er, sound director
, and video game producer who worked for Konami
since 1993 until his resignation in 2009. He is best known for creating the music in the Silent Hill
series; he also worked as a sound director and producer on the series as well as serving as a composer and producer of the Silent Hill
feature-length film and its sequel
.
Yamaoka attended Tokyo Art College, where he studied product design and interior design.
On December 2, 2009, it was announced that Yamaoka was leaving his long term employer Konami.
On February 3, 2010, it was announced that Yamaoka has joined Grasshopper Manufacture
and will be working with Goichi Suda
and Shinji Mikami
on their upcoming psychological-action thriller game, Shadows of the Damned
, in partnership with Electronic Arts
.
Before working as a video game composer, Yamaoka initially sought a career as a designer, but instead became a musician after studying product design at Tokyo Art College.
In 1993 he joined Konami to work on the game Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2
.
Gaming cannot try and imitate what movies have done so far, but the advantage we have is that we can include interactivity and movies cannot, and there are a lot of more increasingly complex titles as we play to this advantage.
Honestly we don't think Silent Hill 4 is the scariest title in the horror genre of the market, because we don't intend to scare the player, but to express the psychological element, by letting them know we have that peculiar Silent Hill scenario.
I was asked by Michiru Yamane to help out with the drum parts. Until today, there is no one on earth who can match my skills in drum programming. This, I have confidence.
I am self-taught. Thus, I cannot read notes and I don't know musical theory, either.
I once tried to take a piano lesson, wishing that I could be popular among girls, however, it was so boring. I quit it in one week.