Interview with Tomm Hulett and Mark Simmons (Hell Descent)

Date published: 2009.07.31
Source: Hell Descent

You asked them, they answered. Our community based Silent Hill: Shattered Memories interview is now available for your reading pleasure. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Producer Tomm Hulett and Director, Mark Simmons answers our questions about the upcoming reimagining of the very first Silent Hill. Shattered Memories has caused a huge stir among die hard Silent Hill fans and that’s exactly what Climax intended. Hit the jump for the full interview.

HD: Shattered Memories is treading a lot of new ground in terms of how the player interacts with enemies and environments. Given that there are so many new ideas, why was the decision taken to remake an old entry to the series rather than construct a new story? (Glassy_Waves)

Tomm: Putting Silent Hill on the Wii meant two things. First, it meant an opportunity to break out of “the rules” of Survival Horror and try to redefine that genre and what it could do. So that’s where a lot of the new ideas you mention come in. Secondly, it meant exposing a brand new audience to Silent Hill. Of course, SH has been around for a decade now, and there’s a lot of lore and things built up that fans take for granted. We can’t just drop Wii players in after Homecoming and expect them to hit Wikipedia to understand what in the world is going on. So going back to the beginning made a lot of sense, but we also needed a way to keep this intriguing for longtime fans who played SH1, played SH3, saw the movie, etc.

It all came together with the Psych Profile system. Here we had distilled the theme of Silent Hill (reality being twisted by your inner self) into a gameplay mechanic… and we realized, we have all these returning fans with their own pre-conceived ideas of what SH1 was… so let’s twist that reality as well. There’s really no way to accomplish this in a brand new game, because fans don’t have anything to expect. I’ve illustrated it before this way: when a non-fan watches our trailer and Dahlia says “I’m Dahlia,” they think to themselves… I wonder who this Dahlia is? Similar to when you saw trailers for SH2 with Eddie. However, when you the fan watch our trailer you think, That isn’t Dahlia! What’s going on!? This is more similar to what James himself was thinking when he met Maria in SH2.

HD: Climax seems to be really proud of the psychological profiling idea. They’ve already given us a few examples of what it can alter within the game, including how the Raw Shocks will change. However, one thing we haven’t seen is how much effect it will have on the landscape of the otherworld. Could you elaborate on how much, if at all, psychological profiling will alter the otherworld? (Apatheria)

Tomm: Just like the rusty world in SH1, our icy Nightmare has plot significance, so its appearance won’t change greatly due to the Psych Profile.

HD: A big part of the Silent Hill otherworld has always been subtle, yet morbid details that really allow the player’s imagination to run wild. The bodies dressed in robes lining the halls of Midwich Elementary, a gurney with a body obscured by bloody cloth, a noise that can’t be explained, etc. Obviously the aesthetic of Shattered Memories is completely different from the blood and rust, but same level of morbid subtlety and detail can exist within the ice world (bodies frozen under the ice, perhaps.) Is this something Climax have kept in mind while designing the otherworld levels? (Apatheria)

Tomm: Yes! Our goal with “reimagining” was always to retain the essence of Silent Hill, so elements like this are of crucial importance. One of my favorite things, and it’s happened a few times as I check the Nightmare areas, is that when the monsters are right on your heels you don’t have as much time to look around, so you see all these weird sights but don’t have time to process them… but if you go back and look, you’ll notice oh, that’s a strange pile of televisions, etc etc. It adds a lot of atmosphere to replays when you notice something that maybe didn’t register the first time.

HD: While it is assumed that most of the replay value will come from the need to experience different “paths”, will there be extra features that are attainable by playing the game a certain way? Or rare oddities, exclusive to certain types of “psyche profiles? (A.D.A)

Tomm: The idea behind the psych profile is that the experience is tailored to you specifically. If we want to creep you out, you get a creepy text message that is creepy to YOU. So it wouldn’t exactly be fair to reward certain types of people with extra “oddities” because it’s kind of punishing people for not being you. …as nice as it would be to have a “you’re a total psychopath here are nice pretty flowers to look at your information has been sent to the FBI” feature. However, that isn’t to say there aren’t hidden oddities or elements in the game – they just aren’t linked to specific profiles.

