172-454: Hotline Miami is a 2012 top-down shooter game developed by Dennaton Games and published by Devolver Digital . In the game, the player takes on the role of an unnamed silent protagonist —dubbed Jacket by fans—while committing massacres against the local Russian mafia . In each level, the player must defeat every enemy through various means, ranging from firearms and melee weapons to more specific methods like knocking enemies out with doors. At
344-531: A PlayStation 4 port in August 2014. Hotline Miami received generally positive reviews from critics upon release, with praise focused on its atmosphere, soundtrack, and gameplay, though some criticized its controls. The game's themes and storytelling were also discussed, with critics commenting on its anti-violence message. It was nominated for several awards and was a commercial success, selling 1.5 million copies by May 2015. A sequel, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number ,
516-548: A cursor , computer mice have one or more buttons to allow operations such as the selection of a menu item on a display. Mice often also feature other elements, such as touch surfaces and scroll wheels , which enable additional control and dimensional input. The earliest known written use of the term mouse or mice in reference to a computer pointing device is in Bill English 's July 1965 publication, "Computer-Aided Display Control". This likely originated from its resemblance to
688-413: A level editor . When the proposed length of the project surpassed that of the main game, the project became its own standalone title. Announced ten days after the release of Hotline Miami and released on 10 March 2015, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number expanded upon the universe of the original, introducing new characters and focusing on the background and aftermath of Jacket's massacres. It also served as
860-428: A pointer in two dimensions in a graphical user interface (GUI). The mouse turns movements of the hand backward and forward, left and right into equivalent electronic signals that in turn are used to move the pointer. The relative movements of the mouse on the surface are applied to the position of the pointer on the screen, which signals the point where actions of the user take place, so hand movements are replicated by
1032-408: A side-scrolling format. Later notable side-scrolling run and gun shooters include Namco's Rolling Thunder (1986), which added cover mechanics to the formula, and Data East's RoboCop (1988). In 1987, Konami created Contra , a side-scrolling coin-op arcade game, and later a NES game, that was particularly acclaimed for its multi-directional aiming and two-player cooperative gameplay. By
1204-408: A "reason" to be violent. While Smith felt that the game's narrative was lacking in depth and no justification was given for the violence, he believed that too many other video games offered cliché reasons for violence, and described it as a "relief". Cameron wrote that the game missed an "opportunity to make a point" and never properly explained why so many people were being killed, instead "serving as
1376-471: A "shmup" or "STG" (the common Japanese abbreviation for "shooting games"), is a game in which the protagonist combats a large number of enemies by shooting at them while dodging their fire. The controlling player must rely primarily on reaction times to succeed. Beyond this, critics differ on exactly which design elements constitute a shoot 'em up. Some restrict the genre to games featuring some kind of craft, using fixed or scrolling movement. Others widen
1548-407: A 2022 interview, the team said that they designed the game as an "arcade game first, and a reality simulator second". When designing the game's AI, the team were conflicted on whether to make it more "believable" or to intentionally make it varied in behavior, but eventually chose the latter. However, Wedin later said that they "never wanted to do realistic behavior", and Söderström partially attributed
1720-401: A black background. It had a more interactive style of play than earlier target shooting games, with multiple enemies who responded to the player-controlled cannon's movement and fired back at the player. The game ended when the player was killed by the enemies. While earlier shooting games allowed the player to shoot at targets, Space Invaders was the first where multiple enemies fired back at
1892-554: A coma. In one final encounter with the masked persona Richard, he tells Jacket that he will "never see the full picture". It is afterwards revealed that Jacket was reliving the events of the past two months while comatose after being shot by Richter. After waking up, Jacket overhears that his attacker has been put in police custody, and escapes the hospital in search of him. He storms Miami police headquarters, killing everyone inside and confronting Richter, who he discovers had also been receiving messages. Jacket spares his life and steals
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#17330857624282064-496: A day later in Europe. These releases supported cross-buy , allowing players who purchased the game on one platform to receive it on the other. These ports also added a bonus mask and leaderboards. A version for PlayStation 4 , also supporting cross-buy, released on 19 August 2014. A Japan-localized compilation, featuring Hotline Miami alongside its sequel Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (2015), titled Hotline Miami: Collected Edition ,
2236-466: A forgotten regime" alongside titles released at the time such as Spec Ops: The Line (2012), and felt that video games were due for "another shift" in how to treat violence. Chris Tapsell of Eurogamer was indifferent, writing in 2024 that the ideas demonstrated in Hotline Miami that became popular in triple-A releases slowly became dated, but Hotline Miami was the best game with those concepts. At
2408-411: A friend of the developers and the owner of the apartment the two developed the game in, and the janitors being the developers' self-inserts . The game's graphics were created by Wedin, using pixel art alongside a high-contrast colour palette. The first assets created for the game, a player sprite and an enemy sprite, were created by Wedin within the first few days of development during a weekend. While
2580-441: A game where the goal was to kill as many people as possible. He began work on the project in 2004 at the age of 18, but later abandoned the project after facing difficulties with developing the game's AI . Years later, Söderström met Wedin, a singer and keyboard player for synthpunk band Fucking Werewolf Asso. The two collaborated in making a promotional game based on the band, titled Keyboard Drumset Fucking Werewolf , as well as
2752-447: A girl and takes her to his apartment, nursing her back to good health and developing a romantic relationship with her. After this assault, Jacket is visited by three masked personas who question him for his actions, with these encounters continuing throughout the game. In another assault on a phone company, Jacket finds everybody dead except the Biker, who is attempting to access a computer, and
2924-643: A large organization believed at first that his company sold lab mice . Hawley, who manufactured mice for Xerox, stated that "Practically, I have the market all to myself right now"; a Hawley mouse cost $ 415. In 1982, Logitech introduced the P4 Mouse at the Comdex trade show in Las Vegas, its first hardware mouse. That same year Microsoft made the decision to make the MS-DOS program Microsoft Word mouse-compatible, and developed
3096-404: A metro station using violence. After carrying out the mission, Jacket continues to receive messages on his answering machine instructing him to conduct more massacres. After each massacre, Jacket visits a store or a restaurant where a man known as Beard meets him and gives away free items such as pizza, films, and alcoholic beverages. During an assault on the estate of a film producer, Jacket rescues
3268-443: A mirror to the player." The game's visual design was also well received, often being discussed alongside Hotline Miami ' s narrative and sound design. The game's soundtrack was praised, with several critics highlighting it as one of the best aspects of the game. Reeves described the soundtrack as doing a "phenomenal job", and Saldana felt that it was "executed perfectly". O'Dwyer described it as "outstanding" and fitting well with
3440-439: A more elegant input device was needed and invented what they called a "roller ball" for this purpose. The device was patented in 1947, but only a prototype using a metal ball rolling on two rubber-coated wheels was ever built, and the device was kept as a military secret. Another early trackball was built by Kenyon Taylor , a British electrical engineer working in collaboration with Tom Cranston and Fred Longstaff. Taylor
3612-555: A more successful attempt to incorporate a 3D perspective into shooter games; Tempest went on to influence several later rail shooters. Sega's Zaxxon (1981) introduced isometric video game graphics to the genre. The term "shmup" is believed to have been coined in 1985 by the British Commodore 64 magazine Zzap!64 . In the July 1985 issue, the term was used by the editor Chris Anderson and reviewer Julian Rignall . 1985 saw
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#17330857624283784-547: A mouse as well. The third marketed version of an integrated mouse shipped as a part of a computer and intended for personal computer navigation came with the Xerox 8010 Star in 1981. By 1982, the Xerox 8010 was probably the best-known computer with a mouse. The Sun-1 also came with a mouse, and the forthcoming Apple Lisa was rumored to use one, but the peripheral remained obscure; Jack Hawley of The Mouse House reported that one buyer for
