WEBVTT 00:00:00.500 --> 00:00:03.060 AGENT 47: Hello, Game Maker's Toolkit 00:00:04.820 --> 00:00:11.040 Something that I love about stealth games is the way they often have these large, open-ended levels. 00:00:11.049 --> 00:00:14.860 Stuff like Camp Omega in Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. 00:00:14.860 --> 00:00:17.850 Or the various shifting mansions in Dishonored 2. 00:00:17.850 --> 00:00:22.430 Or the intricate Palisade Bank in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided 00:00:22.430 --> 00:00:27.430 Unlike a lot of video game levels, which can feel like linear and claustrophobic theme 00:00:27.430 --> 00:00:32.390 park rides, these stealth stages feel more like real places. 00:00:32.390 --> 00:00:37.309 You can scope them out from high-up vantage points, choose your route as you go, and deal 00:00:37.309 --> 00:00:40.300 with situations however you like. 00:00:40.300 --> 00:00:44.950 But no game does this quite like the Hitman series. 00:00:44.950 --> 00:00:50.519 The franchise is jam packed with memorable levels, like the opera house in Blood Money. 00:00:50.519 --> 00:00:54.269 The seaside town of Sapienza in Hitman 2016. 00:00:54.269 --> 00:00:58.510 Or the drug fields of Colombia in last year’s Hitman 2. 00:00:58.510 --> 00:01:03.780 Every single level is an intricately designed and fully explorable space, filled with people 00:01:03.780 --> 00:01:07.100 going about their business on clockwork routines. 00:01:07.100 --> 00:01:11.860 You can enter almost every building, pick up dozens of objects, and disguise yourself 00:01:11.860 --> 00:01:13.670 as loads of different people. 00:01:13.670 --> 00:01:19.860 So, I’m left wondering - how, exactly, is a Hitman level designed? 00:01:19.860 --> 00:01:24.210 Well, to figure this out - let’s focus on a single level. 00:01:24.210 --> 00:01:30.760 And I’m going to pick the bombastic Florida-based racing mission from Hitman 2, called The Finish Line. 00:01:30.760 --> 00:01:35.460 Let’s zoom out and look at the Making of Miami. 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:43.790 Of course, there’s only so much that I can tell you about the making of this level. 00:01:43.790 --> 00:01:45.890 But I know a couple guys who can help… 00:01:45.890 --> 00:01:50.820 JAKOB: Yes, my name is Jakob Mikkelsen and I’m game director on Hitman 2. 00:01:50.820 --> 00:01:57.140 ESKIL: I’m Eskil, I’m the associate game director on Hitman 2 00:01:57.140 --> 00:02:00.100 So I wanted to know where a Hitman level began. 00:02:00.100 --> 00:02:04.440 What’s the very first step taken when bringing one of these stages to life. 00:02:04.440 --> 00:02:11.959 JAKOB: So typically we brainstorm a lot of locations, and then it’s like “wouldn’t 00:02:11.959 --> 00:02:16.330 it be cool if… 47 went to a race,” “wouldn’t it be cool to do a fashion show,” “wouldn’t 00:02:16.330 --> 00:02:21.451 it be cool to do the streets of Mumbai with all the slums and all that stuff”. 00:02:21.451 --> 00:02:23.420 So that’s kind of the originating idea. 00:02:23.420 --> 00:02:29.420 So this level is set during the Global Innovation Race: a sort of Formula 1-style race on the 00:02:29.420 --> 00:02:31.080 coast of Miami. 00:02:31.080 --> 00:02:37.219 Globe-trotting assassin Agent 47 can explore the food stands, the paddocks, and VIP lounges 00:02:37.219 --> 00:02:40.770 - all while a race speeds on around him. 00:02:40.770 --> 00:02:46.430 Developer IO Interactive liked this idea because games set at racing events always put you 00:02:46.430 --> 00:02:51.040 on the track - but this Hitman level would let you explore the areas you never normally 00:02:51.040 --> 00:02:54.910 get to explore: everything but the track, basically. 00:02:54.910 --> 00:02:56.510 So, what’s next? 00:02:56.510 --> 00:03:01.940 JAKOB: Once we’ve settled on a location, we begin to develop the characters. 