Sam Barlow (video game director)
Sam Barlow | |
---|---|
Occupation | Video game director |
Years active | 1999–present |
Employer | Climax Studios |
Sam Barlow is a video game director, best known as the writer and designer of Her Story and the two British Silent Hill games, Silent Hill: Origins and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.[1][2] He previously worked as a game director at Climax Studios,[3] before leaving in 2014 to become an indie game developer. He published his first independent game, Her Story, in June 2015.[4]
Interactive fiction
Barlow was active in the interactive fiction scene of the late 1990s,[5] 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.[6]
Influences
Barlow frequently cites novelists and film directors as having influenced his work. He claims that Hitchcock, Luis Buñuel and J.G. Ballard influenced his work on Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.[7] Both Silent Hill titles reference Shakespeare (Silent Hill Origins features a performance of The Tempest,[8] 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.[9] 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"[10] and "Hitchcock said that all horror goes back to childhood, that's why it's a universal thing -- it's a fundamental".[11] Barlow cites Cronenberg’s The Fly and Paul Schrader’s Cat People as showing how best to reboot an existing story.[12]
Video games
Barlow has worked on at least nine titles since he joined the video game industry in 2002, seven of which have been released.[13][14]
- 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 and writer)
- Elveon (unreleased) (lead designer and writer)
- Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (2009) (lead designer and writer)
- Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun (unreleased) (director)
- Her Story (2015) (director and writer)
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.
- ↑ "Serial-style mystery game Her Story launches June 24". Polygon.
- ↑ "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.
- ↑ "Sam Barlow's LinkedIn Profile". LinkedIn.
- ↑ "Sam Barlow Video Game Credits". Mobygames.
External links
- Her Story Her Story official website
- Climax Studios Climax Studios' official website