Meet Jason Silver: A Budding Game Developer

Jason Silver is balancing his debut title with a full-time job in hospitality. His journey is a familiar one—the classic tale of an artist seeking their big break while working a simple job. But for Jason, this journey is deeply intertwined with a lifelong love of horror.

A Lifelong Fascination with Horror

Growing up with liberal parents, Jason’s fascination with horror began early. At just seven years old, he watched The Exorcist and, despite being scared stiff, found himself irresistibly drawn to the horror section at the local video store. "I guess I love secure fear," he says. "I hate that things scare me, so I try to desensitize myself by facing them head-on."

The Creation of Hag

This fascination with fear has played a crucial role in the development of his first game, Hag. One of the game’s central challenges involves a particularly menacing spider—an element that has helped Jason respect and even admire spiders, especially considering he lives in Australia, where encounters with arachnids are a part of everyday life.

Beyond spiders, Jason admits to being terrified of heights, a fear he has yet to conquer. But if his work on Hag is any indication, it’s only a matter of time before he tackles that challenge too.

From Educational Tool to Horror Experience

Interestingly, Hag started with a very different purpose. The game’s protractor puzzle was initially designed as an educational tool for his brother’s geography class. "It’s how I started to teach myself game development," Jason explains. But as his skills grew, so did his ambitions. He lost interest in creating an educational game and instead pursued his lifelong dream of making something he’d love to play.

Inspiration and Ambition

Drawing inspiration from iconic games like Myst, The Room, and franchises like Resident Evil and Dead Space, Jason set out to create a game that, while more modest in scope, still delivers an intense, twisted experience. Hag is set in a room filled with puzzles, each one a small project that allowed him to learn and develop new ideas. The story and atmosphere evolved naturally as he progressed.

With the first level of Hag now released, Jason is eagerly awaiting player feedback and is already working on the next levels, each promising to delve deeper into the game’s appropriately messed-up story.

Art, Emotion, and the Future

For Jason, art is about invoking emotion through imagination and a chosen medium, and game development is one of the most challenging yet rewarding ways to do so. "When it works, it’s such a great feeling," he says. "And when it doesn’t, you just have to live and learn. Either way, I love what I’m doing, and I want more."

As Jason continues to develop Hag, it’s clear that his passion for creating fear-filled experiences is only just beginning!