History of Grand Theft Auto

jasoncart writes "With the launch of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas this week, Ferrago has taken a look back at everyone's favorite non-linear series."

Um...

[Intellectual Elitist]

The author thinks that the "mute mothafucka" (thanks, C.J.) from GTA3 and Tommy Vercetti from GTA:VC are the same guy. That should give you some idea of the overall worth of the piece.

Non-linear?

[Elkboy]

I would hardly call GTA non-linear. It displays the old split between dynamic simulation and linear narration well because they are there side-by-side. They don't come together very much at all though, despite being combined quite expertly. At least GTA doesn't feel like half a film like some other games, but don't tell me the main story progression isn't linear. You can crash all the rides you want and cap all the bitchassmuthas you want, but you still go from A to B and then C if you want to experience anything more than a complex sandbox.

I guess to bridge the gap between simulation and narration you'd need some kind of story engine, but considering the trouble game developers have with simple AI I'm guessing that's far off.

LOL AI is not budget, it is impossible

[SmallFurryCreature]

Each and every FPS or similar game promises revolutionary AI that will stun you. It never happens. The problem is that while moving out of a corner is easy for humans it isn't for computers. Even realising that something is in a corner is a complex piece of programming.

Only with very thight scripting and severely limiting the available options can current AI be made to look at least slightly as smart as a concussed kitten.

The reason? Two fold, AI research is just bloody complex and expensive. If they can't do it with purpose built robots costing billions then why should a game company be able? Second is that AI takes a lot of CPU power and the fast majority of users are still stuck on the old 1 cpu crap that intel been pushing for decades.

A game company has a simple choice, spend money on flash graphics and be sure it will look pretty or spend it on AI and risk it still being dumb as shit but also ugly looking.

If you don't believe me that AI is difficult just try to write a path finding routine in pseudo code. Your in an artificial enviroment so you don't need to worry about how you detect wether you are in front of a wall. The detection always works. BUT it is not a simple maze. Walls are at odd angles, some are wide some are small and walking down the middle of them is a no-no.

Just try it. Then you will have your answer. Oh and if you manage, now add objectives like having to chase a randomly moving object while avoiding other moving objects. That is after all what is happening in GTA.