Hotline Miami (Analysis)
Developer: Dennaton Games, Abstraction
Release Date: October 2012
BLURB:
Hotline Miami is a game in which you are a vigilante tasked with clearing out buildings of Russian gangsters using lethal force and any weapons available. You bust down the door and start killing everyone in the building, with levels only being complete when all enemies are killed. You have many weapons at your disposal including melee weapons like baseball bats, pipes, knives, katanas, machetes as well as guns such as shotguns, assault rifles and pistols. You are awarded your score from kills and graded at the end of each level. As you progress through the game, you unlock more “animal masks”, which grant you different abilities depending on which one you wear for that level. The story is that of mystery and personal discovery; who are the people leaving threatening messages on your phone to kill Russian gangsters? Is it all real? And of course, do you enjoy hurting other people? A lot of these answers are left up to the player’s interpretation of the plot and little tidbits of story that is presented to them, with not much ever being made explicitly clear to the player.
MECHANICS:
Player: The character you control
Player Movement: Your player character can move in all directions using the WASD keys
Player Aiming: Your player character can aim in all directions, 360 degrees and is indicated by a cross-hair on screen
Rooms/Buildings: Rooms/buildings are where all the levels take place and are usually separated by doors, hallways and stairs
Player Attack: The player can press the attack button to attack an enemy, with the default attack being your fists. Attacking an enemy unarmed will knock them down and you can then interact with the downed enemy to finish them off/kill them
Player Health: The player only has 1 measurement of health, with death being the result of any single attack from enemies whether it be a bullet, or being hit with a melee weapon
Melee Weapons: Melee weapons range from things like blunt objects like bats, pipes and crowbars to sharp objects like knives, swords, broken glass etc. Melee weapons are scattered throughout levels and are also carried by enemies. The player can pick up any available melee weapons to them in a level and use them as much as they like to kill other enemies. Some particular melee weapons can break - such as the pool cue or glass bottle - but most like the bat or pipe do not break and can be used infinitely
Guns (Shooting Weapons): Guns are very similar to melee weapons in their placement and availability to player in levels, but function differently in that guns shoot bullets to kill enemies and consume ammo which can be depleted
Enemy Placement: Enemies are scattered and placed in fixed positions throughout levels and will always spawn in those positions each play-through of a level
Enemy Movement: Enemies can move around and “patrol” a room/building but some enemies will never move unless spotting or hearing the player - example they might be sitting on a couch
Enemy Detection of Player From Sight: When an enemies line of sight is aligned with the player character, enemies will start chasing the player down and not stop until they have killed the player or the player has killed them
Enemy Detection of Player From Sound: If the player shoots a gun in a room close to another room with enemies, the enemies will come running to that exact location the gunshot was made. If the player has moved from this area and is not in sight, the enemies will wait a moment before moving back to their original positions. If the player is still there when they arrive, they will attack the player
Enemy Attack: The main role of enemies is to attack and kill the player character, stopping their progression through the levels
Enemy Health: Enemies have a similar health system to the player in that most enemies will die from one bullet or one strike with a melee weapon. Some exceptions are when an enemy is “half killed” and crawl along the ground for a few seconds before either bleeding out and dying or the player finishing them off. Another exception is that you can knock enemies down instead of killing them by punching them. Another exception are particular enemies that must be killed with a bullet or multiple bullets and boss enemies that might take multiple strikes of a melee weapon or multiple shots with a gun to kill or a combination of the two
Weapon Pickup: The player can move over a weapon on the ground and interact with it to pick it up and use it
Weapon Throw: You can throw any weapon you are currently carrying, whether it be a gun, melee weapon or throwing weapon, thrown weapons will either knock and enemy down or kill an enemy it hits
Player Death: The player will die from any attack from an enemy whether it be a melee attack or a bullet, with the only exception being certain masks that can increase the amount of bullets that can hit you before you die, with two being the maximum
Enemy Death: You can kill any enemy you encounter in the game by depleting their health to a value of zero, with most enemies only having a health value of one, with a few exceptions being boss enemies. Enemy health is depleted by either striking them with a melee weapon, shooting them with a bullet, throwing a throwing weapon that does damage or doing your finishing move on a downed enemy
Enemy Knockdown: Enemies can be knocked down or knocked out by punching them unarmed or by hitting them with a door. Enemies stay knocked down for about 3-5 seconds before getting back up
Finish Knocked Down Enemy: Downed or knocked out enemies can be approached and killed/finished off by interacting with them
CORE MECHANICS ANALYSED WITH THE MDA FRAMEWORK:
Player Movement + Enemy Detection of Player From Sight - This creates the dynamic of “baiting” in which the player will draw out enemies into other areas or hide behind corners in order to ambush them.
