HATRED, aka Awor Surkrarz Simulator 2015

Ninja Destroyer · Nov 15, 2014

http://www.dailydot.com/geek/hatred-game-developer-interview/?fb=dd

By Joey Keeton on November 13, 2014

A main character in a trench coat talks about a “genocide crusade” before opening fire on a suburban neighborhood. A police officer is repeatedly shanked, a man’s head explodes at the bad end of a shotgun, and a pistol is placed in a woman’s mouth as she screams helplessly. The trigger is pulled; blood showers the street below.

This is the gameplay shown for the game Hatred in a trailer released in October. It’s immediately obvious that it would be written about all over the world. It was sadistic and gory, and anything that makes people gasp and cover their eyes in horror is ripe for mass media coverage.

But what’s the endgame of this sort of attention? If it’s to turn people off of the game, the method isn’t working. Millions of people have now watched the trailer for a game, put together by a team of 10 obscure Polish developers that would have been lucky to garner views in the thousands—if it hadn't been so deplorable. It’s an old tradition, at this point, for publications to bring controversial media to readers’ attention for the sole purpose of reassuring them that it’s unforgivable garbage, and it sends a pretty clear message to the people who want attention: If you want press for cheap, make unforgivable garbage.

I wanted to talk about this phenomenon, and how it’s affected Hatred, with Jarosław Zieliński, the CEO of Creative Destructions and the game's animator. Why was Hatred getting so much coverage? Why was I seeing people who had laughed while killing a sex worker in Grand Theft Auto III stand in dismay at this twin-stick indie trailer from Poland?

Zieliński phoned me up on Skype on a recent day in a jovial mood, finishing up his first post-gym beer, to share what the controversy, and game itself, meant to him. Zieliński apologized for his English ("I'm not a native speaker," he said) and then we got started.

It impressed me that this particular trailer was so publicized outside of the gaming world. People were really just piling on.

I’m pretty amazed that so many newspapers and media not related to games are interested in this case, because I didn’t expect it, really, and it’s fucking amazing for me.

So are you happy that it’s gotten all this outside attention?

Yes, of course! It’s brought a lot of fuss to us! I don’t… you know, all the press, well maybe not all, but most of the press is quite negative about our game and our trailer, but it gave a lot of people attention for our product, yes? So we have a big, fan database; I never expected it to be that big, and I never expected such big support from that, because we’re receiving a lot of emails, a lot of emails, that are saying stuff like “Don’t give up! Do it! Fuck all those Social… Social Justice Warriors,” and, uh, it’s really amazing. I didn’t expect that. I didn’t expect it would be so huge, all that stuff. I knew there would be some shitstorm around the web, but I didn’t expect to go that. We received interviews from England, Metronews from France, Germany. Whoa! I didn’t want to be famous. (laughs)

There’s always a built-in audience for something that’s taboo or controversial. So I don’t know what it’s hoping to accomplish when people release so much negative publicity, saying ‘We don’t like this game,’ it’s just getting the word out there.

All those people who are writing stuff like this just made us a great marketing campaign. It was very cheap. Actually, we didn’t pay for it. Anything. So, we have all the people that are supporting us, and they would never hear about this Hatred game if it wasn’t for all the negative press, and those people who hate us, and are threatening us, but they simply can’t do anything because we don’t break any laws. And… that’s all. So we are really grateful to all our haters, and all the negative press, because they’ve made a great coverage for us. Beyond our imagination, really.

What is the objective, the nuts-and-bolts of them game, level by level?

There are seven levels in this game, and all of them are open, so we can go anywhere we like. It’s not a linear structure. But there are goals to achieve, and there are some side objectives. There is a story, but you don’t have… it’s not saying why the main character is doing stuff like this. We didn’t want to make any background on this character, because it’s good to keep some mystery around him. Besides, we didn’t want to justify mass murdering, yes?

People are complaining that our game is so bad because they don’t see any… motive? They don’t see any reason why our main hero is doing this. But to me, it’s stupid, yes? Because why they would accept the way, I don’t know, we would write a story that he lost his family or something, and suddenly all his deeds will be justified? I don’t know. It’s not fair. Killing is always bad, yes? And no one who is doing stuff like this is supposed to be… redempted? People who are doing mass murders don’t deserve redemption, so I don’t know why people, just, would like any background on this character.