00:03:01.940 --> 00:03:06.240 In Miami it’s the Knoxes - how do they work in the mission? 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:12.620 Miami has two targets for Agent 47 to assassinate: there’s a racing driver called Sierra Knox, 00:03:12.620 --> 00:03:15.959 and her father: the inventor Robert Knox. 00:03:15.959 --> 00:03:20.599 Robert Knox is what IO calls a “dweller” - he sticks to just one location. 00:03:20.599 --> 00:03:25.900 That’s his office building where, other than a tiny public showroom, the entire location 00:03:25.900 --> 00:03:27.560 requires strict security clearance. 00:03:27.560 --> 00:03:29.740 IO calls that a “fortress”. 00:03:29.740 --> 00:03:34.930 If left to his own devices, Knox sticks to a pretty small loop. 00:03:34.930 --> 00:03:40.210 He visits the Android testing lab, looks out over the balcony, talks to some scientists, 00:03:40.210 --> 00:03:42.379 heads upstairs to his office, and so on. 00:03:42.379 --> 00:03:46.819 He simply repeats this loop over and over again. 00:03:46.819 --> 00:03:49.940 Sierra Knox, however, is a very different beast. 00:03:49.940 --> 00:03:54.420 For the first 20-odd minutes she’s driving around the race track in her car. 00:03:54.420 --> 00:03:58.910 There are ways to assassinate her while she’s driving, but she’ll also start a new routine, 00:03:58.910 --> 00:04:01.220 on foot, after the race ends. 00:04:01.220 --> 00:04:05.879 Now she’ll bounce around the VIP area and, at this point, she’s more of a “roamer” 00:04:05.879 --> 00:04:09.370 - a target who walks around more public spaces. 00:04:09.370 --> 00:04:12.069 So that’s the location and the targets dreamt up. 00:04:12.069 --> 00:04:13.200 What’s next? 00:04:13.200 --> 00:04:17.930 JAKOB: And then we ask the question, the recurring question, “what could possibly go wrong 00:04:17.930 --> 00:04:24.740 here, and how can Agent 47 get a grip on the situation, how can he affect the situation?” 00:04:24.740 --> 00:04:29.259 So Robert Knox might be stuck in a predictable little loop, but that clockwork pattern can 00:04:29.259 --> 00:04:32.009 be disrupted in lots of different ways. 00:04:32.009 --> 00:04:36.499 Mess with the air conditioning in his office, and he’ll go to the bathroom to use eyedrops 00:04:36.499 --> 00:04:40.229 - which you have hopefully poisoned. 00:04:40.229 --> 00:04:44.150 Turn off the satellite, and he’ll go to fix it - giving you a moment to boot him onto 00:04:44.150 --> 00:04:45.530 the track. 00:04:45.530 --> 00:04:49.960 Break his prized car, and he’ll come repair it - giving you a moment to.... 00:04:49.960 --> 00:04:54.020 whoops, sorry pal. 00:04:54.020 --> 00:04:57.630 You can even get him to leave the offices if you’re particularly smart. 00:04:57.630 --> 00:04:59.669 Each of these murders requires a bit of set-up. 00:04:59.669 --> 00:05:05.030 You’ll need to find items, like poison for his eye drops or an octane booster to sabotage 00:05:05.030 --> 00:05:06.030 the car. 00:05:06.030 --> 00:05:10.729 You’ll need to visit various secure locations, like Knox’s heavily guarded office, and 00:05:10.729 --> 00:05:13.599 you’ll often need to wear a certain disguise. 00:05:13.599 --> 00:05:19.659 And IO can use this multi-step approach to tease you into more assassination possibilities. 00:05:19.659 --> 00:05:25.249 When you discover a military robot that uses facial recognition to pick out and kill targets, 00:05:25.249 --> 00:05:29.909 your mind lights up at the possibility of finding a photo of Robert Knox himself, to 00:05:29.909 --> 00:05:32.369 feed into the robot. 00:05:32.369 --> 00:05:40.099 JAKOB: We invite you in, and we set up the moments in a way so you can take advantage. 