Silent Hill 4: The Room Developer Commentaries
Date published: 2004
Source: Silent Hill 4 official Japanese site
Note: Machine translation
Vol. 2: "The Terror of the Room"
Director and Scenario Writer, Suguru Murakoshi
As a child, I was extremely timid. On nights after watching TV shows like “Your ○○○ World,” the darkness inside my house terrified me so much that I couldn’t even bring myself to go to the bathroom alone. Also, back then, a rumor was spreading among kids that “if there’s a ghost behind you, turning to look over your left shoulder will get you killed.” Because of that, I made a point of always turning to look over my right shoulder, no matter what. I was that scared, and I believed in the existence of spirits as a matter of course. Looking back, I remember that the situations that frightened me most at the time were not so much when I went to unfamiliar places, but rather the silent, dark nights inside my own home. When I went to unfamiliar places, I actually have more memories of having fun.
This project was launched with the concept of creating a “new Silent Hill,” and when we first considered what kind of fear to focus on for this installment, we decided to make the main concept the pure fear I felt as a child—not the fear of an unfamiliar place, but the fear of being in my own room, the very place I was supposed to return to. Along with that, we also incorporated the concepts of “spirits of the dead” and “resentment.”
Since it’s a “new Silent Hill,” we’re rebuilding it completely from scratch. Without being unduly influenced by the previous series—in a good way—and approaching it as a completely new horror title, the project began immediately after development on *Silent Hill 2* was completed. We’ve produced this game with the firm belief that the horror genre and the medium of video games are an incredibly good match. For a director, a game is like a child, and as a result of developing it in the manner described above, I feel as though I’ve “given birth to an incredibly terrifying child.”
Whether you’re a fan of the series or have never played any of the previous titles, we’ve crafted “SILENT HILL 4: THE ROOM” to be a game that everyone can enjoy—and be scared by. Please don’t be afraid—or rather, do be afraid—and immerse yourself fully in the world of this game.
Finally, I sincerely hope that the room you’re currently in—or any room where you play “SILENT HILL 4: THE ROOM” after its release—is not haunted by malevolent spirits. Just to be safe, please make sure you can’t turn your head backward from the left side.
Vol. 6: "Dedication to the Scenario"
Director and Scenario Writer, Suguru Murakoshi
Back when we were working on Silent Hill 2, I was involved in drafting the initial scenario as part of my role in drama direction.
Unlike novels or movie scripts, video game scenarios are characterized by the player’s active role. My focus for this game’s scenario was to accommodate a variety of player styles. We strategically placed narrative elements—such as cutscenes and demos—where they would be most effective. Furthermore, we deliberately avoided making key narrative events mandatory. This includes the playable demo* introduced for the first time in this title, as well as actions like peeking through the front door or into the adjacent room in your own bedroom, and examining text elements such as the mysterious characters in the forest and the red diary. By doing so, we ensured that hidden details of the story would only be revealed if the player took proactive action.
In the horror genre, a story can stand on its own simply by having “something strange befall the protagonist or others, causing them to experience fear.” It is not necessarily required to unravel the cause of those strange phenomena. In this game, players who skip over story-critical events while progressing can still experience a meaningful narrative progression in the sense described above. In fact, this approach might even be considered more realistic in terms of the protagonist Henry’s reaction. After all, the focus is on escaping the strange phenomena—the cause doesn’t really matter. However, if players explore thoroughly and take proactive action, they’ll catch glimpses of the story and causes lurking behind those strange phenomena.
In that sense, the scenario is designed to accommodate a variety of playstyles. Whether you skip events or experience them all, you can enjoy a valid narrative either way.
We crafted the scenario with the attention to detail described above, so I hope that not only those who haven’t played it yet, but also those who have already played it, will enjoy experiencing it in a different style.
*Playable Demo: An event where the player can move freely as usual, while other characters speak to them unilaterally or move on their own.
Vol. 7: "Stories of Struggles in Movie Production"
Demo Movie Director Atsushi Tsujimoto
Starting with this installment of *Silent Hill*, I joined the project as a demo video producer.Previously, my work had focused mainly on in-house projects like opening cutscenes. I imagine others will discuss the game itself, so this time I’d like to share some of my personal struggles from working on the project.
The biggest challenge this time—though almost the entire process was a series of challenges—was, without a doubt, creating footage using real-time rendering.
If you ask what the difference is from standard CG footage, simply put, it’s that “you can’t cheat the image.” With pre-rendered footage (what’s commonly known as standard CG), you have almost complete control during the editing phase: tone correction, background matching, the presence or absence of shadows, highlight processing, focus, and so on. In my own work, I would typically make some adjustments in the 3D software and then finalize the look in the editing software.