3956-568: A mouse device named Rollkugelsteuerung (German for "Trackball control") was shown in a sales brochure by the German company AEG - Telefunken as an optional input device for the SIG ;100 vector graphics terminal, part of the system around their process computer TR 86 and the TR 440 [ de ] main frame. Based on an even earlier trackball device, the mouse device had been developed by
4128-442: A movie soundtrack. After failing to obtain the licenses for a temporary soundtrack they put together early in the game's development, the team began searching Bandcamp for tracks that were free to download; according to Söderström, the team listened to up to two thousand tracks. Some artists (for example, M.O.O.N.) were found through this process, while other artists like Scattle contacted Dennaton themselves after seeing blog posts of
4300-505: A pair of light beams, located so that a given beam becomes interrupted or again starts to pass light freely when the other beam of the pair is about halfway between changes. Simple logic circuits interpret the relative timing to indicate which direction the wheel is rotating. This incremental rotary encoder scheme is sometimes called quadrature encoding of the wheel rotation, as the two optical sensors produce signals that are in approximately quadrature phase . The mouse sends these signals to
4472-417: A rail shooter released in 1985, broke new ground graphically and its wide variety of settings across multiple levels gave players more to aim for than high scores. In 1986, Arsys Software released WiBArm , a shooter that switched between a 2D side-scrolling view in outdoor areas to a fully 3D polygonal third-person perspective inside buildings, while bosses were fought in an arena-style 2D battle, with
4644-584: A scrapped prototype Söderström made years prior, the team developed Hotline Miami throughout the course of nine months. Söderström programmed the game and wrote the narrative, while Wedin designed the graphics. The game was released in October 2012 for Windows . It was later ported to OS X and Linux in March and September 2013, respectively. Versions for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita released in June 2013, followed by
4816-542: A separate project named Life/Death/Island . The latter became too much work for them to handle, and the project was abandoned. Following this, the two faced financial problems, and decided that their next game would be a commercial release. Wedin began searching through Söderström's unfinished projects, and came across the Super Carnage project. With Wedin seeing potential in the concept after previously playing similar games like Gauntlet (1985) and Chaos Engine (1993),
4988-529: A shoot 'em up, as opposed to an action-adventure game . The success of Commando and Ikari Warriors led to run and gun games becoming the dominant style of shoot 'em up during the late 1980s to early 1990s, with the term "shoot 'em up" itself becoming synonymous with "run and gun" during this period. Konami 's Green Beret (1985), known as Rush'n Attack in North America, adapted the Commando formula to
5160-403: A similar product. Modern computer mice took form at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) under the inspiration of Professor Jean-Daniel Nicoud and at the hands of engineer and watchmaker André Guignard . This new design incorporated a single hard rubber mouseball and three buttons, and remained a common design until the mainstream adoption of the scroll-wheel mouse during
5332-529: A smaller project, the game expanded after Vlambeer shared a demo with Devolver Digital, who then offered to publish it. It was developed using the GameMaker engine over the course of nine months, with the developers working twelve hours a day, six days a week. Uncertain on whether or not the game would be successful, combined with developing the game with little to no budget, the team lost and regained motivation repeatedly. In an interview with Edge , Wedin described
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5504-476: A sport, stating that the game compensated for being repetitive by allowing the player to restart quickly, and found the game to be addicting. Graham Smith of PC Gamer shared similar thoughts, writing that the game was designed to "inspire a fever," and that "once you're hooked, it's easy to get carried away." He also wrote that, even when putting the game's addicting nature aside, the game was still "tight" and "efficient". Phill Cameron of VideoGamer.com described
5676-526: A straight line at constant speeds. The player's character can collect " power-ups " which may afford the character's greater protection, an " extra life ", health, shield, or upgraded weaponry. Different weapons are often suited to different enemies, but these games seldom keep track of ammunition. As such, players tend to fire indiscriminately, and their weapons only damage legitimate targets. Shoot 'em ups are categorized by their design elements, particularly viewpoint and movement: Fixed shooters restrict
5848-467: A surface. This motion is typically translated into the motion of the pointer (called a cursor) on a display , which allows a smooth control of the graphical user interface of a computer . The first public demonstration of a mouse controlling a computer system was done by Doug Engelbart in 1968 as part of the Mother of All Demos . Mice originally used two separate wheels to directly track movement across
6020-443: A surface: one in the x-dimension and one in the Y. Later, the standard design shifted to use a ball rolling on a surface to detect motion, in turn connected to internal rollers. Most modern mice use optical movement detection with no moving parts. Though originally all mice were connected to a computer by a cable, many modern mice are cordless, relying on short-range radio communication with the connected system. In addition to moving
6192-564: A third-person view, and featured the use of force feedback , where the joystick vibrates. Over the course of the 1990s, a new subgenre of shooters evolved, known as " danmaku ( 弾幕 , "barrage") in Japan, and often referred to as "bullet hell" or "manic shooters" in English-speaking regions. These games are characterized by high numbers of enemy projectiles, often in complex "curtain fire" patterns, as well as collision boxes that are smaller than
6364-506: A type of character with the ability to cause players to rethink their own actions and cause instability within their identity. This type of character was compared to Doomguy from the DOOM series and Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider series, both seen as examples of "mask digital prosthesis", which refers to the overlapping of identities between a player and a game's protagonist. Hotline Miami
6536-419: A user can drag and drop a picture representing a file onto an image of a trash can, indicating the intention to delete the file. This intuitive and visual approach to interaction has become synonymous with organizing digital content and simplifying file management tasks. Standard Semantic Gestures In addition to the drag and drop gesture, several other semantic gestures have emerged as standard conventions within
6708-473: A variety of animal masks, which grant different abilities depending on the mask chosen. These attributes include the player's gunshots being silenced or finishing moves being sped up. At the end of each chapter, the player's total score is tallied and they are given a rating based on their performance. The player's score is further adjusted based on their playstyle, which is given a classification like "coward" or "sadist". High scores unlock new masks and weapons for
6880-454: A variety of subgenres such as scrolling shooters, run and gun games and rail shooters. In the mid-1990s, shoot 'em ups became a niche genre based on design conventions established in the 1980s, and increasingly catered to specialist enthusiasts, particularly in Japan. " Bullet hell " games are a subgenre of shooters that features overwhelming numbers of enemy projectiles , often in visually impressive formations. A "shoot 'em up", also known as
7052-487: A vehicle or spacecraft under constant attack. Thus, the player's goal is to shoot as quickly as possible at anything that moves or threatens them to reach the end of the level, usually with a boss battle . In some games, the player's character can withstand some damage or a single hit will result in their destruction. The main skills required in shoot 'em ups are fast reactions and memorising enemy attack patterns. Some games feature overwhelming numbers of enemy projectiles and
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7224-413: A video game release until Spacewar! (1962). The shoot 'em up genre was established by the hit arcade game Space Invaders , which popularised and set the general template for the genre in 1978, and has spawned many clones. The genre was then further developed by arcade hits such as Asteroids and Galaxian in 1979. Shoot 'em ups were popular throughout the 1980s to early 1990s, diversifying into
7396-555: A wrap-around game world, unlike most later games in the genre. The scrolling helped remove design limitations associated with the screen, and it also featured a minimap radar. Scramble , released by Konami in early 1981, had continuous scrolling in a single direction and was the first side-scrolling shooter with multiple distinct levels . In the early 1980s, Japanese arcade developers began moving away from space shooters towards character action games , whereas American arcade developers continued to focus on space shooters during
7568-514: Is a top-down shooter game. It is set in Miami during the 1980s, and is divided into several chapters . At the beginning of each chapter, the player character "Jacket" receives a message on his answering machine, instructing him to travel to a different part of Miami and kill all enemies at that location. The player is able to defeat their opponents through a variety of melee and ranged attacks, ranging from knives and crowbars to firearms. Additional methods
