Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: ID:chuappgame, author: etc.

"it's really cool that Hot Line Miami has not only brought positive changes to our lives, but also inspired a lot of other people to embark on the path of game development."

When you talk to a game maker, will you talk about his own work, or will you break the platitudes and talk about something else? Friends of foreign media talked about which games he liked with the producer of "Heroes are no longer". Among the anecdotes he told, his meetings with Dennis Wedin, the creator of "Line of Fire" and Jonatan S ö derstr ö m were particularly interesting.

On one occasion, when the Fireline Miami development team went to Japan for a media event, Weidin asked Koichi Sueda to sign his arm-so much so that he didn't wash his arm for weeks until the tattoo artist put the autograph on Weidin.

Koichi Sukuda also gave something back. In the grasshopper studio he founded, he was wearing a jacket with the protagonist of "Line of Fire Miami," a gift from publisher Devolver Digital. Sukuda also showed a painting by Weidin in which Travis, the protagonist of "the end of Heroes," wears the wardrobe of the protagonist of "Line of Fire Miami," with "No More Hotline Miami" written on it.

Is Koichi Sukuda going to show his gratitude by putting this painting of Weidin on his body? "it's a pity that if I had that kind of large tattoo, I wouldn't be able to go to places like swimming pools and saunas in Japan," he said with a smile. "

Wei Ding did not forget to show off his tattoo when the three people took a group photo, and the first generation of "Line of Fire Miami" ushered in the 10th anniversary of its release. In 2012, when players first came into contact with the three masked protagonists in the game and manipulated them to go on a killing spree in the apartment, slaughtering enemies became the player's second nature. The game's Steam page so far succinctly reads: "Line of Fire Miami is a hot-blooded, primitive and brutal action game full of fierce shootings and deadly hand-to-hand fights, as if the skull would be smashed and overflowed the next second." This kind of play is both interesting and scary, sparking a wide range of public discussion on the topic of violence in video games.

On the other hand, "Fireline Miami" inspired many people to start their careers bravely in the gaming industry.

Seven or eight months before the release of "Miami," I decided to try to make my own independent games. " Developer Gaby Kuzlo said. Kuzlo worked with Matt Podge and Bennett Freddy to develop the horizontal action game Ape Out. On the day of the launch of "Hot Line Miami", he and several friends drank beer and ate pizza and played "Hot Line Miami" all night. Whenever someone dies in the game, the handle will be handed over to the next person. "I remember we played until we went through customs that night, and it was really fun for me."

At that time, Kuzlo was a sophomore at the Film Academy. In his opinion, it takes at least 50 people to make a film, but he is surprised to find that there are only two members of Dennaton Games, the development team of "Line of Fire Miami". Since then, Kuzlo decided to use this tool to make the GameMaker-- "Line of Fire" by himself. Later, he entered a completely different career path from the film. "it taught me that even if one has never written code, or has never really understood how a computer works, there is a chance to develop games." Kuzlo added.

"Ape Out" has a similar style to "Miami", but still has its own understanding of the theme of violence. Luke Walthers, a designer and artist at South Africa's independent studio Free Lives, has worked on the action game "GORN" and is currently part of the development team of the fast-paced shooter "Anger Foot". Walthers recalled that he was fascinated when he tried to play "Line of Fire Miami" at a game show in Berlin. "I never even thought I could get such a sound experience from a game that looks pretty easy to make."

Walthers aspires to be an animator, but there are few game production companies in South Africa. More than a decade ago, the concept of independent games was new. "Space-time Wonderland and Fez are very thoughtful, but they are very difficult to make. By contrast, Miami on the Line of Fire emphasizes pleasure and looks easier to make, so I thought it was entirely on my own to find out."

At that time, Walthers only had a tool like GameMaker, and I couldn't imagine that anyone would actually use it to make a complete game. "GamerMaker was distributed to the audience as a giveaway from a South African magazine, but not many people took it seriously. So when I heard that someone used it to make" Fireline Miami ", I was shocked."

At that game show, he also had his first experience of Broforce, a game being produced by Free Lives. Later, when he heard that Society D was the distributor of Miami, Free Lives decided to cooperate with Society D. The South African studio has also considered other partners, but from a brand point of view, D Society is most in tune with them.

In some cases, developers will connect the D Society with some of their peers to help the two sides establish a long-term relationship. For example, William Nijeman of Vlambeer, an independent studio in the Netherlands, introduced Jonathan Soderstrom to News D and showed a prototype of "Fireline Miami" known as "cocaine cowboy" (Cocaine Cowboys). Since then, Dennaton has also recommended some excellent independent development teams to D, including Le Cartel Studio, the studio that produced "Mother Russia Bleeds" and "Heave Ho".

