Hypnospace Enforcer

Hypnospace Enforcer's start screen

**Hypnospace Enforcer** is a 2014 video game released by Jay Tholen originally released on Itch.io. The game can be found on the Internet Archive and through MEGA.

## Plot

> "*It is 2114. People wear electronic headbands while sleeping to access Hypnospace, a persistent online world where your slumber becomes an exciting adventure. Because it is the future, there are all kinds of insane colors and sounds going nuts smacking your senses at all times.
>
> Some citizens of Hypnospace don't play by the rules, it is your job as an Enforcer to bring them to justice. Don your sharpest psychedelic cop uniform and send scumbag outlaws packing in this thrilling arcade microgame.*"
> ― The game's readme.txt file.
>
>

## Gameplay

The gameplay is similar to Outlaw: You control an orange car and your objective is to stop and catch an outlaw with the speed reduction beam. You can move through 3 different lanes with the arrow keys while having to dodge other cars, after catching an outlaw, a results screen will appear and make you go to the next level.

There is a bar for the reduction beam which will deplete by the usage of it, but it will recharge automatically. Health is represented through the small inverted triangle below the HSPD logo, which will change colors from green-orange-red by hitting cars, plus visual damage on the car and distortion of the music in addition, and by hitting cars enough times, the game will end.

Some obstacles (System anomaly) will appear and make the car slow down or damage it while powerups can have positive effects on the car.

## Levels

Level 1: Shelby Morris (KEWLKITTYGURRRL)

* Anomaly: Anime Cat (Slows down car)
* Place: Kawaii Robot Pirate Central

Level 2: Ralph D. Roberts (SteamRyDah)

* Anomaly: Sandworm (Damages car)
* Place: SteamLand Desert

Level 3: Mavis White (maviswhite68)

* Anomaly: Ads (Blocks view, which can be put away by clicking the X button of the ad)
* Place: \*Glitched name\*
* (By catching Mavis, the game will start glitching)

Power-Ups:

* Wrench: Restores Health
* Invincibility: Makes the enforcer car go extra fast and nullifies any damage taken

## Differences from Hypnospace Outlaw and Outlaw

* The game takes place in 2114 while Hypnospace Outlaw is in 1999.
* The driving portions of the game are on a much smaller screen compared to HS Outlaw.
* Only 3 lanes are available and is impossible to change directions or slow down.
* The places featured in Enforcer do not exist in the final game.
* The heart rate of a user can be tracked with HealthWatch, which does not exist in the final game.
* Some offenses aren't present in Hypnospace Outlaw, such as staying online for more than 8 hours and Stalking.
* It mentions a State Law that allowed only 56 hours weekly/or 8 hours per night to stay in Hypnospace.
* The game uses the Clickteam Fusion engine while Hypnospace Outlaw uses the Contruct 2 engine.

## Development

While Jay was working on Dropsy, he started working on a small project to prevent burnout, which was Hypnospace Enforcer. The game used the Clickteam Fusion engine, was released on Itch.io for $1.99 initially, and after an update in 2015, the game was made free. After release, the developers decided to create a sequel, which added Internet browsing elements with the driving section, and then the internet side started becoming the main focus and the driving section was getting pushed, which got into the development of Hypnospace Outlaw and the driving section became Outlaw, and in 2016, Enforcer was delisted, and made Hypnospace Enforcer lost media, and after efforts from the Lost Media Wiki to get a copy of the game, the game was found in 2021 after Jay sent a MEGA link to the game.

## Trivia

* In the copy of the internet archive and MEGA, one of the ads in level 3 does a direct reference to The Cutting Room Floor. (This was added not by Jay Tholen)
* Mavis White might be the inspiration of Mavis Ann Greene as both share the same first name, a similar age, and are new to Hypnospace. In addition, both can be found on the free trial.
* The soundtrack can be found on Jay Tholen's Bandcamp here.
* The song of level 2 was reused later on in Hypnospace Outlaw's plus update. This time, it was titled Desert by DM\_N01ZPUSH3R.