7740-482: Is a subgenre of shooters in which the screen becomes crowded with complex "curtain fire" enemy patterns. It is also characterized by collision boxes that are smaller than the sprites themselves, to accommodate maneuvering through these crowded firing patterns. This style of game, also known as "manic shooters" or "maniac shooters", originated in the mid-1990s as an offshoot of scrolling shooters. The DonPachi and Touhou Project series are early titles establishing
7912-555: Is dedicated to trace their source. After the encounter with Jacket depicted earlier and various interrogations, he finds the source of the messages to be 50 Blessings, a group operated by two janitors that attempt to undermine an alliance between the Soviet Union and the United States, which they view as "anti-American". They do this by ordering their operatives to commit numerous anti-Russian massacres. The game features two endings, with
8084-433: Is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of character movement, while others allow a broader definition including characters on foot and a variety of perspectives. The genre's roots can be traced back to earlier shooting games , including target shooting electro-mechanical games of the mid-20th-century, but did not receive
8256-477: Is notable for using a traditional fantasy setting in contrast to most shoot 'em up games filled with science fiction motifs. R-Type , an acclaimed side-scrolling shoot 'em up, was released in 1987 by Irem , employing slower paced scrolling than usual, with difficult, claustrophobic levels calling for methodical strategies. 1990's Raiden was the beginning of another acclaimed and enduring series to emerge from this period. Run and gun games became popular in
8428-859: Is still a single axis of motion, making these a subset of fixed shooters. Rail shooters limit the player to moving around the screen while following a specific route; these games often feature an "into the screen" viewpoint, with which the action is seen from behind the player character , and moves "into the screen", while the player retains control over dodging. Examples include Space Harrier (1985), Captain Skyhawk (1990), Starblade (1991), Star Fox (1993), Star Wars: Rebel Assault (1993), Panzer Dragoon (1995), and Sin and Punishment (2000). Rail shooters that use light guns are called light gun shooters , such as Operation Wolf (1987), Lethal Enforcers (1992), Virtua Cop (1994), Point Blank (1994), Time Crisis (1995), The House of
8600-401: Is the drag and drop gesture, which has become pervasive across various applications and platforms. The Drag and Drop Gesture The drag and drop gesture is a fundamental gestural convention that enables users to manipulate objects on the screen seamlessly. It involves a series of actions performed by the user: This gesture allows users to transfer or rearrange objects effortlessly. For instance,
8772-454: Is typically designed to be plug compatible with an analog joystick. The "Color Mouse", originally marketed by RadioShack for their Color Computer (but also usable on MS-DOS machines equipped with analog joystick ports, provided the software accepted joystick input) was the best-known example. Early optical mice relied entirely on one or more light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and an imaging array of photodiodes to detect movement relative to
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#17330857624288944-503: The Geometry Wars series, Space Invaders Extreme , Super Stardust HD , and Resogun . The concept of shooting games existed before video games , dating back to shooting gallery carnival games in the late 19th century and target sports such as archery , bowling and darts . Mechanical target shooting games first appeared in England 's amusement arcades around the turn of
9116-569: The Front Line tank shooter format with unique rotary joystick controls, which they later combined with Commando -inspired run and gun gameplay to develop Ikari Warriors (1986), which further popularized run and gun shooters. Ikari Warriors also drew inspiration from the action film Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), which it was originally intended to be an adaptation of. Contemporary critics considered military themes and protagonists similar to Rambo or Schwarzenegger prerequisites for
9288-803: The Leibniz Supercomputing Centre in Munich in 1972 are well preserved in a museum, two others survived in a museum at Stuttgart University, two in Hamburg, the one from Aachen at the Computer History Museum in the US, and yet another sample was recently donated to the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum (HNF) in Paderborn. Anecdotal reports claim that Telefunken's attempt to patent the device
9460-471: The Mozilla web browser will follow a link in response to a primary button click, will bring up a contextual menu of alternative actions for that link in response to a secondary-button click, and will often open the link in a new tab or window in response to a click with the tertiary (middle) mouse button. The German company Telefunken published on their early ball mouse on 2 October 1968. Telefunken's mouse
9632-460: The University of Groningen , who believed that the masked personas to possibly be "projections of Jacket’s disturbed psyche." He additionally wrote that the game's plot is 'destined not to make any sense", citing the behavior of the masked figures as well as the contradictions between the perspectives of Jacket and the Biker. Papale and Fazio considered Jacket to be the first example of a "meta-avatar",
9804-462: The Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3 and Wii online services, while in Japan arcade shoot 'em ups retain a deep-rooted niche popularity. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was released on Xbox Live Arcade in 2005 and in particular stood out from the various re-releases and casual games available on the service. The PC has also seen its share of dōjin shoot 'em ups like Crimzon Clover , Jamestown: Legend of
9976-477: The best video games ever made by the editorial teams of several media outlets. These include the teams of GamesRadar+ , Slant Magazine , HardcoreGaming101 , USA Today , and Sports Illustrated . It was also listed in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die (2010). The game has also garnered a cult following . Shortly after the games release, Dennaton began developing downloadable content for it to expand upon its story, as well as add
10148-430: The vertical scrolling format later popularized by Capcom 's Commando (1985), which established the standard formula used by later run and gun games. Sega's Ninja Princess (1985), which released slightly before Commando , was a run and gun game that was distinctive for its feudal Japan setting and female ninja protagonist who throws shuriken and knives. SNK 's TNK III , released later in 1985, combined
10320-495: The "gold standard" for an indie game, and believed that none of the game's in its sub-genre were able to compare to its success, including its sequel. Nina Corcoran of Pitchfork had similar beliefs, writing that the game was designed by Dennaton with "one foot in the past and another in the future," and was "incredibly replayable" several years later. In a 2019 retrospective article from Vice 's Cameron Kunzelman, he described Hotline Miami 's anti-violences themes were an "emblem of
10492-458: The 1990s. In 1985, René Sommer added a microprocessor to Nicoud's and Guignard's design. Through this innovation, Sommer is credited with inventing a significant component of the mouse, which made it more "intelligent"; though optical mice from Mouse Systems had incorporated microprocessors by 1984. Another type of mechanical mouse, the "analog mouse" (now generally regarded as obsolete), uses potentiometers rather than encoder wheels, and
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#173308576242810664-522: The 20th century, before appearing in America by the 1920s. Shooting gallery games eventually evolved into more sophisticated target shooting electro-mechanical games (EM games) such as Sega 's influential Periscope (1965). Shooting video games have roots in EM shooting games. Video game journalist Brian Ashcraft argues the early mainframe game Spacewar! (1962) was the first shoot 'em up video game. It
10836-507: The Dead (1996) and Elemental Gearbolt (1997). Light-gun games that are "on rails" are usually not considered to be in the shoot-em-up category, but rather their own first-person light-gun shooter category. Cute 'em ups feature brightly colored graphics depicting surreal settings and enemies. Cute 'em ups tend to have unusual, oftentimes completely bizarre opponents for the player to fight, with Twinbee and Fantasy Zone first pioneering
11008-574: The GameMaker engine. This contributed to an increase in indie game releases throughout the 2010s, with many of these games featuring similar narrative themes, gameplay mechanics, or soundtracks to Hotline Miami . Games influenced by Hotline Miami continued to be made over a decade after its release, ranging from indie games to games made by larger studios with larger budgets like The Last of Us Part II (2020). The game's soundtrack has also been influential on its own; according to Phil Iwaniuk of PC Gamer ,
11180-492: The Lost Colony , Xenoslaive Overdrive , and the eXceed series . However, despite the genre's continued appeal to an enthusiastic niche of players, shoot 'em up developers are increasingly embattled financially by the power of home consoles and their attendant genres. Computer mouse A computer mouse (plural mice , also mouses ) is a hand-held pointing device that detects two-dimensional motion relative to
