Video E3 Interview With Tomm Hulett

[Jack Ketch]

I think you don't get it. Silent Hill isn't rooted in Japanese culture, it's rooted in American.

But filtered through a Japanese perspective. HalfTransition's point is valid. SH1 classroom layouts have always reminded me of the peculiar, uniform Japanese system you see in all Japanese games and anime/manga centred around high schools.

[HalfTransition]

The apartment in SH2 was a recreation of an apartment from San Bruno, CA.

I was talking about Brookheaven hospital, midwich school, Alchemilla Hospital, the way some streets are made (for SH2, they took inspiration from a Japanese town. You can see it in the making of DVD). Some places are purely American but a lot of them had a Japanese atmosphere. And even if they took some inspirations from american environments, they added a japanese taste to it. The fact that they merged Japanese and American culture made an unique atmosphere that sadly, is not present in Homecoming, Shattered Memories and Downpour.

I don't care about gameplay changes ( I love Downpour's gameplay), new kind of otherworlds (as long as they are scary) or stuff like that, but I hope that someday, when playing a new SH title, I'll feel back in the Silent Hill town I loved.

Devil hunter > SH2 HD has grey fog but the original game had pale white fog with a grey background.

[Purramid_Head]

I think you don't get it. Silent Hill isn't rooted in Japanese culture, it's rooted in American.

But filtered through a Japanese perspective. HalfTransition's point is valid. SH1 classroom layouts have always reminded me of the peculiar, uniform Japanese system you see in all Japanese games and anime/manga centred around high schools.

Actually Midwhich, on the outside and interior is based on Kindergarten Cop. I'm a staunch anime fan and I have been watching stuff in Japanese and watching the culture since I was 13, and I do not agree with you at all. The only thing that even remotely reminds me of their culture is Alessa's normal attire. Everything else is extremely American, and as Tomm has stated SH2 is based on San Bruno, CA, including the interior.

I'm not denying there isn't Japanese culture tidbits, I think that's inevitable because you cannot remove the influence completely from their own original culture(s), but there was a interview when Homecoming was announced with a new developer where Yamaoka specifically stated in Japanese "It's weird that Americans are working on Silent Hill now because our aim was to be as American as possible."

They're not trying to make a game about Japan and dare I say for a Japanese audience? They're trying to make something as believably American as possible. That's why they went through advanced localization changes in the script and the feel of the game. Even most of SH's influences are all Western based, this is no accident. I think you and other people are confusing this "filter" as you say for it only being good if made by Japanese, no, this is not true. You can have an objective view and understanding, including one like the natives, and not be that culture. This is what Silent Hill is, little of the dev's opinions are actually in the game on purpose and their culture, they want the player to think for themselves. Sometimes the best way to look at a culture is through 3rd person view rather than colored by your own first person biased views, this is what Silent Hill is.

[devil hunter]

Devil hunter > SH2 HD has grey fog but the original game had pale white fog with a grey background.

I played the PC version and that one too had grey fog. I doubt the PS 2 version had white fog.

[Jack Ketch]

Actually Midwhich, on the outside and interior is based on Kindergarten Cop.

I'm well aware of that... and that's part of the point, isn't it? American designers making an game based in America wouldn't have to steal design ideas from previous American culture; having been born into such a culture would tend to make their artistic impressions of schools and hospitals that much more genuine. The fact that the first games are made by Asian teams trying their best to create a Western product lends an almost indefinable queerness to the atmosphere that, to me, is what makes the experience of playing the games so interesting.

I think you and other people are confusing this "filter" as you say for it only being good if made by Japanese, no, this is not true. You can have an objective view and understanding, including one like the natives, and not be that culture. This is what Silent Hill is, little of the dev's opinions are actually in the game on purpose and their culture, they want the player to think for themselves. Sometimes the best way to look at a culture is through 3rd person view rather than colored by your own first person biased views, this is what Silent Hill is.

But I've never argued that that is what makes certain Silent Hill games good. I don't think the first Silent Hill games are particularly good; in fact I feel that in some places they are deeply flawed, what with dialogue being somewhat unnatural and character models clunky. But again, this adds to the queerness of the experience. I don't care whether people think the early games are good or the later games are good. I never get involved in these arguments. What fascinates me is the feeling of not getting the world quite right; it is the same kind of disconnected reality as in Lynch movies or postmodern fiction, and that is what attracts me to the early SH games, as it attracts me to other media. I wouldn't argue this as a reason for others to like or dislike any of the games, but I do think that the Japanese "filter"
created by the original teams not being a part of the Western culture the are attempting to create helps (intentionally or otherwise, it doesn't matter to me) build this mood, and that is what is relevant to the current argument.