00:05:40.099 --> 00:05:45.860 ESKIL: But you know this Mark, because you touched upon it so nicely in the Art of Repetition, 00:05:45.860 --> 00:05:50.212 where you talk about the gunpowder - and of course when you find the cannon there’s 00:05:50.212 --> 00:05:54.499 a tonne of gunpowder there so it’s not like oh I need it here. 00:05:54.499 --> 00:05:59.159 But it is just to nudge you, and to tell you “ooh, there is something else here”. 00:05:59.159 --> 00:06:03.849 And the exploding golf ball, it’s constantly giving you little promises. 00:06:03.849 --> 00:06:07.469 And little temptations. 00:06:07.469 --> 00:06:09.870 Sierra has her own routines. 00:06:09.870 --> 00:06:13.699 When she’s on the track, you can of course shoot her as she drives down the straight, 00:06:13.699 --> 00:06:17.339 or sneak into the Kronstadt pit building and rig her car to explode. 00:06:17.339 --> 00:06:21.720 But there’s lots more ways to deal with her when she gets off the track. 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:24.889 You can dress up as a Flamingo and boot her down a hatch. 00:06:24.889 --> 00:06:26.919 Kill her with a poisoned IV drip. 00:06:26.919 --> 00:06:29.219 Or off her during a drinking game. 00:06:29.219 --> 00:06:33.430 And at some point, you’ll probably figure out that there are multiple ways to kill Sierra 00:06:33.430 --> 00:06:37.979 while she’s on the podium - like being able to poison the champagne in the trophy, or 00:06:37.979 --> 00:06:41.389 rig the pyrotechnics to explode. 00:06:41.389 --> 00:06:43.220 You might overhear this in a conversation... 00:06:43.220 --> 00:06:46.560 RACE OFFICIAL: You could fry everyone on stage if the pressure gets too high! 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:53.120 Characters in Hitman tend have very useful conversations the moment Agent 47 is in earshot. 00:06:53.129 --> 00:06:58.490 It’s one of the few ways Hitman feels quite scripted and gamey, but it does give you that 00:06:58.490 --> 00:07:02.009 awesome feeling of overhearing useful information. 00:07:02.009 --> 00:07:06.210 You might also wander into the podium building while exploring, and see that you can poison 00:07:06.210 --> 00:07:08.929 the champagne - another little tease. 00:07:08.929 --> 00:07:12.339 Or you might see the assassinations on the challenge list. 00:07:12.339 --> 00:07:16.889 These can be a bit spoilerific (though, you can turn them off) but they also give you 00:07:16.889 --> 00:07:18.800 even more hints at possible assassinations. 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:24.550 But the really interesting thing is - by default, Sierra doesn’t win the race. 00:07:24.550 --> 00:07:29.319 She’ll come second, meaning she won’t visit the podium building at all. 00:07:29.319 --> 00:07:32.339 This adds a really cool wrinkle to the level. 00:07:32.339 --> 00:07:36.970 To get her to the podium, you either need to figure out how to help her win, or make 00:07:36.970 --> 00:07:39.449 her opponent - Moses Lee - lose. 00:07:39.449 --> 00:07:43.689 There’s almost point and click-style problem solving going on, where you need to figure 00:07:43.689 --> 00:07:47.099 out what steps to take to get Sierra to win. 00:07:47.099 --> 00:07:52.059 Now IO went back and forth over whether Sierra should win or not, but ultimately decided 00:07:52.059 --> 00:07:53.449 to make her lose. 00:07:53.449 --> 00:07:59.249 JAKOB: Making it so that you can make the decision whether she wins or not - it puts 00:07:59.249 --> 00:08:00.259 you in power. 00:08:00.259 --> 00:08:06.309 I think that’s very Hitman-y. ESKIL: There’s a lot of teasing. 00:08:06.309 --> 00:08:11.110 We like to taunt our targets as well. 00:08:11.110 --> 00:08:15.190 So now I’m gonna make her win, and then I’m gonna kill her. 00:08:15.190 --> 00:08:19.940 JAKOB: There’s poetic justice. 00:08:19.940 --> 00:08:24.620 Pulling off these kills often means waiting on the character’s schedules - the 5 or 00:08:24.620 --> 00:08:30.580 so minutes Robert Knox spends roaming Kronstadt, or the nearly 20 minutes Sierra takes to drive around. 