Grand Theft Auto III

Grand Theft Auto III

Buka Entertainment, 1C-SoftClub, Rockstar Games, Capcom
Release date: 2001-10-22 | Platforms: XBOX_OLD, PLAYSTATION2, PLAYSTATION4, PS_VITA, IOS, PC, MACOS, ANDROID.

Grand Theft Auto III is an open-world action game, a part of the criminal franchise GTA. As the first in the series 3D game with high-quality textures, GTA III became exemplary in its genre.

The action is located in fictional Liberty City. Its map is divided into three parts – each becomes available gradually, depending on the storyline progress. The player takes control of the character from the third-person view.

The classic feature of GTA III is the ability to interact with the world: explore the map either on foot or by car, contact with other characters, visit weapon stores and shoot everywhere. Although GTA III is another chapter of the franchise, its plot is unique.

The story begins with the dynamic bank robbery. During the heist scene, the main character (silent and unnamed for the whole game) gets betrayed by his accomplice Catalina. By good fortune, the protagonist escapes from imprisonment and starts making both ends meet in Liberty City after being deceived. Therefore, his only wish – also the main idea of the storyline – to take the revenge on the former partner.

Background

DEVELOPERS

Background for Paul Kurowski
Paul Kurowski

Paul Kurowski

writer

Paul Kurowski is a games writer. Kurowski has been working with Rockstar North, DMA Design and Spicy Horse. Kurowski's first game was Grand Theft Auto III published by Capcom for PC, PlayStation 4, iOS and Android in 2001. Next, Paul Kurowski worked on Grimm taking on the role of writer.

Background for Stuart Ross
Stuart Ross

Stuart Ross

composer

Stuart Ross is a games composer. Ross has been working with Rockstar North, Codemasters, DMA Design and Tarantula Studios. Ross's first published game was Turn and Burn: The F-14 Dogfight Simulator released in 1992. Next, Stuart Ross worked on Body Harvest taking on the role of composer. Afterwards, Stuart Ross worked on Grand Theft Auto III developed by Rockstar North in 2001. Most lately, Stuart Ross worked on DiRT 5.

Background for Craig Conner
Craig Conner

Craig Conner

composer

Craig Conner is a games composer. Conner has been working with Rockstar North, Rockstar Games, Rockstar Toronto and DMA Design. Conner's first published game was Grand Theft Auto released in 1997. Then, Craig Conner went on to work on Wild Metal Country as the composer. Later, Conner also was part of the team who developed Manhunt 2 published by Rockstar Games for PC, PlayStation 2, PSP and Wii. Most recently, Craig Conner was involved in the development of Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City.

Background for James Worrall
James Worrall

James Worrall

writer

James Worrall is a games writer. Worrall has been working with Ubisoft, SEGA, Rockstar North and Rockstar Games. Worrall's first published game was Grand Theft Auto III released in 2001. Next, James Worrall worked on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City taking on the role of writer. Afterwards, James Worrall worked on Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories developed by Rockstar North in 2005. Most recently, James Worrall was involved in the development of Need for Speed.

Background for Obbe Vermeij
Obbe Vermeij

Obbe Vermeij

programmer

Obbe Vermeij is a Dutch game designer best known for his work with Rockstar.

Career

Very little is known about Obbe Vermeij’s life. The first commercial project in which Vermeij was credited as one of the developers is Space Station Silicon Valley – 3D platform game for Nintendo 64 made by Rockstar North (known at the time as DMA Design). In this project, he served as a programmer. Since that, Obbe has been working as a technical director in many Rockstar North’s projects, mostly in the Grand Theft Auto series. He was a technical director of every main entry in the series from GTA III and until GTA IV. He also worked on some of the spin-offs including Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Vice City Stories, Liberty City Stories and The Ballad of Gay Tony. The only game he worked on, aside from Space Station Silicon Valley that was not a part of GTA franchise was survival-horror Manhunt.

Background for Adam Fowler
Adam Fowler

Adam Fowler

programmer

Adam Fowler is a part of the Rockstar Games team.

Career

Fowler has been working as a technical director for the Grand Theft Auto series since 2001, his first work there is GTA 3. Adam started with developing Body Harvest action-adventure game in 1998. After that, he created games from the main GTA series, such as Vice City, San Andreas, GTA IV, and V. He also developed the additional parts, such as Vice City Stories or Chinatown Wars. He left Rockstar North in 2015.

Famous works

It's Adam who collaborated with Benzies to devise streaming technology, and he became the original architect of the technology. Adam states that this innovation made GTA what it is now. He loaded all the large environment of the series into the background so that the players have some freedom to perform. Fowler is also known for generating the streaming technologies team in Rockstar. He also worked on L.A.Noire (2011) and Max Payne 3 (2012) action games.

Background for Aaron Garbut
Aaron Garbut

Aaron Garbut

artist

Aaron Garbut is well-known for his work as an art director in Rockstar North studio.

Career

Garbut has worked on the famous Grand Theft Auto series since 2001, his first work there is GTA 3. Ever after he has been involved in all games of the franchise, including additional parts, for example, The Ballad of Gay Tony.

Impact

Garbut designed the looks of each GTA setting — Liberty City, based on New York City; Vice City, based on Miami; and San Andreas, based on various places in California. Garbut states that the team makes lots of Googling and StreetView scoping. He built a team which has from six to eight people on the designers who make graphics for almost a year. Garbut states that it’s important to build area with gameplay needs, regarding missions and as a city. He says that design makes cultural representations of the places, that it is more of a "huge melting pot of ideas and imagery" coming from all the layers they create.

Background for Leslie Benzies
Leslie Benzies

Leslie Benzies

producer

Leslie Benzies is a Scottish video game producer and former president of Rockstar North.

In Rockstar

Leslie’s career in video game industry began in 1995 when he joined DMA Design (later renamed as Rockstar North) as a programmer. The first project he took part in was a 1998 platformer Space Station Silicon Valley for Nintendo 64. Shortly after he joined a team that would create one of the most significant titles of the early 00s – Grand Theft Auto III getting the role of a producer. He has been a producer for every major entry in GTA series up until GTA V when he left the company. In 2016, Leslie initiated a lawsuit against Take-Two Entertainment, the owner of Rockstar, claiming $150 million in unpaid royalties.

After Rockstar

After leaving the company, Leslie founded several other companies. Currently, he alongside some other former Rockstar employees takes part in the development of an upcoming open world video game Everywhere as a designer and director.

Background for Dan Houser
Dan Houser

Dan Houser

writer,producer

Dan Houser is an English video game producer, a co-founder and a vice president of creativity for Rockstar Games. He is the head writer in Rockstar Games.

Career

In 1995, Houser got a part-time job at BMG Interactive testing CD-ROMs. He and his brother Sam got interested in a game called Race'n'Chase which was being developed by DMA Design. The Housers signed Race'n'Chase to BMG Interactive as the publisher and changed the title to Grand Theft Auto. After that, Dan went to for Take-Two; he says that it was “a hundred million dollars in debt. It was money we didn’t spend but the money we had to take back”. In 1998, the Housers founded Rockstar Games. He was Rockstar’s vice-president for creative and personally built ten creative teams across the globe.

Famous works

The first game Dan developed for Rockstar is GTA III which was a huge success at the time. In the company, Houses performed as a producer, writer and voice artist for almost all the games from the Grand Theft Auto series. He also worked on famous games like Bully, Red Dead Redemption, L.A.Noire, X-Squad, and Max Payne 3.