GTA boundaries

[meson1]

 

... fly around ...

Not exactly. Think like this:

 

"infinite"    OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOcurve -------> OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO________________OOOOOOOOOOO MOUNTAINS OOOOOOOOOOO________________      /\        \                             /       |         \                           /       |          \          LAND           /       |           \                       /       |            \_____________________/       |  "block" goes here          SEA             infinite water \/

 

Imagine that the mountain range goes "infinitely" far from the invisible wall (read "infinite" as "as far as the fog lets you see"). Then they can use the "back to safety" I mentioned before and throw you back to some place close to it.

So you can't make it work without an invisible barrier either? It spoils the suspension of disbelief. i.e. it's an unrealistic artificial construct that tells you you're in a game, instead of in a world with realistic rules.

 

Remember that it looks like GTA:V is going to have fast jets; very fast jets. So invisible walls aren't going to work well with them, even if you use a non-impact redirection mechanism for your invisible wall.

 

I don't think it's a workable solution if you're trying to create an immersive environment.

Edited January 10, 2012 by meson1

[SGT. Johnson]

Well, I know I'm not that active here, but let's be honest - why R* keeps using endless ocean for GTAs? Not only because of coding limit, but one important fact

 

Modding

 

Isn't it true? GTA probably has the largest modding community, and we all look for a way to make GTA the way we want. Implementing such boundaries like height limit, unpassable mountains... are way useless because mods will remove it. Sure, R* could come up with encrypted content, but as time passes by, tools will be made to make 'em editable. Well, except for DLC maybe.

 

So face it - endless ocean is simply the best way. For R*, they won't need to put much on generating stuffs outside main map. For players, it's clear enough that there will be NOTHING out there to see, so they won't waste time driving / flying off the map and just focus on the story (Unless there is driving / sailing skill to upgrade)

Not only modding but glitches, baby!

 

Still love (and use) that infamous Water Glitch on GTA IV.

 

Next, we'll have an infamous get-past-mountain-barrier-glitch!

[FelipeVinhao]

So you can't make it work without an invisible barrier either? It spoils the suspension of disbelief. i.e. it's an unrealistic artificial construct that tells you you're in a game, instead of in a world with realistic rules.

 

Remember that it looks like GTA:V is going to have fast jets; very fast jets. So invisible walls aren't going to work well with them, even if you use a non-impact redirection mechanism for your invisible wall.

 

I don't think it's a workable solution if you're trying to create an immersive environment.

Not exactly a "barrier" itself. I was thinking on something that looks more "natural".

 

Let's suppose you're on a boat: a wave appears and put the front of your vehicle in the direction of the city.

 

On a plane: a real barrier would make the plane crash and "game over", so they could add a wind and make the plane turn around.

[SGT. Johnson]

So you can't make it work without an invisible barrier either?  It spoils the suspension of disbelief.  i.e. it's an unrealistic artificial construct that tells you you're in a game, instead of in a world with realistic rules.

 

Remember that it looks like GTA:V is going to have fast jets; very fast jets.  So invisible walls aren't going to work well with them, even if you use a non-impact redirection mechanism for your invisible wall.

 

I don't think it's a workable solution if you're trying to create an immersive environment.

Not exactly a "barrier" itself. I was thinking on something that looks more "natural".

 

Let's suppose you're on a boat: a wave appears and put the front of your vehicle in the direction of the city.

 

On a plane: a real barrier would make the plane crash and "game over", so they could add a wind and make the plane turn around.

I brought this up once before but, instead of mkaing another thread about it, I'll contribute to here.

 

I think Rockstar should make use of the wildlife that lives in Los Angeles and Southern Claifornia. I'm not too keen on the wildlife on land but I do know that Sharks are present in the SoCal area. Which comes to my answer; I think Rockstar should add Sharks as abarrier for swimming too far out to sea. This is not only realistic but logical, as sharks do attack swimmers, not often but they do. I suppose there should be a way to kill it, but, in respect to this is a GAME, I say screw that! Sharks would only attack 25% of the time so you don't get frustrated or start flaming. If you are familiar with Scraface: TWIY, then you know where I'm going with this.

