#Jonatan Söderström

[kinghijinx22]

Hotline Miami 2 part 3 finale (controller, no commentary, replay) Making The Father proud

[pebbleeaterofficial]

DO NOT SUPPORT ERICK SCARECROW.

the twitter message above is from Jonatan Söderström, someone behind Dennaton Games and was responsible for the creation of Hotline Miami. Recently, Erick Scarecrow has been called out (by me and a fuck ton of other people) for using AI Generated art for (What we thought at the time was) official Hotline Miami spinoffs.

It was revealed shortly after this that Erick Scarecrow was not making these collabs legally, via Jonatan. This prompted backlash to be sent to Erick, which resulted in him blocking me (and probably others, i don't know) and leads us to now. Erick said he signed contracts to make the spinoffs, but what Jonatan said is disproving this claim.

TL;DR: Do not buy from Erick Scarecrow / ESC Toys until further notice due to his usage of AI Art and his so-called "legal" spinoffs.

Do not send harassment to Erick, simply do not buy his products and move on. Do not interact with his tweets.

[alterctrl]

Jonatan Söderström

Jonatan Söderström is part of the indie studio “Dennaton Games” and worked on the “Hotline Miami” series with the help of Dennis Wedin, the game was developed using GameMaker 7 (a much older version of GameMaker) in 2012.

He started using GameMaker when he was searching for a way to make games without the need to code during high school, he developed many small games using it, he began getting attention due to this and eventually decided to make it his primary profession in 2010 when he met Dennis.

Dennis liked the style of his games and wanted help on a project, they made a few projects together eventually including Hotline Miami 1 and 2.

[freeindiegame]

Dungeon by Jonatan Söderström & Arthur Lee

[galaxinaa]

Jonatan Söderström ?

[generactionx]

Perturbator - Miami Disco by DevolverDigital Prolific developer Jonatan Söderström and graphic artist Dennis Wedin have announced their newest game collaboration Hotline Miami will be released under their new joint label Dennaton Games and published by shady game cartel Devolver Digital. Step into the neon-soaked underground of 1980s Miami as bizarre messages on your answering machine seem to be urging you to commit terrible acts of violence -- but will you obey? Hotline Miami overflows with raw brutality and skull crushing close combat as you find yourself outgunned and using your wits to choreograph your way through impossible situations. An unmistakable visual style, a driving soundtrack, and a surreal plot that will have you question your own thirst for blood. Bash and blast through over 20 multiscreen levels with 35 unique weapons and collect 25 game-altering masks in one of the darkest and most unusual independent games on the scene. The hotline itself can be reached at +1 786 519 3708 or @HotlineMiami. Leave a message. https://ift.tt/POOaGV https://ift.tt/XNIOsR https://ift.tt/15wEzJv

[lulachamberlainfanclub]

Act I Games Museum

In Act I, there’s a text encounter on the road where you run into a museum. If you go back to Equus Oils and talk to Joseph about it, he tells you that there’s a file on games there, and that a game he wrote called “If I Had My Way, I’d Tear This Building Down”. Conway has to sift through multiple files and finds about 15 other entries. They are all real, and I have collated this list of links.

Queue by Stephen Lavelle (Interactive Fiction)

Portal by Brad Fregger (Interactive Fiction)

Mondo Medicalis by Jonatan Söderström (First Person Puzzle)

The Postman’s Choice by Ben Vautier (Modern Art)

Calamity Annie by Anna Anthropy (Twine Lesbian Cowboy Game) (Thanks for the tip, @skeleton-justice-warrior)

Cart Life by Richard Hofmeier (Retail Sim)

Mainichi by Mattie Brice (Walking Sim)

The Sea Will Claim Everything by Jonas and Verena Kyratzes (Point-and-Click Adventure)

Everything I Do is Art, But Nothing I Do Makes Any Difference, Part II Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Gallery by Chris Reilly (FPS, Half-Life 2 Mod)

Digital: A Love Story by Christine Love (Visual Novel)

Radiator 1-1: Polaris by Robert Yang (Experimental Half-Life 2 Mod)

Brace by merritt k (It looks like merrit k has made all of her games unavailable online. Does anyone have any info on this? I really liked hugpunx.)

