Interview: Silent Hill's Akira Yamaoka On His Big Leap

Author: by Staff

Noted composer and producer Akira Yamaoka recently left Konami after having worked there for the bulk of his career and shifted to Grasshopper Manufacture, the development studio led by the iconoclastic Goichi Suda, which recently released No More Heroes 2. Yamaoka is currently set to work as the composer on the action horror game under development at the studio for EA Partners; the title is produced by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami. To find out why he jumped over to Suda's outfit, Gamasutra recently sat down with the renowned musician for a feature-length interview, The Melody Of Change: Akira Yamaoka At Grasshopper. Says Yamaoka of his attraction to the studio, "Grasshopper is one of those Japanese companies that make very original games, even by global standards -- games with a lot of originality. Their games always have a very unique world view, and with the sort of toolset I had in the fields of music and audio, I thought I'd be able to contribute to what they're doing in a really constructive way. That was what inspired me." Unlike a lot of Japanese composers who have recently left full-time jobs at publishers to go freelance, Yamaoka said that he joined the team to have a greater impact on the project. "I want to be more closely involved with game development, to use my audio skills as a tool to improve the whole project. That's what I'm after," says Yamaoka. The interview also takes in Yamaoka's approach to music -- which sounds like it will fit right in alongside Grasshopper's games. "One of the things I'm working with right now [is] music that doesn't work by the book, so to speak. Since most of the world's music does work by the book, when something doesn't, that has the effect of making it stand out. It's something that goes off the beaten path, and that's why I like it." The full interview, The Melody Of Change: Akira Yamaoka At Grasshopper, is live now on Gamasutra.