Revealing the Tricks Behind Hitman's Level Design
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- čas přidán 4. 08. 2019
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How were the Hitman levels of Miami, Mumbai & New York designed? We sit down with the designers at IO Interactive to talk about track teams, creating explorable spaces and creating satisfying targets.
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Filmed & Colored by Jeremy Jayne
Hosted & Edited by Danny O'Dwyer
Music Used:
Pause Screen - Hitman 2 OST: • HITMAN 2 Soundtrack - ...
Himmelstein/Hantu Port Custom Mix: • HITMAN 2 Soundtrack - ...
Miami Custom Mix: • HITMAN 2 Soundtrack - ...
Count Down to Death: us.audionetwork.com/browse/m/...
Whittleton Creek Custom Mix: • HITMAN 2 Soundtrack - ...
Star City: www.audionetwork.com/browse/m... - Hry
What's your favorite level in the Hitman franchise? What's your favorite target or opportunity?
Reply here and let us know!
I would have to say Paris from HITMAN is my favourite level narrowly edging out Sapienza.
Favourite target is Vinnie Sinistra from 'A New Life' in Blood Money & favourite "Opportunity" is swapping the guns in 'Curtains Down' from Blood Money & having another person do your job for you.
Shout out to Beldingford Manor In Contracts as a great level too :)
Traditions of the Trade from Codename 47 was a long time favorite. There's a lot of solid choices from the latest 2 releases though.
Sapienza / World of Tomorrow. Incredible level; absolutely huge, tonnes of detail, traversal is fun, lots of verticality, and targets are fun to kill. Favourite target in the franchise is either Reza Zaydan or Claus Strandbeg. They had some great interaction and execution kills.
The thing I always liked in the Hitman games are how they Make you really wanna kill these targets, because you hate Them, and none made that more clearly to me than Dawood Rangan I Hated everything about him, but He was also kinda Funny because He was so full of himself :)
Another Life from Hitman 2 was so great love all the small stories, and the enviroment. My farvorit was 47 acting like a House seller, all the things He Said had double meaning in his presentation of the House :)
And Once again Great video Noclip.
Ah Yep, Dan, Brad And Vinny from Giantbomb playing the levels are the Best, that Flashbang tactic mention here, and also Vinny’s Fireaxe attack in the Paris level was so fun, I myself try to play stealthy but it’s great to see people just go nuts also :)
Knowing the devs knew that most of the players hated the virus in Sapienza made me appreciate them even more. They really do care about the players.
They care about the new playerbase not the old one it seems. They said they made Hitman 2016 episodic so they could get fan feedback and change things. I see tons of older fans requesting the ability to climb with the briefcase and more blood splatter like in the older games yet they never added either when they could have easily done so. Same thing when over 25k fans signed a petition to get Jesper Kyd back doing the soundtrack. Kyd said in an interview they never asked him back and that he didn't know why. So they have selective hearing.
I honestly think it's because Jesper Kyd is too advanced for the more "consumer friendly" sound design that they opted to go with. Go look up the meaning of the Blood Money song "Apocalypse" if you don't already know. Such a macabre and political message as that would never "work" in the modern, politically correct Hitman re-imagining. It's a shame, because Kyd has an incredible talent for atmospheric soundtracks.
@@Sandro234 I'm not so sure. When you watch this whole documentary you will see IOI say the original Hitman team are long gone and its been a mostly new team since Hitman Absolution onwards. Add that to the fact that they say Hitman Absolution was going to be more linear than the released version and that Absolution had NO targets in the game and all kills were cutscenes. After they revealed it at E3 they panicked as fan backlash said it looked way too linear and they had to crunch hard for 2 years to open up the levels and put targets in it. To me that shows that IOI were wayyyyy out of touch. So i personally think they were and still are a bit out of touch. Because to make a Hitman game with no targets is like making a Forza game with no cars. lol
@@Sandro234 Not really. The answer as to why they didn't ask Jesper Kyd back can be easily explained by the fact they now have an in-house composer. Niels Bye Nielsen works for IO Interactive, Kyd doesn't. When people talk about this the issue of money never seems to come up. Kyd's not a small name anymore. He's arguably much more expensive to get these days than he was in 2006.
