One of the creators of the first Grand Theft Auto — whose top-down perspective bears little resemblance to the series since 2001 — is revisiting Liberty City to re-render that map in 3D.
Michael Dailly is carrying out the project in GameMaker: Studio, which is made by Dailly’s current employer, YoYo Games. USGamer reports that Dailly had to code a map loader and building systems from scratch, and there’s nothing to “play” per se, only a Liberty City to tour from a new perspective.
The image above is an approximation of what Grand Theft Auto would look like. It’s a lot of primary colour, sure, but remember this is taking a 2D environment from 1997 and making it 3D. And, even if GTA‘s gameplay and concept won it fans, its visuals weren’t a big selling point to begin with.
You may follow Dailly’s progress through his Twitter feed; he says he’ll decide what to do with his 3D Liberty City once it’s complete, but there are no plans to actually implement gameplay within it.
Original GTA Creator Remaking GTA1 in 3D [USGamer. Image via USGamer]
Comments
10 responses to “Original Grand Theft Auto Designer Is Remaking Liberty City In 3D”
Ah memories. I lost my maps back in the day so I had next to no idea of where to go for most missions so it became a task of exploration for the most part.
I still have my maps, in the original box, oooh yeaaah.
I even popped the cd into my car so I could listen to the music when GTAV came out.. sad I know..
Looks like Carmageddon
In the last week, I only installed that again after about 15 years (christ, where’s the time gone?!) and I can tell you with certainty, that the GTA image about looks positively HD in comparison! I either had to squint to play it in something approximating full screen, or shrink the playing window to something akin to the size a photo thumbnail to make it playable. Still a blast though!
I remember finding a level editor that allowed you to pan down into the world in 3D, which, to a teenage mind, was the next-best thing to running around the empty levels in first-person. It’s amazing how much the illusion was shattered by the lack of sky, though.
It would be cool to play GTA 1 and 2, within another GTA game.
And have your wanted rating go up when you’ve finished playing
Like the way you could play Maniac Mansion inside Day of the Tentacle? That would be cool.
Wow, 1997… So I was 7 when I played this, and I turned out OK.
Ugh… you make me feel old. :p
This is SUH-WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!
GTA4 mod?
GTA Liberty City in 3D… So, GTA 3? right? >_>