Programmer Uploads Original GTA Design Documents

Mike Daily, a programmer who worked for DMA Designs (now Rockstar Games), has posted original design documents for the first GTA game.

Dated from March 22nd, 1995, the 12-page document sets out the first ideas for the game, titled “Race ‘n’ Chase”, and you can see how the game formed into what we now know as Grand Theft Auto. There’s also what looks like some initial renderings and artwork from the game (right).

In the document, they mention elements such as the three cities, each with their distinct styles (New York, Venice, Miami are listed) as well as the famous top-down view. There’s also things like online mutliplayer which never made it into the final release.

It’s a great little insight into the creation of a landmark videogame, but when you think about it it’s only 16 years ago. In that time we’ve gone from top-down to full 3D and it shows how quickly videogames and technology progress.

Head over the Daily’s Flickr and check out some videogame history.