Citing the long commute between his Los Angeles home and the Czech Republic city where the game is currently in development, Silent Hill: Downpour design director Brian Gomez has left the project.

In a note to the Silent Hill Historical Society fan site, Gomez wrote: "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." According to Gomez, his resignation was effective October 31.

According to a recent tweet from Gomez, travel between Los Angeles and Brno, Czech Republic, was "22 hours each way, and about $1,200 per ticket."

"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," he added. The game's developer, Vatra Games, has one previous title under its belt: the downloadable Rush'n Attack: Ex-Patriot.

Gomez, whose previous work includes Clive Barker's Jericho and Full Spectrum Warrior, noted that he wishes to continue working within the horror genre. "There's a lot of things I still want to do in this genre that Konami simply didn't let me do," he said, offering no specific examples.

Last month, Konami announced that Silent Hill: Downpour would be shifted from its planned November 2011 release to Q1 2012.

[via IGN]