Clint Hocking on modern graphics and the challenges for stealth games

Clint Hocking, the creative director of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, has voiced concerns about the impact of modern graphics technology on stealth games. In a recent interview, he said advances in lighting techniques such as ray tracing and path tracing make it harder to create effective shadows, which are essential to the stealth genre.

The impact of modern lighting

According to Hocking, the refinement of rendering and lighting has led to a more realistic depiction of shadows, but at the expense of gameplay readability. Shadows in modern games are often no longer as easy to read as they were in older stealth titles. Hocking explains that in classic games like the earlier Splinter Cell entries, baked lighting made the illumination very clear to the player. "The lighting was clean and readable," Hocking says. "But modern techniques have made it difficult to tell what is light, what is shadow, what is safe and what is dangerous."

The history of the Splinter Cell series

In the early Splinter Cell games, a light meter was used to show the player's visibility. This tool helped players understand when they were in shadow or about to be spotted. That approach gradually changed in later entries. Splinter Cell: Conviction introduced a monochrome world in which Sam Fisher blended into the shadows, a feature that was replaced by a small light on his suit in Splinter Cell: Blacklist.

Artistic direction and the challenge of stealth gameplay

Hocking also emphasizes the role of art direction in designing stealth gameplay. He argues that dramatic lighting can help create a better experience for players. Rather than focusing on realistic lighting, a developer could consider making the lighting deeper and more dramatic to support stealth elements. "It's a difficult gap to bridge, especially at a time when developers have spent 20 years making visuals increasingly realistic," Hocking adds.

The future of the Splinter Cell franchise

Despite recent restructuring, including the layoff of 40 employees at Ubisoft Toronto, development on the long-awaited Splinter Cell remake remains on track. Ubisoft has confirmed that work on the project has not been affected by these changes. There is still no concrete release date, but there is some positive news: the remake's original director, David Grivel, has announced that he is returning to the role.

Hocking himself recently left his position at Ubisoft. After his involvement with Assassin's Creed Hexe, he has founded a new studio, Build Machine Games. This aligns with his desire to focus on innovative forms of game development.

The challenges stealth games face today are significant, but there is still room for innovation in the genre through the creativity of developers like Hocking.