Image via Rockstar Games
On November 11, Rockstar Games released three of its classic games–Grand Theft Auto III (2001), Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002), and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004)–as a single, slick package called Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition.
The developers updated the lighting, fog, and effects. They added detail and personality to the characters’ faces. And they improved the weapons and movement controls, so that Claude, Tommy, and CJ can run, jump, and maneuver more smoothly. The cumulative effect of all this? The games end up playing the way you remember them playing, which is different from the way they actually played at the time.
It’s the power of nostalgia, combined with the unreliability of memory. We remember how we felt about past experiences, but we don’t always remember the details of those experiences. Our brains fill in the gaps for us. Technology and rendering has progressed dramatically in the last several years. What looked like a stunningly realistic face in 2001 looks like a mass of pixels when we revisit it with modern eyes.
Preserving the integrity of the game
So, the developers’ goal was not to create a straight-up port, which could not help but disappoint. Rather, it was to make these games “feel” the same as they once did—a much more indistinct, abstract target to hit.
“[2001] was a time in which a right analog stick was just coming onto the scene,” said Rockstar Games producer Rich Rosado in an interview for Complex. “It was a time in which over-the-shoulder cameras were relatively new, that we were still switching weapons through a cycle with a single button like an 8-track tape. We want these games to feel like you still have those rose-tinted glasses on looking at a twenty-year-old game, but that allows for the muscle memory you have now.”
“We start by carrying over the game logic as it is,” said Rosado. “You don’t want to have to rewrite all the physics code or rescript the game to feel like the original—it’s better to carry over the original to preserve the integrity, the fabric, and the feel of the game.”
After that, there’s a lot of testing and troubleshooting—to ensure that everything works the way it’s supposed to on modern consoles. And once the underlying foundation of the game is stable, the developers can play looser with the aesthetics and feel of the environments, starting with the art.
Softening the edges
What was standard in 2001 looks blocky and unwieldy today, especially when we’ve been conditioned to see the finest details in modern games. Often, fixing this means “softening” the edges around the asset, rather than reinventing the art style from whole cloth.
“You start sweeping the map very, very carefully, trying to figure out which parts need extra special attention in order to be lifted to current standards,” said Rosado. “For example, considering if something is a little too hard-angled for a [console] generation in which we’re supporting resolutions of 1080p / 4k and beyond… you need to make sure that all of the art—the 3D art—can stand up to the scrutiny of a higher resolution.”
And lastly, the team works on lighting the environment—making sure that the shadows and metallic glints correspond to the sun during the day and the street lamps at night.
The devil's in the details
“When you hop a bike in San Andreas, you’re immediately going to see the daylight at 6 in the morning where everything is kind of at its brightest,” said Rosado. “You’ll be in an alley with some really cool shadows coming on down. And there’s that little thing that we’re hoping will click off, which is a feeling that is both powerfully familiar but also new. It should feel like a real leap forward in these worlds that you already know.”
And then there are several, key aspects of the games that the developers had the chance to revisit and reconceive. Rosado brings up GTA III protagonist Claude, who, owing to the technological limitations at the time, had a limited facial appearance—more the impression of a face rather than a fully realized identity.
Quality of life improvements
“When you start increasing the geometry of that character threefold, no detail comes from that base—the base has to be reconstructed,” said Rosado. “So we went back to Rockstar North, to some of the original guys like Aaron Garbut (Head of Development/Co-Studio Head of Rockstar North) who created the original models – to redo the sculpts for those heads and to unify the overarching art style.”
The resulting Claude is an exciting visual upgrade. We’re seeing an iconic character—the way his creator originally intended—free from the technological constraints that once existed.
Beyond that, there are multiple quality of life improvements. GTA III benefits the most from this. The map now has a GPS, whereas before, you navigated the roads on instinct and memory, with only the waypoint marker to guide you. If you fail a mission, you don’t have to hike all the way back to the person who gave it to you, the game lets you immediately restart your next attempt. The lock-on aiming lets you switch between targets. The radio, like the weapons, exists on a wheel, so you don’t have to scroll through everything to find your favorite station.
“There’s this little thing that we’re hoping will click off: a feeling that is both powerfully familiar but also new,” said Rosado. “It should feel like a real leap forward in these worlds that you already know.”
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is available now on Windows, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox ONE, Xbox Series X|S.