Exclusive SHSM Post-Mortem Interview with Tomm Hulett

[redrum]

I agree, its good to know Tomm is still working at Silent Hill

[Arsonist]

Only one thing: Cybil a real police officer? She got frozen twice

Nah. If she were, SH:SM would be a poorly written game, as it would mean she relies too much on the powers of deus ex machina to meet up with Harry.


Anyway I’m very grateful to Tomm for taking his time to do all this. His answers were all more than satisfactory. Frankly though, I would kind of prefer that “Making of” video, myself.

but it doesn’t make sense for everyone in Silent Hill to be Caucasian

Hey! No implying I want a Caucasian only set of characters while I’m implying you’re relying on stereotypes too much when it comes to the portrayal of other nationalities. Still, I probably worded my question poorly. Mind you, Michelle was a good, solid character. I just thought that the food thing and the choice of drinks was a bit much.



Can’t believe I forgot to ask; “Why do you hate the PC?”


Also, I, too am disappointed with his rejection of the “all endings are true” theory. If the every playthrough is different for everyone, and there is no absolute truth, then what is there left to discuss?


Also, a personal little story relating to the purple, goth, punk, bitch Dahlia; I got the wench on my first playthrough and she scared the shit out of me. Not only did she look just like my first real girlfriend, but she had that horrible, sarcastic, paranoid, hysteric attitude to go along with it. I honestly thought that the psyche profile thing was just THAT good.

[AuraTwilight]

Nah. If she were, SH:SM would be a poorly written game, as it would mean she relies too much on the powers of deus ex machina to meet up with Harry.

Ditto. Not to mention her totally inconsistent and irrational behavior.

Also, a personal little story relating to the purple, goth, punk, bitch Dahlia; I got the wench on my first playthrough and she scared the shit out of me. Not only did she look just like my first real girlfriend, but she had that horrible, sarcastic, paranoid, hysteric attitude to go along with it. I honestly thought that the psyche profile thing was just THAT good.

Oh man, that would've been incredible. I had a "mutual fag hag" once, where she and I pretended to date because both of us were gay, and she was like identical to Lisa in this, complete with nurse profession. She even has identical casual clothing style. It creeped me out.

[Arsonist]

Not to mention her totally inconsistent and irrational behavior.

She seemed okay to me. Sort of. No worse then a usual Silent Hill character.

"mutual fag hag"

I lol’d. Is this a real phrase, or did you just make it up.

Gotta love those creepy coincidences. I must admit though, I forgot that she was Dahlia and not Daniela from time to time. And that damn sex scene! Ugh! God, why couldn’t it have been Lisa or Michelle or Cybil, or the barmaid or anyone really? I felt dirty.

Anyway, I'm getting a bit off topic, so I'll shut up and thank Tomm and Vixx again.

[AuraTwilight]

She seemed okay to me. Sort of. No worse then a usual Silent Hill character.

Which would've been fine, except Cybil is supposed to be the rational character that DOESNT have a million fucking mental disorders.

I lol’d. Is this a real phrase, or did you just make it up.

Well, I didn't make up fag hag. Don't know of two people in relationship being mutual fag hags is actually a thing.

Gotta love those creepy coincidences. I must admit though, I forgot that she was Dahlia and not Daniela from time to time. And that damn sex scene! Ugh! God, why couldn’t it have been Lisa or Michelle or Cybil, or the barmaid or anyone really? I felt dirty.

LOL, your girlfriend's name was Daniela? That must've been fucking scary. Imagine that happening if you didn't play SH1.

[kideatsu]

I wish that the psych profile aspect was THAT good. I get too immersed into games. I thought I was sitting in the psychiatrist's seat in the game, and was wondering where I fit in...then realized I was just playing a game. Good game, though.

Some of his answers were very good, though others left something to be desired. I like knowing that some things were unintentional and still picked up by players, though it would have been nice to know that he and the team did some things intentionally that were not done so. Anyway, they're still there, and ready to be enjoyed! Which makes SH:SM that much funner.

[NanayaShiki]

This was a great read. I was looking forward to this interview, and it was even longer than I expected. I love reading what Tomm has to say about a lot of this stuff. I'm definitely looking forward to more of his work in the future.

[AuraTwilight]

I wish that the psych profile aspect was THAT good. I get too immersed into games. I thought I was sitting in the psychiatrist's seat in the game, and was wondering where I fit in...then realized I was just playing a game.

Sounds like a personal problem.

[kideatsu]

Yes, one that enhanced enjoyment of SM in an odd, odd way...

[Mr.FLOOT]

We’ve been cooking up a lot of great surprises for you guys, so look forward to E3 when you’ll get a new glimpse into Silent Hill!

OH MY GOD I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!

[Vixx]

Tomm's dropped me a line and asked me to thank everyone for the discussion the interview has sparked. He's also asked if I could post the following on his behalf - so here you go:

Kenji said: “If it hasn't already been clear that Tomm Hulett agrees with "Death of the Author" (that's right, no TV Tropes from me ), then this interview clarifies it beyond any shadow of doubt.“

Tomm: Actually, I’m pretty vehemently against the “Death of the Author” concept (assuming you mean the idea that once a work is published, the author’s intention no longer matters to the meaning of the work). I could write a whole essay about it but I’ll try to keep this brief! Authors create works to tell a specific story for a specific purpose/reason. They are trying to convey something to the audience. This means the author has a say in the message. If the message depends only on the audience’s view, that means the author isn’t really saying anything at all—stories are just mirrors of the people reading them. So in general I’m against this.

