Prerelease:Grand Theft Auto IV
This page details pre-release information and/or media for Grand Theft Auto IV.
 | This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes. |
 | To do: Come on. There must be some more stuff to be covered.
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Contents
Development Timeline
2004
- 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 after Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was released for the PlayStation 2 in November 2004.
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.[1] 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.
Locations
| To do: Move this to later prerlease. |
| 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.
Suffolk Church
| Early Design | Final Look |
|---|---|
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- The church seemed to have initially been accessible from the front entrance.
Triangle Club
The Triangle Club's exterior had neon lighting of a silhouette of a stripper before it was changed in the final. Interestingly, this would appear in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.
Cluckin' Bell
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.
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.
Story Characters
Niko Bellic
Concept Art
Clothing
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.
Pedestrians
Unused Female Cops
As seen in the first trailer, the game was meant to have female police officers. These model renders were posted by Fin McGechie on his portfolio
Unused Stripper
In the manual, an unused model for a stripper can be seen.
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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Weapons
Revolver
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. The only noticeable difference is the absence of the armor indicator.
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.
