GTA San Andreas was released 20 years ago, The Untold Stories That Almost Changed Gaming History

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Twenty years after the release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, one of its original developers, Obbe Vermeij, shared a remarkable revelation on X:

The game's iconic open world nearly didn't exist. "The original plan was for the 3 cities to be on separate maps," Vermeij revealed. "The player would travel between the cities using trains and planes. [... ] Just before the artists started working on the three maps," Vermeij wrote, "we changed our minds and decided to go for a big map after all."

GTA Map

This wasn't the only fascinating detail about how this legendary game nearly turned out completely different. Let's dive into these revelations that shaped one of gaming's most influential titles.

The Three Cities That Almost Weren't Connected #

The original plan for San Andreas was radically different, designed around PS2's technical limitations. Vermeij explained that with separate maps:

This approach would have followed GTA 1 and 2's multi-city design. However, that crucial final meeting at Rockstar North changed everything, creating the seamless world we know today.

Born from Vice City's Exhaustion #

The road to San Andreas began with an exhausted team. After Vice City's rushed development, Rockstar made two crucial decisions:

  1. Extended development to two full years
  2. Committed to innovation rather than another "re-skin"

This extra time allowed the team to be ambitious with new features - perhaps too ambitious, as some developers later admitted.

Technical Magic Tricks #

To create their massive world within PS2's limitations, developers employed clever techniques:

  1. City-Specific Atmospheres:

    • Los Santos: Warm, orange haze
    • Las Venturas: Clear skies, sandstorms
    • San Fierro: Light palette, fog, and rain
  2. Memory Management:

    • Each city had unique:
      • Police vehicles
      • Weather systems
      • Radio content
      • Pickup items

The Growing Pains #

The ambitious project required unprecedented resources:

Strange Development Stories #

Some fascinating tidbits that emerged:

Features That Almost Weren't #

Several now-iconic elements were last-minute additions:

The Launch Night Magic #

A developer shared a touching memory about launch night:

Legacy of Limitations #

Perhaps most interesting is how technical constraints created beloved features:

The Price of Progress #

Modern remasters have ironically revealed how these "limitations" enhanced the game:

"Happy birthday San Andreas. You turned out all right," Vermeij said in his tweet. Indeed, it did. The game stands as a testament to how technical limitations often drive creative solutions. Twenty years later, its development stories reveal that sometimes, what seems like a constraint can become a feature that defines a generation of gaming.

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