GTA 6 features an advanced take on Red Dead Redemption 2's beloved NPC interaction system, though we might not have got it at all if one of Rockstar's leads hadn't changed their mind on sharing it with everyone else.
That comes from Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, who has posted a YouTube video after visiting Rockstar to see GTA 6. During that visit, Schreier mentions a conversation with Rockstar North boss Rob Nelson, in which he says that vice president of animation Mark Tennant came up with a prototype of Red Dead 2 Redemption 2's advanced NPC tech way back in 2014 or 2015.
The way it worked was simple – instead of pressing a button to point a gun at an NPC and have them react, you could press the same button to choose to greet or antagonize them.
While the idea is simple to explain, the execution is complex. As such, when Tennant showed the prototype to another technical lead at Rockstar, Phil Hooker, he didn't want the system shown to Nelson initially. As Schreier explains, Nelson is known as the guy who "wants to do the world" – even if it leads to a lot of extra work for the team.
Despite the concern, Nelson was eventually shown the prototype and was blown away. "This is incredible," Nelson reportedly said in reaction. "This will revolutionize the way our games and our worlds work."
Amusingly, it sounds like Hooker was proven right. Implementing the system did prove to be a lot of work for Rockstar, though you'd argue it was absolutely worth it. Not only is Red Dead Redemption 2's NPC system well-loved, but we're getting an evolved version of it in GTA 6.
We initially got an inkling that would be the case during a GTA 6 leak, though Rockstar's latest media rounds have further fleshed out the details.
"The NPC interaction system is one that is returning and evolved from Red Dead Redemption 2," Nelson confirmed to IGN. "In the past we’ve had systems where you can speak to NPCs. In RDR1 and GTA 5, there were basic systems for interacting, but the interactions were very simple.
"But with Red Dead Redemption 2, we were finally able to incorporate the ability to interact with NPCs as a more fleshed-out system. Traditionally, L2 was a binary action that immediately aimed your gun at someone or locked onto them for combat. But as the resolution has increased, the experiences we create have had to evolve alongside that – the fidelity of them, how you can exist in them, and what you can do in them."
While we need to wait and see what this means in full, the hint Nelson leaves us with comes down to the various ways NPCs can react to you in GTA 6's world. For example, it's normal for people to gather and chatter, though their behavior will influence how they feel about you eavesdropping. While some might be more inquisitive, others, to put it mildly, won't appreciate it at all.
"While we pushed this sort of interaction with NPCs as far as we could for Red Dead Redemption 2, with GTA 6 we are taking it much further," Nelson teases.
To think, this might be something we didn't get at all if someone at Rockstar had been put off by how much work it would entail.
