That’s a creative approach, too, since it certainly prevented the problem of the writers being unable to produce enough words…
Motoi Okamoto, the producer of Silent Hill, revealed the surprising requirement that the Silent Hill f screenwriting, or story-writing, team had to meet: they had to read a large number of books. Okamoto gave a presentation at Japan’s CEDEC conference, whose full name is the CESA Developers Conference, or, if we want the particularly long version, the Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association Developers Conference. In his presentation, titled “The Art of Producing Silent Hill,” Okamoto explained that a broad range of reading is an important quality for game producers to cultivate. Reading the complete works of the game writers with whom he collaborated was, in his view, a fundamental matter of respect.
However, this desire to read isn’t limited to Okamoto. To ensure that developers have strong ideas, he explained that team members, especially the scenario writers, pressure one another to read at least 100–200 books a year. That’s a lot of books. We’re working on improving our own reading habits and would be happy to reach 20 books this year or 25 in 2027. We’re usually cautious about workplace quotas or KPIs, meaning key performance indicators, but we wholeheartedly support this initiative.
Okamoto’s reference to inspiration caught our attention. Many experienced developers have emphasized the importance of finding artistic inspiration outside of games. Josh Sawyer, Obsidian’s design director, recently discussed in a video posted on his YouTube channel how visual arts, film, and theater influence him. Last year, Nobuo Uematsu, composer of the Final Fantasy series, lamented the stagnation he observed in video game music. He attributed this stagnation in part to new composers relying too heavily on other video game soundtracks for inspiration.
Yet inspiration can come from completely unexpected places, and we can certainly attest to this from our own experience. However, everyone has a different personality, so this may be an exceptional case.