So, you think where some games offer up reasoning and excuses, you actually think it’s-

You know, the usual example is [Grand Theft Auto], where you are killing a lot of people during the story, and people somehow justify all these murders, killing policemen and all this stuff. But let’s look at this as, main characters are killing because of their greed. To make money, or to become better gangsters. I don’t know how people can think it’s good justification for killing people. Suddenly, a game is created where my character is just doing the same stuff, but because he just fucking hates everyone. And I don’t see really a big deal of it. I think I prefer, a little, the honest ways of our character, who kills because of his emotions, not because of his greed or something.

It’s kind of presented as if the character is kind of mentally unstable, whereas other games say our character is ambitious. Like GTA, you’re killing for ambition.

Yes. But it’s wrong, yes?

I’ve seen people defend the Postal series while denouncing Hatred, saying Postal was satirical.

It’s simply not true. The first Postal wasn’t satirical. The only thing was, there were some one-liners said by the main character… but it wasn’t funny at all. Just the second part was funny as hell. But, personally, I didn’t like where the series went. Hatred was something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. It’s basically a better Postal, but we headed into another direction, into making something much more serious, much more dark. We just don’t want to put anything funny in this game. Postal wasn’t funny, it wasn’t satirical. The only funny thing was a riot by some angry people that were striking against violence in videogames. That was the only funny thing, and you had to kill them all.

I went back and watched a trailer for the Steam release of Postal II, and if you just watch the trailer for it… I don’t know how people can say we should be mad about Hatred and not about that, because the trailers are both just music playing over somebody killing people. I don’t know if you can judge from a trailer what a game’s art direction is, and what it’s going for, because trailers are short and they sell things quickly.

You know, the main reason for me putting in this trailer this scene where this guy talks, and he’s got his equipment and all this stuff, was because I wanted to show to people, with this trailer, that it’s not going to be funny at all. That it’s going to be some evil shit. I want this game to be like this. There’s nothing else out there, and no justification of this violence. I think people are mad primarily because of this.

What were the influences in art direction?

Because we don’t live in the United States, but we set our game out there, we had to use some photos from Google Street View (laughs) to do some stuff. Like pavement, how it looks out there, architecture of your houses and all of it. But, as you can see, everything is made in black and white, and we’re just making the effects with color, so it’s not a realistic design, but all the environments and characters are quite realistic. There’s nothing comic style... the little inspiration for us was Sin City, because there was everything black and white, and some things were colorful. I thought it would be nice, and it would fit in the atmosphere of our game that we want to deliver. Also the creepy music and all that stuff. I think the dark music, it sets it in a dark, ambient style, with some industrial influences. Along with the art direction we’ve chosen, it really creates the atmosphere of all this sick shit.

Did you know from the very beginning that you wanted to set it in the United States?

The fact is the United States, and New York state, is the most recognized place around the world, because of all the pop culture, movies, games… everyone knows how America looks, yes? And if you set your game, especially a game like this—which has to make an impression of something sick—as a place that you recognize, it makes more of a connection.

How did you guys react to people saying the game is racist?

We didn’t expect it, because we are making the most equal and most tolerant game ever. Everybody dies here. I think people are just searching for additional problems with our game, and trying to make us monsters or something, because they don’t like it. But they should just get over it. We’re gonna do this game, and it’s not racist, and we will do it, and we will finish it, and we will release it. And it doesn’t matter what idea someone will come up with, about us or the game… (laughs) Come on! Racist?! I just want to say that it’s fucking ridiculous, really.

Have people been bringing up Gamergate a lot when interviewing you?

Yeah, but the funny thing is that we have no idea about such things. I realized there is something like Gamer’s Gate, by doing interviews.

You know, we are from Poland, we don’t watch the news, what is happening in America, because we simply don’t give a fuck. Because we have a war outside our border, we have our own problems. For me, as I searched through the whole case of Gamer’s Gate, it’s really fucking ridiculous. I think people are making this thing to cover up something which is bigger. It’s a big thing for media to hang on, to not speak about more important things. Some people are making threats to some others? Come on. As far as I know nothing bad’s happened, so what’s there to talk about? It has something to do with Anita Sarkenstein [sic], yes?