11352-571: The PC version, 87 per cent based on 19 reviews for the PlayStation 3 version, and 85 per cent based on 27 reviews for the PlayStation Vita version. Several reviewers praised the gameplay of Hotline Miami . Many found the game to be enjoyable despite constant death as a result of other its design, considering it to be addicting. Polygon 's Chris Plante considered playing the game to be similar to playing
11524-401: The actions they are committing. Pitchfork ' s Nina Corcoran believed that the game's upbeat soundtrack contributed to this by ratcheting the players anxiety and increasing their focus, while also desensitizing them to the glorified violence. At the end of each level, the upbeat music is replaced with ambience while the player exits the building, with the remains of enemies scattered across
11696-455: The aforementioned "Hydrogen", to more up-beat pop tracks such as "Miami Disco" by Perturbator . Hotline Miami was first announced through Söderström's personal blog on 3 July 2012 alongside the release of a teaser trailer. The game was later showcased at the A Maze Indie Connect festival, and again later at a Rezzed exposition in Brighton . Reception towards the game at A Maze was mixed, but
11868-642: The ball. By counting the pulses, the physical movement of the ball could be determined. A digital computer calculated the tracks and sent the resulting data to other ships in a task force using pulse-code modulation radio signals. This trackball used a standard Canadian five-pin bowling ball. It was not patented, since it was a secret military project. Douglas Engelbart of the Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International ) has been credited in published books by Thierry Bardini , Paul Ceruzzi , Howard Rheingold , and several others as
12040-491: The beginning of each level, the player chooses from a variety of masks, which offer unique abilities. Set in Miami in 1989, the game primarily tells its story through cryptic dream cutscenes where masked figures berate Jacket for his actions and foreshadow upcoming events. Hotline Miami was the first commercial release of developers Jonatan Söderström and Dennis Wedin, who created the game after failed development ventures. Using
12212-629: The closure of Toaplan, the following year, a number of studios formed from former Toaplan staff that would continue to develop this style, including Cave (formed by Batsugun's main creator Tsuneki Ikeda) who released 1995's seminal DonPachi , and Takumi, who would develop the GigaWing series. Bullet hell games marked another point where the shooter genre began to cater to more dedicated players. Games such as Gradius had been more difficult than Space Invaders or Xevious , but bullet hell games were yet more inward-looking and aimed at dedicated fans of
12384-854: The command to delete the selected shape. This gesture-based interaction enables users to perform actions quickly and efficiently without relying solely on traditional input methods. Challenges and Benefits of Gestural Interfaces While gestural interfaces offer a more immersive and interactive user experience, they also present challenges. One of the primary difficulties lies in the requirement of finer motor control from users. Gestures demand precise movements, which can be more challenging for individuals with limited dexterity or those who are new to this mode of interaction. However, despite these challenges, gestural interfaces have gained popularity due to their ability to simplify complex tasks and improve efficiency. Several gestural conventions have become widely adopted, making them more accessible to users. One such convention
12556-517: The company in 1966 in what had been a parallel and independent discovery . As the name suggests and unlike Engelbart's mouse, the Telefunken model already had a ball (diameter 40 mm, weight 40 g ) and two mechanical 4-bit rotational position transducers with Gray code -like states, allowing easy movement in any direction. The bits remained stable for at least two successive states to relax debouncing requirements. This arrangement
12728-420: The computer system via the mouse cable, directly as logic signals in very old mice such as the Xerox mice, and via a data-formatting IC in modern mice. The driver software in the system converts the signals into motion of the mouse cursor along X and Y axes on the computer screen. The ball is mostly steel, with a precision spherical rubber surface. The weight of the ball, given an appropriate working surface under
12900-493: The conclusion of the series story. Due to differences in gameplay and level design, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number was not received as well as the first game, with critic reviews being generally lower and player feedback being divisive. Both games were included in the Hotline Miami Collection , which first released in August 2019. In 2016, an eight-part comic book series based on the series, Hotline Miami: Wildlife ,
13072-436: The controls inhibited what was otherwise "one of the most creative indie titles of the year." Eric Swain of PopMatters believed that the PlayStation 3 version's control differences made the game easier, and consequentially made players "miss out" on the original game's intended feel. Giancarlo Saldana of GamesRadar+ felt that the game's controls on the PlayStation 3 took some time to get used to, and that playing it on computer
13244-447: The development of the game as "fucking hard". At one point during development, Wedin was hospitalized for two weeks following mental health related issues caused by a break-up. Since the team was developing the game with an outdated version of GameMaker that had compatibility issues with newer operating systems, Dennaton faced numerous problems while developing the game, dealing with many bizarre bugs reported by playtesters. Among these bugs
13416-513: The device was based on an earlier trackball-like device (also named Rollkugel ) that was embedded into radar flight control desks. This trackball had been originally developed by a team led by Rainer Mallebrein [ de ] at Telefunken Konstanz for the German Bundesanstalt für Flugsicherung [ de ] (Federal Air Traffic Control). It was part of the corresponding workstation system SAP 300 and
13588-435: The drag and drop convention, form the building blocks of gestural interfaces, allowing users to interact with digital content using intuitive and natural movements. At the end of 20th century, digitizer mice (puck) with magnifying glass was used with AutoCAD for the digitizations of blueprints . Other uses of the mouse's input occur commonly in special application domains. In interactive three-dimensional graphics ,
13760-630: The earlier trackball device. The device was finished in early 1968, and together with light pens and trackballs , it was commercially offered as an optional input device for their system starting later that year. Not all customers opted to buy the device, which added costs of DM 1,500 per piece to the already up to 20-million DM deal for the main frame, of which only a total of 46 systems were sold or leased. They were installed at more than 20 German universities including RWTH Aachen , Technische Universität Berlin , University of Stuttgart and Konstanz . Several Rollkugel mice installed at
13932-629: The early 1980s, up until the end of the arcade golden age. According to Eugene Jarvis , American developers were greatly influenced by Japanese space shooters but took the genre in a different direction from the "more deterministic, scripted, pattern-type" gameplay of Japanese games, towards a more "programmer-centric design culture, emphasizing algorithmic generation of backgrounds and enemy dispatch" and "an emphasis on random-event generation, particle-effect explosions and physics" as seen in arcade games such as his own Defender and Robotron: 2084 (1982) as well as Atari's Asteroids (1979). Robotron: 2084
14104-400: The early 1990s and the popularity of 16-bit consoles , the scrolling shooter genre was overcrowded, with developers struggling to make their games stand out, with exceptions such as the inventive Gunstar Heroes (1993) by Treasure . Sega's pseudo-3D rail shooter Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom demonstrated the potential of 3D shoot 'em up gameplay in 1982. Sega's Space Harrier ,
14276-503: The emergence of one of Sega's forefront series with its game Fantasy Zone . The game received acclaim for its surreal graphics and setting and the protagonist, Opa-Opa, was for a time considered Sega's mascot . The game borrowed Defender's device of allowing the player to control the direction of flight and along with the earlier TwinBee (1985), is an early archetype of the "cute 'em up" subgenre. In 1986, Taito released KiKi KaiKai , an overhead multi-directional shooter. The game
14448-420: The few axes of movement mice can detect. When mice have more than one button, the software may assign different functions to each button. Often, the primary (leftmost in a right-handed configuration) button on the mouse will select items, and the secondary (rightmost in a right-handed) button will bring up a menu of alternative actions applicable to that item. For example, on platforms with more than one button,
14620-523: The file in a window. Different ways of operating the mouse cause specific things to happen in the GUI: The Concept of Gestural Interfaces Gestural interfaces have become an integral part of modern computing, allowing users to interact with their devices in a more intuitive and natural way. In addition to traditional pointing-and-clicking actions, users can now employ gestural inputs to issue commands or perform specific actions. These stylized motions of
