Prerelease:Grand Theft Auto IV
This page details pre-release information and/or media for Grand Theft Auto IV.
 | To do: Come on. There must be some more stuff to be covered. |
Contents
Development Timeline
2004
- Jul. - Oct. EA Games purchases Criterion games, where all future Renderware-developed games (which the previous three entries were made with) were now only exclusive to EA for the time being.
- Nov. - Development of Grand Theft Auto IV begins after the initial release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which was Rockstar North's main focus.
2006
- May. 10 - Grand Theft Auto IV was officially unveiled at E3 2006, where Peter Moore revealed a tattoo on his arm containing the game's logo. He said that the game would be released for next-generation systems on October 16th, 2007 and would have downloadable episodic content exclusive to the Xbox 360.
2007
- Aug. 2 - Rockstar Games announce the game has been delayed to early 2008. Technical issues with the Playstation 3 version were cited as the cause.
2008
- Jan. 24 - Rockstar Games announce the game will release on April 29th.
- Apr. 29 - Grand Theft Auto IV is released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America and Europe.
- Oct. 30 - Grand Theft Auto IV is released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in Japan.
- Dec. 3 - Grand Theft Auto IV is released for Windows.
Early Development (2004-2006)
The next numbered entry began development at Rockstar North after Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was released for the PlayStation 2 in November 2004. There were no further plans to make any more 3D-era titles[1], as development of the Stories games were handed over to Rockstar Leeds.
A Liberty City setting was decided, because of how "amazing, diverse, vibrant, cinematic city it is". In order to accurately capture the style of New York, two trips were made to the location, one at the beginning and another small one further through development. The team also decided to use their own in-house engine called the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) which was built upon the Angel Game Engine after acquiring Angel Studios (now Rockstar San Diego).
Map Draft
The initial map draft of Tri-State Liberty City was drawn, using the map of San Andreas State from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to scale. It was even bigger than what the final game ended up delivering, most notably with the presence of fields and mountains.
The developmental team thought it was too big, so it had to be downgraded.[2] The idea of a Grand Theft Auto game focusing on an entire state would be revisited as Leonida, in Grand Theft Auto VI, over fifteen years later.
After the idea with Tri-State was scrapped, the map went through various changes before becoming what we see in the final version.
| Version 1 | Version 2 | Version 3 | Version 4 | Version 5 |
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- Version 1 - the vehicle texture version. It can be seen in the interior of some vehicles and it looks like this is the earliest version where Colony Island was much larger than in all other versions, on the other hand Charge Island looks the smallest in this version, most likely it was still in development by that time.
- Version 2 - the leak version. A lot of changes, the most notable being more land in Alderney, a completely different layout for the airport, and Bohan, which like Alderney had more land in comparison with the final version, Colony Island was downgraded here and looks similar to its final form, and for some reason Happiness Island is missing here.
- Version 3 - the book texture version. It's not hard to guess that it looks like it was based on Version 2, the Happiness Island was added and that's pretty much about it, the other changes are barely visible and can be confusing due to low quality of the texture.
- Version 4 - the multiplayer version. A special map for multiplayer, which is based on the final map, but it lacks any street markings, giving it a slightly different appearance.
- Version 5 - the final version. Although this is the final version, in some areas this map may show leftovers of the earlier design, such as alleys that are shown on the map but in the game completely closed off by buildings or some walls.
Staten Island
A completely cut area that wasn't shown on any of the maps, but which has various leftovers in the game files, building models and numerous textures that reference it.
What wasn't mentioned in the video is that this area was connected to the ferry terminal, as evidenced by several textures found in the game files.
These textures can be seen on several renders related to the ferry terminal, which were shown by one of the game map artists.
These constructions were completely cut and doesn't appear anywhere in the game obviously, except for the textures, which is still used in the final version of the game in some places.
Episodic Content
There were always plans for two expansions to be included in Grand Theft Auto IV.[3]
Locations
| To do: Move this to later pre-release. |
| Pre-release | Final |
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- Next to Roman's Cab Office, there was a hot dog stand and newspaper stands in the pre-release. In the final, the newspaper stands moved closer to the building, a couple of barrels were added, the hot dog stand was moved down the street, and the street light moved across the street.
- The newspaper stand's name was changed from the Daily Globe to the Liberty Tree.
- The bridge in the background was absent, most likely due to lower draw distance.
- Couple of trees can be seen in the background, in final version there are no trees in the docks.
Iroquois Ave
| Pre-release | Final |
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- Niko's default jacket had different colors at one point. It's unknown if these were meant to be the default colors or colors for an alternate version of the jacket that can be bought at the clothes shop.
- Shop signs were different.
- Hotdog cart wasn't there originally.
Suffolk Church
| Pre-release | Final |
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- The church seemed to have initially been accessible from the front entrance.