That was something a lot of people talked about it when the trailer was released, because it was released in close proximity to death threats made against her.

To be honest, she’s kind of asking for that, because she’s doing a lot of stuff that people don’t like it. Come on, it’s normal that if you go to the public with some controversial stuff, just like us, there will be people that will try to harm you, or hurt you, and all this stuff. So, she asks for it, as we just did with our trailer. We knew that there would be a lot of controversy, we were ready for it, and we don’t give a shit.

Has anybody made any violent threats to you in their emails?

No, not really. Nothing worth mentioning. Because, let me think… ah, there was just some Polish guy who was calling us names, that we are dicks or something. But it’s funny for me. No, there weren’t any death threats, because I think those people that are making stuff like this are actually our fans, so, (laughs) I don’t really expect that kind of shit and stuff.

Do you think the game is more controversial in American media than it is in Polish media?

Yes, and the answer is pretty simple. It’s some kind of cultural difference. We don’t have any mass shootings in our country, and not in Europe at all, because we don’t have such easy access to weapons. So we don’t have any school shootings, and all that stuff. So, maybe we’re not as touchy about this subject as you people are. But, you know, Postal was made in America, so I think there are people that are thinking like us out there. Well, I know they are out there, because many of our fans are from America, so I see it like that. This is a cultural difference. It’s like, if someone would be making a game about Auswitzch. That would be very offensive for us, because of our history, and I don’t think it would be offensive for you guys. We’re from other side of the world, it’s a fact.

Controversial games seem to have a place, and they’re never going away. So what does it mean to be publishing games that push buttons and are controversial?

A lot of controversial games were very good games, technically. For me, Mortal Kombat was a masterpiece in fighting games, and GTA was something that was a master of its own kind. Blood was a great FPS game. It’s not that there is some kind of pushing the button… when you do a game like this, you’re first thinking about making a good game, a game which will be fun to play. And, of course, there are people who enjoy some kind of sick stuff, so, I don’t know how to say it in English. But it’s, uh, forbidden fruit for us. Something which gives you some sinful pleasure. People will reach for those games, because, I don’t know why, I don’t know the psychologics. But, as a developer, I can assure that the first thing is making a good game, and secondary is that there will be some kind of controversy, or it will be gory, or it will be cruel, and that’s all.

How does it feel as developers to kind of be carrying the torch for the most controversial game being talked about right now ? Does that put pressure on you?

It’s very motivating for us. As I said before, I didn’t expect so much interest, and suddenly I stopped worrying about sales. Because, you’re telling me that it’s the most controversial game right now, it’s flattering for me. We didn’t expect this. This is very good, but the only thing that is pissing me about all of this is that I have to make a lot of interviews instead of making a game. It’s hard to find time for all this.

I’ve seen a lot of people being critical that you’re being controversial just to be controversial, but you do deserve a lot of credit for getting your name out there, and your game out there.

Yes, that’s a fact. All in all, I think that if the stuff we’ve shown wasn’t good, in technical ways, nobody would care, because everyone would troll this game as a, you know, an underground, silly, stupid game made by sick people. I think what we’ve already shown, especially as that small of a team, was of enough quality for people to notice. So it’s kind of flattering.

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Whisky · Nov 16, 2014

I like how people are making a big deal of a game that's a clone of one that was released 15 years ago. Have we really degraded to the point we're rehashing controversies?

Ed123 · Nov 16, 2014

at people now trying to defend Postal because it was "satirical"

Rohit_N · Nov 16, 2014

To be honest, she’s kind of asking for that, because she’s doing a lot of stuff that people don’t like it. Come on, it’s normal that if you go to the public with some controversial stuff, just like us, there will be people that will try to harm you, or hurt you, and all this stuff. So, she asks for it, as we just did with our trailer. We knew that there would be a lot of controversy, we were ready for it, and we don’t give a shit.
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Has anybody made any violent threats to you in their emails?

No, not really. Nothing worth mentioning.
Click to expand...

Perhaps it be worth examining why.

Whisky · Nov 16, 2014

Ed123 said: ↑

at people now trying to defend Postal because it was "satirical"
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The first Postal's demo was alright, at least for angry 9 year old me.

