Interview with Devin Shatsky (Hell Descent)

Date published: 2010.11.05
Source: Hell Descent

Mullet Wesker: In one of our interviews with Tomm Hulett, he told us that his favorite scene in all of Silent Hill was in Silent Hill 2, the cutscene with Angela on the stairs of fire when James is with her. Do you have a favorite Silent Hill scene, or a number of that are giving you great inspiration or conveyed a certain feeling you want to keep?

DS: It’s tough but if I had to pick, my favorite Silent Hill moment was in SH2, the Red Pyramid rape scene… It was extremely tense, as if RP could rip James out of the closet at any moment. Yet it also feels so wrong standing there in the closet watching this extremely surreal moment unfolding, its voyeuristic with a splash of macabre perversion. I must admit I was a bit disappointed when James fired off the gun though, and it magically scares RP away. I remember thinking ‘why the hell would he do that?’ And that RP would’ve ripped him out of the closet and lopped his head off. I’ll admit I found it extremely impactful nonetheless.

Mullet Wesker: If you have a favorite Silent Hill, which one, and why?

DS: Silent Hill 2. I didn’t really care for all the heavy occult based storyline in SH1 and 3. I felt SH2 had the best stand alone storyline, and provided the best atmosphere of all the SH games by far. I’m still underwhelmed by the combat mechanics though, and I feel like that is an area that could’ve been better, some people say that helped with the feeling of dread when enemies attacked, but I can’t imagine it was a design decision. They felt clunky, and unsatisfying to me. Just because the game isn’t heavy on combat doesn’t mean the mechanics shouldn’t feel good. This is a big area of focus for us in SH8. We’re working on a good balance of controls that really feel good, without making the player feel too powerful.

Mullet Wesker: What about a favorite Silent Hill game soundtrack?

DS: Definitely Silent Hill 1, The dark industrial sound, provides a very foreboding atmosphere. And the unique incorporation of the mandolin, has a strange spaghetti-western type feel to it. I really enjoy most of Akira’s non vocal tracks, and his atmospheric ambiance is second to none. I never really got into any of the vocal stuff, sounds very “open-mic night at the local coffee shopish” to me, not my cup of tea (pun intended).

Lanayru: How much inspiration to you draw from Owaku?

DS: I’d say I draw more motivation from Owaku-san, than inspiration. We’re not out to replicate anything that the original team did. Our goal is to tell a great story, provide a completely immersive environment, and hopefully scare people along the way. We are motivated to put a game out that brings some faith back to the Silent Hill fanbase. There are a lot of haters out there that we would love to silence. In a perfect world, our game would be judged on its own merit, not how it matches up to its predecessors. I truly believe nostalgia has a way of skewing peoples perception, so we’re never going to please everyone, that is a reality we accept. That being said, we’re still trying very hard to appeal to the core SH fan as well as to a more mainstream audience, and believe me, it’s a tough line to walk.

Lanayru: What do you think about Owaku and Ito’s impact on the series, visually and written wise?

DS: I loved Silent Hill 2, I thought it was a masterfully told story, and the atmosphere that the original team created in SH 1-3 was simply amazing. I’m sure I will get a bunch of flack for saying this but I found the SH1 and SH3 stories to be a bit convoluted, and messy. I remember sitting back after I beat the first game and thinking to myself, “I have no idea what just happened, is it really over?” Don’t get me wrong, it was a fun experience, but the story was all over the place, and hard to follow. I find all the in’s and out’s of ‘The Order’ to be overly intricate and rather uninteresting, but that’s just my opinion.

Lanayru: What do you hope to bring to the franchise?

I hope to bring more mainstream appeal to the franchise. Please don’t misinterpret that to mean I want to turn it into an action fest shootathon… nothing could be farther from the truth. In it’s earlier years Silent Hill carved it’s own niche in the horror genre, that set it apart from the rest of the pack, as more of a psychological thriller. I feel one of the key factors in getting back that niche is proper pacing. Homecoming took the pace to a new level, and it received some backlash from the core fans. In turn, Shattered Memories went a completely opposite direction with no combat. There’s a happy medium in there, and we’re very focused on it.

Jam6i: We all know those behind Silent Hill games draw inspiration from various classical sources like Jacob’s Ladder, Stephen King, and others. For you, Devin, what’s the most inspirational piece of art (music, movies, videogame, literature, painting, etc) in your life that’s had that most influence on you in terms of Silent Hill?

DS: I draw a lot of inspiration from music. I’m a big fan of SLAYER, so whenever I need to find my dark place, I inject a little mix of Kerry King and Tom Araya into my bloodstream and the inspiration seems to flow pretty naturally. Stanley Kubrick is definitely one of my biggest influences, The Shining and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest are my in my top 5 favorite movies of all time. I’m also very inspired by Ridley Scott, Frank Darabont, Chris Cunningham, and Stephen King. Blade Runner and Shawshank Redemption are two of my favorite movies. My secret guilty pleasure is Maximum Overdrive, seriously, who doesn’t enjoy watching some kid get ran over by a steamroller with Angus Young strumming in the background?

Earth: What is it like to work with a team of people to adequately convey and illustrate your vision for a videogame (a Silent Hill game, no less)?