14792-470: The file on the police investigations of the killings before heading to a nightclub that the calls were tracked to. He then heads to the Russian Mafia headquarters, kills all of the guards, and confronts both leaders of the syndicate. After Jacket kills his personal bodyguard and injures his hands, one of the leaders "spares him the pleasure" and commits suicide. When Jacket confronts the other, he contemplates
14964-611: The first PC-compatible mouse. The Microsoft Mouse shipped in 1983, thus beginning the Microsoft Hardware division of the company. However, the mouse remained relatively obscure until the appearance of the Macintosh 128K (which included an updated version of the single-button Lisa Mouse ) in 1984, and of the Amiga 1000 and the Atari ST in 1985. A mouse typically controls the motion of
15136-494: The first games to popularize twin-stick controls was Robotron: 2084 (1982). Space shooters are a thematic variant of involving spacecraft in outer space . Following the success of Space Invaders , space shooters were the dominant subgenre during the late 1970s to early 1980s. These games can overlap with other subgenres as well as space combat games . Tube shooters feature craft flying through an abstract tube, such as Tempest (1981) and Gyruss (1983). There
15308-454: The first seven weeks of its initial release. By the time the game's PlayStation 3 version was announced in February 2013, the game had sold 300,000 units. According to Anthony John Agnello of Digital Trends , the game's commercial success up to that point was the reason Sony wanted Hotline Miami on the platform, helping the company "maintain its reputation" as a "purveyor" of indie titles after
15480-464: The floor. Each of the game's masked personas serve a specific purpose in their encounters. The yellow-tinted Richard is often inquisitive, the blue-tinted Don Juan is generally passive and friendly, while the red-tinted Rasmus is aggressive. Each interrogates the player uniquely; Don Juan’s dialogue includes lines like "knowing oneself means acknowledging one’s actions," while Richard is more upfront, asking "do you like hurting other people?" Additionally,
15652-427: The forward-backward motion of the mouse and the other the left-right motion. Opposite the two rollers is a third one (white, in the photo, at 45 degrees) that is spring-loaded to push the ball against the other two rollers. Each roller is on the same shaft as an encoder wheel that has slotted edges; the slots interrupt infrared light beams to generate electrical pulses that represent wheel movement. Each wheel's disc has
15824-402: The full ending requiring the player to find puzzle pieces scattered throughout the game to crack 50 Blessings' password. If the player manages to crack the password, the Biker uncovers their secrets and political agenda. Without the password, the Biker is mocked and fails to discover the truth. In both endings, the player has the option to either kill or spare the janitors. After his encounter with
15996-445: The game as "five seconds of action that you can lose yourself in for five hours." Danny O'Dwyer of GameSpot was indifferent, though he criticized the game's boss fights for what he believed had arbitrary methods on how to defeat them. He further wrote that the times Hotline Miami did "get it wrong" were "deeply frustrating". Some criticisms were made towards Hotline Miami 's controls, with Ben Reeves of Game Informer writing that
16168-414: The game contributed to the popularization of synthwave , a music genre initially popularized by Drive . The game has also been attributed to the success of its publisher Devolver Digital, being considered its " breakout title "; since the game's success, Devolver Digital has become one of the most successful indie game publishers. In 2023, The Verge ' s Aleksha McLoughli described Hotline Miami as
16340-452: The game featuring a variety of weapons and equipment. In 1987, Square's 3-D WorldRunner was an early stereoscopic 3-D shooter played from a third-person perspective, followed later that year by its sequel JJ , and the following year by Space Harrier 3-D which used the SegaScope 3-D shutter glasses . That same year, Sega's Thunder Blade switched between both a top-down view and
16512-782: The game received the "Most Original Game" award. It was nominated for several awards at the Independent Games Festival in 2013, including the Seumas McNally Grand Prize , as well as the Excellence in Audio and Excellence in Design awards. In the years since its release, Hotline Miami has been considered one of the most influential indie games, as well as one of the most critically and financially successful. Its success inspired many to begin developing video games, particularly with
16684-620: The game the way it's meant to be experienced", regardless of whether they bought it or pirated it. The game's soundtrack was released via Steam in January 2013; a physical release, with all of the tracks pressed across three vinyls , was released in 2016 through Laced Records. It was a limited edition release, with only 5,000 copies being made, and was funded by a Kickstarter campaign that raised over $ 75,000. Versions of Hotline Miami for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita , developed by Abstraction Games, released on 25 July 2013 in North America, and
16856-451: The game was released that patched numerous bugs, added support for gamepads , and made minor graphical and gameplay adjustments This update also added a bonus level, "Highball", which has no relation to any other level in the game. Alongside this update, Söderström created numerous patches for pirated versions of Hotline Miami after several users of The Pirate Bay reported issues with the game. He stated that he wanted players to "experience
17028-504: The game's development. Tracks from M.O.O.N. were directly added to the game, while Scattle was tasked with composing unique music inspired by movies Hotline Miami was based on using Renoise . Other artists Dennaton licensed music from included Coconuts and Sun Araw , and artists such as Åkerblad (under the alias "El Huervo") made direct contributions themselves. The final soundtrack consists of 22 tracks of several different styles, ranging from those that primarily use bass and drums including
17200-442: The game's visual design, believing that both combined were able to allow the player to look past the game's flaws. Charles Onyett of IGN wrote that the soundtrack "[meshes] perfectly" with the rest of the game. In the years since the game's release, the writers of several different publications have considered the Hotline Miami soundtrack to be one of the best video game soundtracks . Hotline Miami sold over 130,000 units within
17372-431: The genre looking for greater challenges. While shooter games featuring protagonists on foot largely moved to 3D-based genres, popular, long-running series such as Contra and Metal Slug continued to receive new sequels. Rail shooters have rarely been released in the new millennium, with only Rez and Panzer Dragoon Orta achieving cult recognition. In the early 2000s, the genre achieved recognition through
17544-667: The gestural interface paradigm. These gestures serve specific purposes and contribute to a more intuitive user experience. Some of the notable semantic gestures include: Crossing-based goal: This gesture involves crossing a specific boundary or threshold on the screen to trigger an action or complete a task. For example, swiping across the screen to unlock a device or confirm a selection. Menu traversal: Menu traversal gestures facilitate navigation through hierarchical menus or options. Users can perform gestures such as swiping or scrolling to explore different menu levels or activate specific commands. Pointing: Pointing gestures involve positioning
17716-601: The inventor of the computer mouse. Engelbart was also recognized as such in various obituary titles after his death in July 2013. By 1963, Engelbart had already established a research lab at SRI, the Augmentation Research Center (ARC), to pursue his objective of developing both hardware and software computer technology to "augment" human intelligence. That November, while attending a conference on computer graphics in Reno, Nevada , Engelbart began to ponder how to adapt
17888-407: The janitors, the Biker departs from Miami. Hotline Miami advocates an anti-violence message through making the player feel guilt for their in-game massacres. Some found this to be done through the utilization of upbeat music and its score system to motivate the player. As the game is fast-paced, the player may enter a state where they're focused exclusively on their inputs and become desensitized to
18060-462: The keyboard". In 1964, Bill English joined ARC, where he helped Engelbart build the first mouse prototype. They christened the device the mouse as early models had a cord attached to the rear part of the device which looked like a tail, and in turn, resembled the common mouse . According to Roger Bates, a hardware designer in English, another reason for choosing this name was because the cursor on
18232-402: The limitations of GameMaker to the varied behavior of enemies. Some of the games mechanics, such as the ability to throw weapons at enemies, were initially coding errors that were turned into actual game mechanics. The levels featuring the Biker were one of the last parts of the game to be developed, being created near the end of development. The game's writing was inspired by several movies that
18404-493: The masked figures never reveal any details about the identity of Jacket, instead teasing the player directly. The masked figures also foreshadow upcoming events in the game's narrative, such as hinting at the murder of Jacket's girlfriend. Luca Papale and Lorenzo Fazio suggested that the contrasting behaviors of the masked figures may represent dissociative identity disorder in Jacket. Similar thoughts were written by Marco Caracciolo of