Postal 2 was a shitty FPS that grew boring within seconds of playing it.

Jick Magger · Nov 16, 2014

I do find the backlash against this game to be interesting. Feels to me like game 'enthusiasts' wanting to have their cake and eat it too: they want video games to be taken seriously as an art form, yet are terrified and disgusted when games that could bring up uncomfortable subjects and trends in the medium are released. Art isn't pure escapism, nor is it there solely to make you feel good about yourself. Film and literature has been doing this for years (The Road, American Psycho, Come and See, etc), and if they want video games to be taken seriously as an art form, then they better get used to it showing up in games too.

bozia2012 · Nov 16, 2014

Whisky said: ↑

Ed123 said: ↑

at people now trying to defend Postal because it was "satirical"
Click to expand...

The first Postal's demo was alright, at least for angry 9 year old me.

Postal 2 was a shitty FPS that grew boring within seconds of playing it.
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Postal is commendable for showing that people usually don't die immediately after getting shot, instead they're only incapacitated and will convulse and cry as their physical condition rapidly degrades. More games should do this, killing is not the same when you see the terror in the orc's eye.

Postal 1 was as satirical as a Cannibal Corpse song.

Haba · Nov 16, 2014

bozia2012 said: ↑

Cannon Fodder is commendable for showing that people usually don't die immediately after getting shot, instead they're only incapacitated and will convulse and cry as their physical condition rapidly degrades.
Click to expand...

flabbyjack · Nov 17, 2014

Rohit_N said: ↑

To be honest, she’s kind of asking for that, because she’s doing a lot of stuff that people don’t like it. Come on, it’s normal that if you go to the public with some controversial stuff, just like us, there will be people that will try to harm you, or hurt you, and all this stuff. So, she asks for it, as we just did with our trailer. We knew that there would be a lot of controversy, we were ready for it, and we don’t give a shit.
Click to expand...

Has anybody made any violent threats to you in their emails?

No, not really. Nothing worth mentioning.
Click to expand...

Perhaps it be worth examining why.
Click to expand...

I'm too lazy to drum up a quote, but I swear that they have made statements of receiving death threats and whatnot. It was probably just a lie to drum up more exposure.

Haba · Nov 17, 2014

Of course they have received death threats, just read the facebook/youtube comments for example. It's an another thing to take those seriously though.

garren · Dec 15, 2014

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=356532461

Remember to vote, fellas!

Ninja Destroyer · Dec 15, 2014

"I need a mod where you're in a Starbucks full of hipsters."
"DLC with Breivik???"
"Children NPCs?"

Just a normal day on steam Hatred forum page.

SJW approved version

http://www.gamepressure.com/e.asp?ID=38

Is Hatred Violence a Recipe for Success? "Mindless Violence in GTA is Skillfully Served"

By Krystian Smoszna on Nov 26, 2014 at 6:35a PST

The commotion after Hatred’s first trailer has already settled, but the Gliwice-based polish studio Destructive Commons has no intention of slowing down and a new trailer is on its way. And that, among other things, is what we talked about with the devs.

The brutal shooter Hatred has caused quite a buzz on the internet, due to its’ first, quite violent, trailer and has started a debate regarding the reason of making games that glorify slaughtering innocents. For the team led by Jaroslaw Zielinski the media buzz seems to be quite a relief – in a single afternoon, the recently unknown studio made headlines around the videogame world. Are the designers glad because of this turn of events, and how do they react to accusations regarding damaging the videogame industry? You will learn all of that from the interview we did just after seeing the controversial trailer.

Did it take long to write the script for the game?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: (laughs) I can tell you exactly how it went down. Just before starting this company, I’ve imagined an anti-hero who, after giving a speech, leaves his house and starts killing people.

Hatred trailer, only for mature viewers. [1:35]

And that is it?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: On the contrary. I had to think it through, were was it to take place. I got to a few maps, went on Wikipedia, and drew a course, which the hero would follow. It all came to me during the process. As a river appears, I came up with an idea, to place a harbor. In Hatred, we have many cool locations, and, what’s more, there are quite varied.

I must admit, the city (the location where the first level takes place) looks really realistic.

Jaroslaw Zielinski: Indeed it does. What you saw represents a real life location, on which we were basing it.