Weapon Throw + Enemy Knockdown - This adds an extra layer of strategy when dealing with enemies at a distance or large groups of enemies in which you have the option to throw your weapon or empty gun to buy yourself some time to either pick up another weapon and finish them off or retreat to safety.
Guns (Shooting Weapons) + Enemy Detection From Sound - Creates another “baiting” dynamic in which enemies can be lured to a room by firing your gun again, letting you ambush them as they come to check the room.
Enemy Knockdown + Finish Knocked Down Enemy - This adds a sense of urgency to what you’re doing - enemies will only remain knocked down for a few seconds before getting back up and becoming hostile. This means you need to act fast in finishing them off or clearing groups of enemies if you want to avoid being killed.
Player Health + Enemy Attack = Player Death - In Hotline Miami you can only take one point of damage from anything and you die. Although this seems harsh, it forces the player to plan out their actions and learn from their mistakes until they can clear a floor perfectly. You re-spawn instantly so this means players will try over and over until they have gained enough knowledge of the level to do it in one go.
Player Aiming + Player Attack - You have full 360-degree aiming in Hotline Miami. This means that the game requires precision and quick reactions from the player in order to stay alive, you can’t just go running in shooting and aiming blindly or you will quickly die.
The main feelings the game tries to elicit from the player are that of power, excitement, adrenaline and achievement. As a list, the ‘Aesthetics’ the game delivers are that of Sensation, Fantasy, Narrative and Challenge.
Player Movement + Enemy Detection of Player From Sight - Challenge
Weapon Throw + Enemy Knockdown - Challenge, Sensation
Guns (Shooting Weapons) + Enemy Detection - Challenge
Enemy Knockdown + Finish Knocked Down Enemy - Sensation, Fantasy
Player Health + Player Death - Challenge
Player Aiming + Player Attack - Challenge, Sensation
UNIQUE CORE MECHANICS:
The game is very focused on delivering a tailored experience of the feeling of being very powerful and unstoppable with its high octane and brutally violent gameplay. No other games really focus on that fantasy of being a violent maniac (on people who arguably deserve it) apart from maybe games like Grand Theft Auto (GTA), but in GTA, that is not the main game loop. This game can be purely boiled down to one thing - killing - and it delivers this in spades while also still being incredibly challenging and requiring careful planning and thought. Your reward for playing well is more carnage and punishment which you get to deliver and the soundtrack is a powerful driver of this high adrenaline gameplay. No other game provides quite the same cathartic effect of being able to take out your pent up anger in a safe environment while still making it fun and not repetitive. Overall the game was known for it’s over the top violence, fast-paced and reactionary based gameplay and an immersive soundtrack that all added up to a feeling of playing some kind of grind-house thriller movie.
TARGET AUDIENCE:
The game’s target audience was definitely adults as the extreme violence, sex and drug references were obviously intended for the older audiences, with other themes of self discovery and relationships being a strong theme, again, more resonating with an adult audience.