00:08:30.580 --> 00:08:33.620 And this waiting is a double edged sword for IO. 00:08:33.620 --> 00:08:36.860 The schedules do make the world feel more alive. 00:08:36.860 --> 00:08:41.360 In most games, it feels like the world is designed specifically for the player, with 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:45.080 bombastic events triggering perfectly for you to see them. 00:08:45.080 --> 00:08:50.470 But in Hitman, the world marches on around you, indifferent to Agent 47’s existence 00:08:50.470 --> 00:08:53.730 until he pushes against the simulation. 00:08:53.730 --> 00:08:58.910 And these perfectly choreographed schedules do put more power into the player’s hands. 00:08:58.910 --> 00:09:03.790 JAKOB: If you know, as the player, that something will happen, then you can build a plan on 00:09:03.790 --> 00:09:04.940 that knowledge. 00:09:04.940 --> 00:09:10.410 If you know that, hey, the fashion show’s gonna end so Viktor Novikov’s gonna be on 00:09:10.410 --> 00:09:11.910 stage at some point. 00:09:11.910 --> 00:09:16.160 If you know that up front, then you can make a plan for that and it will work. 00:09:16.160 --> 00:09:18.550 But they can also create headaches. 00:09:18.550 --> 00:09:20.980 ESKIL: Of course there’s the time aspect. 00:09:20.980 --> 00:09:25.680 You set some stuff in motion and now you know “oh god, that guy is...” 00:09:25.680 --> 00:09:29.230 You go into instinct and you just see this little red dot and you know this is gonna 00:09:29.230 --> 00:09:30.230 take forever. 00:09:30.230 --> 00:09:35.650 So we do actually have them sometimes running just to speed up. 00:09:35.650 --> 00:09:38.990 So, IO finds ways to deal with that. 00:09:38.990 --> 00:09:44.010 The running characters are one way - another is a starting position that starts the mission 00:09:44.010 --> 00:09:45.580 with the race nearly over. 00:09:45.580 --> 00:09:48.460 And you can also find ways to speed things up yourself. 00:09:48.460 --> 00:09:56.180 JAKOB: So often we try to make situations where you can shortcut the entire thing. 00:09:56.180 --> 00:10:00.910 One example in Miami is that you can disqualify Moses Lee and end the race, and 00:10:00.910 --> 00:10:03.070 then getting Sierra on the stage. 00:10:03.070 --> 00:10:08.390 And you can also disqualify Sierra and get Moses on the stage. 00:10:08.390 --> 00:10:13.240 So instead of trying to make it a thing that you have to wait for, or a limitation, then 00:10:13.240 --> 00:10:19.640 we try to turn it around and then make it something that you can also control to some degree. 00:10:19.640 --> 00:10:21.720 So that’s the high concept design. 00:10:21.730 --> 00:10:25.040 The location, the targets, and the dramatic moments. 00:10:25.040 --> 00:10:28.660 Now, let’s talk about the nitty gritty of the level design. 00:10:28.660 --> 00:10:32.140 So, Miami is basically split into two halves. 00:10:32.140 --> 00:10:38.590 On the one side is the stands, the food trucks, VIP bars, the paddocks, a medical tent, and 00:10:38.590 --> 00:10:39.590 a motel. 00:10:39.590 --> 00:10:44.740 On the other is the multi-storey Kronstadt building, the podium building, and the marina. 00:10:44.740 --> 00:10:49.770 For the most part, you can see the left as Robert’s domain, and the right as Sierra’s. 00:10:49.770 --> 00:10:54.160 The two halves are separated by the track, where various racers are driving around. 00:10:54.160 --> 00:10:59.970 JAKOB: Having a race track that cuts your level in two is a really bad idea if you want 00:10:59.970 --> 00:11:04.940 to make a level where it’s easy to get from A to B. So the level designers spent quite 00:11:04.940 --> 00:11:11.140 a lot of time on finding as many ways to cross the track, spread all out throughout the level, 00:11:11.140 --> 00:11:12.690 up and down the track. 