Update 01 news - Midnight Animal mod for Hotline Miami

Where the mod stands right now

The gameplay has been largely finished and is relatively stable. In terms of gameplay, all the programming that's left is just adding new features (weapons, masks, enemies), and is not difficult, just a bit time-consuming.

Level design is progressing well, and goes relatively quickly in terms of building the actual levels. Gameplay levels will be prioritised first, and then transition levels. The most difficult part of this is enemy placement, and creating a good level that plays enjoyably and is stable for every single mask. The levels are about a quarter done, but only because of a considerable lack of time in the past several months due to school and such.

The most time-consuming part is spriting; fortunately, I have several rather capable spriters from r/HotlineMiami assisting me, so progress is slow but steady. Masks and NPCs are largely unsprited for the most part, as well as animations for executions; the last one is the most important one in terms of progress, as without the proper animations, I can't actually code the executions.

Things to be done

• Script in dialogue, world interaction, NPCs, pretty much all story elements.
• Add in new weapons, including executions (crossed out ones have already been finished).
  • Any similarities with HM2 in terms of weapons are indeed the weapons from HM2.
  • Otherwise, any weapons that are not listed should be assumed to carry over from Hotline Miami (the first game).
  • • Nailgun
    • Chainsaw
    • Suppressed shotgun and assault rifle
    • Flare gun
    • Flamethrower
    • Sniper rifle
    • Circular saw
    • Chainlink
    • Skateboard
    • Meat cleaver
    • Tranquiliser gun (not certain yet if this will make it in)
    • Shovel
    • Garden shears (probably will make it in, but the spriting is troublesome at the moment)
    • Crossbow
    • Heavy machine gun
    • Taser
    • Thompson submachine gun
    • Semiautomatic pistol
    • Automatic shotgun
    • Trophy
    • Hunting rifle
    • Grenades/Molotov cocktails (I'm debating these very heavily right now, but I was inspired to make these after watching the Super Carnage prototype. Obviously they would be incredibly overpowered so I'm currently trying to figure out ways to not make them ridiculously overpowered)
• Finish levels.
• Finish transition levels.
• Optimise gore system for slower machines.
• Fix score screens.
• Fix slight issues with enemies flashing different colours.
• Animate masks for the executions.
• Fix issues with enemies getting up after being knocked out and changing enemy types.
• Minor aesthetic tweaks on title screen, level select screen, and level title screen.
• Minor tweaks to UI colours.
• Add optional S rank.
• Finish spriting and coding masks (w. respective abilities).
• Code AI for boss battles.
• Code AI for special enemy types.
  • Dogs
  • Fat enemies
  • Katana enemies (move faster, can dodge bullets)
  • Chainsaw enemies (move much faster, will aggro other enemies)
  • Sniper enemies (shoot very fast and very accurate bullets, can spot the player from a significantly longer range)
  • Armoured/shielded enemies (bullets will only stun, must first be knocked down then executed)
  • Sentries (alert enemies to position, like gang leader in HM2's subway)
  • Heavy weapons enemies (wield very powerful weapons, either the automatic shotgun or heavy machine gun,
  • Suicide bombers (once the player is detected, they will charge at the player very quickly and explode - basically, dogs with bombs - not sure if this will remain in the game)
  • Commandos (dual wield singlehanded weapons, otherwise carry MP5s; like the SWAT chief from HM2's Final Cut, will carefully hug walls and can shoot from cover; cannot be knocked out)

Screenshots

An overview of one of the earliest levels, a gang hideout.

Second floor of previous screen.

A bit of code to demonstrate that I've actually added new content.