Silent Hill: Origins - Development

Development

Prior to the release of the first film adaptation of the series, there was speculation that Konami was planning to release a remake of the first game in the series with Rose Da Silva in place of the original game's player character, Harry Mason. This speculation was fueled by an interview with the film's director, Christophe Gans, and a leaked list of Konami release dates which included a Silent Hill: Original Sin for the PSP. Origins producer William Oretel later confirmed that the idea of a remake of the first game had been considered by Konami, but rejected.

Origins was first announced at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2006; the press release detailed basic plot and gameplay information, and also announced that the game would not be produced by Konami's Team Silent, who had developed all the previous installments, but by Climax Studios instead. The game's storyline was written by Sam Barlow who consulted Team Silent to keep the title a canonical entry in the series, while the soundtrack was composed by Akira Yamaoka. The first previews of the game featured a radical departure from the usual gameplay format, with the inclusion of a Resident Evil 4-style camera angle. Travis was to have access to six weapons, three of which were melee weapons and three of which were firearms. There were also plans to introduce a laser sight for Travis' pistol and a new "Barricade" system which would allow the player to block access to areas from monsters with improvized objects. At the time, the game was expected to be released in late 2006.

In October 2006, Climax's United States-based team working on Origins was sacked, with rumors circulating that the game production was becoming a disaster through mismanagement and "unrealistic deadlines", and that the final version of the game was expected to have only "three to four hours of gameplay." Production of the game was subsequently moved to another studio in the United Kingdom, in order to ensure the final product would be "a tighter, more focused game that will provide fans with the experience they want... a Silent Hill experience"; the release date was also pushed forward. Later previews showed that the game had changed significantly, and contained gameplay more in line with that found in the previous titles in the series. The changes were well received by observers.

On August 19, 2007, a demo of the game was leaked to internet download sites; Climax promptly denied they were the source of the leaked content. The game was released in November 2007 in North America and Europe, with a Japanese and Australian release in December. The Japanese release carried the alternate title Silent Hill Zero. In early December 2007, Kotaku reported that Origins was likely to be ported by Climax to the PlayStation 2, so that a wider audience would be able to play the game, and that the port would be released in March 2008. In early January 2008, online retailer Amazon.com began taking pre-orders for a PS2 port of Origins, although Konami and Climax had yet to make an official confirmation of the project at that time. Finally, on January 22, 2008, Konami officially confirmed that a PS2 port was in development. Origins for the PS2 was released in North America on March 5, 2008, while the European release followed on May 15, 2008.

Released as Silent Hill Zero Original Soundtracks, the musical score of Origins was composed by Akira Yamaoka and released in Japan on January 25, 2008 by Konami Music Entertainment, Inc. Mary Elizabeth McGlynn provided vocals for four tracks and Joe Romersa provided the lyrics for these tracks.