The Cat and the Coup by Peter Brinson and Kurosh ValaNejad (Historical/Documentary/Cat Simulator)

Syberia by Benoît Sokal (Adventure/Puzzle)

Prisoner’s Dilemma by Richard Serra (Short Film)

The Walking Dead by TellTale Games (Narrative Adventure)

Then we come to If I Had My Way, I’d Tear the Building Down by Joseph Wheattree. At first I kinda expected to find that Carboard Computer had released a game by that name as “Joseph Wheattree”, which you could forgive me for believing considering the lengths CC goes to. They sell a physical copy of Lem Dolittle’s “The Entertainment” (which, at less than five bucks, is a steal. A really cool physical artifact of my favorite game). 

There is no such game, sadly, but my research has led me to a song by Blind (get it?) Willie Johnson. It’s a blues song about the Old Testament story of Samson and Delilah. How it maps onto the KRZ lore, I couldn’t tell you. Good song, though. If you like the blues.

IN ANY CASE. This is clearly a list of the games that inspired CC to make Kentucky Route Zero. Most of these games are short and free, some of them aren’t even games, and one of them has sadly been scrubbed from legitimate download by its creator. 

Of the listed games, I can tell you:

Christine Love’s “Digital: A Love Story” is really tremendous (as is all of her stuff)

“Mainichi” by Mattie Brice was a brief, interesting look into the life of another person

and “Queue” by Stephen Lavelle is a brutally depressing but extremely well-written 15 minute story

I hope you find something on this list that inspires you, makes you think, makes you feel happy, makes you feel sad, or whatever it is you want to get from games. 

EDITED TO ADD: I should also mention that Joseph's game is about the love triangle between himself, Donald and Lula Chamberlain. Important lore!

[isfeed]

Hotline Miami’s ultra-violence has influenced games for a decade

Hotline Miami’s ultra-violence has influenced games for a decade

Hotline Miami. | Image: Devolver Digital A look back on the impact of Dennaton’s indie classic 10 years later I’ve been chatting with Suda51 for the past hour. The conversation hasn’t been about any of his past works but, instead, his favorite game. Among the many anecdotes Goichi Suda told me about meeting Dennis Wedin and Jonatan Söderström, creators of Hotline Miami, one in particular stood…

[ck-gamedesign]

Hotline Miami

Hotline Miami is a Top down shooter video game by Jonatan Söderström and Dennis Wedin, collectively known as Dennaton Games The game was published by Devolver Digital and released on 23 October 2012 for Microsoft Windows.

Set in 1989 Miami, the game revolves primarily around an unnamed silent protagonist—dubbed "Jacket" by fans—who has been receiving coded messages on his answering machine instructing him to commit massacres against the local Russian mafia The game blends top-down perspective with stealth, extreme violence and surreal storytelling, along with a soundtrack and visuals inspired by 1980s culture. The game's lead narrative influence was David Lynch, while another notable influence came from the 2011 film Drive for the game's minimalist plot, use of dialogue, portrayal of violence and musical style. The 2006 documentary Cocaine Cowboys influenced the game's setting, and Half-Life series protagonist Gordon Freeman influenced Jacket's lack of voice.