Frederick Cospie and Alexander Mutoni, co-founders of Le Cartel, decided to create a horizontal action game in a similar art style after playing Line of Fire Miami. It took them six months to make a prototype and then set up a Twitter account to show the game trailer. On social media, the similarity between "Russian Mother spilling Blood" and "Miami on the Line of Fire" sparked heated discussion among players and eventually attracted the attention of Dennaton.

"Russian Mother spilled Blood" is not only a curiosity, but also brings together controversial elements such as blood, violence and drug abuse. "they love the game, interact with us on Twitter, and then talk to Devolver. Devolver contacted us, so we owe Weidin big time." Cospie said. During the development of "Russian Mother shed Blood", Le Cartel kept in touch with Weidin, sharing the game development version with him and showing the background and character design. Mutoni also met Weidin several times, one of which was at a concert in France, where Weidin was performing with his band Fucking Werewolf Asso. "if it hadn't been for Fireline Miami, Le Castel wouldn't have existed."

One More Level, the developer of God's Trigger and Ghostrunner, had a similar experience. As core members of the studio, Ladoslo Latusznik and Marchin Kruzek worked together at Bloober Team to develop a PSV debut game. Latusznik founded One More Level in 2014, and Kruzek joined about a year later, and then began to make the trigger, which is similar to the style of "Line of Fire Miami."

Latusznik recalled that One More Level had delved into the level design of "Line of Fire Miami" and studied how the apartment corridors and corners in the game complement the fast-paced play cycle. "I will take screenshots and analyze the scene layout of each level, trying to apply some of their skills to the game." "it was an unforgettable experience," Kruzek said. "

One More Level wants to make a game that is easier to use than Line of Fire Miami, so it designs a large number of filing points, character-specific abilities, and collaboration modes in "God's trigger." Latusznik revealed that after watching the first trailer for "Miami 2," he thought the sequel would add a collaborative model, but Dennaton didn't do that, so he decided to do it himself.

"We thought, let's make a collaboration model in the style of" Fireline Miami "." "frankly, this is a huge challenge," Latusznik said. "this kind of game is played in a particularly hard core, and even in cooperative mode, players can die quickly because of a mistake, which is bound to cause some problems." In the end, One More Level added a resurrection mechanism to the game to ease the frustration of some players.

"God's trigger", which perfectly reproduces the aesthetics of violence, has a richer source of inspiration than "Line of Fire Miami". In addition to the above games, many studios have also taken inspiration from "Line of Fire Miami" to varying degrees. For example, "Ruiner", "my friend Pedro", "Samurai Zero", "Furi" and "Superhot" have all made innovations on this basis. In terms of music and aesthetics, "FireWire Miami" pushed the Synthwave trend into fashion, and players were impressed by the super-fast rhythm of play and the pressure of one hit. Over time, these elements continue to evolve.

"it's great to see so many people like 'Hot Line Miami'." "A lot of my peers wrote to tell us that they first started making games through the level editor of Fireline Miami 2," Weding said. "I'm glad we can help them take the first step, and then they go to school to study or study how to use tools like GamerMaker."

Wei Ding is particularly proud of the influence of "Line of Fire Miami" on "Last Survivor: part II." they (naughty dogs) create puzzles around the enemy and feel a bit like an apartment scene in Line of Fire Miami. In addition, there are similarities in the depiction of violence in the two games: when the bloody and violent battle scene is over, the game tends to have a calm scene animation. " Weding explained, "I even think some of the scenes were designed by developers who played Fireline Miami."... it's really cool. We inspired a 3A game. In my impression, independent developers often inspire each other, but it is rare for 3A masterpieces to learn from independent games. "

In fact, the Last Survivor: part II is a more straightforward tribute to it. At a Sony PlayStation State of Play launch, the naughty dog shows a scene in the game in which the protagonist Ellie sneaks up to a guard who is playing Fireline Miami on PSV, and you can clearly hear the music being played on the handset, that is, M.O.O.N. The band sang the iconic song "Hydrogen" for "Line of Fire Miami".

Neil Druckerman, co-president of naughty dogs and creative director of Last Survivor: part II, said in an interview that he saw the scene as an opportunity to express his love for their favorite type of narrative. Druckerman revealed that the naughty dog and Dennaton made the egg together.

