Yesterday Tokyo saw the opening of Game On, an exhibition showcasing the history of video games and exploring the question “Why are video games so interesting?” One exhibit is a recreation of the planning board used to visually plot out the missions of PS2 classic Grand Theft Auto 3.
Each of the three whiteboards represents one of the game’s three main islands. The post-it notes represent the game’s various mission chains.
- Green: Quest givers
- Yellow: Quests
- Dark yellow: What the attached quest will teach the gamer how to do
- Pink: Missions rewards
- Orange: Mission chains unlocking (or finishing with lasting consequences)
- Blue: New character introductions
Here’s each island’s board close up.
Industrial: “Portland” Mission Board (Top)
Industrial: “Portland” Mission Board (Bottom)
Commercial: “Staunton Island” Mission Board (Top)
Commercial: “Staunton Island” Mission Board (Bottom)
Suburbia “Shoreside Vale” Mission Board (Top)
Suburbia “Shoreside Vale” Mission Board (Bottom)
The Game On exhibition will continue its run at the Miraikan in Tokyo until 30 May 2016. Ticket information can be found here.
Comments
10 responses to “What Grand Theft Auto III Looked Like On The Drawing Board”
Still my favourite of th entire series.
The mobster movie setting was the best, and lazlo and Fernando totally made the soundtrack.
“I’m hot tonight!”
Lazlo and Fernando are great in 3, not so much in 5…
Lazlo was utterly wasted in 4 too, and not in the good way either.
Fernando was great in San Andreas.
Yeah, I never liked the LA Gang settings, the Mafia styled mobsters in a NY style setting really made the game far more enjoyable to me.
GTA3 is like FF7 with the impact it had upon release. Ho-humming along in 2D and the BAM fully functional 3D world… I had a very Neo/Keanu response. Mainly: WOAH
I always set the radio to the “Scarface OST” station.
Push it to the limit.. Limiiiitt!
Agreed. So many things to love about it. I really like it still felt like a sequel to gta 2 despite going to open world 3d (none of the later entries really have any connection to the original top down games). I enjoy the level design far more than san andreas (big and bland) and vice city (boxy and terrible popup) but above all, it just feels fun to play.
I like that Claude is silent all game, there’s no way I can find him annoying.