Prison Architect dev will let you play some of its failed prototypes to raise money for charity

Prison Architect developer Introversion is launching a new monthly YouTube series, titled Chris Delay’s Fail Masterclass, showcasing some of its abandoned prototypes – and you’ll be able to play each one in return for a one-off donation to charity.

“Behind every great video game comes a plethora of ideas, missteps dead ends and almost-made-its,” explains the developer of its new YouTube venture, “Usually these embryonic prototypes get dumped in an archive and left to digitally rot, cursed to never see the light of day or feel the loving caress of a players mouse. Until today….”.

Each monthly episode will aim its sights on another of Introversion’s failed prototypes, and the studio’s Chris Delay and Mark Morris will dissect what worked, what didn’t, and explain why it was ultimately abandoned it.

And for those eager to delve deeper, each prototype will be made available in playable form, added to what Introversion is calling its Failure Bundle, alongside each new episode.

To gain access to the Failure Bundle, interested parties will first need to make a donation to War Child, a charity set up to help children and young people affected by armed conflict. Donations should be made through Introversion’s website – there’s a minimum donation of $5 but more is encouraged for those in a position to do so – and 100% will go to War Child.

The first Episode of Chris Delay’s Fail Masterclass is available to watch now and discusses Order of Magnitude, described as an “epic attempt to re-create Factorio in Space starting with a small colony on the moon and ending in a Dyson sphere”.

“What,” asks Introversion, “could possible go wrong with that?”