I/O Interactive have shared an idea of the iterative level design process for Hitman in their latest episode of Talking Hitman.
The team starts with initial sketches to flesh out the location, what rooms will be found within said location, story elements, which characters are found in the room, and most importantly, what ways can be used to approach a said room or situation.
Afterwards, they build the space, and enter Agent 47 within said space, to test out how he moves within the space, and then match the space with the design. At this point, the objective is to make each space meaningful. This phase takes several iterations as the team makes decisions on the size of the rooms, the size of the levels, how much space a level needs, etc.
When this phase is done, the team then works on adding the little details. At this point, it becomes easier to remove and replace whole areas. The graphics artists take over, and they do not hesitate to throw everything out to start from scratch. This is because they have to follow their own rulesets to fit the needs of the game. These artists often come up with and add their own ideas as well.
Hitman will be releasing its Starter Pack on March 11 on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. You can check out the latest video below. You can watch an earlier production video on why they went back to a younger Agent 47, and read the details on the episodic release plans.