@@retro2103 The fact that Jesper Kyd said after Absolution came out IOI never even asked him back and that he didn't know why though. It took IOI 7yrs to make Absolution so work started in 2005 while Blood Money was still being ported to next gen Xbox 360. So it can't be down to money. Absolution had a huge budget where they spent 7 million on advertising alone. I just think they became seriously out of touch as like how they said Absolution had no targets at all and all kills were cutscenes and Absolution was much more linear than the released version.
They seem like such cool people.
Ranton definitely! It’s also amazing to see what their philosophy and thought process is in creating the game
MEGALADONI
You'd have to be to make a game like this. You gotta really understand what a gamer wants because the less-versed would just follow trends and 'checklist' features in. The game is the best CIA Agent simulator on the market.
Hey it’s Mr. Megalodoni
PAPA YOU’RE HERE
“In colombia we have a brick, a cocaine brick, right? its the same thing.”
God is this game great.
Okay so now Agent 47 getting a sunburn HAS to be in the second dlc level haha
I'm gonna let him lay on the deck chair for like an hour just to see.
Also make a costume for the challenge
His superhuman genes prevent him from getting sunburnt 🤣
There's so much work that goes into making these games! Props to IO!
Loving the series, Noclip :)
Definitely a lot of work behind the scenes. I never realized that until i started making my own game. Its fun though!
@@indieprogress7170 That's awesome :D
Completly agree. I would love to have the opportunity to make something like this.
26:48 - Having 47 get a sunburn if he "hides in plain sight" too long in the resort sounds like an awesome idea, you should definitely do that.
agree. Could be a feature when you play it on the hardest difficulty
Wait too long and he passes out and wakes up in the medical area, unless you're carrying illegal items, in which case you auto fail
12:47 YOOOOO this makes me so happy hahah. i always wondered if anyone at IO saw my "Beating the HITMAN 2 demo the wrong way" video - i'm so glad to finally hear they did ☺
lmao well done, dude
I knew I had heard that story somewhere before, was she the person behind you that whole time?
Congrats yo
10 guys walk into a bank start taking notes and images, The Manager walks up to you, "Nah all good fam, we from ioi and we need a new Hitman level"
Just like a real hitman they scout the area though in an actual hitmans case its far deeper than just knowing where the target is, they have to know the routine, the window period before the guards can respond ect.
"Don't worry we are just planning an assassination"
"In our game, people disappear." Understatement of the year.
Designing these levels sounds like so much fun. I started drooling a little bit looking at the flow chart of "dramas". Soooooo cool
Please let Mette make more levels! The Bank quickly became one of my favorite levels behind A New Life and Tracking Hayamoto ❤️
Not gonna lie i was mildly disappointed at first when i found out how small the map was but after playing it it might be my third (2nd?) favourite hitman level ever, its just so tight and polished. I hope we get a few smaller tight levels in Hitman 3, it was a nice change of pace.
And get her an adjustable monitor stand!
Ky B kinda reminds me of basement killing from hitman 2 SA. , i really like that one
One of my most favorite documentaries produced by Noclip besides The Witcher one. I am having as much fun in this one as that one.
Randomly stumbled onto this channel just checking out video game documentaries and ended up rekindling my love for Hitman
Chandasouk If you haven’t tried out the most recent games you’re playing yourself by not picking them up.
Word up. I am waiting for it to re-install right now.
Yeah hey these new games have serious taken a new turn, like here 47 feels like a real person instead of the clone he actually is, that was established in the first game, and now he feels so wise being a man in his 50s
This whole series has been great.