However, with real-time rendering data like in this project (though there are hardware limitations as well), there’s almost no room for “fudging” the results once the data is created. For someone like me who had been working on pre-rendered projects for years, this was a much bigger hurdle than I could have imagined. It wasn’t enough to get it “good enough”—I had to create data that would produce the exact image when played back, and it was a daily cycle of trial and error.
It wasn’t until I stepped back that I truly appreciated it… I went through a stretch of days where I really missed rendering. Now that it’s finished, I’ve grown quite attached to it precisely because of all the hard work that went into it. Especially the Cynthia demo…
The opening trailer, on the other hand, was created using the methods I’ve always relied on. I think the in-game demos and the opening trailer have very different feels to them. I hope you’ll enjoy comparing these differences as you watch.
Another area that gave me trouble was the direction. As those who’ve played it will know, the protagonist, Henry, doesn’t speak much. This was part of the project’s concept: since the protagonist is, after all, the player, we aimed to avoid showing emotional expressions as much as possible. It gave me quite a headache from a direction standpoint, but I think it helped create a unique sense of detachment.
One more thing that was challenging was the revision work. Since this involved gathering all the design data that was updated daily, I suppose it was unavoidable. We were scrambling to replace data right up until the very end. Just when the motion capture sessions had wrapped up, the demo data was mostly complete, and we were raring to go with the fine-tuning, a major revision to the main character was ordered. These changes went beyond mere cosmetic adjustments—they even affected the underlying structure that forms the basis of the animations.
At that moment, I honestly felt like I was going to cry. After assembling the data, we ended up having to revise nearly all the motions throughout the entire game. Looking back now, the moment I had to tell the two people who had been working on the demo was the hardest part of the whole process. I knew we couldn’t move forward without telling them, so I steeled myself and broke the news. Even now, long after I’ve left the project, I can still picture the stunned expressions on their faces. But the moment they replied, “...If it’ll make it better...” and “...Should we do it...?”—my heart was saved. Without those two, we might never have been able to finish those revisions. After all, it was over two hours’ worth of motion data...
Those two are now working on different projects. The game was successfully released.
Thank you so much.
Finally, I think this was a valuable experience in many ways. I hope to meet all of you again through another project someday.
Vol. 8: "The Design Concept"
Chief Designer Masashi Tsuboyama
There were two key points I needed to understand in order to develop the design concept. One was “the world the Killer is trying to create,” and the other was “the real world (our everyday lives).” Constructing these two worlds helped clarify the design concept for *THE ROOM*.
“The World the Killer Is Trying to Create”
From the Killer’s perspective, his world must surely possess even greater realism than the real world we inhabit. The lakeside orphanage “House of Hope” where he spent his childhood; the apartment complex and its surroundings where he wandered in search of his mother; buildings, the subway, and so on. I imagined that, for the Killer, consciousness and memory are not connected by a single thread, but rather consist of diverse and ambiguous fragments of consciousness and memory that have taken shape and been randomly piled up. I hypothesized that this world is still unfinished and unstable. I envisioned it as being composed of those fragments of memory that flash back without any context in our daily lives.
The deeper layers are firmly covered by these fragments, forming a structure that’s difficult to approach, while the surface remains immature and ambiguous. I established the premise that something latent—something capable of awakening those memory fragments—lies dormant in the deeper layers. And ultimately, I wondered if the Killer was trying to create a single egg-shaped mass and bring something into being.
“The Real World (Our Daily Lives)”
I believe a crucial factor in making horror work is a sense of reality. In “THE ROOM,” I took this a step further by making “daily life” the central theme. It’s no exaggeration to say I chose “the room” specifically to evoke that sense of everyday life. The scenery visible through the window, cars and people passing by, streetlights beginning to come on at dusk, and the conversations of apartment residents visible through the peephole— By incorporating these elements in real time, we created a sense of everyday life. For me, crafting that kind of environment is where I feel the true thrill—or rather, the potential—of game design. It’s that “sense of everyday life” that can’t be conveyed by beautiful graphics alone. The everyday scenery outside the window and the abnormal room made it possible for the ordinary and the extraordinary to coexist in the same space. I felt tremendous potential in this aspect as well.