DS: It’s a tough dynamic; from day one, I’ve really tried to empower all the team members to feel open to suggesting their own ideas, and to encourage people to evangelize the ideas they feel passionate about. But the reality is you can’t have too many cooks in the kitchen, and it’s definitely tough because everybody has their own interpretation of what is scary and what isn’t. For some people it’s realism that scares them, for others it’s the surreal and abstract. Compound that with a completely different mentality in Eastern Europe (vs. a Western Audience), and you can easily spin your wheels for quite a while before you gain solid traction. We structured a long pre-production process in our development schedule for that very reason, and once we ironed out all the details we had a great foundation to build on for full production.

Earth: Are there ever times when ‘seeing ‘eye to eye’ with a member of the team seems more difficult than others? Does this always tend to resolve itself into a compromise?

DS: Yeah, that’s one of the toughest things to do as a Producer. You need to give your team creative freedom, but there’s always going to be those times where you just aren’t buying off on a concept, or you think somebody is heading in a completely wrong direction with something. Couple that with some very specific rules that need to be adhered to, to stay true to Silent Hill. I’ve always felt a good Producer has to be able to effectively traverse the line between dictator and facilitator, to really get the most out of the team. When all is said and done, it’s my job to keep the project moving forward, and while iteration is a necessary part of development, it can eat your schedule up very quickly. I have to carefully monitor all the moving pieces to make sure we’re staying on track, and sometimes compromises are a necessary part of the equation.

Earth: In the past, it’s been speculated that Konami may have had a hand in inadvertently shaping the final product of SH games during their development process. Has the team faced any kind of pressure from Konami in regards to timelines/deadlines, forced aesthetics or ideas, or story-related facets that may have hindered/enhanced the final product?

DS: Definitely, Tomm and I are extremely hands-on during the development process. We are constantly working with the team at Vatra in making sure our vision for the game is in alignment with each others. Our division at Konami has complete ownership of the Silent Hill franchise and it’s our job to make sure that the development team is staying true to it. So we definitely have a hand in shaping the final product, it’s not inadvertent, it’s very straight forward, and we take it very seriously.

DarkHalo: The Silent Hill series has always been considered a psychological horror experience rooted in the intensely dark stories told throughout the games. However, two of the most recent titles, Origins and Homecoming, have taken a decidedly more action oriented approach to the horror. On the other hand he most recent excurtion into the nightmare town, Shattered Memories, removed the action element completely and instead attempted to dive into the mind of the players themselves.

Since Konami began utilizing other developers to produce the games the Silent Hill series has lacked the sense of cohesion that it once had. That sense the player had that they were playing a Silent Hill game. In fact asside from taking place in, or in some instances just visiting, the titular location the new games each seem to feel like they are similar but distinctly different new series altogether.

What are your feelings on the directions the series has been taken in over the years? And which games are your favorite experiences?

DS: Great question, My fundamental view is that The Order should’ve remained in Silent Hill 1, and every other Silent Hill after 2 should’ve had its own self contained storyline as well. All the past games (except SH2) told Silent Hill Stories that attempted to intersect within themselves, and that was a bad direction in my opinion. I’d say it’s analogous to attempting to make Twilight Zone episodes that all tie into each other somehow. I’ve always felt like each game should be its own unique chapter in the greater phenomena that is the town of Silent Hill, and that an overall story of the town is told simply by adding up all the different individual experiences.

I think Shattered Memories should be looked at as a completely separate entity, it was a re-imagining of Silent Hill 1, and it was designed specifically to take advantage of the unique control mechanics of the Nintendo Wii. It was a really great game, in its own right, and I’m proud of what we accomplished. We definitely would love to have another go at doing something completely “off the beaten path” again in the future. There was a faction of people that were really up in arms about the direction we took with Shattered Memories, but overall it was very widely accepted by the press and the majority of people that actually played the game without going in with a preconceived notion of what it ‘should have’ been. We’ve definitely taken elements of Shattered Memories into SH8 as well, but it’s fair to say we’ve gone back to a more similar style of game as the earlier installments in the series. We’re paying homage to pretty much all the previous Silent Hill games in some form or fashion in SH8, and I think the core fans will appreciate some of the ways we’re doing that. PS: That doesn’t mean you’ll be seeing Red Pyramid and Bubble Head Nurses wandering around our hallways.

DarkHalo: What new avenues do you feel that the series still needs to explore, and what avenues need to be revisited?

DS: I would love to figure out a way to support a multiplayer, cooperative experience without ruining the feeling of solitude and fear.

DarkHalo: Do you feel that the Silent Hill series can restablish a cohesive connection to it’s roots without taking too many steps backwards and produce a game that fans of the old and the new can come together over?

DS: No, I think the core fans are now so divided in their ‘definitions’ of what makes a true Silent Hill experience, that it is now virtually impossible to connect with everyone. All you have to do is spend about five minutes reading the fan forums to notice that. That being said, I do think it is possible to reach a broader fan base and provide a cohesive connection with new fans and a good amount of the old, that is my primary goal for this next Silent Hill.