00:11:12.690 --> 00:11:17.100 That’s why there’s two overhead walkways, and a number of subway passages that link 00:11:17.100 --> 00:11:19.370 up to an underground parking garage. 00:11:19.370 --> 00:11:25.770 Now, IO describes the design of some of the best Hitman levels as being a “snail house” 00:11:25.770 --> 00:11:27.400 with “Swiss cheese”. 00:11:27.400 --> 00:11:31.730 And i think the best way to explain these terms is to look to a place that should totally 00:11:31.730 --> 00:11:33.820 be a Hitman DLC level… 00:11:33.820 --> 00:11:34.940 IKEA. 00:11:34.940 --> 00:11:40.380 This Swedish furniture store tries to pack as much stuff into one location as possible, 00:11:40.380 --> 00:11:43.170 and - ideally - it wants you to look at everything. 00:11:43.170 --> 00:11:47.740 So the store’s layout provides an obvious and easy-to-follow path that takes you from 00:11:47.740 --> 00:11:51.950 the living room stuff, through the kitchens, into the bedrooms, and through the children’s 00:11:51.950 --> 00:11:55.990 area before leading you - naturally - to the market hall and checkout. 00:11:55.990 --> 00:11:57.730 That’s the snail house. 00:11:57.730 --> 00:12:03.320 This Swiss cheese is all the holes between the rooms that create shortcuts - so seasoned 00:12:03.320 --> 00:12:08.340 IKEA veterans and staff members can bypass entire sections and get to where they’re 00:12:08.340 --> 00:12:09.980 going more easily. 00:12:09.980 --> 00:12:14.880 In the world of Hitman, the snail house allows the designers to fit everything in to a tiny 00:12:14.880 --> 00:12:15.880 footprint. 00:12:15.880 --> 00:12:20.380 An entire race track that feels credible, with all the expected amenities and hundreds 00:12:20.380 --> 00:12:25.800 of NPCs can be squeezed into a tiny area that’s optimised to run on consoles. 00:12:25.800 --> 00:12:31.420 However, the area still feels pretty enormous because the windy pathways mean every major 00:12:31.420 --> 00:12:34.310 landmark takes considerable effort to get to. 00:12:34.310 --> 00:12:36.600 And IO guides you to those locations, using 00:12:36.600 --> 00:12:42.030 in-universe navigation like lines on the floor, helpful signs, and maps. 00:12:42.030 --> 00:12:47.620 However, the Swiss cheese effect allows for dozens of secret ways to get to places more quickly. 00:12:47.620 --> 00:12:52.691 Fences you can scale, windows you can sneak through, elevator shafts you can climb, back 00:12:52.691 --> 00:12:55.220 doors that open onto new areas. 00:12:55.220 --> 00:13:00.480 These create tiny shortcuts between the major locations that give you a feeling of mastery 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:02.200 as you find them. 00:13:02.200 --> 00:13:06.190 Where a novice hitman player is schlepping it from one side of the map to the other, 00:13:06.190 --> 00:13:09.760 a veteran player can almost teleport around the map. 00:13:09.760 --> 00:13:12.500 Here’s another level design technique. 00:13:12.500 --> 00:13:15.970 JAKOB: We try to avoid dead ends. 00:13:15.970 --> 00:13:20.110 Though typically toilets are dead ends. 00:13:20.110 --> 00:13:24.640 But most other rooms actually have at least two exits. 00:13:24.640 --> 00:13:26.390 So you’re never stuck stuck. 00:13:26.390 --> 00:13:32.070 There might be some challenge or some things you have to overcome, but you’re never at 00:13:32.070 --> 00:13:34.290 a dead end where you have to turn around. 00:13:34.290 --> 00:13:37.400 Multiple exits also means multiple entrances. 