Prison Architect amasses $1m through crowdfunding

Introversion’s Prison Architect has raised an impressive $1 million through crowdfunding.

The title is based around the concept of building a prison while at the same time attempting to keep the inmates from running riot and escaping.

More than 30,000 people have pledged funds to the campaign, with the most popular funding tier being the base pack at $30, with 24,000 pledging $725,000 between them.

The title sold out of its $1,000 funding tier, with six people pledging donations to get the chance to create their own prison warden, as well as a prisoner designed in their own likeness and a custom polaroid.

“What an incredible milestone! We are incredibly thankful to everyone who has joined us so far,” said Introversion on Twitter.

Prison Architect, currently in open-alpha, originally stemmed from the developer’s uncompleted project Subversion, which saw users break into high tech security systems.

But when Subversion hit numerous development problems, the studio eventually cancelled the project and begun work on a title which turned the game’s rules on its head.

“We were working on Subversion for many years, but that project simply never came together,” said Introversion’s Mark Morris in an interview with Develop in October last year.

“There was never a moment when you could launch the game and have actual fun playing it. Chris Delay got pretty dismayed about this and things came to a head when he was on holiday in San Francisco. He was taking a tour around Alcatraz and the idea hit him that building a prison would be a lot of fun.

“Subversion had you breaking into high tech buildings and defeating all their security systems, but he knew laying out the level itself would be a lot of fun. Prison Architect is kind of like Subversion turned on its head – now the player designs the levels and the security systems, and the game tries to break them down.”

You can read the full interview on Prison Architect and its crowdfunding campaign here.