As the brainchild of three of the Japanese video games luminaries, we were privileged to spend time with Shadow of the Damned‘s legendary composer Akira Yamoaka. Here’s how it went.
Best known for a decade of creating haunting soundscapes for the Silent Hill series, Akira Yamoaka joins the forthcoming survival horror/action title’s brainchilds Suda 51, CEO of Grasshopper Manufacture and Shinji Mikami, creator of the Resident Evil series, for one of the most anticipated action titles of the summer.
Our time with Shadow of the Damned did not just include game time that allowed for our recent hands-on preview but also the opportunity to interview composer Yamoaka on the influences behind his Shadows work, publishers EA’s involvement and what Japanese and western developers can learn from one another.
JOE: Yamaoka-san, can you describe the story of Shadows of the Damned for us….
AY: The main character is Garcia. He’s a demon hunter from the real world and he goes into the darker area of the world to save his girlfriend. This is his basic mission. She was kidnapped to the darker side and Garcia goes into this world of hell to get her back. This is the basic story.
JOE: Shadows has a number of distinguished gaming minds behind it, with Suda 51 (No More Heroes), Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil) and you yourself (Silent Hill) all bringing your own experience and expertise to the title. How have these different creative minds collectively influenced the Shadows project?
AY: You can take this as a completely new project, filled with bits and pieces from all our other previous great works, like Mikami-san’s work with Resident Evil and Suda-san with his games and his own style.
It’s these bits and pieces all together that define Shadows. In terms of sound, I am the sound producer and from my previous work on Silent Hill, I learned a lot for example, when it comes to the kind of sound effects I wanted to use on this project. So there are many different influences here from many previous projects.
JOE: What films or other media have influenced Shadows?
AY: In terms of this project and in terms of music for this game I want to reference Ennio Morricone. He is a real influence here. With Suda-san, he is a big fan of film himself; From Dusk Till Dawn is the one film he really likes. That and Tarantino films. Machete is another film he likes. It hasn’t come out in Japan yet.
JOE: Garcia is a Hispanic character. Was his choice of race a conscious decision to appeal to a North American or more western audience?
AY: You are quite right. We wanted to appeal more to the Western and global market and one way to do that was to adapt with this Hispanic character.
Demons or not, nobody enjoys a kick in the balls
The biggest difference compared to my previous work on Silent Hill is that this is a new project that has a lot more action involved. We wanted to create something with more action and to do that it was easier for Grasshopper [Studios] to create a character that is more aggressive, powerful and passionate.
JOE: Do you think it is important for Japanese and Western developers to share more ideas when creating games? You see Japanese publishers like Capcom that are embracing more western development mentalities. Do you think the industry in the east and west have to adapt and make more of an effort to work together?
AY: As you briefly mentioned with Capcom, it is very important for the Japanese game companies to work with the western companies. Shadows of the Damned is one example of this and I hope it continues. Japanese developers learn a lot from the western influences.
JOE: 2011 appears to be quite a strong year for survival horror, with the release of games like Dead Space 2 and F.3.A.R. How does Shadows of the Damned stand out from these and other similar games?
AY: You’re right, 2011 will be quite a year for horror action. But there are things that can only be done by Japanese developers and when you have the three brains of Suda-san, Mikami-san and Yamaoka-san working together, we can really compete with the western horror action games.
JOE: What was it like working on an action title by comparison to the more sedate and atmospheric Silent Hill games?
AY: This new project has a completely different style by comparison to Silent Hill. I am often asked how it (Shadows) compares to my previous work. It’s very different. It has much more action but still has horror. There’s much more shooting then I am used too also.
JOE: Regarding the audio design, Silent Hill was defined by subtle sounds and sedate underscoring. Shadows is a much more action-packed experience. Does the audio reflect this?
AY: The sound will follow the style of the game. With Silent Hill I wanted to create lots of energy in the sound, but all of this sound is suppressed, it doesn’t come out. That’s how I created the game’s special atmosphere. With Shadows of the Damned we have a lot more action and shooting and so the sound will be more up and down. It will be more epic sounding.
To create a new sound for this new project we wanted to try something new. Do you know the band ‘The Damned’? We worked with the original members of the band on this project to create some of the music. So you can see how the music is much different to my previous work on Silent Hill.
JOE: Did the publishers at EA have any influence in the way the game was created and its content?
AY: Grasshopper has learned so much from EA. Of course we have been making games for the world market like Silent Hill, but that was with a Japanese only company. EA has a completely different point of view and because of this western influence, Grasshopper is happy to work with EA.
Shadows of the Damned is set for release on the Xbox 360 and PS3 from June 21.
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