// PC GAMER — GAMING
GTA 6's NPCs have about 600,000 animations, as well as personality traits that take 'demographic and professional' variables into account
"Who's going to be aggressive? … How many are going to test me?"
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The studio art-directed every one of them, creating around 600,000 animations, but appearance is only the surface. These pedestrians are assigned personality traits that help determine how they respond: temperament, aggression, where they are, what they have seen, and how the player has behaved towards them. Different districts have their own demographic and professional textures. —Simon Parkin in Edge's GTA 6 cover story
Grand Theft Auto 6's NPCs are so incredibly complicated, it briefly sent the studio into a bit of a "horrifying" spin, requiring an entire team of writers and producers to be assembled just to handle the workload. This has since been doubly confirmed by the studio in a recent mega-preview from our friends at Edge:
"This same philosophy governs the streets," the preview reads, "Rather than relying chiefly on procedural systems to assemble interchangeable crowds, Rockstar established an entire Los Angeles-based team of writers, directors and producers devoted to making Leonida's NPCs more individually realised."
According to the feature, that meant creating an absurd number of animations: "The studio art-directed every [NPC], creating around 600,000 animations."
What's more, "these pedestrians are assigned personality traits that help determine how they respond: temperament, aggression, where they are, what they have seen, and how the player has behaved towards them. Different districts have their own demographic and professional textures."
As for what a "professional texture" actually is, Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson goes into more detail: "Who's going to be aggressive? How many people are going to go for a weapon? How many are going to test me?" Nelson says, repeating the same self affirmations I make daily in the mirror.
The preview continues: "The old GTA pedestrian, a kind of moving prop waiting to panic when the player points a gun, has here splintered into a kaleidoscopic range of possible reactions. Back on the sidewalk, that abstraction suddenly becomes practical. The man with the dog has decided that Jason's stare constitutes a test.
"He squares up, then unclips the leash from the animal's collar. Nelson turns and runs. The dog gives chase. A flock of pigeons bursts into the air. Finally, the animal loses interest and trots back to its owner. Jason slows to a walk, selects a pack of cigarettes from his inventory, lights one, takes a drag, and continues down the street."