The Miami Influence: Art, Culture and Architecture on Video Games
Nowadays, video games have grown to a height never seen before. it's become a more popular medium than even movies in current times. Video games aren’t just about entertainment anymore, they have transformed into a form of art that brings us to differing worlds and cultures. But as art often does, it imitates life. And Miami is often one of those favorite imitations, From the famous pastel-colored buildings in South Beach to Little Havana, Miami culture has been an inspiration to game developers since 1984 and it’s not slowing down.
Miami is known as the “it” city when it comes to diverse cultures, prominent nightlife, and quality beaches. So, it's no surprise that its locales have been in television shows, books, and video games all depicting the city in various tones. Shows like Dexter, Burn Notice, and the CSI series all being a crime drama that is all in Miami when compared to books like Striptease, The Sun Also Rises and Native Tongue have comedy capturing popular locations and their descriptions. While these are the traditional ways of getting an understanding of the city like watching and reading about it, video games bring that immersion to another level putting the viewer in these locations to interact with it themselves. Before even then, video games in its natural sense were influenced by Florida.
All the different mediums led to the many video game designs inspired by Miami, gradually growing the numerous indie studios and developers raised in the city like Teravision, Vertigo, and Dragon Jam Studios. These studios recognized the colorful palette because they lived in the culture, adding their diverse characters, aesthetics, and narratives, this was their way of wanting others to experience the vibrant city, being a reflection of the unique characteristics and pushing forward others into making their interpretation of what's being told.
This is only heightened when Miami’s creativity and multiculturalism are also being shown love and respect by developers and studios outside the city after experiencing it themselves. Developers like Rockstar Games and their recreation of the neon-lit streets’ 1980s aesthetic with Grand Theft Auto: Vice City express how much time they spend exploring the buildings, their shapes, the attitudes of the people, and their bustling nature from night to day. Some landmarks are often shared between games inspired by Miami.
Having the viewers experience these aspects for themselves during mission escapades makes it apparent they were enamored with Miami. With the amount of grit in the world of GTA, the scenery could have gotten lost, but they put just as much care into glamorous buildings and their surrounding areas. The cultural references with Latin radio stations when you drive to the beach fronts and yacht clubs, the vehicles being accurate to the era, and the characters dressed appropriately all come together to have the viewer immersed.
This falls directly in line with the partying culture, graffiti art on certain buildings, and well-known spots in Hotline Miami developed by Dennaton Games. While the music, art, and people are remixed, Landmarks like Lummus Park and Wynwood are easier to pick up on just before the start of each mission. These kinds of video games make people curious about the city from its virtual counterpart, pushing them to dive deeper into the city whether that means going there themselves or looking for more of that experience.
It's a kind of an addition to tourism in South Florida that is enhanced when fans of these games want to search for the locations, which isn’t as popular as regular tourism but still as important. It's another gateway into the city and its culture that currently has shown that Miami’s influence is always still growing whether it's from the 1980s till current, the art community, as well as the raving ecosystem being portrayed in every medium has Miami at an all-time high and doesn't seem to be losing steam anytime soon.
The announcement of Grand Theft Auto 6 being based on the entirety of the city, those who haven’t been to the busting city but are aware of it from previous experiences in TV shows, books, and movies, and those who happen to play video games are more than excited for another entry because it's another escape into the city, its lifestyle, its culture, and its way to intertwine virtual worlds and the real world experience most unexpectedly and excitingly possible.