18576-423: The method of execution or the amount of enemies killed in quick succession. Aiming is predominantly done via a computer mouse , though the player has the ability to lock onto an enemy and not have to aim. On PlayStation Vita , the functions of the mouse are shifted over to the touch screen , and locking onto enemies requires the player to touch them on-screen. Before each chapter begins, the player can choose from
18748-420: The mid-1980s. These games feature characters on foot, rather than spacecraft, and often have military themes. The origins of this type of shooter go back to Sheriff by Nintendo , released in 1979. SNK 's Sasuke vs. Commander (1980), which had relatively detailed background graphics for its time, pit a samurai against a horde of ninjas , along with boss fights . Taito's Front Line (1982) introduced
18920-432: The mobile game Space Impact , which is considered one of the important games in the history of mobile games . Treasure's shoot 'em up, Radiant Silvergun (1998), introduced an element of narrative to the genre. It was critically acclaimed for its refined design, though it was not released outside Japan and remains a much sought-after collector's item. Its successor Ikaruga (2001) featured improved graphics and
19092-481: The most influential and successful indie games , as well as one of the best video games ever made . Its success inspired many to begin developing games, contributing to a rise in indie game releases throughout the 2010s. Many of the games created during this period had elements influenced by Hotline Miami ; the game's soundtrack has also been attributed to the popularization of synthwave . It has also been considered Devolver Digital's " breakout title ". Hotline Miami
19264-405: The mouse became widely used in personal computers. In any event, the invention of the mouse was just a small part of Engelbart's much larger project of augmenting human intellect. Several other experimental pointing-devices developed for Engelbart's oN-Line System ( NLS ) exploited different body movements – for example, head-mounted devices attached to the chin or nose – but ultimately
19436-456: The mouse cursor over an object or element to interact with it. This fundamental gesture enables users to select, click, or access contextual menus. Mouseover (pointing or hovering): Mouseover gestures occur when the cursor is positioned over an object without clicking. This action often triggers a visual change or displays additional information about the object, providing users with real-time feedback. These standard semantic gestures, along with
19608-454: The mouse cursor, known as "gestures", have the potential to enhance user experience and streamline workflow. Mouse Gestures in Action To illustrate the concept of gestural interfaces, let's consider a drawing program as an example. In this scenario, a user can employ a gesture to delete a shape on the canvas. By rapidly moving the mouse cursor in an "x" motion over the shape, the user can trigger
19780-495: The mouse won out because of its speed and convenience. The first mouse, a bulky device (pictured) used two potentiometers perpendicular to each other and connected to wheels: the rotation of each wheel translated into motion along one axis . At the time of the "Mother of All Demos", Engelbart's group had been using their second-generation, 3-button mouse for about a year. On 2 October 1968, three years after Engelbart's prototype but more than two months before his public demo ,
19952-617: The mouse's motion often translates directly into changes in the virtual objects' or camera's orientation. For example, in the first-person shooter genre of games (see below), players usually employ the mouse to control the direction in which the virtual player's "head" faces: moving the mouse up will cause the player to look up, revealing the view above the player's head. A related function makes an image of an object rotate so that all sides can be examined. 3D design and animation software often modally chord many different combinations to allow objects and cameras to be rotated and moved through space with
20124-557: The mouse, provides a reliable grip so the mouse's movement is transmitted accurately. Ball mice and wheel mice were manufactured for Xerox by Jack Hawley, doing business as The Mouse House in Berkeley, California, starting in 1975. Based on another invention by Jack Hawley, proprietor of the Mouse House, Honeywell produced another type of mechanical mouse. Instead of a ball, it had two wheels rotating at off axes. Key Tronic later produced
20296-452: The player against multiple enemies descending from the top of the screen at a constantly increasing speed. Nishikado conceived the game by combining elements of Breakout (1976) with those of earlier target shooting games, and simple alien creatures inspired by H. G. Wells ' The War of the Worlds . The hardware was unable to render the movement of aircraft, so the game was set in space, with
20468-401: The player and enemies to a single screen, and the player primarily moves along a single axis, such as back and forth along the bottom of the screen. Examples include Space Invaders (1978), Galaxian (1979), Phoenix (1980), and Galaga (1981). In Pooyan (1982), the fixed axis of movement is vertical, along the right side of the screen. In Centipede (1980) and Gorf (1981),
20640-422: The player can use include knocking out enemies with a door, using them as a human shield, or kicking them against the wall. If the enemy is not immediately killed in an attack, the player can perform a finishing move. Later stages in the game have the player take control of a different character, known as the Biker, who can only use knives. Both the player and enemies can be felled by a single attack. To compensate,
20812-574: The player has to memorise their patterns to survive. These games belong to one of the fastest-paced video game genres . Large numbers of enemy characters programmed to behave in an easily predictable manner are typically featured. These enemies may behave in a certain way dependent on their type, or attack in formations that the player can learn to predict. The basic gameplay tends to be straightforward with many varieties of weapons. Shoot 'em ups rarely have realistic physics. Characters can instantly change direction with no inertia , and projectiles move in
20984-491: The player in a trance-like state. In trance shooters, enemy patterns usually have randomized elements, forcing the player to rely on reflexes rather than pattern memorization. Games of this type usually feature colorful, abstract visuals, and electronic music (often techno music ). Jeff Minter is commonly credited with originating the style with Tempest 2000 (1994) and subsequent games including Space Giraffe , Gridrunner++ , and Polybius (2017). Other examples include
21156-411: The player is able to quickly restart the current stage after death, allowing the player to rethink their strategy. Different types of enemies appear throughout the game, like guard dogs and boss characters . The enemy AI is inconsistent, with reactions to attacks ranging from responding immediately to doing nothing. The player is awarded points for each enemy they kill, with bonus points awarded based on
21328-480: The player primarily moves left and right along the bottom, but several inches of vertical motion are also allowed within an invisible box. Multidirectional shooters allow 360-degree movement where the protagonist may rotate and move in any direction such as Asteroids (1979) and Mad Planets (1983). Multidirectional shooters with one joystick for movement and one joystick for firing in any direction independent of movement are called twin-stick shooters . One of
21500-450: The player to use. The game also supports achievements , which are obtained by doing specific challenges like killing two enemies with one brick throw. In April 1989, Jacket receives a message on his answering machine and a package is delivered to his door containing a rooster mask. Additionally, the package contains instructions advising Jacket to retrieve a briefcase from the Russian mafia at
21672-415: The player's flying vehicle moving forward, at a fixed rate, through an environment. Examples are Scramble (1981), Xevious (1982), Gradius (1986), Darius (1987), R-Type (1987), Einhänder (1997). In contrast, Defender (1981) allows the player to move left or right at will. Run and gun games have protagonists that move through the world on foot and shoot attackers. Examples include
21844-549: The player. It also introduced the idea of giving the player multiple lives and popularized the concept of achieving a high score . With these elements, Space Invaders set the general template for the shoot 'em up genre. It became one of the most widely cloned shooting games, spawning more than 100 imitators with only the most minor differences (if any) from the original. Most shooting games released since then have followed its "multiple life, progressively difficult level " paradigm, according to Eugene Jarvis . Following
22016-420: The pointer. Clicking or pointing (stopping movement while the cursor is within the bounds of an area) can select files, programs or actions from a list of names, or (in graphical interfaces) through small images called "icons" and other elements. For example, a text file might be represented by a picture of a paper notebook and clicking while the cursor points at this icon might cause a text editing program to open
22188-548: The principle of bullet hells. A bullet heaven or reverse bullet hell is a subgenre characterized by the player character collecting or unlocking abilities and attacks whose visuals overlap and clutter the game screen as the game progresses. They also share a feature of many enemy characters, commonly called "hordes", walking toward the player from off-screen. This genre is generally attributed to Vampire Survivors , released in 2022. A small subgenre of shooter games that emphasizes chaotic, reflex-based gameplay designed to put
