Rockstar leadership sat down for an interview with Dazed magazine, where they revealed some extremely interesting details about the development of Grand Theft Auto 6, such as how long Rockstar has been working on the title and how the developer intended to capture the cultural essence of Florida.
The article states that Rockstar has been working on Grand Theft Auto 6 since the release of Grand Theft Auto 5 some 13 years ago, and throughout that time the developer has gone to extraordinary lengths to meet the exceedingly high expectations of fans that have waited now for more than a decade.
For example, Rockstar has a dedicated research team living in Miami, Florida, which has spent years conducting on-the-ground exploration of Miami and its surrounding areas, which includes meeting real people who call the state home and capturing important contextual nuances of Florida and its people.
With this context, Rockstar is able to create characters and identities that accurately represent the specific archetype of a way of life. An example would be an in-game swamp puppy wrangler embodying all of the exact mannerisms of its real-life counterpart. In GTA fashion, these stereotypes of people will likely be grossly and humorously exaggerated in the form of extremely interesting character designs that feel unique.
"That firsthand context helped us understand the visual markers and nuances that define the identities we wanted to represent," explains Jamie-Lee Lloyd, senior art director for characters, "while filtering them through the unique lens of GTA and the stories we wanted to tell."
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Notably, Rupert Humphries, senior vice president of narrative at Rockstar, said this on-the-ground research was essential to the development of GTA 6, as he noted that the majority of the game's characters were born out of it.
"We will meet with ex-criminals, law enforcement, club promoters, gun dealers and anyone notorious or influential who'll take our calls. We hang out, get a feeling for the place, listen to the stories, cross-reference that with books and journalism, and try to get to the heart of which characters will bring the city we are creating to life." said Humphries