00:13:37.400 --> 00:13:41.530 So the obvious way to get into the Kronstadt building is through the front door - but you 00:13:41.530 --> 00:13:46.210 can also enter via the parking lot, find a route via the podium building, walk through 00:13:46.210 --> 00:13:49.020 this door up on the walkway, and more. 00:13:49.020 --> 00:13:52.490 This gives the player more options, and lets them feel like they’re making their own 00:13:52.490 --> 00:13:56.970 decisions - and not following a set, scripted path. 00:13:56.970 --> 00:14:02.600 With these locations designed, IO also thinks about how the disguise system will work. 00:14:02.600 --> 00:14:07.360 Hitman, of course, is a unique stealth franchise because the game isn’t really about hiding 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:11.670 behind walls or in cardboard boxes: it’s about hiding in plain sight. 00:14:11.670 --> 00:14:16.529 So you can knock out a guard, take his uniform, and then wander about in the security offices 00:14:16.529 --> 00:14:17.529 without much worry. 00:14:17.529 --> 00:14:23.430 In Miami, Agent 47 can freely explore the stands area and most of the Marina section 00:14:23.430 --> 00:14:25.520 unobstructed, as a member of the public. 00:14:25.520 --> 00:14:29.480 But he’ll need a VIP badge to access these areas. 00:14:29.480 --> 00:14:33.290 And he can only explore these areas when dressed up as a security guard. 00:14:33.290 --> 00:14:37.420 And it gets even more complex than that - you’ll need to be one of the Knox’s elite guards 00:14:37.420 --> 00:14:42.070 to get into the hotel area, and each racing paddock is locked off unless you’re dressed 00:14:42.070 --> 00:14:44.100 up in team colours. 00:14:44.100 --> 00:14:49.380 But often in Hitman, areas are built in tiers of escalating security clearance. 00:14:49.380 --> 00:14:53.029 In the Kronstadt building, anyone can enter the lobby and visit the showroom. 00:14:53.029 --> 00:14:58.070 But you’ll need an IT guy uniform to explore the second floor, and a guard’s uniform 00:14:58.070 --> 00:14:59.320 to visit the top floor. 00:14:59.320 --> 00:15:04.330 JAKOB: When we design the level, early on we map out: what people would be working here? 00:15:04.330 --> 00:15:07.040 What kind of disguises would be great? 00:15:07.040 --> 00:15:12.580 And then we have to figure out how are they layered in terms of what gives you access 00:15:12.580 --> 00:15:13.580 to when. 00:15:13.580 --> 00:15:16.290 And then also how early do you meet them in the level because if the first disguises you 00:15:16.290 --> 00:15:22.390 meet is the best one then we’re wasting a lot of gameplay for no reason. 00:15:22.390 --> 00:15:28.300 For the smaller moments in a level, IO actually learned a lot when making Hitman Absolution. 00:15:28.300 --> 00:15:33.890 This was a much more linear game in the series with more traditional stealth moments like 00:15:33.890 --> 00:15:37.770 needing to distract some guards who are standing in front of a door. 00:15:37.770 --> 00:15:42.790 For the more modern and open-ended Hitman games, these microscopic stealth moments are 00:15:42.790 --> 00:15:45.240 simply scattered all throughout the level. 00:15:45.240 --> 00:15:50.710 So in the pit building for Moses Lee’s team, this engineer needs to be distracted, probably 00:15:50.710 --> 00:15:52.730 by messing with a generator. 00:15:52.730 --> 00:15:57.310 And getting to this guy in the medical area for one of Sierra’s challenges means dealing 00:15:57.310 --> 00:16:05.540 with this doctor, who can also be distracted by a nearby generator. 00:16:05.540 --> 00:16:08.160 And now, there’s one last thing to do. 00:16:08.160 --> 00:16:13.400 JAKOB: And then from that point on, we iterate like crazy. 00:16:13.400 --> 00:16:17.470 The more times we can actually boot up and start the level before we ship it, typically 00:16:17.470 --> 00:16:19.530 the better it gets. 00:16:19.530 --> 00:16:21.660 We get smarter all the time. 00:16:21.660 --> 00:16:26.800 The developers definitely try to find moments that make the game too easy or too hard, and 00:16:26.800 --> 00:16:29.230 rearrange elements until it feels right. 