Is it some certain place in the States?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: Yes, while it is worth mentioning that we don’t do concept art at all. Everything was created with photographs found on the web and was partially based on pictures from Google Street View.

Seriously?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: Yep. Of course, it’s not like we’ve recreated a specific set of streets, like in real life, but all of the surroundings’ details match those one can see in real photos. Why would we need concept art, if we already have a realistic archetype? When I talk to the person responsible for character models, which are splendidly done by the way, I simply say: ‘Hey, I need this type of clothing here, or that’. Then we search for a sample in online clothing shops and that’s it. Case closed.

All of the locations are kept in this particular color tone. Does that change along the way?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: Sure, all of the graphic elements are prepared in black and white, while only some lights are in color, similarly to particle effects. That creates a one of a kind atmosphere. The locations themselves, vary when it comes to the time of day. Hatred starts off on an evening, while the other levels – the sewers and the harbor – take place during the night.

Jaroslaw Zielinski showing a demo of Hatred.
You want to say that this guy can’t last more than a single day?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: All I can say is, that the plot reaches a conclusion the next day. How? I won’t spill the beans on this one, but I am certain the gamers will be pleased with the outcome.

By the way. Does he have a name?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: Not important (laughs).

You’ve mentioned the atmosphere. What kind of music will accompany our “struggle”?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: Dark ambient. I’m personally not too fond of it, but I didn’t want to include metal – that way it would have been a joyful slaughter, when it’s supposed to be some sick shit. I got a friend of mine to play Hatred once. “Seeing those graphics, hearing this music, and doing all of that I really feel like a fucking psychopath” – he commented. Therefore, I think We’ve managed to achieve this peculiar atmosphere, that can’t be associated with a fun massacre, but is overwhelming. And that was precisely the point.

What about the plot? Does it have any importance overall?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: It won’t be crucial to the game, but we have a precise script that lets us connect all of the events into a whole. However that doesn’t mean that we will give away the identity of the main character. The player won’t witness any of the murderer’s memories, as not to be able to understand him or to sympathize with him – that wasn’t an option from the start. Playing Hatred you’re supposed to wonder what pushed him to such actions – but that doesn’t mean we will give away answers easily.

Will you tell us why he doesn’t target animals or children?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: (laughs) I’ve promised myself not to answer that and blame it on the aiming limitations, but I will be honest with you on this one. When it comes to animals, it’s connected to our working capabilities, as the idea itself is nothing new – you do that in all of Ubisoft’s latest games. However creating animal models, programming their AI – it all takes time, and frankly, we don’t have it. Besides, we don’t think it’s essential to Hatred. When it comes to children, it’s an entirely different case – even I have my limits. One may say that there aren’t people that are entirely innocent, but children are innocent, they didn’t do any harm to anyone.

Player can explore and activate side quests.
Okay, I guess that killing adults will have to suffice.

Jaroslaw Zielinski: Well, you can say a lot about our character, but most of all he is a cold-hearted murderer – and that is exactly the character I wanted to make. He doesn’t torture or rape anyone – he just ruthlessly eliminates people. It’s not a sadistic game, despite of what people may get to read here and there.

Where will we be finding weapons?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: It depends. Sometimes in regular houses – after all, America is quite liberal with gun control. Mostly you will get them from slain cops.

Assault rifles and rocket launchers too?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: (laughs) Oh come on!

Cyprian Listowski: New York is actually a state with smaller access to arms, so when someone decides to go on a killing spree there, they have a bigger chance of success. In comparison to Texas where guns are more available. In Texas, when one takes out a gun and points at someone else, everyone can shoot that person, providing that the weapon does not have orange elements, representing that it’s a toy. A good example of that is a special marking of ASG rifles – Texans take it very seriously, as someone might get shoot. New York doesn’t have such issues. It’s a state where guns aren’t that accessible and regulations are strict, but people are used to the fact, that when the police intervenes, it’s swift and decisive.

In the game, the anti-hero has a chance to embark on several side-quests, visiting a house party, attacking a funeral. How far are you willing to go with those? Can we expect our maniac to pay a visit to a church?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: Not a chance. We know well enough how it would end, and we can’t reference religion.

Why not?

Cyprian Listowski: The problem being, that in Poland we can get sued for insulting religious beliefs.

