Author Topic: GTA VC Q and A  (Read 592 times)

UPINSMOKETOUR

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GTA VC Q and A
« on: September 29, 2002, 12:59:45 AM »
GameSpot: Will gamers notice any changes between the car physics in Vice City and those in Grand Theft Auto III?

Alexander Roger: Hopefully they will. The car physics have actually changed quite a bit since Grand Theft Auto III to accommodate the handling characteristics of a much wider range of vehicles and to suit the new levels and driving conditions of Vice City. In addition, new maneuvers, such as driving along on two wheels, are now possible, thanks to the improved physics model.

GS: What has been done to the game's water and boat physics? Will boats factor more heavily into the game, given the game's seaside locale?

AR: One of the biggest differences from Grand Theft Auto III is in the wider range of boats available to the player, so the water and boat physics were redesigned to permit different styles of boats. The other target was to make the boats much more responsive and maneuverable, to take into account the varied waterways and range of boat missions available in Vice City. The result is that the boats and the areas of water available on the map are much more fun to play with and have become a much more integral part of the game.

GS: How much will the character physics change from the previous game?

AR: The character physics have now been updated to work with the new skinned animation system. This has enabled us both to increase the range of abilities available to the character, as well as improve the accuracy of many aspects of the gameplay, such as weapon-hit detection.

GS: To scale, how far will the main character be able to jump this time?

AR: The same as in Grand Theft Auto III, really. The player can jump approximately 5.5m horizontally and 1.1m vertically.

GS: And how fast will the fastest car go?

AR: Approximately 211kph (131mph) on the flat, though one of the motorbikes can go faster if you're good at riding it.


Slam the motorcycle's brakes too hard, and you'll be eating an asphalt sandwich.

GS: Will there be many insane stunts? What kinds of crazy car physics will we see here? Flips? Spins?

AR: All the stunts available in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City are produced directly as a result of collisions and the physics engine, so any stunts are really down to what the player can manage given the layout of the map. I'm sure there are plenty of new combos to be found!

GS: How will motorcycles control compared to cars? Will the cycles be looser and faster?

AR: In general the big motorbikes are pretty fast compared to your average car, as you would expect, though not necessarily in terms of normal top speed. The primary advantage of bikes, however, comes from an increased level of control in terms of balance and grip, and the ability to fit through narrow gaps. On the other hand, the player is much more vulnerable than when protected in a car, so bikes require a higher degree of skill to use to their full potential. As with the cars, there's a large range of abilities across the bikes available in Vice City, and they each have their own specific strengths.

GS: Sounds great. Thanks for your time, Alexander
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 04:00:00 PM by 1034398800 »
 

UPINSMOKETOUR

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Re: GTA VC Q and A
« Reply #1 on: September 29, 2002, 01:00:32 AM »
GameSpot: What can you tell us about Vice City's graphics engine?


This villa is undoubtedly the property of some drug lord in the game.

Adam Fowler: Vice City's graphics engine is based loosely on the Grand Theft Auto III engine, with many improvements added. One of the obvious improvements is the addition of skins for the pedestrians. This allows our artists to produce much more realistic and graphically pleasing peds. One of the less obvious improvements is our use of occlusion volumes. This allows us to stop drawing objects that are hidden behind buildings, and scene complexity can therefore be increased because we are only drawing the objects the player can see.

GS: Grand Theft Auto III used a stylish sort of blur effect throughout the game. Will that same effect be in Vice City?

Aaron Garbut: The effect is there, but altered. The blur this time tends to echo the effect of strong sunshine bleaching out light colors.

GS: What kind of graphical or performance differences will we see between Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City?

AG: Generally, the level of detail in the game has at least doubled. We're using twice as many polys and textures on almost every object. The cars have loads more detail, and the peds are skinned, creating a far smoother look. We had a good look at how we built Liberty City and found what was fast and what was slow within the engine. Obbe [Vermeij], one of the technical directors, wrote a real-time occlusion system, which works out whether buildings are blocking the view and whether it needs to draw all the objects behind it. This has given us a lot of breathing space to squeeze in that extra detail. We've also got a lot of new effects: heat haze from the roads, flamethrowers, explosions, lots of aquatic life in the ocean, birds, flies, and a much better day-night cycle with lots of neon casting light everywhere. Generally speaking, as with the rest of the game, it's a case of bigger, better, faster, more.


Vice City's use of lighting looks to be even more impressive than GTAIII's.

AF: Vice City will be able to display more peds and more vehicles. Both pedestrians and vehicles have higher polygon counts. Pedestrians are now skinned, as mentioned. Because the level size has doubled in Vice City, the game has to display far more buildings at any one time. We've been able to include these increases because of improvements in the rendering engine and also improvements in our model culling methods. Vice City has many more visual effects, including sun reflection on water and raindrops on the screen.

GS: Did the fact that the game is a PlayStation 2 exclusive allow for more freedom?

AG: Not having to consider a second platform in development is always easier. Concentrating on the PS2 gives us a consistent platform across the entire team. That way, when one person finds a certain part of the game slow, we can be sure everyone else will and do something about it. In some respects this makes things easier, but...well, you can't make up excuses anymore.


« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 04:00:00 PM by 1034398800 »
 

bez

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Re: GTA VC Q and A
« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2002, 03:36:26 AM »
Dam sound so good, cant wait for this game.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 04:00:00 PM by 1034398800 »
 

Sol

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Re: GTA VC Q and A
« Reply #3 on: September 29, 2002, 07:29:16 AM »
Quote
Dam sound so good, cant wait for this game.


when is it coming out?
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 04:00:00 PM by 1034398800 »
 

bez

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Re: GTA VC Q and A
« Reply #4 on: September 29, 2002, 01:19:19 PM »
Errr think its october 26th
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 04:00:00 PM by 1034398800 »
 

4 KiN L

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Re: GTA VC Q and A
« Reply #5 on: October 01, 2002, 08:43:11 AM »
gud cos i am just about board with gta3, i wil be gettin this game 4 tha ps2 again, tho i might get it for pc wen it comes out cos u can do much more wid it eg. modding and making ur own cars and shit.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 04:00:00 PM by 1034398800 »