As far as play is concerned, the two games have other similarities. Someone mentioned on social media that the way players clear all their enemies in the room in "Last Survivor: part II" is very similar to the feeling of pursuing an one-hit clearance in "Line of Fire Miami." I felt the same way when I first started playing Last Survivor: part II. " "after a while, when the protagonist reaches the first larger area, I think I can try to find out how the enemy moves like I did in 'Line of Fire Miami,' and then kill all the enemies in one quick action," Weding said. "

The straightforward tribute in "Last Survivor: part II" was a year before the release of "Last Survivor: part II". Grasshopper Studios from Japan also designed a large number of eggs to pay homage to "Hot Line Miami" in the game Travis: the Heroes are gone.

Koichi Sukuda, founder of Grasshopper Studio, recalled that when he saw the video of "Line of Fire Miami" on social media, he immediately became very interested in the game. At the time, the studio was working with giant publishers such as EA and Warner Brothers to develop games such as Shadow Curse and Chainsaw Sugar Heart. In a sense, "Miami on the Line of Fire" rekindled Koichi Suda's creative passion and made him realize the value of developing games independently.

"when I first started Grasshopper Studio, I preferred to work with smaller teams. so even if we are developing larger projects for big companies, it always makes me feel more comfortable in a small team. to me, Fireline Miami is like an extra thrill."

As time went by, Sukuda discovered that the two creators of "Line of Fire Miami" also liked his work. After several attempts, Koichi Sukuda finally had a chance to meet with two developers when Dennaton went to Japan to promote the release of Miami Fireline: collectible Edition.

"since then, we have met at other industry events, and I have been to Gothenburg, Sweden, where they live and work. I get along well with them, often talk about each other's games, praise each other, we also have a lot of common interests, and now we can be regarded as old friends." Sukuda just said.

It was this friendship that led to the collaboration between Grasshopper Studios and Dennaton in Travis: the Heroes are gone. In the game, the protagonist Travis plays "Line of Fire Miami" on an arcade. Sukuda revealed that at first he wanted Travis to enter the world of "Line of Fire Miami" and create a complete level with a similar painting style, but later cancelled the plan because of budget and time constraints.

Ten years later in 2019, the game industry has undergone earth-shaking changes, but many developers still love the old game "Fireline Miami."

Evan Greenwood of Free Lives points out that the quiet moments in "Line of Fire Miami" and the way they choose to tell (rather than tell) the story are admirable. He gives an example of a woman rescued by a player at an early level who will later appear in the protagonist's apartment. Although the game itself does not show any messages or conversations, players can see her sleeping on the sofa or taking a shower.

"No one has ever told a narrative like 'Miami of Fire' before." "I think its influence is not limited to games," Greenwood said. "Today, a lot of creators have definitely played 'Line of Fire Miami' and learned from it."

Angry Bigfoot was also affected by Fireline Miami, which the development team initially called the Amsterdam Hotline. Today, about a year and a half after the start of the project, Angry Bigfoot has its own characteristics, but according to Walthers, "it still retains a lot of the original inspiration."

Unlike Line of Fire Miami, Angry Bigfoot wants to portray violence as an insignificant pleasure without trying to make any statement. Walthers believes that "Fireline Miami" encourages players to seriously reflect on violence, while "Angry feet" wants players to play easily without any psychological burden. In this game, the character is designed as an abstract human image, such as a walking middle finger or a person with a mushroom head.

"Last Survivor: games such as the second movie" God of War "want players to have time to reflect on violence while encouraging and promoting it." Walthers said. But he believes that if players find violence interesting, it is difficult for the game to make players feel guilty about their violence. " You gave me a hammer and a nail, and then you said, I don't believe you can hammer a nail into a board. How is that possible? What else can I do? Since you have provided me with all the tools I need to accomplish this task, I should not be compassionate after the facts have happened. In Angry feet, players can play freely in the system we designed, and we won't punish anyone. "

For Le Cartel, "Fireline Miami" made the studio realize that there is a market for games that use violence and blood as selling points. "it's always a good example of how games can create an impressive atmosphere even if they don't use realistic painting." Mutoni pointed out. Now, Mutoni says, sometimes he wants to make a new "Russian Mother spill Blood", especially to improve its artistic style.