[kinghijinx22]

Hotline Miami 2 part 2 (controller, no commentary, replay) Two sides to every story

[whereforeartthougender]

Fancasting a Hotline Miami movie

(My computer sucks, so no images)

Hotline Miami 1:

Aaron Paul as Jacket Benedict Cumberbatch as Biker Ryan Gosling as Richard Evangeline Lilly as Don Juan Oscar Isaac as Rasmus Niklas Åkerblad as Beard Johnny Depp as the Hobo Amber Heard as the Girlfriend Vin Diesel as Richter Scarlett Johansson as the Bodyguard Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the Father Christopher Walken as Ivan Lebedev Dennis Wedin and Jonatan Söderström as the Janitors

Hotline Miami 2:

Chris Pine as Tony Charlize Theron as Alex James McAvoy as Ash Jason Momoa as Mark Anne Hathaway as Corey Matt Damon as Manny Pardo Will Ferrell as Evan Wright Jack Black as Martin Brown Patton Oswalt as Jake Sebastian Stan as the Son Dwayne Johnson as the Henchman Rouven Blankenfeld as the DIrector Amber Heard as the Actress John Boyega as Barnes Josh Gad as Daniels John Goodman as the Colonel

[rugeon]

Learning to butterfly the videogame chicken breast

New year new potential projects. For final year project 2018-2019. Might as well start with the new ‘ideation document.

Ideation Document

Contexts:

Systemic gameplay - systemic narrative, and otherwise

Gamefeel/ Player Satisfaction/ Juicing

Strong unusual sense of place and people

Unique methods of interactive media storytelling (NITW Text boxes)

Coziness in games

Non traditional methods of mechanical interaction ie. traditional control methods, with more unique player expression

Having an Interesting failure spectrum (Tom Francis thoughts on why MGSV is a fun stealth game, due to its wide array of failure states)

Analogue/varied means of  expression within one mechanic or activity (jumping in mario, building a snowman in NITW prologue game, Lost Constellation)

Ethos of messy fast prototyping iterartion and production (inspired by Jenny Jiao Hsia talk about prototyping)

Affecting audio  

Techniques 

Interaction Design

Branching Narratives + Dialogue

Games AI

Procedural Generation

Advanced Audio and Visual Processing

Inspiring Works 

Heat Signature - Suspicious Developments, Tom Francis

Roguelike, top down action/ stealth/ heist game where you play as different intergalactic heist/bounty hunter people that breaks into spaceships. Extremely systemic game that encourages players to find interesting solutions to problems by providing a wide variety of interesting sci-fi tools to the player. Systemic gameplay+ systemic player narratives as told through gameplay plans  being made and then changing/going awry as well as conditions constraining players to be creative.

Hotline Miami - Dennaton Games, Jonatan Söderström. Dennis Wedin

Surreal, hyperviolent top down action game about the trancelike sprees that a masked killer enacts, that strongly highlights the violent obsession of videogames and culture. Has several factors that contribute to a sense of good gamefeel, and making what should be a frustrating experience instead induce a flow state.

Sid Meier's Covert Action - MPS Labs, MicroProse

Interesting systemic narrative that the player experiencing by foiling and interacting with various agents and stages of a spy plot. Systemic narrative that is expressed by the gameplay systems. Feeling of the ai acting irrespective to the player. Narrative experience of player feels quite systemic.

Night in the Woods (NITW) - Infinite Fall, Scott Benson, Alec Holowka, Bethany Hockenberry + Finji Adam Saltsman, Rebekah Saltsman, Em Halberstadt

Anthropomorphic animal narrative, platforming, adventrue game that tells the story of a 20 year old that comes back to her home town and and friends after leaving college. Tells an emotive story unconventional by games standards in a very playful way that has some traditional gameplay elements (platforming) but also makes interactive more unusual verbs (a pizza eating section, and pretzel stealing microgame). Creates an extremely strong, cozy sense of place. Expressive within the limits of its digital medium+storytelling (wide variety of personality conveyed through text box animation).