[FelipeVinhao]

I actually like the idea of having wild life as a natural barrier on game. But the fact is that I'm more worried on how they'll surround the place than actually blocking it.

 

If it'll be surrounded by water, no problem, even the sharks aren't needed. Just let the player go to nowhere. But everyone (should) knows California isn't an island. And seeing Las Venturas surrounded by sea on GTASA always bugged me.

 

I'm thinking on a way that blocks the game and avoids the player "go around" if northeast is surrounded by land just like real California. Here's some ideas I collected on this topic:

 

SAFETY:

- Game pop-ups and throws you back to a safer place (like Saints Row).

- Wave/wind that makes the vehicle you're in turn back. If driving a car on road, just a normal man-made road block, maybe caused by an accident, giant rock on road, or road maintenance.

 

DEATH:

- If you cross the limits, you get a 7-star status and are attacked by shots that can't be avoided. It'll only go back to 6-star (or even 0-star) if you go back to playable area or are killed (like The Saboteur).

- If you cross the land/water limits, you're attacked by shark or any other unkillable creature (bigfoot?). Maybe you're able to kill some on land, but then more come to attack until certain death (like Scarface)

[SGT. Johnson]

 

I actually like the idea of having wild life as a natural barrier on game. But the fact is that I'm more worried on how they'll surround the place than actually blocking it.

 

If it'll be surrounded by water, no problem, even the sharks aren't needed. Just let the player go to nowhere. But everyone (should) knows California isn't an island. And seeing Las Venturas surrounded by sea on GTASA always bugged me.

 

I'm thinking on a way that blocks the game and avoids the player "go around" if northeast is surrounded by land just like real California. Here's some ideas I collected on this topic:

 

SAFETY:

- Game pop-ups and throws you back to a safer place (like Saints Row).

- Wave/wind that makes the vehicle you're in turn back. If driving a car on road, just a normal man-made road block, maybe caused by an accident, giant rock on road, or road maintenance.

 

DEATH:

- If you cross the limits, you get a 7-star status and are attacked by shots that can't be avoided. It'll only go back to 6-star (or even 0-star) if you go back to playable area or are killed (like The Saboteur).

- If you cross the land/water limits, you're attacked by shark or any other unkillable creature (bigfoot?). Maybe you're able to kill some on land, but then more come to attack until certain death (like Scarface)

Nice list.

 

I just realized. Rockstar could also just reuse the idea they have for multiplayer. If you go too far out, you blow up or just instantly die.

 

For SP, there is somethign similar but it takes a while; someone went past the "barrier" in GTA IV SP, and after about 30 minutes I think, Niko just died.

 

I know we all like to explore the map but, if Rockstar sets limits on certain areas, we should respect that. Therefore, death is the best example of disobeying a barrier. Gamers will always find ways to avoid them anyway.

 

Natural hazards? Isn't San Andreas the state of Earthquakes. Call me crazy but, we are expected to see A LOT of stuff, right? If we have mountains, deserts, water, and even forests, I think Natural Disaters are natural road hazards should permit us from going to certain places.

 

Let's say for example, that we are in the forest an the next city is not unlocked yet. We are driving through the forest and we see a road blocked off by State Police. We look at the roadblock and see a tree has fallen on the road, blocking the route. In another section, a forest fire has got out of control, and the rangers have asked the motorists to turn around as Fire and EMS are on standby.

 

Let's move to the moutains. We are crusing along the mountains and all of a sudden, a rock pile crashes down on the road in front of us. We are driving up a snowy moutnain, and the road is blocked off due to an avalanche.

 

The desert would be the best, especially if Death Valley is present. You are crusing through the desert and see Las Ventauras in the distance You try to go further, but a sandstorm (powerful one) blocks your path, prohibiting you from seeing what is on the other side.