Angry Bigfoot is also a game released by Devolver Digital and is expected to be officially released on One More Level next year, and the play mechanism of "trigger" and "Ghost Walker" is clearly affected by "Line of Fire Miami". The development team must find ways not to disrupt the player's flow experience, especially given that they are first-person games with a down view-elements such as mastery and instant restart are crucial. "in the dance of death with the enemy, bullets fall from the sky, and you have to try to live, because the enemy can kill you with a single shot." "it makes the game seem intense and exciting, and I think it explains why so many people like this kind of game," Latusznik said. "

On the other hand, Kuzlo, one of the creators of Ape Out, is developing a new game and wants to work in a healthier way than in the past. "I can't separate 'Ape Out' from that period in my life, when my pace of life was very chaotic, and I needed to think hard about how to get out of college, into society, and try to find the value of life." "I think I care too much about what people think of the game, which is obviously not healthy," he said. "I love Ape Out and I'm proud of it, but my relationship with it is very complicated."

Weidin and Soderstrom have similar ideas in the process of developing new games. "when the world is chaotic and complicated, it's hard for us to concentrate." Weding said, "in fact, we have been doing very well, always trying to avoid working overtime as we did when we made two 'FireWire Miami' games."

"since we have an office, we have become more focused in our work." "even if you spend less time at work every day, you can get more work done," Soderstrom said. in addition, the new game we are working on is of a considerable magnitude and is more ambitious than Miami 2 on the Line of Fire. " Weding added that he and Soderstrom may have worked 10 to 12 hours a day during the initial development of Fireline Miami, but they only had about two or three hours to develop wholeheartedly, and the rest of the time was rather lazy and lack of concentration.

The network conditions in the Dennaton office are not very good, so the development team is away from the network most of the time. "We have a small flash drive, so I use it to send the picture to Jonathan." "We used the shared office software Dropbox, but it was hacked," Weding said. "it contained a bunch of pictures of the new games, and the hackers tried to sell them on Reddit, but the players were so frustrated that they started to attack the pictures, so they finally disappeared."

In addition, because the order of magnitude of Dennaton's new book is much larger than that of Fireline Miami, the development team no longer discusses projects as often as they used to. "so far, we have finalized most of the games, and the next task is to complete the levels, stories, and fill in a lot of details to make the game look more fulfilling."

Dennaton's work atmosphere is much more relaxed today than it was when Fireline Miami 2 was released in 2015 on an unknown journey. They even took a month off, and Weding used that holiday to get through the Soul of Darkness trilogy for the first time.

Nigel Raleigh, co-founder of D Society, mentioned that Dennaton is free to create. "with the success of 'Line of Fire' Miami, they can work leisurely for years and do whatever they want without any commercial or artistic pressure." According to Raleigh, Club D will never make any demands on Dennaton. "they don't have to bear the pressure to finish the game within a specified period of time. In many ways, they create for the sake of art."

Rowley also pointed out that as a two-person team, the spirit of Weidin and Soderstrom resonated widely with other independent developers. "it's not impossible for everyone to want to be as successful as they are, right? independent developers have a chance to succeed, whether in South Africa or anywhere else."

"Today, independent games are much bigger and more ambitious than they used to be, and I think they're all great. But Miami Band really feels like something made by a garage band, which is why I fell in love with it at first sight." "I hope other people have a similar experience-as long as you have ideas and some ambition, anyone can make games," Walthers said. "

According to Dennaton, the story of "Line of Fire Miami" is over, and they have no plans to develop new games for the series. However, developers such as Koichi Sukuda still hope that Dennaton will be able to produce "Fireline Miami 3".

"recently, even 20-and 30-year-old movie series such as' Matrix 'and' Top Gun 'have come back. Who would have thought that Tom Cruise would be in another movie" Top Gun "more than 30 years later?" "I've said before that Hero No longer 3 is the last game in the series, but to be honest, even I don't know if it's true," Mr. Asuda said.... one day, I may still make a game in which the heroes are no longer available. I think they probably feel the same way. "

"Yes, it's really hard to say, because we are Swedes and we were taught from an early age not to be too proud of ourselves and always talk about honor." "anyway, 10 years after the launch of Fireline Miami, I'm happy with the status quo of the team," Weding said with a smile. "Fireline Miami has not only brought positive changes to our lives, but also inspired a lot of other people to embark on the path of game development, which is really cool."

This article is compiled from: https://www.theverge.com/ 2022 Universe 10Accord 26 Universe 23422597 / hotline-miami-10-year-anniversary

Original title: "Hotline Miami's ultra-violence has influenced games for a decade"

Original author: DIEGO NICOL Á S ARG Ü ELLO

Welcome to subscribe "Shulou Technology Information " to get latest news, interesting things and hot topics in the IT industry, and controls the hottest and latest Internet news, technology news and IT industry trends.