Foundations: dragging the Execution Facility, priced by the metre

About this game

Developer: Introversion Software · Publisher: Paradox Interactive · Platform: PC (Steam) · Art style: Minimalist & vector · Screen type: City & Base Management

More Prison Architect screens in the Gallery

What to study

Prison Architect's building tool is a drag on the ground, not a form. You pull a rectangle across bare dirt and the game answers in the rectangle itself: its dimensions in metres (3m by 4m here), its price ($120), and its first problem ('Requires Entrance') printed in red inside the green drag box, while the dashed outline behind it shows the full foundation the drag belongs to and the objective - 'Construct a building to house the Execution Facility' - is written on the dirt it will cover. The paperwork lives at the edges: the Todo list top left restates the same job as a checklist (0/2, with 'Build a Large Jail Door entrance' still to come), and the top bar prices the whole prison around the gesture (DAY 17, $620,610). Even the toolbar is drawn as blueprint icons, so the act of building never leaves the fiction of the architect's plan. Frame at about 0:30 in the Prison Architect V1.0 trailer (Steam), a scene-change survivor (v0_0020).

Patterns

How the screen is arranged.

cost-tooltip quest-tracker top-bar

Components

Parts on screen.

Toolbar List Marker Resource bar Clock Quest tracker

Screen inventory

• bright green drag rectangle mid-drag: 3m wide by 4m deep, priced $120, with a red 'Requires Entrance' warning inside it
• the full foundation shown as a dashed outline on bare dirt, with a Jail Door Large marker on its bottom edge
• the objective written on the ground at centre: 'Construct a building to house the Execution Facility'
• top-left Todo list expanded (0/2): 'Construct a building to house the Execution Facility' and 'Build a Large Jail Door entrance'
• bottom-left Materials mini-palette: Building (Brick), Building (Concrete), Bulldoze
• top bar: DAY 17, $620,610 funds, $532 daily balance, 21/21 staff, 45/48 prisoners; analogue clock at top right reading Lockup, with pause/play/speed buttons under it
• the blue blueprint-styled bottom toolbar: Foundations, Materials, Rooms, Objects, Staff, Utilities, Bureaucracy, Deployment, Contraband, Emergencies, Clone, Planning, Grading

Top 3 colors

#876a44 28%#4d412d 18%#9d7757 16%

Top three palette colors by share. The remaining colors make up the rest.

Source and credit

© Introversion Software / Paradox Interactive, Prison Architect screenshot: Prison Architect V1.0 trailer video (Steam), shown for design study and commentary. PlayCraft is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Paradox Interactive.

Source tier 2 (publisher-released) · screenshot: Steam store page · Steam page

Source details

Fetched 2026-10-21. verified 2026-10-21: scene-change frame v0_0020 (Prison Architect V1.0 trailer @29.7s) inspected at full resolution (1920x1080 native); genuine in-game foundation drag confirmed settled and legible (3m/4m dimension labels, $120 price, Requires Entrance warning, expanded Todo list and Materials palette all readable); no trailer headline or watermark overlays the frame (the partial letters at the bottom-right edge are the in-world YARD room label painted on the ground)

no published policy found (checked 2026-10-21); fair-use study use, takedown honored within 48h

Rights holders: see Copyright & takedown.