 

Just a few examples of my natural disater barrier theory

 

EDIT: Forgot the earthquakes

[BTNH]

Mountains locking off the land only worked in RDR because it was set in the Old West with no planes. It wouldn't work in GTA because we have the capabilities of flying over them. Endless desert does sound interesting though. Would be cool if they added a few ghost towns in the middle of absolute no where, perhaps one a parody of Tumbleweed. That would be amazing.

[Flashify]

Make the map a circle like the world, then you will just keep going round and round.

[Niall]

Make the map a circle like the world, then you will just keep going round and round.

That would be awful.

Before we knew the location and when I was still rooting for Vice City I thought a cool barrier would be to use a "Bermuda Triangle" effect, like things would get foggy your compass would get all messed up and you would come out of it almost in a random spawn spot like the NPC planes in San Andreas.

I am really looking forward to seeing how they deal with this in V.

[Chukkles]

I don't think they can do the full surround of ocean here.

It's southern cali, so there has to be a northern cali attached at the top.

 

I hate to say it but endless/unpassable mountains may come into play here.

[Magic_Al]

Islands on endless water just work. They keep doing it because it's the least-bad option when players are given freedom to travel land, water, and air.

 

Think of the island coast as a "west coast" that loops back on itself. The coastline in GTA San Andreas is very well done, and they even put ridges on the north and east coasts of the Las Venturas island so you don't see the water from the desert unless you go out of your way to check it out.

 

You don't have to think about the fact that California is not an island any more than you have to think about the fact that GTA is a video game. Like Chief Brody says in Jaws, "It's only an island when you look at it from the water."

 

Artificial barriers are bad. Computer-generated terrain is bad because it's generated, not designed, and would be inferior in appearance to the rest of the game world that is hand-designed.

[FCM]

They should have it like a film I once watched. You'll keep going into the horizon then boom you hit a wall! Then you realise your whole life was a TV show.

The Truman Show? That'd be funny.

[Sanjeem]

I like San Andreas for this reason, that it had a mission like Saint Marco's Bistro which got us back a little to Liberty City to kill Forelli. If you ask me, that made me feel part of something bigger, it felt like San Andreas was just one state out of LC and Vice city. It all felt connected. I hope they do this with V.

[Gtaghost22]

I actually like the idea of having wild life as a natural barrier on game. But the fact is that I'm more worried on how they'll surround the place than actually blocking it.

 

If it'll be surrounded by water, no problem, even the sharks aren't needed. Just let the player go to nowhere. But everyone (should) knows California isn't an island. And seeing Las Venturas surrounded by sea on GTASA always bugged me.

 

I'm thinking on a way that blocks the game and avoids the player "go around" if northeast is surrounded by land just like real California. Here's some ideas I collected on this topic:

 

SAFETY:

- Game pop-ups and throws you back to a safer place (like Saints Row).

- Wave/wind that makes the vehicle you're in turn back. If driving a car on road, just a normal man-made road block, maybe caused by an accident, giant rock on road, or road maintenance.

 

DEATH:

- If you cross the limits, you get a 7-star status and are attacked by shots that can't be avoided. It'll only go back to 6-star (or even 0-star) if you go back to playable area or are killed (like The Saboteur).

- If you cross the land/water limits, you're attacked by shark or any other unkillable creature (bigfoot?). Maybe you're able to kill some on land, but then more come to attack until certain death (like Scarface)

Really nice ideas.. especially the unkillable creatures one

[FAP-ALL-DAYYYYYY]

How about you drive too far out into the desert and a truck sized spider crawls out of the ground and flips your car.

go back to where the spider was with a sanchez and do a drive by lol

[Triple Vacuum Seal]

 

I like San Andreas for this reason, that it had a mission like Saint Marco's Bistro which got us back a little to Liberty City to kill Forelli. If you ask me, that made me feel part of something bigger, it felt like San Andreas was just one state out of LC and Vice city. It all felt connected. I hope they do this with V.

Yeah after that mission, I thought that maybe R* would later make a game with SA,LC, and VC where you fly out over the ocean for a bit and the screen reloads you to few miles off of the coast of another major GTA city (depending on the direction of the plane when leaving the map).