I've never played any of the Hitman games, but this has given me a lot of respect for IO. Not many studios would have given you this much access and time (seeing their tools was cool), everyone you interviewed seems to love what they do, and they have an appreciation for their playerbase
dirtyspah What are you waiting for? Go play Hitman.
I find it fascinating how much goes into seemingly small concepts, and also kind of sad that so much hard work and detail may go unnoticed by the average player. But maybe that’s a good thing, meaning it isn’t noticed because they made it so accurate and natural. Thank you iOi
Oh, trust me, the average player notices when something is amiss. If they don't notice the small details, that means IOI did their job right!
If Marta (?) worked on Sapienza and Miami, I'm sure the resort map will be great as well. Those two are absolutely amazing levels.
Haven island is the worst and most broken map in the trilogy
It's clear that IO listens to the fans, they even cited Nick Robinson's video. I hope they get the recognition they deserve as a studio.
I hated Mumbai the first time. Now it's my second favorite map. Their design philosophy worked i guess :D
Edit: Just watched the part in wich he quoted the forum post saying exactly the same. I guess it REALLY worked :D
For some reason I really liked that map from the first second, something about the atmosphere and the density of it all, all the crooks and corners just waiting to be explored :D
At first it felt so overwhelming due to bigness but then it became pretty enjoyable once I learnt how to use map to speed things up.
This is just amazing - my god. It's so hard to find a real behind the scenes showcase of any pro's process and tools. Thanks, Danny!!!
I love how you can feel the dry humour of the game through the designers themselves.
One of my favorite things about the new Hitman games is the outstanding textures. The games are absolutely beautiful, and I often found myself just slow walking through the levels admiring the details.
I've never been happier to hear Dan Ryckert's voice! Love that guy!
12:46 Oh sweet, Marta is talking about Nick Robinson's E3 gameplay of Hitman 2. That was a fun retelling of his playthrough.
Philip Carlson Yes! Exactly him.
This may be one of your best series you have done so far No Clip.
Fitting as Hitman 2016 and 2 are easily the best IO have done.
And seeing I love their work all the way back from Hitman 2 SA and Freedom Fighters (extremely underrated classic) that says a lot.
Freedom Fighters was a great game! I still think about it from time to time.
7:18 that's one heavy ass hamburger lol!
It must be the Krabby Patty Squidward made
I've been watching noclip since DOOM and I gotta say that you guys are really underrated
The complexity of creating those levels is insane! Loving the docs so far as always! :)
Sunburned 47? Omfg I hope it happens! Looking forward to this last one on wednesday and the CA w/e that lands...TY Patreons for supporting these guys and TY Danny for all the hard work man,damn you just keep getting better!
DisabledCable I noticed in the suits menu that you can choose tan 47 with Italy suit and pale 47 with Florida fit
The sun don't burn Agent 47. Agent 47 assassinate the sun by BURNING it.
So cool the devs talking about their work and ideas. Nice!
So cool! Mumbai was such a complicated level when I started playing it. It took me like 5-6 times of playing it to actually understand the layout, the way the areas are connected, what disguises get you where, all the underground areas, and all the mission stories / opportunities. I actually had no idea you could setup a meeting with the Kashmirian and the Maelstrom until I saw this video, because I'd always take out the targets in a weird order, so I guess that event never happened. But once I nailed this down, I got Silent Assassin on Mumbai in less than 15 mins and I was so proud of myself. My first runthrough took like 2 hrs lol.
Looks like you didn't get a chance to interview the Isle of Sgail level designer. I'm always curious about that one, because it's a literal fortress but also has a snail house esque design inside of it. It's my favorite Hitman level in terms of atmosphere and ambience (alongside Hokkaido), so I'd love to learn more about the design of it!
I would LOVE, if they tried to make a level where, you have the gimmick is this:
You have a target who's actively hunting another person.
The rules of the level is that, you have to figure out who the Hitman is, and prevent said Hitman from killing the other person who you're tasked of keeping alive. You keep the other guy alive by tampering with security, and like, making him where body armor and stuff. Directing the other guards to his location so he won't be alone--something like that.
