Clint Hocking, who was creative designer for Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Far Cry 2 has left his designer and level designer position at Valve. During his time from 2012 to now, he was believed to have had a big hand in the rumoured development of Left 4 Dead 3. Since his arrival at Valve was very low key,  the public has seen none of his work. His name however was listed on an internal database that was leaked.

His departure has been as quiet as his arrival, with updates via his LinkedIn profile and site bio. Hocking's arrival at Valve did appear to be a match made in heaven with Valve's self-directed studio attitude. After being hired by Ubisoft Montreal to be a level designer on the original Splinter Cell, he became a visible proponent of the studio flagship by the time that Far Cry 2 shipped. Hocking had an emergent design philosophy, which he brought into games with him.

Since leaving Ubisoft in 2010, he has been drifting around the industry, working on mysterious projects. He joined LucasArts for just over 2 years, working on an unnamed title, before joining Valve 2012. Having one of the most creative minds in game-making, gamers can only hope that whatever he worked on at Valve will get to see the light of day, with his name prominent on the box. I hope that he can find another developer soon, as a man with his talents is wasted being unemployed in the games industry.