HD: Earlier Silent hill games have been known for a sense of fear which always bubbles under the surface, and which seems to arise from the overall situation itself rather than any specific *jump* moments. Can sequences of intense action, ie the chase sequences, still achieve this unique atmosphere?, or is it more akin to running from a boulder?, which while intense, might not be considered truly horror to some. (Glassy_Waves)

Tomm: Shattered Memories still manages waves of suspense and atmosphere, just like the previous Silent Hills. What’s important to note about the Nightmare sequences is that you won’t know when they are coming. We don’t follow “the Silent Hill pattern” where I go through a school, then go through Nightmare school, go through hospital, then go through Nightmare hospital. The #1 killer of suspense is predictability. And, because our Nightmares are so intense and focused, you’ll know as soon as the world freezes over that you’re screwed, and you have to get out of there.

Imagine you’re playing SH1 for the first time and you’re in the hospital. You enter a hallway you’ve entered a thousand times, you hear the door lock behind you… and then you hear a doctor creature groaning, even though you thought you’d killed all the enemies in that hallway! It’s that feeling, except you can’t duck into the nearest door to escape it.

HD: There has been much talk among Silent Hill fans about the indicators strung about in Shattered Memories. Outlined doors and arrows can be seen in preview videos. Can they be adjusted for a less guided experience? (Arsenic13)

Tomm: I think the way the help box text was written caused some false assumptions about this feature. The blue ice does not say “HEY, GO HERE!” instead, it says “HEY, YOU CAN GO HERE!” It isn’t marking “the way out,” it’s just indicating where you can run to. This is actually an essential feature, and without it, the Nightmare sequences were impossible. You’re running pretty fast, it’s pitch dark, and you have to make snap decisions when those creatures are chasing you – the blue ice basically presents your options quickly as you pan your flashlight across the area to see where you’re able to run. If you simply take the first blue door you see in every instance, you’ll end up going around in circles.

As for the other help elements, we really hate that in old Survival Horror games (and RPGs) the standard procedure for entering a room is to walk around the walls tapping A (or X) until you “find something.” That doesn’t feel like exploring a room–that feels like asking the game designer what you need to know. In Shattered Memories if you want to read a poster or check something out, you simply look at it in real time and there you go. Of course significant interaction objects still need to be called out – or you’re just wandering the room tapping A again. We are trying to adjust it from the E3 version so that it is less intrusive, but think of it as Harry (as you) noticing something and thinking “Oh, I want to check that out directly!”

HD: Has Climax taken any lessons learned from 0rigins and applied them during the development for Shattered Memories? (Lockler)

Tomm: I’ll turn this one over to Mark Simmons, Game Director at Climax…

Mark: Origins was our first go at a Silent Hill title. Whilst making that game we were aware of the fans passion for the series, in particular the level of detail to which they scrutinize the games and the narrative. Silent Hill is unique in that respect, the fans deliver a level of scrutiny that other games just don’t get.

When designing Shattered Memories we discussed Origins a lot. Origins had already covered a lot of the Silent Hill 1 storyline by recapping it as a sequel to that original story. For that reason we felt strongly that we had to reimagine the Silent Hill 1 story for Shattered Memories. Origins’ story was fairly constrained by the canon of the series, but by reimagining the Silent Hill 1 story for Shattered Memories we have been able to take story telling within the game to new levels with the freedom that a reimagining provides.

HD: Besides the cover of “Always on My Mind”, what else can you tell us about the soundtrack? (A.D.A)

Tomm: Akira’s created an all-new soundtrack for Shattered Memories. There will be other vocal songs, as well as the mix of atmospheric and scary tracks that Yamaoka-san does so well. The cool part about Shattered Memories’ soundtrack is that the songs are balanced based on your tension level in game, so atmospheric tracks can get creepier as the suspense builds, and scary songs can get more cacophonous as you get closer to death. We’re really excited to see how this enhances the experience.