Minit - Vlambeer, Jan Willem Nijman, Kitty Calis, Jukio Kallio, Dominik Johann

Small, short adventure game where you die and every minute and respawn at the same space, learning about the world, optimising your route and changing the world slightly with each successive run. Very polished game with superb gamefeel (all vlambeer games have great gamefeel+juice)

Kentucky Route Zero - Cardboard Computer- Jake Elliott, Tamas Kemenczy, Ben Babbitt

The great american novel in game form. A magical realist story about debt to the past. Extremely important and affective narrative game. ‘The Entertainment’ - Interlude, elucidates relationship and interplay between player and developers that creates the game experience. Creates a powerful atmosphere + utilises branching narrative

I also wrote down a bunch of other stuff I’ve been thinking about in a big jumbled list for help during ideation process. This is just junk floating around, mood board of my head.

Yakuza, Moby Dick, Dark Souls/Absolver, Atom Zombie Smasher+Brendon Chung, Papers Please+Return of Obra Dinn, FTL+Into The Breach, Hylics, High Hell, devolver, Hyper Light Drifter, Flinthook, Jalopy, Jet-Set Radio, Mark of the Ninja, MGS V, Luftrausers, Shadow of Mordor, The Norwood Suite, Small radios, big televisions, The Endless Express, Alan Wake+remedy games, Assassins Creed 1, Banner Saga, F.E.A.R. ,  Helldivers, invisible inc. , Monaco, Westerado,  spectacle fighters dmc, thomas was alone, reigns, evil dead, sorcerer, valhalla rising, a field in england, hard to be a god, stalker, man with a movie camera, bomb city, taking of pelham 123, assault on precinct 13,  escape from new york, fruitvale station, playtime, drive, thief, collateral, taxi driver, lost in translation, tekkonkinkreet, ki-ki delivery service+ghibli, REDLINE, cagliostro, 2049, che, motorcycle diaries, man with movie camera, koyaanisqatsi,VVitch,Sacco e Vanzeti, nocturnal animal, die hard, ghost in the shell, atlanta, twin peaks, fear and loathing,only god forgives,donnie darko, mad max, satoshi kon films, eyes wide shut, dog day afternoon, seventh seal, whiplash, brazil, t2 trainspotting, hellboy comic, fargo, rocky horror, gozu, juno, clerks, slacker, daria, almost famous, lady bird, frances ha, fury, wes anderson colour+ framing, NOIR + lighting, there will be blood, no country for old men, unforgiven, dollars trilogy, run lola run, phone booth, die hard, dr strangelove, apocalypse now/heart of darkness, the wire, adult swim+space ghost stuff, home movies+squigglevision, hannibal, bojack, flcl, true detective, desert punk, QOTSA, them crooked vultures, grunge, idles, talking heads, wu, green kingdom, lizard gizzard, acoustic wizard, tobacco, diiv, mbv, spooky+ over the garden wall, bowie, clash

Initial Ideas

A game where you play as a witch exploring a modern magical realist city at night. Should have an interesting traversal mechanic. All about traversal, dancing and screaming in a city at night, strong sense of place + atmosphere: inspired by films such as playtime, thief, drive, collateral, fruitvale station, lost in translation as well as games like NITW. Thought about more in this doc: one pager section on 2nd page: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O3NC8HqwmERq57Dcqqc2d2Ih34ZVO4-vEQPnVTKRyOk/edit?usp=sharing

Some kind of game themed around the desert/stoner rock music genre which includes acts like Red Fang, Kyuss and Sleep. Make use of AAVP to have a dynamic soundtrack responding to gameplay that impacts the visuals. The game’s mechanics should be directly inspired by the theming, and common features of the genre, could be action oriented, with rhythm game influences. One game that would probably be worth looking at in relation to this is the recently released Tetris Effect, while I would not be as interested in a game as abstracted as tetris, how they achieve a flow state, and have music and visuals informed by gameplay would be worth looking in to. I feel this game is more likely to involve rapid prototyping.

