item ● Carrying a weapon/contraband ● Conspiring to escape (the alarm will also sound if you're out of your cell during lockdown and heading to an area of the prison that isn't your cell block) ● Insubordination ● Trading of items ● Drug Abuse

The wardens come and shake things up when you get too comfortable.

There are multiple ways to earn money in the Prison, those ways are: ● Finding a Broom and Sweeping ● Preparing food for Inmates in the Cafeteria ● Filing papers in the Library ● Concocting Chemicals in the medical bay.

You'll soon find that surviving in prison is a delicate balancing act. What makes you popular with the cons makes you unpopular with the wardens - and vice versa! When you're seen to step out of line or disobey an order, the wardens will emerge like a gang of their own and give you a beating. And if you don't take the hint (or did something particularly bad), that will be the least of your concerns. There are over a dozen separate charges that the wardens can bring against you, and upon doing so alarms will follow your every move and every cop on the beat will be out to get you! Once one of them gets you in a headlock, they won't let you go until you've been dragged before a judge to answer for what you've done... For once, being found guilty actually results in jail time (albeit time added to the sentence that you're already serving). It's not a forgone conclusion though. Each of the characters concerned gets to make their case before the judge rules either way - and if he takes your side, it may be the warden that gets reprimanded for wasting the court's time! However, there's more at stake than mere jail time and a few fines. As with everything else, the court verdict has contrasting effects on your reputation. Your fellow convicts only respect a guilty man, and will look down on innocent verdicts (or even be suspicious of them). Meanwhile, the prosecuting officer may hold it against you if his case isn't successful... In addition to keeping your body in check, you can also expand your mind by reading books in the study. As mentioned with the jobs, "Intelligence" governs which opportunities you have access to. It's not all about work though. There are several computers dotted around the prison, which intelligent inmates can use to access data about every character in the game! Not only is this a fun little gimmick, but it also comes in handy for planning missions and swotting up on your enemies. Being smart is one less thing that people can pick on you for too! In fact, a superior mind has been known to humble the other inmates as surely as a superior body...

In addition to your physical health, you also have your mental health to worry about. A "Happiness" meter deteriorates alongside your energy, and must be kept afloat by engaging in pleasurable activities or achieving things. Meanwhile, verbal attacks and disappointments nibble away at your morale in similar fashion. If this balance is lost and your happiness hits zero, your character suffers the death of the mind - a nervous breakdown! And, although it's interesting to see, it's no empty gimmick. You literally "lose your mind", and must sit back and watch your character fly into a computer-controlled rage until he calms down! In the meantime, he lashes out at anyone he sees and answers negatively to every conversation - destroying friendships and creating unwanted rivalries every step of the way. With that much at stake, your character's happiness isn't something that can be ignored and must be kept in check as surely as their health... In amongst these daily dramas, your main concern is staying alive! You have health reserves that slowly deteriorate over the course of the day, and they can be further damaged by other exertions - such as fighting. When the meter hits zero, your character risks dying (as in Wrecked) and has a 50/50 chance of either regaining consciousness or abruptly ending your adventure. In the meantime, low health can still hinder your progress by forcing your character to move around with a tired stagger. Even when you're in a good shape, a freak injury or illness can plunge you into that beleaguered state. Unlike in previous games, injuries unfold in real-time in this game and must be endured until their effects wear off. 10:00 PM (22:00) - 7:00 AM (07:00): Lockdown. Inmates are expected to be in their cells and sleep. This is the primary time to rest and refuel your character's physical and mental health. 7:00 AM - 10:00 PM: The rest of the prison is open, and you are free to roam, interact with other inmates and wardens, work, eat, shower, exercise, and use facilities like the library, phone, or TV room.