- Instead of green plants there were yellow bushes.
- Side of the building was lacking of windows.
- Road texture was different.
Triangle Club
| Pre-release | Final |
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The Triangle Club's exterior had neon lighting of a silhouette of a stripper before it was changed in the final. Interestingly, the early design was later used in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.
Perestroika
The Perestroika Club has been constantly under various changes, where developers scrapped the original design, then returning to it, and so on and so on. In result we have several versions to compare with all sorts of differences.
| Version 1 | Version 2 | Version 3 | Version 4 |
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- Version 1 - the environment texture version, that was found in the game files. This appears to be the earliest version, where lots of details look different.
- Version 2 - the news version, which still has Perestroika sign size from Version 1 as well as extra textures on the edges.
- Version 3 - the manual version, which has a completely different texture under the sign that was edited too, the texture says Russian Club, which was misspelled on russian and probably the reason why it was scrapped.
- Version 4 - the final one, where more posters were added in comparison with Version 3, and a Perestroika texture under the sign from Version 2.
Cluckin' Bell
| Pre-release | Final |
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At one point in development, there was meant to be a Cluckin' Bell on Crockett Avenue in Hove Beach. This is indicated a map blip in The Lost and Damned debug scripts and by this screenshot that was posted on Steven Walsh's website.
| Pre-release | Final |
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Additionally, the closed down Cluckin' Bell in Northwood was initially meant to be open judging by this screenshot that was also on Steven Walsh's website. The game's game.dat16 file also mentions this.
And lastly, Cluckin' Bell in Cerveza Heights looked differently, there were also way more props in comparison to the final.
| Pre-release | Final |
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Alderney Storage
Initially it was called Art Foundry. In the game files there is an image that shows its original name, as well as the textures of this place.
| Pre-release | Final |
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Story Characters
Niko Bellic
Concept Art
Vehicles
- The license plates didn't say "LIBERTY CITY" in some instances, implying that a randomized license plate number generator was planned for the cars but wasn't implemented until the sequel.
Annihilator
| Pre-release | Final |
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- The Yellow stripe was moved down.
- "LC12345" was changed to "LC270881".
- The number was moved onto the door.
- The logo by the rotors was removed.
- The logo was redone.
- The doors were made open.
Comet
| Pre-release | Final |
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Marquis
| Pre-release | Final |
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Roman's Taxi
| Pre-release | Final |
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Interface
Radar
Early square radar design found in an image of the early interior of Mr. Fuk's Rice Box that was found in the game's files. There are no health or armor indicator bars and player blip appears to be the same as used in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
A circular radar that appeared in a screenshot on Steven Walsh's website. There is no health or armor indicators and the map lacks transparency.
A radar that more closely resembles the final radar that appeared in a screenshot on Gill Bertram's website. There is the no completely dedicated space for the armor indicator, and there is a different font used for the HUD money counter.
Audio Menu Concept
In this GIF that was hosted on lead graphic designer Steven Walsh's website, early logos for The Journey and San Juan Sounds can be seen.
Early logo for San Juan Sounds w/ Purerto Rican flags draped over the sides
An early and more vintage looking logo for The Journey.
Music
Liberty City Invasion CD
Several exclusive songs are found on the Liberty City Invasion soundtrack album that aren't found in game:
- Uncle Murda ft. Wyclef Jean - Informer (2008)
- Joell Ortiz & Dante Hawkins - Alone (2008)
- Jim Jones ft. Juelz Santana - Bustin' Shots (2008)
- DJ Green Lantern ft. Akon, Fabolous & Fat Joe - I'm So Fly (2008)
- Clipse ft. Re-Up - 9MM (2008)
- 38 Special ft. Fever & Dwayne - Streets Raised Me (2008)
- Heltah Skeltah - Can't Trust 'Em (2009)
- Immortal Technique - Parole (2008)
Vladivostok FM Soundtrack CD
Several exclusive songs are found on the Vladivostok FM Soundtrack CD that aren't found in game:
- Max Lorens – "Схожу с ума" (Shozhu s uma / Going Crazy) (2008)
- Quest Pistols – "Мама" (Mama / Mother) (2007)
- Dyshi – "Взгляни на небо" (Vzglyani na nebo / Look on the Sky) (2006)
- Bi-2 - "Полковнику никто не пишет" (Polkovniku nikto ne pishet / No One Writes to the Colonel) (2000)
- T9 - "Ода нашей любви" (Oda nashei lyubvi / Ode To Our Love) (2007) (Found only in the original digital releases)
Soundtrack CD Back Cover Design
This image for Grand Theft Auto IV's soundtrack CD's back cover found on Mike Cala's Behance portfolio shows songs that aren't in the game. As of now, it's unconfirmed if these songs were meant to be included in the game or if they're just placeholders for the back cover design.
