GTA game news: A flop announced? For the 25th anniversary of the game, the developers return to the galleys of its creation!
Published on 28/11/2022 at 17:08
With a stratospheric success and become essential for players, the GTA saga celebrates its 25th anniversary. For the occasion, the developers of the very first episode were able to speak about their experience and one of them, Colin McDonald, let himself go to astonishing revelations.
To understand where Grand Theft Auto comes from, you have to go back to its origins. Dave Jones, a computer enthusiast gave in to the sirens of the Amiga while all his friends struggled with the aging technology of the ZX Spectrum. He created the game Menace with his sidekick Tony Smith and got the support of a rising publisher: Psygnosis. At the time, Jones decided to set up his own studio and chose the name DMA Design, a term he saw in a programming manual. The following ? In 1988, the company seduced the whole world with the excellent Lemmings and made a name for itself with the game Unirally, a technical title that would give Rare a cold sweat – which was also developing Donkey Kong Country.
At the time, one of the music industry majors, BMG Entertainment, created its multimedia division: BMG Interactive. In 1995, Dave Jones arrives at BMG and proposes a concept which he is in the process of setting up: Race’n’ Chase, a multiplayer racing game, fun, unwinding and above all carried by a new graphic tone. In this title in preparation, the player – who embodies a policeman – can drive cars, trucks, boats or even helicopters and the action takes place in three cities. The in-house prototype is impressive (in 3D) and Jones has no trouble convincing his interlocutors.
But Race’n Chase will never succeed, the fault of an uninteresting gameplay. It was then that the interested party had a brilliant idea:
But of course ! Why not just control the thieves?
As you will have understood, the idea will make its merry way and Race’n Chase will gradually become Grand Theft Auto by losing its multiplayer component. However, do not think that the development was easy.
GTA, a hassle for an improbable success!
If the concept of GTA was understood by all, the development was very complex. Colin McDonald reveals:
Midway through development, an internal survey was conducted among employees to find out which of the seven games they were working on would be the most successful and which would be the least. The one that was selected as most likely to pick up was Grand Theft Auto.
The one who will become producer of Grand Theft Auto 2 continues:
This is because in the middle of development, the direction of the game was unclear. It was also pretty buggy – you couldn’t play it for more than a few minutes without it crashing. So based on the game itself, we didn’t have a lot of confidence.
Before becoming the game making headlines, GTA went through all the states and the title was far from being favored by management. After two episodes in 2D (not forgetting its extensions), the series went to 3D for the result that we know. Colin McDonald, who became editor-in-chief of Channel 4 in England, nevertheless specifies that the atmosphere at DMA Design was good, but that everyone was happy to be rid of the game once it was finished.
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