Revealing the Tricks Behind Hitman's Level Design 

What's your favorite level in the Hitman franchise? What's your favorite target or opportunity? Reply here and let us know!

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 seem like such cool people.

“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

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.

There's so much work that goes into making these games! Props to IO! Loving the series, Noclip :)

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 ☺

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"

"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

Randomly stumbled onto this channel just checking out video game documentaries and ended up rekindling my love for Hitman

Please let Mette make more levels! The Bank quickly became one of my favorite levels behind A New Life and Tracking Hayamoto ❤️

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

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.

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 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

If Marta (?) worked on Sapienza and Miami, I'm sure the resort map will be great as well. Those two are absolutely amazing levels.

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

I love how you can feel the dry humour of the game through the designers themselves.

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!!!

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!

The complexity of creating those levels is insane! Loving the docs so far as always! :)

7:18 that's one heavy ass hamburger lol!

12:46 Oh sweet, Marta is talking about Nick Robinson's E3 gameplay of Hitman 2. That was a fun retelling of his playthrough.

So cool the devs talking about their work and ideas. Nice!

Much love to Mette and Marta. It's really encouraging to see successful women in Game Design :)

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 :)

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.

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!

I wonder how many sales these videos have caused, cuz I defiantly got one from me.

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.

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.

These videos are a must watch for any game designer/developer. I'm really enjoying your documentaries. Fantastic work !

"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

It's nice to know the devs behind my favorite series are such lovely people!

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!

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

I am so grateful that I discovered this documentary and this channel. Really great content, I'll keep watching.

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.

I've been watching noclip since DOOM and I gotta say that you guys are really underrated

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 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.

I can watch those creators talk all day. Very Informative, thanks.

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 :)

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.

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.

Absolutely fascinating stuff. I love these glimpses into game dev

What a great development company. They seem so proud of their hard work. I hope they stick around. Congrats to them. Thank you noclip

Fantastic video. Great to have the game we love put into true perspective for us. A rare and excellent insight! Keep it up!

12:47 I saw this video, so cool that the Hitman team as it as well!

love this series on what I regard to as the best game ever... great storytelling

What a wonderful team and great game! Thanks for the work you put in!

so glad they let you see the dev tools, that was super fascinating!

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

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.

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.

Ahh been waiting days for the next instalment to this series!

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

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 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

Am really liking this series of videos. Learning a lot on games are made.

I loved that you included the video of the game being played by Brad and Co Player.

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! :]

Such a fun game, it's crazy how much effort goes into it and how creative the devs are.

I really need to play this, well done with the documentary.

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!

I love your videos. Nice work guys.

Watching this video is really fun hearing their detailed insights.

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.

Another rock-solid, insightful entry from noclip. 👍

Hey Danny, really missing those Escape from Mount Stupid videos! Nice work, as always!

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.

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.

Fascinating stuff. Never thought if hitmen level from this perspective

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 :)

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.

Hitman 1/2 are the best games of this gen I have no idea how IOI will step things up for next gen

The best game industry documentaries around!

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.

This video series is cool, would love to see this of other big games

Nice work guys.

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 the most transparent Dev's I've ever seen . Speaks a lot about the healthy work environment , more studios should be like this .

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.

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.

Thank you for your fantastic documentaries ! Ps- Io interactive seems to be a very pleasant place to work

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.

nice work! i love watching your videos :)

Cant wait for the tropical island map! Great video

these type of documentaries need more attention. I fucking love these.

Such a high quality video, I love it!

It would be so awesome to have these kind of documentaries for the first hitman games. But I can't find any documentary on RU-vid unfortunately

As someone from mumbai, I loved the addition of chawls as i used live in one.

I love the new Hitman games. The levels are so diverse and I like how they guide you along the way but let you do your own thing.

I totally love these documentaries, not sure if I'm that fond about the Hitman gameplay seen in these videos, because I usually play as a hitman, stealthy, no kills and a lot of sneaking. Granted that wouldn't be that exhilarating to watch.