Rockstar set up a special GTA 6 team in Miami to meet with "ex-criminals, law enforcement, club promoters, gun dealers and anyone notorious or influential"

Rockstar went to some great lengths for its Grand Theft Auto 6 research, it seems, as the studio has said it sent multiple teams of developers to Miami as well as embedding a team there longer-term for research.

This all comes via a story in Dazed magazine, published online late last night ahead of the full mag going out to the public in September, where various Rockstar developers discussed the level of research that went into building the game (amongst other things).

The first aspect of that is GTA 6's NPCs, described in the piece as acting "less like NPCs than ever". Rockstar's goal is apparently "to create a world of total immersion", with characters reacting more directly to you as you walk down the street. The notorious "Florida Man" meme is also brought up - the habit of Florida-based men finding themselves in the papers after ludicrous escapades - which has always felt like a natural fit for GTA's weird, over-the-top pedestrians. But it sounds like while there'll still be plenty of weirdness, Rockstar's also taking a slightly more thoughtful approach this time.

"We look back at our previous games with a critical eye and see where we want to evolve based on what we didn't do as well as we would have liked to, either because we didn't have the time, resources or technological capabilities, or in some cases things we just didn't do as well or consider as fully as we could have," Rockstar North studio co-head Rob Nelson told the magazine.

And as for those NPCs, per Dazed: "Young and old, tall or short, tattooed, pierced or modified with plastic surgery, wearing throwback Hawaiian shirts, sharp suits, luxury fashion or muddy combat gear, the bodies and clothes of the virtual masses are also far more varied than in previous games, and more tailored to their local environments, from Vice City's Little Cuba to the wilderness of Mount Kalaga national park."

Writer Michael Wiafe, meanwhile, told the magazine the studio is aiming to build a Miami and Florida-based world with "an open mind, a genuine appreciation and a deep curiosity" towards the real cultures involved. "It's easy to go in with a cynical view and say, 'Well that's weird, put it in the game,'" he said, "but we couldn't just stop there. We have to bring a sense of discovery to the players too, not just repeat cliches that already exist.”

That brings us to the research. Per the article, multiple groups of Rockstar employees have visited Miami and its surrounding areas over the past decade. There's also a "dedicated research team embedded in the city", which the studio set up for the game. Rupert Humphries, senior vice president of narrative at Rockstar, added that the studio has met with "ex-criminals, law enforcement, club promoters, gun dealers and anyone notorious or influential who'll take our calls". The developers will then "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."

Humphries also cites various elements of the Miami music scene, "particularly Miami bass", as well as artists such as Kodak Black and Sexyy Red. "We were also really interested in how the hip-hop scene in Miami exists in house parties in Overtown, clubs like Booby Trap on the River, and then high-end places on South Beach where bottles can cost thousands of dollars. We needed characters who could take us through those worlds," Humphries told the magazine.

سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.eurogamer.net/gta-6-rockstar-miami-research-team-ex-criminals-gun-dealers