Silent Hill and the fog, the resource to cover technical deficiencies that is now the icon of society

Silent Hill (Jap.: サイレント ヒル, Serpent Hire) is a survival scary video game collection of INAMI. The very first component of the series appeared in 1999 throughout the Survival Scary Game Wave, which had actually triggered Cap com's Resident Wickedness. The story of different parts focuses on the village of Silent Hill.

We are at that time of year. The cold arrives and with it, in many territories, the fog appears. When that happens, and the weather conditions bring us before us whitish fogs that make it difficult to see what we have opposite, the most recurrent comment is usually, We are in Silent Hill!. The rest of the population, who do not know the video game, make the same funny reference, but using London for it.

It is curious as in a game in which we have to face all kinds of murderous creatures, most of them in unpleasant ways, which gave us the Survival horror of INAMI was the damn fog. It is curious as fear generates something mundane, something we can live in the first person, especially if you live in a site like Valladolid.

Many of you may already know it, but the fog was not introduced in Silent Hill to induce a greater sensation of terror. No. When the game came out, back in 1999, resources were not as advanced technologically as they are now, so programmers used design tricks. It is the case of Silent Hill's fog.

Make lack an art

There is no doubt that fog is an ideal visual resource for horror video games, and we have seen it use over the years, even in games like Resident Evil or Alone in The Dark. But, somehow, so That he supposed Silent Hill, he has become one of the icons of the game. But his inclusion was not intentional to provoke more fear; but necessary for the video game to work.

Then, the games were a sack of polygons and graphic cards were not as powerful as now, so did not have the necessary power to render the full map. Adding that famous fog, they hid the worst lucked parts and the performance of the game was less resentful by not having to load structures in forms of buildings or enemies, but only that dense fog.

Distance of fog, as is known to this technique, obscures the objects in the distance and loading higher resolution textures as the players approach them. In this way, the limitations of the hardware and INAMI took advantage of this technical lack in a brilliant way to contribute to his work of a greater narrative package.

The legacy for the Game Design

Programmers use a lot of this type of programming techniques, even over the years. Why do you think there are so many narrow spaces that cross in games like Uncharted or Tomb Raider? Being interconnected scenarios, the software can not charge everything and is done by blocks, so while new character is crossing those asphyxia. In those who do not fit a pin, the reality is that in a background a new area is being charged without us realizing it, and without the action it has to be stopped with load times.

That developers play with elements of the game design in such a wonderful way that they can take advantage of the shortcomings to influence the narrative or the development of the game, it is only a sample of versatility and the infinite possibilities that a medium has. And that is something we must remember and celebrate.

Now, horror video games include fog as an environmental factor to capture, precisely, that Silent Hill did almost involuntarily before his shortcomings ; But this kind of technical tricks are still very present. The fact is that, that a video game transcends as much as far as it will stand up to a conversation for time, even if it is to make a banal comment like that of this seems silent hill, it is wonderful.