Brian Gomez exits Silent Hill: Downpour studio Vatra Games

Brian Gomez, the design director for Silent Hill: Downpour, has announced his departure from Vatra Games.

As of October 31, he was no longer working with the firm. The main reason cited, was the commute from his Los Angeles home to Brno, Czech Republic which resulted in long stints away from his family.

“When it was announced that Downpour was being delayed to 2012, my family and I came to the decision that I couldn’t keep making the commute between Los Angeles and Brno for another 4-6 months,” Gomez explained to the Silent Hill Historical Society.

“Downpour is so close to completion, there’s not a lot more that I can personally do for the project that Devin, Tomm, and Marek Berka cannot handle on their own. I gave my notice a few weeks ago, setting Halloween as my last day.”

As far as Gomez's future plans are concerned, he said ideas for his next project are in the works, and it will contain survival horror elements he wanted to implement into Downpour that Konami wasn't interest in.

“Yes, you can rest assured that some of the projects I’m looking at are survival horror related,” he said. “There’s a lot of things I still want to do in this genre that Konami simply didn’t let me do.”

Silent Hill: Downpour is due in March 2012.

Thanks, Gematsu.