It would be a nice variation of what Hitman is all about.
That's... an escort mission.
They did something similar to that back in Blood Money, where you had to kill some assassins who were trying to take out a senator in Mardi Gras, and prevent them from killing said senator. Lot less complex than what you were thinking, in that you can't really interact with the senator, but just have to find out the location of and kill the sniper before they take out the senator. It would be insanely cool to see a more modern take on that mission, though.
I wonder how many sales these videos have caused, cuz I defiantly got one from me.
You defiantly got a copy from yourself?
I bought it too lol
@Jake Jutras When you feel like very vigorously stealing from yourself!
I was about to but there are so many different editions and DLC's I couldn't figure out which one gave me the game, so I gave up.
Very glad to hear that, hope you enjoy it!
For some reason, I found that I was unsubscribed from your channel even though I loved the past videos. This series made me resubscribe. Great work.
lol
Much love to Mette and Marta. It's really encouraging to see successful women in Game Design :)
Hell yeah! I really enjoyed watching Marta on the livestreams, in the ramp up to Hitman 2. She has a brilliant design mind and a creative and hilarious way of thinking. Just take in the utter complexity and greatness of the whole race side of Miami and you can see that amazing level design 🏎️👍🌴
It's good to see them have success in that field. Computers and girls were certainly a weird thing only 20 years back. I was in school then and us boys were totally into video games on PC and the girls were actually pretty mean about it, calling us "nerds" in a mean way. Kinda tough for a girl to fit in with either all the boys in that world or to keep the passion alive despite most of their friends rejecting that stuff. With cellphones and social media it's different now. They all have a computer in their face now to do shopping and to socialize, so they might install a game or watch an anime. They really didn't use to do that when I was young. I wish they had.
@@Dominian1 Yep. It was also due to the PC being heavily advertised for boys. Marketing decisions like this can have huge effects on society, especially if they're targeted towards children.
It's great to watch this documentary series; I enjoy Noclip work immensely in general, but my big bro works on the writing and dialogue for the Hitman games (which has been a total banger for me for years, being a fan) and it's fascinating to attempt to comprehend the massive amounts of work put into it. I'm proud of him and IO in general. Thanks for the doc, Danny!
It's nice to know the devs behind my favorite series are such lovely people!
That was super interesting! It is like a masterclass in how to think when doing open world, open strategy level design! Good job NoClip, and props to IO to open up like that :)
Oh my god as soon as she mentioned the flashbang grenades playthrough I thought "is she referring to the Giant Bomb one?" and it totally was! I remember watching that live and laughing my ass off. What an amazing game and an amazing documentary about it too, it's cool to see how intricate they have to design each level so they play so well. Great job as always.
This series is AMAZING. So much great insight, and the devs are so sympathetic too. What a wonderful watch.
This doc gives so much insight into the development process. It's so cool to see that.
Wow like I haven't been gaming in a very long time and back in the day I was a big fan of Hitman, I played Hitman 2 silent assassin and Hitman Contacts, this new reboot TV series feel makes me wanna buy a gaming platform and get back into gaming again cause my life has taken a turn that has had gaming not fit into my time
These videos are a must watch for any game designer/developer. I'm really enjoying your documentaries. Fantastic work !
I kinda hope they do a map set in Copenhagen, where I have no idea but there are many interesting places it can take place :)
That would be so cool if they would reference or rebuild their own HQ in that level.
I wonder if they'd save that for the third installment - bringing the game back home for this series' finale.
@Thomas Bruinsma That is an amazing idea! And I think they'd totally be down for that too, they have the right culture for it :)
It would be pretty awesome to see every dev inside of the IOI studio, voiced by themselves and you have to eliminate certain targets. It would be pretty weird for them to plan out their own murders though lmao
I posted this elsewhere, but wanted to share it here too. I hope the next DLC coming up uses the suntan/sunburn mechanic, or at least makes it toggle-able. I just want to here Bateson use some ambient grumbling sounds from sunburn.