Jaroslaw Zielinski: Exactly, we would be crucified on the spot.

In Hatred dead bodies are piling up everywhere.
Is that really the only reason you’re not doing that?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: A slaughter in a church? Yes, that’s the only reason.

Cyprian Listowski: That’s the case – the Polish law. In Poland We can do various morally reprehensible things, but when they concern the church, we are bringing on ourselves trouble, that is really not worth it.

Did you research, or is it just a premonition?

Cyprian Listowski: Well, if in Poland there is a problem when someone tears a Bible on-stage [leader of band called Behemoth was sued, he won the case though], and We’re talking about people who have no idea what black metal is, We can safely assume how this might end.

Jaroslaw Zielinski: In the first Postal game, there was a part where you were able to shoot people exiting a church, but this isn’t America – it’s way more different in our homeland.

Cyprian Listowski: Our Law is, what it is – you can go to jail for offending religious believes.

Jaroslaw Zielinski: There is a difference between what we want to do, and what we can do. Our studio doesn’t need pesky lawyers paying us visits. Taking into account what publicity Hatred already has, it’s quite hardcore as it is.

So how do you feel about the reactions to the game. Do you like them? Are you surprised with the media buzz?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: First of all, we are surprised by its’ scale, let’s be honest, a little controversy was to be expected considering the game’s topic. Developers these days are afraid to stand out with games with a lot of violence and murdering innocent people. Overall, we are positively surprised with the reaction – it had a much grander scope than we have expected. However, we didn’t expect such a feat as to be featured in Forbes, The Sun or the French Metro News. We are also being contacted by various sites not necessarily connected to games. The topic is getting wide-spread attention, and the effects are visible.

Well, the effect isn’t exactly great – many claim that you’re doing the industry harm.

Jaroslaw Zielinski: Nonsense. Every once in a while there’s a “scandal” that doesn’t hurt the industry’s image. Such games were, are and will be released. It comes naturally.

Massacre in supermarket.
Indeed, but such a load of hatred is hard to come by. You’re taking it to a new level.

Jaroslaw Zielinski: Just like in the first Postal.

Was really Postal the starting point of this project? Or did you set out to do something entirely different, to eventually think: “Oh, screw it, let’s do slaughter”?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: Most of all, I have a few ideas for games, that I wish to bring to life – given we will have the money. After all, we are a small studio, that has just started out. I’ve managed to gather an entire team, get the funds to do the first project, but that still wasn’t enough to do what I have dreamed to. I had to decide what we were doing, and that was the best course of action – with a smaller project we will earn money for the next, bigger one. Honestly, with our resources such a game is not that much of a challenge, and with a smaller team – we can do it quite well.

How many people are officially involved with the project?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: In the beginning, there was only eight of us, and soon after two other people have joined – in this small studio of ours. Apart from that, we have two people through outsourcing: a character designer and Adam Skorupa, responsible for the soundtrack.

Do you have any quarrels within, regarding the game’s content?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: Well, there is this one person who doesn’t like it, and from the outset was stating that the game is not to their liking – especially murdering innocent people, which argued with their conscience.

Cyprian Listowski: We started working in this studio knowing what the project was about, so nobody was shocked. If there were any suggestions regarding the content, they were private and discrete.

No mercy for anyone – This is how Postal of new generation looks like.
Jaroslaw Zielinski: That’s true, from the start, while talking about the project, I got straight to the point – and no one had a reason to be shocked. It was surprisingly simple – we had funds for such a game, and that was the game we were doing. We weren’t able to work in comfort with a fifteen people studio for two years. To be perfectly honest, the game isn’t that complicated, a smaller team can pull through.

Weren’t you tempted to do Hatred in the convention of a FPS? That genre is still amazingly popular.

Jaroslaw Zielinski: We didn’t want to do a FPS. We are simply fed up with such games, but I strongly believe that this team would be able to tackle such a project. We were doing FPS games all the time at the Farm (Farm 51), and I just can’t stomach them anymore.

So basically, Hatred will decide upon your survival.