COMPETITORS:
Lone Survivor was another indie hit of 2012 and provided a similar moody, dark themed thriller setting only using pixel based graphics and was definitely a competitor in the indie scene. Another larger competitor would be Max Payne 3, a third-person action game with a focus on story as you play as a former detective gone vigilante after the murder of his wife and daughter (very similar theme to Hotline Miami). Spelunky, FTL, Fez, Mark of the Ninja and Trials Evolution are some other very successful indie games that came out in the same year. Although they all offer quite different experiences to Hotline Miami, they are all relatively quick, pick-up and play games that are also quite cheap and would no doubt be competing for attention because of this. Not to mention with the exception of Spelunky, these games were not as brutal in their difficulty compared to Hotline Miami, so players looking for a short but not so challenging experience might choose to play some of these games over Hotline Miami. There were also some big AAA titles that got released the same year as Hotline Miami including Far Cry 3, Halo 4 and Mass Effect 3 which are all big series that have a lot of marketing to gain the interest of gamers, not to mention the series all have large fan bases that would likely crossover with players of Hotline Miami, again competing for attention. These AAA games are usually a large time investment as well so the player might be drawn away from Hotline Miami for a couple of months to the point where the game isn’t new, exciting or interesting to the player anymore.
PAYMENT:
The game was sold on Steam for $9.99 and was a one-off payment - once you bought the game, you owned it forever. There were also collector’s editions of the game that were physical discs sold on the Publisher - Devolver Digital’s website, for a higher price. The game also offered it’s large incredible soundtrack as downloadable content (DLC).
TARGET MARKET RESEARCH:
In the first 7 weeks of the game being released, the publisher revealed that it sold 130,000 copies, a very respectable number for an indie title, with a reported 5 million copies having been sold to this day according to SteamSpy.
The publishers Devolver Digital released a short one minute trailer for the game upon its release, but the game had also been getting a lot of coverage at game conventions from that year, particularly the London based convention “EGX Rezzed Expo” in which it won game of the show by Eurogamer and Rock, Paper, Shotgun (resource Complex Documentary of Hotline Miami).
The game initially did receive some negative public backlash as a response to the game’s intense over the top violence and was initially thought to be glorifying violence and putting it in a positive light (one very clear example of this is the second game, Hotline Miami 2 being completely banned in Australia). This was completely counteracted by fans and the developers of the game in explaining that people are missing the point and overall message the game is trying to deliver, which was ironically doing the complete opposite and putting violence in a negative light while also making commentary on that violence is apart of human nature and we crave it, making the player take a look at themselves. The use of the animal masks was also a direct metaphor for the primal instinct of killing and that when the player puts the mask on they become an animal themselves.
CORE LOOPS:
The main loop of the game involves the player starting out in their apartment and receiving a cryptic phone message telling them to go to a certain address. The player will get in their car and be transported to said address. Before entering the building the player will get to choose what animal mask they would like to wear (what abilities they would like to use) for that level and once the mask is chosen the level begins. The player’s main goal now is to scan the area and infiltrate the building, killing every enemy inside, gaining score and racking up combos as they get more kills or successive kills in a row. Different melee weapons and guns are littered throughout levels and can be picked up and used to achieve the main goal of killing all enemies. If the player is attacked by an enemy, they will die and need to restart that level from the beginning. Because the levels are broken up into different “floors” if the player kills all enemies on one floor, proceeds to the next and dies, the player will only restart from the beginning of that floor. The player completes a level by killing all enemies in that level’s building and must return to their car to end the level and progress. At the end of each level you receive your final score and letter based rank and can then proceed to the next level. In between levels are little bits of narrative and story delivered to you by text boxes, sometimes spoken by other characters you meet who will have their face (sprite) appear on screen with text underneath. You unlock more animal masks and discoverable weapons as you complete more levels and gain more score.
REFERENCES:
https://steamspy.com/app/219150
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilKzuY9tjyg
https://www.polygon.com/2015/1/15/7551847/hotline-miami-2-banned-in-australian