Easter Egg?
I am so grateful that I discovered this documentary and this channel. Really great content, I'll keep watching.
Thanks for giving us a behind the scenes to one of my favourite series, since before this there really wasn't anything out there that shows us what goes on at IO
"hi, we're here to get a tour of your bank so we can design a level for players to get experience doing all kinds of crimes within a simulated bank." yeah, the bank manager would definitely be up for that lol
11:22 My quote, Omg
Edit: I think someone else said it too, but i remember one of the level designers was there responding to comments about the level in the exact same thread where i said that.
I'm impressed by their modesty, this third Hitman brings it all together and feels like a genuine masterpiece! Thanks for the high standard you kept through the whole trilogy, always a pleasure.
Hitman 1/2 are the best games of this gen
I have no idea how IOI will step things up for next gen
Hopefully next gen brings more options where the team can thrive on most likely will need a new but similar game engine
They honestly don't have to. Slight improvements in graphics and animation quality with the same standard in level design could carry them for decades as far as I'm concerened. As long as they keep shoveling new levels at us for this iteration I'm happy. I really want them to stretch it out into the year 2025 at least with content for Hitman 3. I mean Hitman is out for three years now and it's amazing. I still keep playing Paris and all the oldies. This game and Red Dead 2 really gave me hope for gaming in general after seeing a lot of good franchises becoming monumental failures.
The work this people do is amazing and this helps to have perspective on how complex it is. You get even more knowledge of the amount of work this requires when there is no other studios that does what they do.
I didn't play Hitman 2 yet, but I really liked the first one. It's a very good game and I enjoyed playing each level a few times to see the different ways you can reach your objectives.
I really enjoy these game docs you guys have made for us, no fuss, hype or hoopla. They all have a professional journalist feel to them.
Well done and keep them coming.
I can't express in words, how much I love this series and especially the reboot games. Thank you, noclip, for this series.
so glad they let you see the dev tools, that was super fascinating!
Fantastic video. Great to have the game we love put into true perspective for us. A rare and excellent insight! Keep it up!
love this series on what I regard to as the best game ever... great storytelling
I can watch those creators talk all day. Very Informative, thanks.
12:47 I saw this video, so cool that the Hitman team as it as well!
Absolutely fascinating stuff. I love these glimpses into game dev
What a wonderful team and great game! Thanks for the work you put in!
Oh, i love this. In my little bit under 1000 hours spent with the Hitman series, i have been pondering how they design the levels, ever so many times. Thank you :)
These the most transparent Dev's I've ever seen . Speaks a lot about the healthy work environment , more studios should be like this .
What a great development company. They seem so proud of their hard work. I hope they stick around. Congrats to them. Thank you noclip
I love these documentaries ... wish I had seen them originally. 23:47 had me literally laughing out loud. Great job on these documentaries!
47 getting sunburnt sounds hilarious
Bought the first game after watching the first two parts.
Did not regret. What an awesome ride.
What an awesome documentary.
Thank you.
You could have bought the second game and get all the levels from the first game as dlc in the second one with all the enhancements the second game brought. Although right now you can play levels from first game in the second one for free.
@@anubhavtitus well ... that would've been good to know. :(
I think my favorite location has to be Sapienza. Its still amazing to me just how big that level feels and yet its all interconnected thanks to the underground passages. The targets are also really fun to kill and it strikes the balance of serious yet room for the wacky and hilarious ways you can take out targets. I got a similar vibe from Miami and really enjoy both the atmosphere of that level and the fun stuff you can do there. I never thought I'd actually get invested into the story of Hitman but here I am.
Great doc series as always. New York bank level is great but I’m delighted to hear one of the main ‘resort’ level designers did Sapienza and Miami. Wow, next level should be awesome
Such a fun game, it's crazy how much effort goes into it and how creative the devs are.
these type of documentaries need more attention. I fucking love these.
