Interview with Glenn Brace (Climax Studios)

Date published: 2013.12.02
Source: Climax Studios

Can you please tell us your part in the development of Silent Hill?

Being the Art Director for the Studio my role was as much about creating and enabling the team as it was direction. I was always in close dialog with Neale Williams the Lead Artist on SHSM so I was constantly reviewing the distillation of specific concepts and themes to the realisation during development. 

What was your stand out moment of the game?

There are many narrative high points, moments of realisation I’d like to call out, House of Leaves, George Bush at my home for another, but the nostalgia of developing SHSM keeps bringing me back to the same point. After completing our Vertical Slice Demo we had proven so much to ourselves for the first time, and it felt good. The first Dr K session, the phone, the first echo, and then that first call, it was the build up of tension before it hit you, the first dynamic transition into the other world. Once I had played through this experience and witnessed that unnervingly, eerie wave of ice consume everything, I knew we had something special. 

What were you most proud of?

That’s a tough one, for me there are a few things we can all be truly proud of. Proud of the team for their herculean efforts, proud of the creative themes lovingly and intricately woven into every aspect of the game, but most of all I’d have to go for the Character design. I believe SHSM was one of the few games that actually managed to deliver truly believable, emotive performances, a cast that you actually cared about when interacting with. It’s something we set out to do, and it’s something we delivered on. 

How did you turn out at the end of game and which Police Officer did you meet?

I’ll do this later….gotta go.