Summary
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreaswas originally going to have a separate map for each of its three cities untilRockstardecided to go for broke and include Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas on one interconnected map.
Ever since the PS2 days, theGrand Theft Autogames have been known for their massive open-world maps.While Liberty City and Vice City were big for the time, things reached a whole new level in San Andreas, which contained three whole cities on one interconnected map for CJ to explore - once he’d got the police off his back, of course.
For as long as I’ve been a fan of GTA, I’ve had fond memories of turning the flying cars cheat on and flying across the map high above Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas. That almost wasn’t going to be the case, though,as a former Rockstar developer has confirmed they were originally going to be completely separate locations.
GTA: San Andreas Almost Split Los Santos, San Fierro, And Las Venturas Across Three Maps
Rockstar Games has always been very secretive regarding the development of its blockbuster games, but that’s changed a bit over the past few yearsthanks to veteran developer Obbe Vermeij, who has been revealing lots of behind-the-scenes details over on Twitter. To mark the 20th anniversary of GTA: San Andreas,Vermeij shared a very interesting detail about the game’s map.
According to Vermeij, San Andreas' three cities (Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas) were originally going to be on three separate maps, with the player travelling between them by using trains and planes. This was due to the memory being very tight on the PS2 and Rockstar wanting to get over this by not having to show all three models at once while exploring the open world.
Having three different cities would also make it easier for unique ambulances, police cars, and firetrucks, alongside variable weather and pickups across the map. To add to that, it’d also keep the player in one location at a time and make the model organisation and streaming a lot easier.
The final game keeps CJ in one place by giving him a Wanted level if he leaves the city he’s supposed to be in at the time. That was always fun to see people discover for the first time.
As you can probably tell, there were a lot of clear advantages to making separate cities, even if it meant removing a big open world. Vermeij revealed that Rockstar North had a final meeting with the game’s artists before they started working on three separate maps, and decided as a team to go for one big map instead of three, cementing San Andreas as a huge step in the genre.