“Creatures”
In terms of gameplay, they are enemies, but in my mind, I envision them as debris (something like flesh fragments) that forms when ambiguous consciousness or memories attempt to take shape, and that has evolved within the environment in which they existed. Imagine you have a lump of clay and use it to build a castle. The leftover lumps of clay from that process are the creatures. Creatures are organisms with an ecological form suited to the environment created by the Killer; they are not entities that harbor malice toward the protagonist. Creatures possess gender, intelligence, and the ability to reproduce. This was also a narrative device designed to lend their existence a sense of reality beyond mere visuals.
"Ghosts"
Victims wandering through this otherworld have been robbed of “death” and are condemned to eternal torment. In traditional Japanese depictions of hell, we tend to focus on the intense visuals, but the true horror lies in the fact that even after enduring such agony, they cannot die. For the Ghost, that otherworld must have been nothing short of hell—a source of sheer terror. It was likely the desire to escape that otherworld that drove it to attack the living protagonist. The scene where it struggles helplessly after being pierced by the “Sword of Subjugation”* was a visual effect unique to a Ghost that cannot die.
“THE ROOM”
The balance and relationship between the ordinary and the extraordinary are what make something horror, and it seems that’s what gives rise to the story. What kind of story will emerge in “THE ROOM”?
Normally, we go through life without ever touching the depths of our own consciousness, but in “THE ROOM,” we’ll catch a glimpse into the depths of others—the “Killers.” Fathers with their faces painted black, a child’s voice calling for a parent, the red, peeling walls of the apartment, a creature that embodies emotion (guilt), and Room 302, among other things. The protagonist must head toward a single point. Toward the depths of the psyche, and toward the story’s conclusion. And when this journey ends, you will realize that the self reflected in the story is your own.
This time, I had the opportunity to create footage for the promotional trailer and the E3 presentation. I deliberately focused on themes of realism and horror that couldn’t be fully conveyed within the game itself. I paid close attention to details such as camera shake to evoke a sense of reality, first-person camera angles, shot composition, and color grading. It was a very enjoyable and educational experience, allowing me to appreciate the differences between film and games. I hope you’ll play the game while keeping the imagery from the videos in mind. I also hope you’ll enjoy Silent Hill as a complete package—encompassing the breadth of the Silent Hill brand, including the film adaptations, comics, the collaboration with artist Ichiryūsai Teisui, the “Kyōdan” series, and the mascot lobby.
*“Sword of Subjugation”: A sword with a handle of a mysterious shape. Only five such swords are known to exist. By thrusting this sword into a completely defeated ghost, you can seal it and keep it in place. If you pull the sword out, the ghost will start moving again.
Vol. 9: "Teaching How the Changes in the Endings Are Triggered"
Chief Programmer Kosuke Iwakura
Nice to meet you. My name is Iwakura, and I was in charge of the programming.
Thank you to everyone who played “SILENT HILL 4: THE ROOM.” I imagine many of you have already seen the ending, so this will contain some spoilers, but I’d like to talk about the factors that cause the ending to change. I hope this will be helpful for those of you who want to experience multiple endings.
The ending varies depending on a combination of the following factors:
- The percentage of paranormal phenomena in your room that you’ve exorcised.
- Whether you defeated the boss before Eileen fully submerged herself in the water during the final battle.
If you exorcise a certain percentage or more of the paranormal phenomena in your room and defeat the boss before Eileen submerges herself, you’ll reach the “Escape” ending. If you haven’t seen it yet, please give it a try.
Here are some tips for reaching the “Escape” ending.
The trigger for paranormal phenomena is “returning to the room.” Therefore, if you return to the room too often, you might run out of candles. Also, since the system uses a “percentage” to determine this, be careful not to miss an exorcism when the number of paranormal phenomena has been very low.
(Actually, you can use the radio in the room to check whether paranormal phenomena are occurring.)
Eileen’s movement speed during the final battle varies depending on how cursed she is. You can tell how cursed she is by the dirt on her body. The level of cursing fluctuates based on various factors, but basically, Eileen becomes more cursed when left alone. On the other hand, if you explore with Henry, you can lower her curse level. Damage from creatures also affects her curse level, but as long as she doesn’t go down, the changes are minimal—so don’t worry too much about it and just team up to beat the enemies to a pulp. If Eileen starts dragging her feet, she’s at risk of going down, so it’s a good idea to take her weapon away and let her rest for a bit.
Temporary changes in her curse level that revert over time (such as when using a certain weapon) will be reset when the final battle begins, so don’t worry about them and just dive right into the final battle.
By the way, the staff’s fastest time to reach the “Escape” ending is 1 hour, 28 minutes, and 22 seconds. The score for this result is, of course, 100 points = 10 ★ Large. (The game mode is standard HARD, but we used the fifth weapon for Eileen.)