Jaroslaw Zielinski: So it is. If the game doesn’t sell, we won’t have money for the next project, then we will part our ways – all of us knew that from the start. I think that this honesty towards others on the team, who after all are my colleagues, is what makes us work so well. Working here is amazing, the atmosphere is great, we have known one another for a couple of years now. Also, We are optimists. After all that has happened, after all this mail…

… You are not worried about the sales?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: Absolutely not!

You won’t find NYPD logo in full version of the game.
Are you afraid that bigger digital distribution channels won’t agree to publish Hatred, which will make the process much harder? For many producers, being on Steam is a matter of life and death.

Jaroslaw Zielinski: First of all you must take into account that for many newcomers Steam is the sole source of advertising. In other words: when their game doesn’t get there, no one will get to know about it. It’s an entirely different case with our game – we’ve already caught the gamers’ attention. Even when we don’t go on Steam, which shouldn’t be a problem, advertising won’t be an issue – selling via our website should suffice to profit from Hatred.

That is your backup plan?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: Not exactly. We’ve already made the decision whether to distribute the game ourselves, or not – as it has solely financial reasons. If someone buys Hatred directly from us, we get all the profit. Nobody will charge us the famous ‘30%’ as they do on Steam.

A similar game, Postal, is on Steam - so it isn’t that bad.

Jaroslaw Zielinski: I’m on Steam, on GOG – I have both versions! (laughs). It’s a different story. Postal is an old game, the graphics aren’t as suggestive, as people have thought back in the day.

You’re right, the scope changes. People who complain about killing innocent people in your game, raise an argument, that it’s okay in GTA as it’s more over the top and overdrawn.

Jaroslaw Zielinski: I strongly disagree. Grand Theft Auto looks even more realistic than Hatred. The issue being that in GTA the mindless violence is skillfully served with plot and other aspects taking your attention away from the slaughter. We show it as it is.

Is there a way to even excuse killing for the sake of it?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: I believe that it shouldn’t even be excused. Since we are civilized human beings, killing should be considered immoral, despite our intentions.

Will Hatred have some depth to it? Will the game make the players think through their actions?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: We don’t intend to moralize by force. We can all agree that nobody will buy the game unaware of its subject matter, so there won’t be a case of someone buying it and going: “Oh my god! What is this game?!”. The game got so much attention recently, that everyone interested should know what to expect by now.

Destructive Creations is working in a single, small studio.
How do you react to the accusation, that you’re trying to cash in on the controversy? It only takes a single trailer to start a commotion over the internet.

Jaroslaw Zielinski: Obviously I agree, we did it intentionally. We can’t afford advertising, so we choose an alternative form, which, as it seems, has got the job done. The operation was even more successful than we thought it would be.

Do you still intend to escalate that way?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: Sure. We plan to publish two more trailers, while the next one will be even more hardcore, as it will feature setting people on fire. It might be judged as wrong, but that way, we get our message to the interested party. People write to us these amazing mails like: “I have never bought a game – this will be the first!”. The reactions of people outside of the industry have really motivated me – it seems that such a game is needed.

Aren’t you afraid that a second Anders Breivik will appear, claiming that Hatred inspired him to murder other people?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: I hope that such a thing won’t take place, as it will get us in needless trouble. Imagine in two years time, someone going on a rampage, and just before committing suicide saying: “I loved playing Hatred and I’d like to say hi to the developers!”. No one could hold us responsible, because as far as I know, nobody has ever won a case like that against the developers. That doesn’t surprise me, as the whole notion comes off as absurd. We can have no evidence that someone would commit a crime because of a game. For a mentally unstable person, anything can be the trigger, like for instance, being dumped by a girlfriend.

Destructible environment in action.
Cyprian Listowski: Actually, judging any work of fiction from this perspective is naive. There was probably a dozen of copy-cat massacres inspired by the movie Natural Born Killers, and no one gives a damn. It goes to such an extent, that people get dressed like these characters, and take it to the streets of Paris with rifles and start to shoot people. If someone is sick, anything can instigate them to do violent things. Sooner, or later a sufficient trigger will appear. If you have issues, you should get treatment – it’s as simple as that.

Jaroslaw Zielinski: That’s why we won’t try to give a reasoning behind our main character’s actions. Even I don’t know what inspired him to do those shootings. Maybe he’s a misanthrope, who just had his rent raised, so he thought to himself: “Okay, this doesn’t make any sense – I am going to kill myself and take some people with me?”. I don’t know…(laughs).

