Sam Barlow (game designer)
Sam Barlow | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Video game director |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Employer | Climax Studios |
| Notable work | Her Story Aisle Silent Hill: Origins Silent Hill: Shattered Memories |
Sam Barlow is a video game director, best known as the writer and designer of the two British Silent Hill games, Silent Hill: Origins and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. [1] [2] He currently works as a Game Director at Climax Studios in the UK.[3]
Interactive fiction
Barlow was active in the interactive fiction scene of the late 90s,[4] most notably releasing the game Aisle in 1999. It won the XYZZY Award for Best Use of Medium. Like his later Silent Hill games, Aisle features a psychologically damaged viewpoint character, a contemporary setting and a positive meaning at its heart.[5]
Video games
- Aisle (1999) (developer)
- Serious Sam: Next Encounter (2004) (designer)
- Crusty Demons (2007) (lead designer)
- Ghost Rider (2007) (lead designer)
- Silent Hill Origins (2007) (lead designer & writer)
- Elveon (unreleased) (lead designer & writer)
- Silent Hill Shattered Memories (2009) (lead designer & writer)
- Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun (unreleased) (director)
- Her Story (2015) (developer)
Influences
Barlow frequently cites novelists and film directors are having influenced his work. He claims that Hitchcock, Luis Buñuel and J.G. Ballard influenced his work on Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.[6] Both Silent Hill titles reference Shakespeare (Silent Hill Origins features a performance of The Tempest,[7] whilst Silent Hill: Shattered Memories has multiple references to Twelfth Night). He has also been inspired by David Lynch, Mark Z. Danielewski, Paul Auster, Shirely Jackson, The Exorcist and Gene Wolfe.[8] Consistently his most frequently cited influence is Hitchcock, for example: "I bored everyone with Hitchcock and talking about his techniques and his ideas of suspense"[9] and "Hitchcock said that all horror goes back to childhood, that's why it's a universal thing -- it's a fundamental".[10] Barlow cites Cronenberg’s The Fly and Paul Schrader’s Cat People as showing how best to reboot an existing story.[11]
References
- ^ Long, Neil. "Writer's roundtable: the death of Irrational and the trouble with blockbuster videogame narrative". Edge.
Climax Studios game director Sam Barlow is a videogame writer of equal experience and renown, having written several Silent Hill games
- ^ "The Players: Climax Studios". Games TM (61): 6.
GamesTM speaks with Sam Barlow, the visionary lead designer on the latest Silent Hill to come from the heart of Climax Studios
- ^ "Key People". Climax Studios Official Site.
- ^ "The Making Of: Silent Hill Shattered Memories". EDGE (263).
- ^ Douglass, Jeremy (2007). Command Lines: Aesthetics and Technique in Interactive Fiction and New Media (Thesis). The University of California, Santa Barbara. p. 309.
- ^ Barlow, Sam. "The Sam Barlow Hour". Official Silent Hill Blog. Konami.
- ^ McNally, Rand. "Silent Hill: Origins Review". Game Revolution. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
- ^ Barlow, Sam. "Defining Horror with Sam Barlow". Rely On Horror. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
- ^ East, Thomas. "Wii Feature: Silent Hill Shattered Memories Interview". Official Nintendo Magazine.
- ^ Casamassina, Matt. "Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Interview". IGN.
- ^ Casamassina, Matt. "Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Interview". IGN.
External Links
- Climax Studios official web site
- Sam Barlow on Twitter