In 2001’s genre-defining PlayStation 2 smash Grand Theft Auto III, for those who pulled out a sniper rifle and shot on the moon, it will change measurement. For years, followers tried to clarify why this humorous little secret was included within the recreation. Was it a reference to one thing? A smaller half of a bigger secret? Now, in 2023, because of new information from a former GTA developer, we all know the reality.
Earlier this month, former Rockstar North developer Obbe Vermeij posted some fascinating and fascinating blogs chronicling the event of previous GTA video games and the unique Manhunt. These write-ups are stuffed with nuggets of knowledge on how a number of the most profitable video games ever launched had been truly made. However whereas Vermeij has since deleted the posts voluntarily, the web by no means forgets, and we will fortunately nonetheless dig into these missives and browse up on why that bizarre moon Easter egg was included in GTA III, Vice Metropolis, and San Andreas.
In response to a weblog put up titled: Why does the moon change measurement while you snipe it, Vermeij claims that this foolish secret was the results of artists being unable to agree on how massive the in-game moon ought to be in GTA III’s night time sky.
“The artists gave me a texture for the moon in [GTA III]. I positioned the moon within the sky, made positive it was seen at night time, and that it was an inexpensive measurement,” Vermeij defined within the put up.
Just a few days later, Vermeij says some Rockstar North artists confirmed up at this desk asking if he may change the moon’s measurement. Vermeij instructed them he may and requested if the artists wished it greater or smaller. That’s when it turned clear that some people wished the moon bigger and extra “cinematic.” Nonetheless, different artists wished the other, a smaller “extra practical” moon. After this argument went on for a bit, Vermeij supplied an answer.
“I recommended to make the scale of the moon changeable within the recreation,” Vermeij stated. “This fashion they might resolve in their very own time and let me know the conclusion. Since I used to be engaged on the sniper rifle, I made it in order that the moon toggled by three sizes (small, medium, giant) because the participant sniped it.”
That appeared to unravel the talk and based on Vermeij; the artists at Rockstar North by no means got here again to him concerning the size-changing moon so he simply left it within the recreation. That code, as talked about already, would find yourself in Vice Metropolis and San Andreas. It’s even within the 2006 spin-off Vice Metropolis Tales. Maybe no one observed? Or extra doubtless, it turned a well-known secret and Rockstar left it in.
It’s humorous to me to lastly be taught the true story behind this well-known, bizarre secret. For years I bear in mind folks theorizing that it was a reference to Bethesda’s 1995 DOS shooter The Terminator: Future Shock—which has its personal bizarre moon Easter egg—or that the key was a part of some greater, still-unsolved thriller involving aliens on the moon.
Nope! It seems that it was only a developer attempting to assist a few of his fellow co-workers resolve an issue whereas making some of the influential PS2 video games of all time. , simply a mean Tuesday.
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