Grand Theft Auto V Gameplay to Feature "Built-Out Series of Heists"
Dan Houser wants to do a bank job, and do it well.
Rockstar's vice president of creativity, Dan Houser, has come out of hiding to conduct a rare interview about Grand Theft Auto V. And in it, he admits that the team is looking back at past titles to improve the mission structure for the new game.
The planning and execution of heists will form a significant part of GTA V, according to Houser, with elements based on feedback from missions in GTA IV and beyond. "We really wanted to make heists a big theme in the game based on missions not just from GTA IV but from previous games people really responded to.
"People are in love with doing bank jobs, particularly when they feel like they have prepped [them]. We never felt we’d done a great job with a bank job so we decided, ‘Let’s properly invest the story and mission design for some of the missions into making some of these built-out series of heists.' That was a huge part of the story missions – trying to set the game apart from games we’ve done in the past."
One other area where GTA V differs from previous titles is the fact that you can now control three protagonists. Houser explained that doing this allows the player to experience a mission from several distinct viewpoints. He also noted that the game could offer to switch characters so that you are never engaged in a boring gameplay sequence, leaving the AI to handle mundane tasks.
"When you are only one character, it means they always have to be driving is when the driving is fun, shooting when the shooting is fun, flying when the flying is fun and parachuting when the parachuting is fun. It can lead to things being a little ridiculous – having a lot of time spent climbing ladders, or a lot of segues from moment to moment that can end up slightly contrived.
"With [multiple simultaneous protagonists] we can get past that and also cut out a lot of the transitional moments to just always put you in the action."
Finally, Houser debunked theories that the three characters in GTA V are related, or have anything to do with, the lead protagonists of GTA III, Vice City or San Andreas. "The five PS2 games (including Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories) are one universe, and this is the high definition universe, so they don’t co-exist. You would never see CJ or Tommy Vercetti. They would be like mythical characters in this world who never existed."
Source: Game Informer
The planning and execution of heists will form a significant part of GTA V, according to Houser, with elements based on feedback from missions in GTA IV and beyond. "We really wanted to make heists a big theme in the game based on missions not just from GTA IV but from previous games people really responded to.
"People are in love with doing bank jobs, particularly when they feel like they have prepped [them]. We never felt we’d done a great job with a bank job so we decided, ‘Let’s properly invest the story and mission design for some of the missions into making some of these built-out series of heists.' That was a huge part of the story missions – trying to set the game apart from games we’ve done in the past."
One other area where GTA V differs from previous titles is the fact that you can now control three protagonists. Houser explained that doing this allows the player to experience a mission from several distinct viewpoints. He also noted that the game could offer to switch characters so that you are never engaged in a boring gameplay sequence, leaving the AI to handle mundane tasks.
"When you are only one character, it means they always have to be driving is when the driving is fun, shooting when the shooting is fun, flying when the flying is fun and parachuting when the parachuting is fun. It can lead to things being a little ridiculous – having a lot of time spent climbing ladders, or a lot of segues from moment to moment that can end up slightly contrived.
"With [multiple simultaneous protagonists] we can get past that and also cut out a lot of the transitional moments to just always put you in the action."
Finally, Houser debunked theories that the three characters in GTA V are related, or have anything to do with, the lead protagonists of GTA III, Vice City or San Andreas. "The five PS2 games (including Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories) are one universe, and this is the high definition universe, so they don’t co-exist. You would never see CJ or Tommy Vercetti. They would be like mythical characters in this world who never existed."
Source: Game Informer
Read More Like This