[Arvis]

Yet, Mafia did this way better than any GTA. Well, tunnels in GTA 3 were nice but I can't remember anything else.

Edited March 17, 2012 by Vecis

[armandogonzales]

They could make your plane/helicopter stall so you cant get over the mountain.

 

Has anyone seen those san andreas/ gta 4 myth videos on youtube? They could make the game more interesting and have things of that nature.( like, youre going through the desert and for some reason you black out ( like road spikes pop out and sends your car rolling across the road, or your wheels get sniped). All they would have to do is mention it in the games radio stations, like some crazy hermit in the desert, bigfoot in the mountains and forest, and a bermuda triangle sort of thing in the ocean( which fogs the screen, and when the fog disappears, youre in some random spot on the map). That would make an acceptable explanation to me. Or add some corpses around the boundaries to make it more interesting. Like bigfoots little hideout, or the hermits little sniper shack or ghost town. That would be amazing.

[puttbutt]

 

How about you drive too far out into the desert and a truck sized spider crawls out of the ground and flips your car.

go back to where the spider was with a sanchez and do a drive by lol

All you had to do was follow the damn spider, CJ!

 

 

So you can't make it work without an invisible barrier either?  It spoils the suspension of disbelief.  i.e. it's an unrealistic artificial construct that tells you you're in a game, instead of in a world with realistic rules.

 

Remember that it looks like GTA:V is going to have fast jets; very fast jets.  So invisible walls aren't going to work well with them, even if you use a non-impact redirection mechanism for your invisible wall.

 

I don't think it's a workable solution if you're trying to create an immersive environment.

This is what really annoys me. A huge mountain range spanning the map is not an invisible barrier. In fact it is the exact opposite, a highly visible barrier.

 

Yes, it's true that you can glitch or otherwise cheat your way to the top of the mountain range (this has been done in RDR), and yes, it's true that you will find an 'invisible barrier' at the top of that mountain range preventing you from walking off until you eventually reach the other side of the continent, but so what? The only other option is to have that mountain range extend upwards infinitely. And that's retarded. Or you could surround it with endless ocean, drastically changing the geography of the world, something that was impossible for a wild west game such as RDR.

 

Everyone keeps repeating "invisible barrier! invisible barrier!" like it's their favorite goddamn catchphrase, but the truth is, there's nothing wrong with barriers as long as they're done right.

Edited March 17, 2012 by puttbutt

[Bad Azz]

All you had to do was follow the damn spider, CJ!

 

 

God I don't remember how much time it took me to pass this mission...

[jdrandall38]

To be honest, I'm getting tired of the water boundary. The more I think about an endless desert, the more I like it. And I'm not bothered by the issue of it not leading anywhere, because the body of water we're always planted in never leads anywhere either. But I like driving in cars way more than I do riding on boats, so I'd have more fun racing my car through an endless desert than doing the same on a boat in an endless ocean.

Im tired of this theory. Los Angeles is on the pacific ocean and is located where it is because of the ocean. If we are surrounded by desert, you lose all the luster of the ocean and what comes with it (beaches, surfing, piers, etc.) It wouldn't make any sense to surround Los Santos with desert if they are basing it on Los Angeles.

[IAmMars]

GTAV will be surrounded by endless ocean, having mountains too high to fly over would destroy the illusion of an open world. Endless ocean is the best way to do it

I agree.. also i think that you will be able to fly pretty high, but when these mountains are THAT high, it would destroy the beautiful view

[puttbutt]

 

GTAV will be surrounded by endless ocean, having mountains too high to fly over would destroy the illusion of an open world. Endless ocean is the best way to do it

I agree.. also i think that you will be able to fly pretty high, but when these mountains are THAT high, it would destroy the beautiful view

@jdrandall38

You do know that half of Los Angeles is surrounded by land, right? It's not an island

How would it make more sense to put beaches and piers in a place where in real life it should be desert?