22360-416: The release of Konami's Gradius , which gave the player greater control over the choice of weaponry, thus introducing another element of strategy. The game also introduced the need for the player to memorise levels in order to achieve any measure of success. Gradius , with its iconic protagonist, defined the side-scrolling shoot 'em up and spawned a series spanning several sequels. The following year saw
22532-497: The same time, Eurogamer staff placed Hotline Miami as the 44th best video game to play that year. In a 2022 article published by The Ringer , Lewis Gordon described Hotline Miami as a game that "[stretched] the boundaries" of the video game industry, as one of the more "warmly-regarded" indie games. Christopher Cruz of Rolling Stone described Hotline Miami as a "titan of indie gaming," one with an "impact [that] has reached far and wide." Hotline Miami has been considered one of
22704-423: The scope to include games featuring such protagonists as robots or humans on foot, as well as including games featuring "on-rails" (or "into the screen") and "run and gun" movement. Mark Wolf restricts the definition to games featuring multiple antagonists ("'em" being short for "them"), calling games featuring one-on-one shooting "combat games". Formerly, critics described any game where the primary design element
22876-408: The screen was also referred to as "CAT" at this time. As noted above, this "mouse" was first mentioned in print in a July 1965 report, on which English was the lead author. On 9 December 1968, Engelbart publicly demonstrated the mouse at what would come to be known as The Mother of All Demos . Engelbart never received any royalties for it, as his employer SRI held the patent, which expired before
23048-452: The series have been created, often incorporating elements from other games such as Team Fortress 2 (2007) and Half-Life (1998). Among these was Midnight Animal , a fan game that would have incorporated elements from the Persona series, but was cancelled by 2019. Top-down shooter Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games . There
23220-419: The shape and size of a mouse , with the cord resembling its tail . The popularity of wireless mice without cords makes the resemblance less obvious. According to Roger Bates, a hardware designer under English, the term also came about because the cursor on the screen was, for an unknown reason, referred to as "CAT" and was seen by the team as if it would be chasing the new desktop device. The plural for
23392-416: The small rodent is always "mice" in modern usage. The plural for a computer mouse is either "mice" or "mouses" according to most dictionaries, with "mice" being more common. The first recorded plural usage is "mice"; the online Oxford Dictionaries cites a 1984 use, and earlier uses include J. C. R. Licklider 's "The Computer as a Communication Device" of 1968. The trackball , a related pointing device,
23564-472: The sprites themselves, allowing the player to fit between the narrow gaps in enemy fire. Bullet hell games were first popularized in Japanese arcades during a time when 3D games and fighting games were eclipsing other games. The flashy firing patterns were intended to grab players attention. Toaplan 's Batsugun (1993) is often considered a pivotal point in the development of this subgenre. After
23736-612: The subgenre, along with Parodius , Cotton , and Harmful Park being additional key games. Some cute 'em ups may employ overtly sexual characters and innuendo. Vertically scrolling shooters present the action from above and scroll up (or occasionally down) the screen. Horizontally scrolling shooters usually present a side-on view and scroll left to right (or less often, right to left). Isometrically scrolling shooters or isometric shooters , such as Sega 's Zaxxon (1982), use an isometric point of view . A popular implementation style of scrolling shooters has
23908-449: The success of Journey (2012). When Hotline Miami released on PlayStation Vita, it became the platform's best selling game of the month within six days, despite releasing near the end of the month. By May 2015, it had sold over 1.5 million units on all platforms. A month before release, the game won the "Most Fantastic" award at the 2012 Fantastic Arcade festival in Austin. At the end of
24080-550: The success of Space Invaders , shoot 'em ups became the dominant genre for much of the golden age of arcade video games , from the late 1970s up until the early 1980s, particularly the "space shooter" subgenre. In 1979, Namco 's Galaxian —"the granddaddy of all top-down shooters", according to IGN—was released. Its use of colour graphics and individualised antagonists were considered "strong evolutionary concepts" among space ship games. In 1981 Gorf brought joystick control and (limited) vertical as well as horizontal movement to
24252-415: The team felt that the game's violent nature could cause controversy, the team believed the decision to use pixel art would mediate any potential problems. Wedin stated that, while he thought games that used realistic 3D graphics were often singled out when a real-world attack took place, Hotline Miami ' s graphics kept the game "out of the spotlight." When looking for artists to design the game's box art,
24424-451: The team initially looked for artists who worked on older horror films. When they were unable to agree on who should design it, Åkerblad offered to create the box art himself, and made it in about three days. The soundtrack of Hotline Miami was a focus of the developers, with both developers viewing it as one of the important parts of the game. Their goal was to create a soundtrack that did not "sound like game music", but instead sounded like
24596-515: The team watched before starting development. Among these movies were the works of David Lynch , the superhero comedy film Kick-Ass (2010), the Miami-oriented aforementioned documentary Cocaine Cowboys , and Drive (2010). Drive in particular inspired the game's minimal dialogue and critique of violence, leading to the creation of the masked personas and their associated scenes. In a June 2012 post on his personal blog, Söderström said that he
24768-548: The terminal SIG 3001, which had been designed and developed since 1963. Development for the TR ;440 main frame began in 1965. This led to the development of the TR 86 process computer system with its SIG 100-86 terminal. Inspired by a discussion with a university customer, Mallebrein came up with the idea of "reversing" the existing Rollkugel trackball into a moveable mouse-like device in 1966, so that customers did not have to be bothered with mounting holes for
24940-404: The things he did and allows Jacket to kill him without resistance. Afterwards, Jacket walks out onto a balcony and lights a cigarette, taking a photo out of his pocket and throwing it out. After completing the levels centered around Jacket, the player unlocks an epilogue where the player character is the Biker. Similarly to Jacket, the Biker has been receiving messages on his answering machine, and
25112-440: The two began developing Hotline Miami . The game was originally titled Cocaine Cowboy , named after the 2006 documentary of the same name . Throughout development, Söderström posted updates on his Twitter account and personal blog. The first playable version of the game was created within the first week of development after Söderström assembled the basics of the game, including a temporary soundtrack. Although initially planned as
25284-416: The two fight to the death. As Jacket continues his massacres, his perception of reality becomes increasingly more surreal. Talking corpses begin appearing at Beard's places of work, and eventually Beard himself abruptly dies, being replaced by a bald man that offers Jacket nothing. After coming home one night, Jacket discovers his girlfriend murdered and Richter on his couch, who shoots him and places him into
25456-470: The underlying principles of the planimeter to inputting X- and Y-coordinate data. On 14 November 1963, he first recorded his thoughts in his personal notebook about something he initially called a " bug ", which is a "3-point" form could have a "drop point and 2 orthogonal wheels". He wrote that the "bug" would be "easier" and "more natural" to use, and unlike a stylus, it would stay still when let go, which meant it would be "much better for coordination with
25628-607: The underlying surface, eschewing the internal moving parts a mechanical mouse uses in addition to its optics. A laser mouse is an optical mouse that uses coherent (laser) light. The earliest optical mice detected movement on pre-printed mousepad surfaces, whereas the modern LED optical mouse works on most opaque diffuse surfaces; it is usually unable to detect movement on specular surfaces like polished stone. Laser diodes provide good resolution and precision, improving performance on opaque specular surfaces. Later, more surface-independent optical mice use an optoelectronic sensor (essentially,
25800-472: The vertically scrolling, overhead view games Front Line (1982), Commando (1985), and Ikari Warriors (1986). Side-scrolling run and gun games often combine elements from platform games , such as the ability to jump: Contra (1987), Metal Slug (1996) and Cuphead (2017). Run and gun games may also use isometric viewpoints and may have multidirectional movement. Bullet hell ( 弾幕 , danmaku , literally "barrage" or "bullet curtain")
25972-545: The vertically-oriented fixed-shooter genre, while Space Invaders and Galaxian have only horizontal movement controlled by a pair of buttons. Atari 's Asteroids (1979) was a hit multi-directional shooter, taking from Spacewar! the ability for the player's ship to roam the entire screen and to rotate, move and shoot in any direction. The Space Invaders format evolved into the vertical scrolling shooter sub-genre. SNK 's debut shoot 'em up Ozma Wars (1979) featured vertical scrolling backgrounds and enemies, and it