[Tomm]

Yeah, the "Japanese-ness" is because the creators at the time were Japanese. They were not making a conscious decision to "make a Japanese town set in America" or "make this weird because it feels more Japanese than American". Silent Hill was set in America, and they were attempting to create that - which is why for SH2 they traveled to America to research and take photographs. They were Japanese, and so their culture creeped in like it would with Americans making a game set in France, or any other combination.

Keep in mind only one (soon, two) Silent Hills were made wholly by an American group. Origins and Shattered Memories were made by a British team, who even trolled Google street view to research the "feel" of smaller towns in America. Vatra is Czech, so there's more of an Eastern European flavor.

I like the "foreign" flavor of SH, and I like that it's been able to keep changing as different groups work on the series.

[what]

I really do not see how the depictions of the town in any of the games are substantially different from one another, to be honest. And, I think it's disingenuous to hold up a game's flaws as its strong points. David Lynch intentionally makes his characters the way they are. The first several Silent Hill games don't strike me as bearing a resemblance to them. For example, the characters in the first two-thirds of Mulholland Drive are overacting on purpose; their doing so sheds light on events which take place later. There's a point to it. The acting in the original Silent Hill games was questionable, but there wasn't a purpose behind it. It was just, especially in the first game, simply poor acting.

That said, Tomm, I recently replayed Shattered Memories and I just want to say, if you ever speak to Thaddeus Frogley again, tell him I think he has the best name ever. <3

[Purramid_Head]

That's the only Lynch movie I saw, it was pretty good. Made me think. Everything in that movie served a special purpose. I think in the case of SH1 that the bad dialogue and acting adds to the game. I wasn't laughing as much like I was with RE1.

[Jack Ketch]

They aren't strong points, they are what makes the playing experience interesting and enjoyable to me. It's subjective; like I said, I wouldn't tell anyone that these are reasons that this game is good per se. What it does is throw the whole experience off kilter and lends an uneasy, not-quite-real atmosphere which I like. So you're right, these things don't make it good, but it makes it good for me The bad acting comparison with Lynch is valid but again, subjectively, irrelevant. It still adds to the WTF disconnect between the individual and perceived reality and as such, again, adds to the attraction (for me).

[HalfTransition]

Yeah, the "Japanese-ness" is because the creators at the time were Japanese. They were not making a conscious decision to "make a Japanese town set in America" or "make this weird because it feels more Japanese than American". Silent Hill was set in America, and they were attempting to create that - which is why for SH2 they traveled to America to research and take photographs. They were Japanese, and so their culture creeped in like it would with Americans making a game set in France, or any other combination.

Keep in mind only one (soon, two) Silent Hills were made wholly by an American group. Origins and Shattered Memories were made by a British team, who even trolled Google street view to research the "feel" of smaller towns in America. Vatra is Czech, so there's more of an Eastern European flavor.

I like the "foreign" flavor of SH, and I like that it's been able to keep changing as different groups work on the series.

I understand what you mean. When we create music, video games and all, we are influenced by our surroundings, the country we live in, etc.. Of course, european developers won't see America the way Japanese people do so the game is going to feel different.

It kinda remind me of some Japanese games taking place in modern day america (most of the time in new york) but everything looks like in 1990 with punks fighting with chains and bars. Everyone have a different view on another country and that's an interesting thing.

But I think the Japanese style mixed with the american style is what fits the best for silent hill.

[SevenDevils]

"Cultural Dissonance"

I think that's a good way to put it. Silent Hill just isn't Silent Hill without that sense of cultural dissonace. And moreso I think that certain cultures mesh well with the American setting to create that "Silent Hill feel". So far I think the Japanese (obviously) and British (i.e, Climax) developed games have been successful while the American and Czech games (No disrespect to Downpour, but certain elements, like the Otherworld, felt like too much of a departure to retain that "feel") have been less successful.

It's really kind of a crapshoot to discover which combination of cultures combines to create that correct dissonance. It's almost like tuning an instrument. With that said, I'm hoping that BoM can pull it off (because it's not Double Helix developing, so anythings possible) even though it's a spin off and that's not necessarily the intention.