Ytman: What does ‘horror’ mean to you? (Very ambiguous I know, take it as you will.)

DS: The summer of 1985 had a very profound effect on me. I had a 9pm curfew, and I used to run home (about ½ mile) in the dark on a nightly basis from my best friend’s house. All the while, I would completely work myself up into a near-panic, feeling like “The Night Stalker” Richard Ramirez might be right on my tail, or lurking in the bushes somewhere, ready to pounce… That feeling is like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. To somehow be able to bottle that intensity and translate it into a playable experience is something I strive for. Reality is the scariest form of horror for me. Things need to fall somewhere into the realm of believability for it to really have an effect on me. I like to be able to put myself in the protagonists shoes and ask myself “what would I do?” during a horror game or movie. So for me, it’s easier to do when I’m watching a movie such as Jacob’s Ladder, than it is with say Resident Evil.

Arsenic13: So just who is part of this new Team Silence? Will its core members stick around for future SH endeavors?

DS: This was just our tongue-in-cheek way of referencing our Konami team here in the US and the Vatra dev team, all while giving a nod to the original Silent Hill team. We also wanted people to know there isn’t just some brand new team at Vatra running without direction. Tomm has been around since Silent Hill Origins and I since Shattered Memories. We are the sole Silent Hill production team at Konami, and while I can’t get into details yet, let’s just say we have some really exciting plans for the not so distant future.

Sunderland: Some people in the Silent Hill community are very pessimistic toward newer Silent Hill releases. Do you have any message for these fans?

DS: Yes, if you play the game without constantly comparing it to the past, I think you’ll enjoy yourself much more; and if you’re looking for answers about what happened to Walter Sullivan’s biological mother or why Claudia Wolf doesn’t wear shoes, then this game is going to disappoint you. This isn’t a sequel or a prequel or a continuation of the soap opera that is The Order, and is in no way attempting to branch off from obscure details in previous storylines.

mooseifer69: Silent Hill Homecoming is usually seen as the weakest of all the Silent Hill games. I seem to be in the minority of people who LOVED Homecoming and consider themselves devoted Silent Hill fans.Fans claim that it was Westernized and lost a lot of its symbolism, while I thought that the symbolism was very much present and finally added a new layer to the Silent Hill games: which is humanity. I really think that this game ranks among the best Silent Hill’s, though there are probably those who disagree. Now what I am curious is what you think about Homecoming and how it stands with the other Silent Hills?

DS: Well, by now you’ve noticed I’ve made no bones about my distaste for the storylines with tenuous connections to The Order, and Homecoming was no exception. That being said, I actually liked the game and felt it received a somewhat unfair shake from the fans. It’s not a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination, but it wasn’t a bomb either. I think Homecoming was a fun experience overall, and it did some things pretty well. I can’t say it was a scary experience though, as it felt like more of an action game than a horror game to me. I also felt the combat became extremely repetitive after too short a period, plus it was pretty difficult and had poorly placed save points, making for a progressively frustrating experience.

mooseifer69: What I want to know is how influential you think the music of Silent Hill is and how it can change a person’s reception of a certain scenario accompanied by music?

DS: I can’t even put into words how crucially influential the music of Silent Hill is. Obviously we took a hit when Yamaoka-san left Konami, and Silent Hill fans have made their displeasure known. We hear them loud and clear, and we searched long and hard for the right guy to try and fill that void. Dan Licht is a very talented musician, and we feel really confident about what he brings to the table as our new composer. He’s studied all the previous soundtracks, and is working hard to gain the trust of the core SH fans. That being said, he’s definitely got his own style and isn’t going to try and emulate Akira’s sound, but at the same time he’s really trying to do Akira proud and continue the Silent Hill tradition of the best in-game music in the industry.

Lockler: Given what you’re exposed to with the themes of dread and horror, do you or have you noticed anyone get depressed/jumpy at work? What is the atmosphere at the office generally like?

DS: Definitely, there’s been many a night where I’ve come out of work feeling depressed and pissed off, just ask my wife . However, when you’re dealing with graphic content on a regular basis, you become a little desensitized to the imagery after a while. I must say I’ve gotten kind of used to it over the years with my work on The Suffering, and Area 51 to a certain degree. I can’t imagine what our I.T. department must think if they’ve scanned some of the Google searches I’ve done during the conceptual phase for some of our creatures. “Progeria+burn victim”, “feline conjunctivitis eyeballs”, etc. I hope they know what it is I do, and that I’m not just some weird guy down the hall… err, maybe I am.

Lockler: How do you relax after a day at work? Are there any hobbies, sports, games you’re interested in right now?

DS: Well I’m sure it goes without saying I play a lot of video games. I love the fact that I can justify my love for videogames as research, and my wife can’t say anything about it. We also have two young kids, so I’m a very active Dad. I referee for both my kids soccer teams, and I’ve got them both playing golf at a young age. I’m also an avid golfer, so I got a kick out of it when I first discovered you could collect a full set of golf clubs to fight with in SH4.

Lockler: I understand not much can be said about the game at this moment and I respect that. With that said – how does the game end?

DS: Hopefully I’m not giving away too much, but we’re thinking we will have the credits roll at the end.