Video game development is an incredibly intricate process. Even during the early days, when 8-bit technology was all we had to work with, developers had to use clever tactics to get things to work as they had intended. You might think that these “tips and tricks” would’ve “phased out” once gaming technology got better, but that’s not really how it went. If anything, developers had to get more clever so that they didn’t overtax their new technology, and thus, keep things going smoothly. GTA V is one such example of that, as one player noted the differences that can be found within one of the key character models.
If you look at the images below, you’ll see that for characters like Lamar and Davey, they had to have two different models to “work with” in the game. One of them was used in cutscenes and had far more detail upon it so that it could do better expressions and have grander animations, and the other model was a bit more basic, as you wouldn’t be too close to it. You can even see a clear height difference between the two, which was apparently due to how tall Lamar’s mo-cap actor actually was.
Many gamers replied in the comments, offering their own insights into this, and noting certain things that pointed out how Rockstar Games used these models in such a way as to “not break the illusion,” such as having Lamar leave certain cutscenes at times.
To be clear, GTA V is hardly the only game to have done this. There are numerous video games during this period, and the periods that came before that had numerous models to show off cutscenes and then swapped them for gameplay purposes so that the game would have a consistent frame rate.
The reason we’re really talking about this, though, is because you have to wonder if this will be necessary for the next game in the franchise. Rockstar Games is now working with far better technology than they had in the lead-up to the 5th entry. As such, they have the chance to not just create far greater detail on the models they’ll be using, but also not be afraid to use them within the gameplay, should they feel the smoothness can be maintained.
When you look at the game’s trailers, you see incredibly high fidelity, and it makes gamers desire even more to dive in and see what the modern version of Vice City is like.
