Dan Houser was interviewed by the NL (Netherlands) Power Unlimited magazine at E3 a few months ago. We covered the information previously, but here is a transcript of Dan talking about making of the game and the people involved in it.
Dan mentioned that the team are very passionate about this game, that everything has been set aside, and their every focus is set on San Andreas. Here’s just a little that Dan mentioned about the team
If they would give me a bag full of money to get a team 3 times as big as the one I am currently dealing with, then it wouldn’t work for me. Just because my friends of the current team, aren’t in it.
If you wish to read the whole interview you can click Read More at the bottom of this news post. Due to the original being in Dutch, the translated version isn�t exactly to perfection, but you get the idea.
Props to vALKYR� for translating the original article
You are talking with so many passion about this game. Is the whole team so passionate about this game?
Dan Houser: Yes, if I go to Scotland to talk with the main team and when we are going to restaurants, the only thing they talk about is the game. You feel the energy of the team. The Team are talking about to make the extra step in the good direction. This is because they are the best friends of each other. They’re all British and looking at America from the same perspective. This is something you see back in all games.
Where does this passion come from?Dan Houser: I think we are lonely souls.. no. I wouldn’t know to be honest. You are exactly that what you are doing. We are there to do things no one has done yet. To create something interactive which is by far more interesting than non-interactive. This is something where the team is working hard for. They want from that little thing, the story, the characters or even a small piece of the map, the best they can do so that nothing is left. Everyone feels that they are essential for the team so that the game is something made by everyone, even though everyone did a tiny thing for the game.
You were talking about the character advancement, but even more about the fact you can do things and don’t do things. Ever thought of moral choices?
Dan Houser: There is, of course, something moral in the missions but aside from the missions…yes and no. Actually, you decide if you want to be the good guy, and you decide if you don’t want to be the good guy. The Player decides. It is not particularly moral or immoral, it is simply the way to do whatever you want.
Everyone is screaming for GTA ONLINE…
Dan Houser: San Andreas isn’t online. We as a result, have to give up too much. The Game is made by script programmers who build up the story. We have all kinds of scenarios who make up the story. You can’t inject that in an online game, just because this is a problem we can’t solve… yet. We are thinking of doing it but we think it’s better that our ideas are better in single player. I am not saying that online games aren’t fun but online games in general are just not ready for this immense gameplay GTA has in single player. If we would just make a GTA online then we are asking so much from the people who play it. I am talking of dialogues and choosing characters. I, personally, like the pick up and play game play of the GTA Series much more.
The others, what are they doing wrong ? Other games like this do exactly the same GTA III did.
Dan Houser: I think that they making fundamental mistakes. In a manner how they are using the technical data of the consoles. Because of this, some games are like a city full of toys. They don’t understand or they don’t have to good persons on the right spot. As mentioned before, we can do something like this because we have a very talented team behind the screens. If they would give me a bag full of money to get a team 3 times as big as the one I am currently dealing with, then it wouldn’t work for me. Just because my friends of the current team, aren’t in it. Look, we aren’t making company software. You can’t hire a programmer and know that another one can do the exact same thing. GTA SA is made by people who are “one” with this game. They thought of things they always wanted to do, something they want to get into a game like GTA. And that is what you see in the game. I think that the others aren’t even doing the things we did in GTAIII, yet alone, what we are doing now.
Where do you want to go with GTA?
Dan Houser: We aren’t thinking of another GTA…yet. Right now, everyone is focused on what they are doing now. I think that completing San Andreas will earn them a big vacation, maybe better than making another game. If we come to rest again, then we can think of what we are doing next. But right now, we are working on San Andreas like it’s the last thing we ever do.
-Interview by Power Unlimited. Translated by Thomas M. (vALKYR�)