In 1972, a film called "The Godfather" set off a wave of gang movies, and won Oscars for best movie, best actor and best adapted screenplay, establishing its position in gang movies. So "The Godfather" now also refers to a person with a pivotal position in a certain field, and there are thousands of games that can be regarded as open-world today, but the only ones who can be said to be the godfathers of the open world are the R stars that have created "Red Dead Redemption" and "GTA".
So how did R Star build the GTA series, one of the greatest open-world games in history? This time, let's go back in time and let's see how R Star sat on the throne of the "Godfather".
Rockstar, also known as R star. First of all, of course, it is necessary to talk about its soul, the two founders , the Hauser brothers, Sam Hauser and Dan Hauser , the brothers were born in London, England, and grew up in a family of artists. Dad was the owner of a famous jazz bar, and Mum Grardy Morphy was a British actress, so the brothers were influenced by music and movies from an early age. Two gentlemen who grew up in England, but grew up with rebellious personalities, fell in love with gang movies, street culture and rock music, and they wanted to do it at first, which was not a game at all.
Both brothers are highly qualified students, London/Cambridge/Oxford is their alma mater, and after graduation they chose the BMG Music Group? Yes, you heard it right, it was the music company that was later acquired by Sony, ready to show their ambitions in the music industry, but they happened to encounter BMG setting up an interactive department for agency games. The two brothers, who had a little mastery of computers, were assigned to the department, and gradually emerged from the scene, but they encountered a crisis: BMG began to decline, and their department was in jeopardy. Fortunately, there are his nobles in each story, and the brothers' journey can continue.
The American publisher Take-Two is short for T2, and the two brothers met the nobleman. At that time, T2 bought the BMG interactive department of the Hauser brothers for more than 14 million US dollars, and finally under the heated discussion of the brothers, they decided on a name that best represented their rebellious spirit, "RockStar", and this is the starting point of all greatness. When it comes to R Star, it is impossible not to mention his ace game, the first thing to mention is the strongest open world masterpiece "GTA".
But you know what? In fact, GTA is adapted from other people's games. At the time, a company called DMC was looking around for a publisher with a game, Race & Chase. The game is played as a policeman chasing a prisoner, or when a gangster escapes from the police, driving across the car in a 2D aerial view. The Hauser brothers were immediately interested in the game, which was full of violent gang elements, and immediately funded and joined the development. Just when DMC was worried about the problem that players always drove and would always get tired, then R Star said to DMC: Since it is boring to only drive, it is better to let it be more than just driving.
Under the modification of R Star, the classic wanted system was added first, and then hundreds of different gang missions were added. Violent and bloody elements such as firefights, fights, robberies, and car accidents have been drastically modified by R Star, and of course, the name must also be changed. Unbeknownst to them, the name was born on the greatest page of game history, and he was Grand Theft Auto.
It is said that the sequels of many works are always worse than a generation, and an episode is not as good as an episode, and at that time GTA seemed to follow in this footsteps. First, the producers of Race & Chase left, and the sales of the second generation did not meet expectations, the biggest reason is that the game still uses a 2D overhead view. But since the 1990s, the game has blown up the trend of 3D, which is essentially not much different from the second generation of the first generation, the players are not too buying it, and the debt of the parent company T2 at that time has exceeded $100 million, and the future of GTA can be said to be a gray.
But fortunately, T2 did not directly cut off the life of GTA like EA, but chose to believe in the Hauser brothers. This failure also sounded the alarm bell in the hearts of the two brothers, understanding the importance of 3D, so they bought the license of the RenderWare engine, for the first time the GTA was completely 3D, the birth of GTA3, so that R star completely broke the sequel spell, step by step, all the way to the rebellious spirit in the game industry became a legend.
In the production of three generations, R Star has been thinking about their game, the work is very free, yes, but what is really more attractive? After understanding the thoughts of one or two generations of players, Sam found that players are eager to experience different lives when playing the protagonists in the game, and will replace themselves with the protagonists, because that is what they usually don't encounter, or even can't do.
So how do you do this best? R Star finally gave two answers: First, Dan, the editor-in-chief of R Star Games, began to play the cultural connotations he had received from childhood in the game. Over and over again, he portrays various flesh-and-blood characters, twists and turns, and bizarre plots, so that the city really comes alive, allowing players to follow the characters and even become characters to break through wonderful adventure stories.
The second point can be said to have dropped a bombshell on the entire game world: rebellious they decided to break the framework and tell everyone, who said that the game must follow the plot? They've created huge cities where you can do whatever you want, and everyone has their own way of playing, going wherever they want, doing whatever they want.
So under the major reform of the GTA by R Star, the GTA 3 generation was released in 2001, and the revenge story of the cold-blooded killer Claude in Liberty City was officially staged. In addition to using full 3D, the game used CG animation for the first time, and with Dan's wonderful and moving story, it sold 2 million sets in three months. The silent killer, who was almost speechless, brought $300 million in profits to R Star, and that was just the beginning.
Because of the game's hot sales, R star plus full horsepower, so this GTA series, the shortest development of the work was born "GTA: Vice City", built in Miami, telling the story of Tommy becoming the boss of Sin City, is the place where the dreams of countless players began. The game is built according to the structure of three generations, but the game content such as characters, weapons, vehicles, and scenes is more refined, and adds voiceovers for Tommy to make this generation even higher.
But what really brought the series to the pinnacle was the last of the three-generation trilogy, GTA: San Andreas. The protagonist CJ will uncover the inside story of the murder of his mother and revive the family gang, allowing players to participate in the scene of the conspiracy duel. Adding more special and original content to the second largest map in the series, PS2 sold more than 12 million units in less than half a year, and the 2004 game Oscar. Defeating the legendary level contenders of the year, Half-Life 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, halo 2, and winning the best game of the year.