 

@IAmMars

I think someone has said before that it could be possible to make the height limit for flying vehicles higher in the middle of the map, but lower down when you approach the mountains. That could work as it wouldn't interfere with flying around or doing missions by helicopter/plane, but if you see a mountain range heading straight for you you'd still want to turn around.

[Jeeebuuus]

Mountain ranges have peaks and valleys so how would they make it impossible for an airplane to fly by them? Or I mean around them? Why would they not stick with what they have been doing? With what works?

[puttbutt]

 

Mountain ranges have peaks and valleys so how would they make it impossible for an airplane to fly by them? Or I mean around them? Why would they not stick with what they have been doing? With what works?

Because it doesn't always work. Could you imagine if RDR took place on an island?

 

This is just my opinion but I think that adding a bunch of new coastline in the middle of what should be inland would screw up the geography and character of the location in the case of GTA V. With San Andreas they kind of covered this up by making a whole East Los Santos beach area that doesn't exist in real life LA. But I don't think that would look appropriate in the current generation of GTA games.

Edited March 18, 2012 by puttbutt

[Jeeebuuus]

Because it doesn't always work. Could you imagine if RDR took place on an island?

 

 

RDR is not GTA. And it does work for GTA because that is what they do for it. What I asked relates to planes flying around the mountains. How would they accomplish this if it were not an island. And still make it look realistic and not goofy.

[Triple Vacuum Seal]

Because it doesn't always work. Could you imagine if RDR took place on an island?

 

 

RDR is not GTA. And it does work for GTA because that is what they do for it. What I asked relates to planes flying around the mountains. How would they accomplish this if it were not an island. And still make it look realistic and not goofy.

Agreed, RDR is irrelevent given it's lack of planes and helicopters.

[FelipeVinhao]

Mountain ranges have peaks and valleys so how would they make it impossible for an airplane to fly by them? Or I mean around them? Why would they not stick with what they have been doing? With what works?

Because it doesn't always work. Could you imagine if RDR took place on an island?

Taking RDR as example, I'd need to agree with those who vote for endless ocean, because as it was already said, there's no way to fly on RDR, so an unclimbable (spelling/existence?) range of mountains works fine.

 

But... as I said before in this topic, there are ways to "block" the infinity without taking the feeling of freedom from you. Just finished SR3 here, and they added that "hand of god" I mentioned before: fly to far, plane turns around to city direction without crashing it; take your boat to far, and a smaill wave turns you back (it's up to them throwing a message together or not). If you don't pay attention, you're simply arriving back without noticing you were forced to do so.

 

There's another thing to note here, that I'd like to call a "natural barrier" in the game: if it has enough stuff to be done, the player will be unlikely to try to go "across the border".

[sonnyBlack]

To be honest, I'm getting tired of the water boundary. The more I think about an endless desert, the more I like it. And I'm not bothered by the issue of it not leading anywhere, because the body of water we're always planted in never leads anywhere either. But I like driving in cars way more than I do riding on boats, so I'd have more fun racing my car through an endless desert than doing the same on a boat in an endless ocean.

Im tired of this theory. Los Angeles is on the pacific ocean and is located where it is because of the ocean. If we are surrounded by desert, you lose all the luster of the ocean and what comes with it (beaches, surfing, piers, etc.) It wouldn't make any sense to surround Los Santos with desert if they are basing it on Los Angeles.

I'd just be happy with an endless desert instead of an endless ocean this time around. And I never said we'd be surrounded by desert anyway since there's obviously going to be beaches in this game. What I had in mind was an endless ocean on one side, and then an endless desert on the other.

 

But most likely we'll just be getting the islands in the middle of nowhere set up again anyway.

[Alba_Bhoy88]

TBH I've never given it much thought. I guess you can feel some-what isolated but i can't remember ever feeling this way due to being engrossed in what am doing sort of thing.

 

The water boundary is ok though.. could maybe use some lighting to give the impression that there is something way way way on the horizon. Alternatively you could have huge shipping vessels spawn and following a scripted pattern ect then it would feel more connected to another world.

Edited March 18, 2012 by Alba_Bhoy88