However, since Silent Hill is heavily psychological, I think there’s a lot more value in keeping it as a mirror of the audience and leaving “the answers” ambiguous. It’s not as if answers to Silent Hill’s questions don’t exist—it’s simply more important to the series that they not be answered completely. I easily could have come onto the series and established things like “The monsters are people” or whatnot… but that wouldn’t have served any good purpose. One of the first things I did on Homecoming was un-answer things that weren’t ambiguous enough.

It’s why we all love Silent Hill so much, so despite my views on author intent—they don’t apply to Silent Hill J It does take a certain skill to create a narrative that is both deep, and vague enough to fuel such discussions, but our developers are getting quite good at it!

Yuki said: “and that he was a well-rounded person with faults (meaning the endings are all part of one narrative). ”

Tomm: I think it’s a lot better if they’re not all the same Harry, don’t you? “All in one” Harry would be a real horrible guy. Psychologically, I also don’t quite believe that “abused Harry” would ever cheat on his wife. Those two personality types just don’t fit. Same with drunk Harry and the kind father who regretfully re-explains to his daughter why he’s not living with Mommy anymore. The idea here was, as someone else stated, Cheryl is focusing on the happy memories of her father and ignoring that one “big” horrible thing. What that thing is varies per player.

Harry isn’t one-dimensional. He had good and bad points. But he didn’t have four really bad points

[nur_ein_tier]

Harry isn’t one-dimensional. He had good and bad points. But he didn’t have four really bad points

Agree here. If one ending is true at a time, it doesn't make Harry one dimensional, it just focuses our attention one particular aspect during that playthrough. In all playthroughs, he clearly has a nice-guy and good-father dimension at the same time, it's just that he also has flaws.

As for death of the author, I definitely think author's intent matters, but I also think that the audience's interpretation is still valid, even if the two don't match up. And it's possible that the author puts things in with possible meaning that he or she doesn't even realize, which could then be picked up and interpreted by the audience. That, and I'm sure a lot of different people had input to the story, not just 100% the writer, things were put in by others, even in the visuals and so on, so when talking about the entirely of a game, there is more than one person who put their ideas into it, so there may even be disagreement among the developers as to what a certain aspect means. I think I had a point here somewhere, but i lost it.

[NanayaShiki]

I didn't think it was possible for me to fall in love with Tomm even more, but I just did. I honestly would be really happy if he was given complete creative control over the entire series.

Maybe I'm over-exaggerating, but I really like pretty much every thing he says.

[Kenji]

Well, I sure got told. Thanks for clearing that up, Tomm!

I don't remember who said it, but someone recently said that the most important part of any piece of art is what isn't described. This is where the audience is drawn in, no matter the medium. On that, I agree, so I support the effort to keep Silent Hill intelligently unexplained (as opposed to unintelligently unexplained or, the trap of long-running franchises, overexplained). Being such a fine line to walk, it definitely isn't easy.

On that note, I'm slightly embarrassed for asserting so strongly.

[Yuki]

One of the first things I did on Homecoming was un-answer things that weren’t ambiguous enough.

Maybe it's because I've only read the Wiki for Homecoming and not played it yet, but... wha?

Harry isn’t one-dimensional. He had good and bad points. But he didn’t have four really bad points

I suppose I can see it either way, honestly. I know it would defeat the purpose of the game, but I wish we could see more of his personality in the playthroughs, alongside the one big flaw.

Authors create works to tell a specific story for a specific purpose/reason. They are trying to convey something to the audience. This means the author has a say in the message. If the message depends only on the audience’s view, that means the author isn’t really saying anything at all—stories are just mirrors of the people reading them. So in general I’m against this.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. I absolutely HATE the idea that the author has no say in it. Personally, I see it as, "If you interpreted it differently, that's a fascinating idea, and I like what you got out of it. But you need to recognize what the author has stated as well," if that makes sense.

[AuraTwilight]

I didn't think it was possible for me to fall in love with Tomm even more, but I just did. I honestly would be really happy if he was given complete creative control over the entire series.

Maybe I'm over-exaggerating, but I really like pretty much every thing he says.

Ditto.

You know that feeling you get when you respect an author and their work so much that you get like...this high off of the quality of their work? When it comes to Tomm, that's evolved into a psychic boner in my head.

I want to have his imagination babies.

[NanayaShiki]

Ditto.

You know that feeling you get when you respect an author and their work so much that you get like...this high off of the quality of their work? When it comes to Tomm, that's evolved into a psychic boner in my head.

I want to have his imagination babies.

yes yes yes. I know this all to well, and it doesn't happen that often for me.

[PyramidFace]

Did anyone else notice this?

Probably the line I delivered myself: “sigh… Wrong day again?”

!!!

[AuraTwilight]

Yea. It's old news that Tomm voice-acted James in that scene.

[jdnation]

Sweet, all my questions were answered! I'm looking forward to where the series is going and I like that they're open to new tech.