Interview With Chris Valenziano (Silent Haven)

Date published: 2010.12.12
Source: Silent Haven

Writers Chris (left) and Patrick (right) going over the script for
Homecoming with producer Marwan Abderrazzaq (center)

Here is our interview with Chris Valenziano on his job as a Co-writer for Silent Hill: Homecoming with Patrick J Doody!

Silent Haven: In what ways did you both contribute to Homecoming? Did one of you just do narrative and design? Did one of you just work on plot? Did you both collaborate on the same thing?

Chris Valenziano: Patrick and I work as a writing team, so all of our duties were collaborative. However, in terms of the overall team for the game, we came on board when the basic concept for the story had already been set down. We spent a few months working on this story with the design team in order to iron out some of the wrinkles, then we began on the In-Game Cinematics (IGCs). These IGCs were the closest thing we did to screenwriting, as they were actual scenes to be performed by actors. After finishing the IGCs, we moved on to dialogue trees — interactive conversations the player has with characters throughout the game, which can branch out depending on the player’s choices. We then wrote puzzles and clues, such as newspaper articles, historical entries, journals, signage, etc. Lastly, we wrote “dialogue slugs,” such as “Look, I’ve found a door” or “This gate is locked.” Many of those dialogue slugs ended up getting omitted and replaced with written prompts in the final version of the game.

In the end, we wrote several hundred pages of material. It was quite a project.

Silent Haven: What is your background on horror genre writing?

Chris Valenziano: We had written a movie for the Sci-Fi Channel called Bugs, which was about… killer bugs. It was more thriller-action than horror, but that writing sample got us in the door. From thereon, it was our understanding of the tone of Silent Hill that got us the job. Patrick had played all of the previous games and was a big fan, so our enthusiasm and “geek cred” when we met the design team definitely helped.

Silent Haven: What do you guys believe is the difference between American Horror and Japanese horror? Do you believe there is no difference?

Chris Valenziano: There are many differences in terms of style, although in recent years American horror has borrowed much from the Japanese. Silent Hill obviously had much more of a Japanese feel, seeing as that’s where it was created, and I believe that the designers tried to stay true to that tone with SH: Homecoming.

Silent Haven: Silent Hill Homecoming has had mixed reviews from game critics and within the SH community. Many of the fans have stated the game having a lack of original creativity and have pointed out its obvious influences from SH 2, SH 3, The SH Movie, and even outside sources from movies like Jacobs Ladder, SAW, and Hostel and specific actor designs. What is your response to this?

Chris Valenziano: We definitely wanted the game to feel familiar, and to fit with the tone of the previous SH games. However, what we tried to do in terms of the story was to open it up further, by introducing the town of Shepherd’s Glen – a town with its own mythology parallel to that of Silent Hill. Of course, we still wanted plenty of nods to the original game, but we also wanted to have the ability to stand alone. We knew that the movie would bring in a new wave of fans, and we didn’t want them to HAVE to have played the previous game in order to understand the story.

Now, in terms of influences, the original Silent Hill was definitely influenced by Jacob’s Ladder, so we inherited some of that. I’m not so sure about Saw or Hostel – if those influences were in there, we didn’t intend it.

Silent Haven: Do you feel the Silent Hill fans aren’t very accepting to American released Silent Hill games?

Chris Valenziano: I’m not sure about that. When the game was released, we watched the fan boards pretty closely, and the fans seemed to be very happy with the story of the game. They followed it closely and responded positively. We even had them following a series of blogs we had written for the game’s three main characters. So we felt that when it came to pleasing the hardcore fans, we did a pretty good job. The mainstream press, however – not so much. We got a handful of good reviews on the writing, but the overall response to the game from the larger press was tepid.

Silent Haven: Awhile back there was talk about a sequel to the game is this still something that might happen?

Chris Valenziano: No clue on this one.

Silent Haven: What did you enjoy most about your work on Silent Hill Homecoming? Least?

Chris Valenziano: I think what I enjoyed the most was the ability to create a very large world and extremely in-depth character backgrounds. When you’re writing a movie, you only get two hours to enjoy the characters and learn who they are. But in a game, you not only have many more hours of interaction with them, but you have almost limitless access to journals, historical entries, clues about their past, etc. You really get to build out a world in a way you never get to do in a movie.

What did I like least? Video games are a slow process, taking at least two years. So it can make you a bit impatient. But it’s worth it in the end.