*taps mic* This thing on? Yeah? Okay cool.

Good news everyone, we’ve caught up to reality time so I’m writing this entry shortly before you’re reading it. Sorry about the technical difficulties with the previous entries – I started writing them back in June, so some of the info might be a little bit outdated. But I’m here now! So we can all get through this together.

Introductions aside, I had an interesting time this past weekend. On Saturday, a bunch of us Konami types went to the Silent Hill Haunted House. As many of you are probably aware, Sinister Pointe has created a Silent Hill – themed maze in Brea California. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, as I’d seen some early design sketches but not much else (when our Licensing Dept. took a field trip to check it out, I was dealing with urgent matters on the game itself, so I couldn’t take time away from the office). I came away happy, the maze was a lot better than I would have expected.

For one thing, it was long. I’ve been to a few Halloween mazes in my time, and normally they take about 3 minutes to get through, and that has a lot to do with the fact you’re in a long line that slowly shuffles through and that takes you out of the experience and isn’t very scary. HOWEVER, the Silent Hill maze is really long. I’d say I was probably in it for 7 – 10 minutes. They also relegate each group to no more than 5 people… which keeps you isolated and more likely to be scared. On top of that, you’d come to seeming dead ends where all 3 walls were black, so you weren’t sure which direction was the correct one, and you actually had to reach out and feel for the fake wall. Spooky! As the big brave Producer, I was relegated to going first, too. Luckily I don’t scare very easily, but some of the people with me definitely did!

What I thought was the coolest part, though, was how many different sources the maze drew from. From the posters I was expecting a lot from the movie and Homecoming, and there was definitely plenty of that (their nurse designs were from Homecoming, for example), but there were other surprising elements. The room from SH4:The Room, for example, was recreated for the maze. That was a nice touch. There were other surprises too. There was even technically a Raw Shock, thanks to the necessary costume allowances of the Lurker.

I don’t know, the surprise references really added to the experience. Despite the loud noises and scary atmosphere, it felt like a real treat when I wandered past Henry Townshend’s bed and nightstand. I’m curious if I missed any references. Maybe I would have spotted a lot more if I’d been looking for them the whole time.

The other cool thing about our excursion was that several people in the group were friends who used to work at Konami but moved on years ago. They’re out of town so we don’t get to see them very much, but it was fun to catch up and hear about their lives. It’s always interesting how people have changed over time, but also how they’re ultimately the same people that you remember.

Silent Hill is a mysterious place; maybe all of this will make sense one day!

-Tomm

source: SHSM Blog – Blog…? What’s going on with that blog? | 10/13/2009