Chapter 988: Development Details
Another point concerns the special handling of certain sensations.
To be precise, poison.
Since the matrix game pod uses brain and neural interface methods, players will experience highly complex sensory feedback. Many plots in *Grand Theft Auto* involve drugs, such as Franklin, Lamar, and Trevor dealing with drug traffickers, or Michael being drugged by his prodigal son when they go out together.
At such times, players will inevitably be curious enough to pick up that bag of drugs and take a lick themselves, since actions in the game are unrestricted.
In this situation, special treatment is absolutely necessary.
If a player licks drugs outside of the game’s storyline, they will taste an extremely astringent bitterness. If it occurs within the game’s plot (Michael being set up by his son), the player will only experience visual and auditory hallucinations, with no additional stimulation to the brain.
In reality, drugs are something that must never be touched. Even a single encounter can destroy one’s entire life, worse than death itself. The combination of next-generation VR and *Grand Theft Auto* was meant to create a freer, more beautiful virtual world for players, and Chen Mo absolutely cannot accept any potential accidents.
There are also matters concerning suggestive content related to sex, such as the strip clubs and hiring prostitutes while driving in *Grand Theft Auto*. These will be strictly restricted so that players cannot cross the line. Players will definitely not see inappropriate images or hear inappropriate sounds.
After all, this game is not a cheap adult game. If something goes wrong and the entire game gets banned, that would be far too unjust. Focusing on lowbrow suggestive content is something only third-rate domestic game developers would do. If Chen Mo stooped to that level, he would be despised by the entire world.
As for the development difficulty of GTA5, for Chen Mo, it’s actually manageable. It’s harder than previous VR games, but after such a long period of accumulation, it can certainly be made. The only question is the length of development time.
In Chen Mo’s previous life, there was a joke: “GTA5 cost 268 million US dollars, brought together two thousand top game developers worldwide, was delayed for over a year, took five years to develop, used real traffic data from Los Angeles as a statistical model, included interior camera views for every vehicle, and leveraged 20 years of technical accumulation—all just to make it more fun. So where do girls get the confidence to think they can compete with a game?”
Of course, that 268 million included marketing expenses. If it were just the development cost, it would be around 140 million US dollars. This joke also highlights the difficulty of developing GTA5. Just in terms of investment, it was one of the largest productions in gaming history. If it had failed, R* might have faced bankruptcy. However, the game’s sales achievements were also unprecedented. Some even joked that if GTA5 kept selling like this, GTA6 might never come out, because the sales figures were just too terrifying.
For Chen Mo at this point, money is not the biggest issue. Even if he were to convert it into a next-generation VR version and multiply the cost by six or seven times, Thunderbolt Entertainment could fully afford it. In terms of technical level and art resources, developing *Grand Theft Auto* is not difficult, because there were already accumulations from games like *Uncharted* and *A Way Out*. Moreover, the art resource library contains a vast collection of materials, many of which can be used directly.
The most troublesome part lies in the countless details scattered throughout *Grand Theft Auto*.
The most intuitive point is that Los Santos feels like a real city where people live, rather than a virtual game world. The key to this lies in in-depth research and high-fidelity replication of reality, while also fine-tuning many data points based on game characteristics.
City center, suburbs, countryside, wilderness—the map in *Grand Theft Auto* is massive, but not a single part is superfluous. Every corner of this vast map has its own characteristics, whether it hides a small gameplay element or contains a special Easter egg. The entire *Grand Theft Auto* is like a treasure trove. As long as players drive around, they will always find some surprises.
In terms of game assets, the music portion of *Grand Theft Auto* consists of a fully original album and 240 licensed songs, even making many domestic players sick of listening to the radio. The map draws inspiration from the typical city of Los Angeles, with classic landmarks such as Hollywood, Union Bank, and Beverly Hills mansions all incorporated into the game.
The production team and architectural experts went on a company-funded trip, spending wonderful nights in Los Angeles. They took a total of 250,000 photos and many hours of video, collecting a massive amount of material. Developers even accessed the FBI, gang members, and special industries through unconventional means—truly taking the concept of a company-funded vacation to the extreme.
Of course, for Chen Mo to create a next-generation VR version of *Grand Theft Auto*, it doesn’t require quite that much trouble. Using memory replay potions and speed regulators to the fullest will ensure many of the game’s details. However, some things can be saved, while others cannot.
For example, the various songs on the car radios in the game require sending people to the United States to research and purchase copyrights. The various firearms, vehicles, ships, aircraft, and so on in the game must all be made into very realistic models, realistic from the inside out. For instance, manual transmission vehicles need to have the steering wheel, lights, gear shift, handbrake, and other structures fully modeled, and they must be completely consistent with reality.
If players haven’t gotten their driver’s license in real life, they can learn in the game. After all, driving in reality is actually easier than in the game, and the steering wheel’s handling is much better than a joystick or keyboard.
As for aircraft, this cannot strictly follow reality. The most basic pilot’s license costs at least 100,000 in tuition and requires 6 to 8 months of primary training. The vast majority of players in reality have never flown a plane. If the game strictly adhered to real aircraft design, players wouldn’t be flying—they’d just crash immediately.
Therefore, the aircraft in *Grand Theft Auto* will be controlled in a game-like manner. Players only need to control the joystick, rudder pedals, and a few special buttons to take off and land. Other vehicles like helicopters and boats will also be handled this way, ensuring that players can learn to control these special vehicles through simple tutorials.
Fortunately, these contents are not too complex and can be assigned to many other designers. Chen Mo’s current primary goal is to first build the entire framework of Los Santos, create the entire game world, simultaneously conduct motion capture and voice recording, and finally string together the storyline. Once that’s done, the whole game will be complete.
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