Create a languid game about chilling out on a ship with crew and passengers. Setting could be sci-fi or more historic - chatting on computer to far flung galactic friends and doing menial space jobs/ tasks aboard ship. The setting and experience of the place can draw from ideas about coziness in games + make use of Branching Narrative/Dialogue. Potentially also think about how procedural narrative could be a factor. Inspired by Moby Dick, NITW and Purgatory

Hotline Miami/Goap/Diehard - ‘Create a systemic top-down stealth action game where the player is asked to foil a developing plot/heist by a group of AI agents whose plan and activities respond to the players attempts to derail it. The focus should be on the player feeling like they are responding to the AI’s adaptations to the player interrupting their plot. Each level would be one plot/ situation the player is thrust into. The project is inspired by the evolving plots of covert action, the setting/circumstances of Die-Hard and the gameplay/perspective of hotline miami. This project will involve development of a complex AI system that could be implemented via a GOAP method.

Walkie talky/radio gameplay mechanic to solicit/disseminate information

Research into the effectiveness of procedural vs authored content in games, as large games increasingly find themselves trying to use procedural generation to meet the demands of growing content demand they are finding it difficult to reconcile this with a desire to create quality, curated content, narrative or otherwise. I propose research into the various ways procedural vs authored content has been divvied up in games, the amount of people working in each area, how much curated work is required for procedural work to be effective and the reception/perception of these two methods to create content for games. The means by which this could be investigated is perhaps by creating some data sets of very simple different possible mechanical games in Unity or more narrative ones in twine, that are sorted into different groups of procedural / authored games. We would then measure the level of player engagement over the course of their time with the games and within the context of how long it took to make the given games. Context + techniques: procedural generation + branching narratives

[freeindiegame]

4 Minutes and 33 Seconds of Uniqueness by Petri Purho, John Cage, Heather Kelley & Jonatan Söderström

[teddiesgraphics-blog]

Video Games; a late post

And here’s a topic I am reluctant to talk about. I am an avid gamer. Describing myself as such presents a stereotype that I always wished to separate from design. This embarrassment for one of the most popular hobbies in the world comes from having older siblings.But I digress... Video games, consoles, and the modern personal computer have become an ever present and greatly appreciated societal norm since the humble origins from games like 1980′s Pac-Man. As such they have both been influenced, and have influenced modern culture, with e-sports being such a large televised international industry.  

Sometimes games reference back to the 1980′s, such as the indie game Hotline Miami produced by Jonatan Söderström and Dennis Wedin. With its retro style, this shoot ‘em up classic was an astounding success. As part of my previous project I meticulously deconstructed the aesthetic of this game, and compared with the gathered reference imagery, so as to develop my own 1980′s inspired retro artstyle with just a hint of modern day Synth influence.

[generactionx]

Jasper Byrne - Miami by DevolverDigital Prolific developer Jonatan Söderström and graphic artist Dennis Wedin have announced their newest game collaboration Hotline Miami will be released under their new joint label Dennaton Games and published by shady game cartel Devolver Digital. Step into the neon-soaked underground of 1980s Miami as bizarre messages on your answering machine seem to be urging you to commit terrible acts of violence -- but will you obey? Hotline Miami overflows with raw brutality and skull crushing close combat as you find yourself outgunned and using your wits to choreograph your way through impossible situations. An unmistakable visual style, a driving soundtrack, and a surreal plot that will have you question your own thirst for blood. Bash and blast through over 20 multiscreen levels with 35 unique weapons and collect 25 game-altering masks in one of the darkest and most unusual independent games on the scene. The hotline itself can be reached at +1 786 519 3708 or @HotlineMiami. Leave a message. https://ift.tt/POOaGV https://ift.tt/XNIOsR https://ift.tt/15wEzJv

[lalaissue]

Hotline Miami dev’s next game may horrify or delight you, depending

Hotline Miami dev’s next game may horrify or delight you, depending

In 2020, Hotline Miami and its sequel were ported to Xbox One and Google Stadia. As clocks rolled over to 2021, one of the developers behind the indie games spoke a little about his new project, and it sounds exactly like you’d expect. In a vague tweet, Jonatan Söderström says the upcoming game is something a little more personal, and that reactions will likely be extreme, and mixed. “I wish I…