Will anybody be able to do additional levels to your game?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: Sure. We plan to give full support to anyone with a subscription for Unreal Engine 4 – it’s roughly 20$ a month. I want people to be able to add maps to Hatred. Sadly, we can’t make a conventional editor available, because that is Epic’s policy, but if someone buys those tools, they will be able to create additional content. It’s personal for me, as my adventure with games has started with making maps for games like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom or Duke Nukem 3D – while I did most of my work on the last one. If not for that episode, I wouldn’t be working in the industry.

Can you imagine someone recreating the school in Columbine in which the tragic shooting took place in 1999, just to play through it?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: Sure, but it doesn’t concern us. We don’t intend get involved with such a thing.

Cyprian Listowski: Well, if you were stubborn, you could make such a level right now in several different games, and you wouldn’t need Hatred to do it.

What kind of people contact You about the game?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: It depends (laughs). A lot of them come from 4chan, so you could say that 4chan is the biggest support group for Hatred. They have some pretty crazy ideas.

Cyprian Listowski: Yeah, like anime chicks with ebola.

Jaroslaw Zielinski: One time, this guy mailed us, asking for an option to sleep in the game, as he has always dreamed of murdering an entire family, and going to sleep in their bed.

In other words, psychopaths…

Jaroslaw Zielinski: Indeed, but a healthy approach is also present. An approach with distance to the subject matter. We got contacted by a 38 year-old man from Hawaii diagnosed with cancer. Frustrated with the world, as no one cared about him. He was genuinely excited for an upcoming game, where he could take out all of his frustration with the world on the virtual one. I think there are many people like that. You’re coming home from work, your boss didn’t give you a raise, you were stuck in traffic, so you sit down to your computer and you start killing people and not doing any harm to anyone. That’s the point.

Cyprian Listowski: We are mailed by policemen, soldiers, we even got mail from a certain paramedic – all giving us their full support.

Jaroslaw Zielinski: It’s just a game, some people get it, some don’t.

Will you charge much for it?

Jaroslaw Zielinski: 16.66€. (laughs)

6.66 would have sounded better, but I guess that the additional 10 € are needed.

Jaroslaw Zielinski: From the start we were thinking about somewhere around 15€, so it just sort of happened. (laughs)

Click to expand...

pippin · Dec 15, 2014

Whisky said: ↑

I like how people are making a big deal of a game that's a clone of one that was released 15 years ago. Have we really degraded to the point we're rehashing controversies?
Click to expand...

yes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parents_Music_Resource_Center

Rohit_N · Dec 15, 2014

And it's gone from Greenlight. This should be fun.

WhiskeyWolf · Dec 15, 2014

Let the shitstorm begin.

Awor Szurkrarz · Dec 15, 2014

Disgusting subhumans.

Havoc · Dec 15, 2014

Oh, shit.

garren · Dec 15, 2014

lolwut

EDIT: Eurogamer says Valve removed it: https://archive.today/ix3MU

WTF Valve

Shitstorm and petitions coming

sexbad? · Dec 15, 2014

No children

Metro · Dec 15, 2014

Was it even the actual developers who put it up on Greenlight? Could be gone because it wasn't them who put it up and just some derpy fan.

Awor Szurkrarz · Dec 15, 2014

Besides, we don’t think it’s essential to Hatred. When it comes to children, it’s an entirely different case – even I have my limits. One may say that there aren’t people that are entirely innocent, but children are innocent, they didn’t do any harm to anyone.
Click to expand...

Robert Jarzebina · Dec 15, 2014

Metro said: ↑

Was it even the actual developers who put it up on Greenlight? Could be gone because it wasn't them who put it up and just some derpy fan.
Click to expand...

It was them

Bubbles · Dec 15, 2014

"Based on what we've see on Greenlight we would not publish Hatred on Steam. As such we'll be taking it down," Valve's Doug Lombardi told Eurogamer moments ago.
Click to expand...

Metro · Dec 15, 2014

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Well. Can't play the game. Not Steam, doesn't exist.

warpig · Dec 15, 2014

Lol there's Manhunt, Postal and some other "offensive" games. What's so special about Hatred? Steam is pathetic.

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