26144-486: The way to light sensors, thus detecting in their turn the motion of the ball. This variant of the mouse resembled an inverted trackball and became the predominant form used with personal computers throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The Xerox PARC group also settled on the modern technique of using both hands to type on a full-size keyboard and grabbing the mouse when required. The ball mouse has two freely rotating rollers. These are located 90 degrees apart. One roller detects
26316-487: The year, Hotline Miami was nominated for several awards by IGN at its "Best of 2012" awards, including "Best Overall Game". It was also nominated for "Best PC Action Game", "Best PC Story", "Best PC Game", "Best Overall Action Game", "Best Overall Music", and won "Best PC Sound". PC Gamer selected Hotline Miami as the recipient of its "The Best Music of the Year 2012" award. At the 2012 Machinima's Inside Gaming Awards ,
26488-465: Was again acclaimed as one of the best games in the genre. Both Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga were later released on Xbox Live Arcade . The Touhou Project series spans 26 years and 30 games as of 2022 and was listed in the Guinness World Records in October 2010 for being the "most prolific fan-made shooter series". The genre has undergone something of a resurgence with the release of
26660-421: Was an influential game in the multi-directional shooter subgenre. Some games experimented with pseudo-3D perspectives at the time. Nintendo 's attempt at the genre, Radar Scope (1980), borrowed heavily from Space Invaders and Galaxian , but added a three-dimensional third-person perspective; the game was a commercial failure, however. Atari's Tempest (1981) was one of the earliest tube shooters and
26832-502: Was announced. It was released digitally over the course of several months and follows a protagonist named Chris, depicting events not considered canon to the main Hotline Miami story. A parody of the game, " Hotline Milwaukee ", is included as part of Devolver Bootleg , a 2019 compilation of parodies of numerous games published by Devolver Digital. Jacket has appeared as a playable character in other games, such as Payday 2 (2013) and Dead Cells (2019). Several fan games based on
27004-430: Was chosen so that the data could also be transmitted to the TR 86 front-end process computer and over longer distance telex lines with c. 50 baud . Weighing 465 grams (16.4 oz), the device with a total height of about 7 cm (2.8 in) came in a c. 12 cm (4.7 in) diameter hemispherical injection-molded thermoplastic casing featuring one central push button. As noted above,
27176-496: Was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1961, for the developers' amusement, and presents a space battle between two craft. It was remade four times as an arcade video game in the 1970s. Space Invaders (1978) is most frequently cited as the "first" or "original" in the genre. A seminal game created by Tomohiro Nishikado of Japan's Taito , it led to proliferation of shooter games. It pitted
27348-485: Was developed by Dennaton Games, a team composed of designer and programmer Jonatan Söderström and artist Dennis Wedin. Söderström had previously developed numerous freeware indie games, such as the puzzle game Tuning , which won the Nuovo Award at the Independent Games Festival in 2010. Around this time, he developed numerous projects that were never completed. Among these was a top-down shooter titled Super Carnage ,
27520-580: Was invented in 1946 by Ralph Benjamin as part of a post- World War II -era fire-control radar plotting system called the Comprehensive Display System (CDS). Benjamin was then working for the British Royal Navy Scientific Service. Benjamin's project used analog computers to calculate the future position of target aircraft based on several initial input points provided by a user with a joystick . Benjamin felt that
27692-636: Was later praised by attendees at Rezzed. It was most played game at Rezzed that year, and won the Game Of The Show award; Tom Bramwell of Eurogamer described the game as the "best example of the sort of game we invented the show for." For the game's promotion, Dennaton purchased a phone number in the Miami area that allowed people to leave messages that would later be used in a trailer. Hotline Miami released on Steam on 23 October 2012. Support for MacOS and Linux released on 19 March and 19 September respectively in 2013. In November 2012, an update for
27864-553: Was more ideal, but that players could get used to them. The game's narrative was well received, with Reeves describing it as "perfectly [placing] you inside the mind of a serial killer." Saldana described the game as an "introspective journey into the violence of video games", and that it had a "daring narrative style" that gained the attention of players. Plante wrote that game had "more to say about our fascination with violence" than other titles, describing Hotline Miami as an exceptional game not due to its violence, but because it had
28036-475: Was one of the first computers designed for individual use in 1973 and is regarded as the first modern computer to use a mouse. Alan Kay designed the 16-by-16 mouse cursor icon with its left edge vertical and right edge 45-degrees so it displays well on the bitmap. Inspired by PARC 's Alto, the Lilith , a computer which had been developed by a team around Niklaus Wirth at ETH Zürich between 1978 and 1980, provided
28208-490: Was one that would cause the game to crash if certain printers were plugged into the player's computer. When designing the gameplay, Wedin stated that they were designing a game that they wanted to play, initially being unconcerned with what an average consumer or a critic would think of it. According to him and Söderström, this design process allowed the team to determine what would "fit" the game or be liked by other players, based on whether or not they personally found it fun. In
28380-559: Was part of the original Ferranti Canada , working on the Royal Canadian Navy 's DATAR (Digital Automated Tracking and Resolving) system in 1952. DATAR was similar in concept to Benjamin's display. The trackball used four disks to pick up motion, two each for the X and Y directions. Several rollers provided mechanical support. When the ball was rolled, the pickup discs spun and contacts on their outer rim made periodic contact with wires, producing pulses of output with each movement of
28552-540: Was rejected by the German Patent Office due to lack of inventiveness. For the air traffic control system, the Mallebrein team had already developed a precursor to touch screens in form of an ultrasonic-curtain-based pointing device in front of the display. In 1970, they developed a device named " Touchinput - Einrichtung " ("touch input device") based on a conductively coated glass screen. The Xerox Alto
28724-548: Was released in June 2015. On 19 August 2019, Hotline Miami and Hotline Miami 2 were re-released as part of the Hotline Miami Collection for Nintendo Switch . The Hotline Miami Collection was later ported to Xbox One and Stadia on 7 April and 22 September 2020 respectively, and PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on 23 October 2023. According to review aggregator Metacritic , Hotline Miami received generally positive reviews from critics. On that platform, it holds an aggregated score of 85 per cent based on 51 reviews for
28896-412: Was released in March 2015. Hotline Miami and its sequel were rereleased as part of the localized Hotline Miami: Collected Edition in Japan that same year. Another compilation, the Hotline Miami Collection , released for Nintendo Switch in August 2019, and was later released on Xbox One , Stadia , PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S . Since release, Hotline Miami has often been considered one of
29068-404: Was shooting as a "shoot 'em up", but later shoot 'em ups became a specific, inward-looking genre based on design conventions established in those shooting games of the 1980s. Shoot 'em ups are a subgenre of action game . These games are usually viewed from a top-down or side-view perspective , and players must use ranged weapons to take action at a distance. The player's avatar is typically
29240-487: Was sold as optional equipment for their computer systems. Bill English , builder of Engelbart's original mouse, created a ball mouse in 1972 while working for Xerox PARC . The ball mouse replaced the external wheels with a single ball that could rotate in any direction. It came as part of the hardware package of the Xerox Alto computer. Perpendicular chopper wheels housed inside the mouse's body chopped beams of light on
29412-546: Was the first action game to feature a supply of energy, similar to hit points . Namco's Xevious , released in 1982, was one of the first and most influential vertical scrolling shooters. Xevious is also the first to convincingly portray dithered/shaded organic landscapes as opposed to blocks-in-space or wireframe obstacles. Side-scrolling shoot 'em ups emerged in the early 1980s. Defender , introduced by Williams Electronics in late 1980 and entering production in early 1981, allowed side-scrolling in both directions in
29584-512: Was wanted the project to have an interesting, but "unintrusive" story that players could skip through if they wanted to. Another inspiration that impacted the game's narrative was Gordon Freeman , the silent protagonist of the Half-Life series. Beyond those two, Söderström stated that Lynch's works left the largest influence on the game overall. Some of the game's characters were based on real people, with Beard being based on artist Niklas Åkerblad ,
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