I loved that you included the video of the game being played by Brad and Co Player.
Am really liking this series of videos. Learning a lot on games are made.
Man, I could listen all day to these people talking about the individual levels´ designs. I wish you´d do a documentary after Season 3 where they´d talk about all the levels :D
I haven't played this version of Hitman but i will do it now, IO is amazing and all the work put in is fascinating!
Ahh been waiting days for the next instalment to this series!
I really need to play this, well done with the documentary.
I'm sharing this experience with Mumbai totally. I began hating this level but now I love it a lot and ask myself every time “how can I set a new record for myself and complete this level SA/SO in below 3min?“. But still I'd say that Sapienza is not just the best level of the Hitman series but one of the most beautiful and well designed levels I've ever played. :)
excellent documentary.. i love the hitman franchise, its what got me into gaming in the first place with the Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, It was the game i've re-played over 10 times at the time that i was too broke to afford the latest games. Nonetheless, more power to you guys IO Interactive, wish you'll triumph as CDPR.
Watching this video is really fun hearing their detailed insights.
I did a couple of playthroughs of Mumbai and didn’t like it that much until I went back to master it. Now it’s one of my faves. The variety and depth is astonishing.
So good to hear Vinnie and Brad from Giant Bomb having fun in the game. They were some of the early supporters of the new Hitman series.
Props to IOI and infinite Kudos to Noclip! I am an aspiring and enthusiast 3D environment designer and level designer and this is GOLD to me. Thank you so much for doing this guys, you are amazing, and I think you are the best! :]
I'm right there too! I love this stuff 😁❤️
Fascinating stuff. Never thought if hitmen level from this perspective
Always heard about Hitman but never tried it. Recently bought all 3 recent games and I fell in love ❤
Aww man this is making me want to buy Hitman 2 for my fiancé since his birthday is in a couple days, and there's legacy DLC for the levels from Hitman 2016. He's really enjoyed the previous games and has spent dozens of hours replaying the same levels just to see all the different ways to finish them. I know he's been feeling kinda down lately due to having so little time off work and I think he'd love to play this. Just wish it was on sale, the full edition with all the episodes is $99... :/ Loving this docu-series though, as always it makes me think of the game in ways I never have before ~
What platform is he on? If he owned Hitman 2016, he automatically gets that stuff in the Hitman 2 package for free. If not, the complete edition usually goes on sale pretty regularly. Keep a look out for seasonal sales, as Fall and Winter sales are right around the corner.
Great video! This game feels heavily underrated, perhaps because it's at times slow and methodical but I enjoyed every map and have only played the 2016 game so far.
This video series is cool, would love to see this of other big games
The part where she's flying through the level in her debug mode and explaining the design system trees (idk what it's called, I'm no game dev) are awesome. Would love to see more of those with different games.
It would be so awesome to have these kind of documentaries for the first hitman games. But I can't find any documentary on CZcams unfortunately
These people are masters. Im blown away by the level design in Hitman.
Very well done - both this doc and the designers. These docs will not get millions of views but will likely inspire a future generation of clever, thoughtful developers.
Hey Danny, really missing those Escape from Mount Stupid videos! Nice work, as always!
Another rock-solid, insightful entry from noclip. 👍
I love your videos. Nice work guys.
11:17 - Funny he mentioned, actually it might have been me who said that. I had created a couple of contracts for Mumbai back in Season 2, and by the time I was done with them, it was indeed one of my favorite maps (only second to the bank in New York), whereas beforehand, I absolutely hated it. Those contracts ended up being posted on the forums, go figure. :)
Amazing series! Thanks Noclip. I would love a Hitman-like game that isn't about killing people though. An espionnage/spy themed game could be incredible.
As someone from mumbai, I loved the addition of chawls as i used live in one.
The best game industry documentaries around!
Now I demand an unlockable suit that is just 47 but slightly sunburnt