00:16:29.230 --> 00:16:34.240 For example, they fixed a section in Paris in Hitman 2016 because Viktor Novikov was 00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:37.160 alone for too long, and became an easy kill. 00:16:37.160 --> 00:16:40.060 The designers also think about other challenges. 00:16:40.060 --> 00:16:44.830 Sniper Assassin requires IO to not giveaway the sight lines too easily. 00:16:44.830 --> 00:16:49.790 The challenge is often about luring a target into a good spot to take them out - not simply 00:16:49.790 --> 00:16:53.660 waiting around for the target to wander into the perfect location. 00:16:53.660 --> 00:16:57.350 And suit only requires some more tinkering - but not much. 00:16:57.350 --> 00:17:06.069 JAKOB: Suit only is interesting because we don’t really have to do that much to actually 00:17:06.069 --> 00:17:08.549 make it work. 00:17:08.549 --> 00:17:14.159 No matter how hard we make this game, no matter how hard we make it, they will always find 00:17:14.159 --> 00:17:15.240 a way to beat it. 00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:18.640 ESKIL: I remember thinking that in the beginning: “this is impossible. 00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:24.760 There’s no way you could do suit only, and then I remember Jakob just saying “no, don’t worry…” 00:17:24.760 --> 00:17:26.659 And that’s a Hitman level! 00:17:26.659 --> 00:17:29.869 But, these rules might not work for every stage. 00:17:29.869 --> 00:17:35.230 JAKOB: I’m personally very opposed to rules dictating how things should be, because then 00:17:35.230 --> 00:17:37.740 everything’s going to be the same. 00:17:37.740 --> 00:17:42.929 So I prefer that we use them as guidelines, because we need to challenge ourselves in 00:17:42.929 --> 00:17:43.929 this thing. 00:17:43.929 --> 00:17:49.789 Indeed, IO tries to make each level different, with different levels of verticality, different 00:17:49.789 --> 00:17:52.190 densities of people, different sizes. 00:17:52.190 --> 00:17:55.429 And even and thinks about them in terms of being in a chain. 00:17:55.429 --> 00:18:00.490 So the mission before Miami - Night Call - is dark and claustrophobic. 00:18:00.490 --> 00:18:05.429 And the level after Miami - San Fortuna - has an enormous fortress that takes up most of 00:18:05.429 --> 00:18:10.379 the map, leaving agent 47 very few places he can explore safely. 00:18:10.379 --> 00:18:14.110 So the Hitman games have all sorts of level design techniques - and I think they can be 00:18:14.110 --> 00:18:16.350 applied to all sorts of games. 00:18:16.350 --> 00:18:20.830 This idea of characters moving on a schedule as a way to let players make plans, and make 00:18:20.830 --> 00:18:22.980 the world feel alive. 00:18:22.980 --> 00:18:27.360 This IKEA-inspired language of snail houses and Swiss cheese. 00:18:27.360 --> 00:18:29.500 And the multiple tiers of safety. 00:18:29.500 --> 00:18:34.679 This is what makes Hitman levels so good, so replay-able, and so much fun to master. 00:18:34.680 --> 00:18:39.040 And I think lots of designers can learn from this. 00:18:41.320 --> 00:18:42.820 Hey, thanks for watching! 00:18:42.820 --> 00:18:45.809 And cheers to Jakob and Eskil for their time. 00:18:45.809 --> 00:18:49.519 All of my backers can watch the full interview, over on Patreon... 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:54.940 ESKIL: This is crazy where the one game where you cannot drive a car, and the first thing 00:18:54.940 --> 00:19:01.389 we wanna do is show cars - is everybody gonna go “ooh, you can drive in the new game!” 00:19:01.389 --> 00:19:07.309 Patrons on the behind-the-scenes tier also get a look at the process of making this episode. 00:19:07.309 --> 00:19:12.899 Special thanks to everyone who supports GMTK and keeps the show going, month after month!