Lucia Caminos grew up in Liberty City. Alexa D’Agostino, a game writer on Grand Theft Auto VI, says so in LOVE magazine’s issue 27 interview with Rockstar, which LOVE has published online. GTA 6 is due on 19 November on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
D’Agostino names Liberty City as Lucia’s hometown
On writing Lucia, D’Agostino says: “my mother was an immigrant who grew up in Newark, New Jersey, close to Lucia’s hometown of Liberty City.” Liberty City is Rockstar’s New York, the setting of GTA IV.
D’Agostino says Lucia was written from the women she knows, as “a woman that can stand tall next to the likes of Arthur Morgan and Niko Bellic.” Elizabeth Gauvey-Kern, also a game writer, says the actress who plays Lucia “brought a lot to the character,” and that both leads were written to be “vulnerable, tough, flawed, right sometimes, wrong sometimes.”
Raul has the local criminal knowledge Jason and Lucia lack in Vice City
Rupert Humphries, Rockstar’s senior vice president of narrative, says Raul Bautista was written to “bring a knowing Miami-cool into the game.” In his words, “Raul embodies all the local and criminal knowledge that Jason and Lucia don’t have when they get to Vice City.” Rockstar’s character page calls Raul a career bank robber hunting for talent; our characters page lists every confirmed name.
Jason’s crimes come from his circumstances, Humphries says
Asked whether Jason’s story is about failed social mobility, Humphries says: “We didn’t want to make any kind of statement with Jason’s backstory.” Jason turns to drug trafficking and bank robbery because of his material circumstances, and much of it is up to the player to decide. On the American Dream: “Maybe the American Dream is more modest now. It’s a house for your family and your loans paid off.”
Rockstar filmed the Everglades from a helicopter and builds in eight-week milestones
Aaron Garbut, co-studio head of Rockstar North, says research began with a small group driving from Miami through the Florida Keys to Key West, with more of the team on later trips. He and some of the art directors spent “a day literally hanging out of the side of a helicopter,” filming the Everglades and the city. They ended up over a stadium during a Beyoncé concert.
Rob Nelson, Garbut’s fellow co-studio head, says the game is built “through a series of eight-week milestones,” each reviewed to set the next. Realism is used where it helps immersion, “but too much can feel tedious.”
An LA team writes pedestrian dialogue
Humphries says Rockstar has “a specific team of pedestrian dialogue writers in LA,” with advertising and comedy writers across New York, LA and London. James Horton, writing director for the open world, is quoted in LOVE’s Instagram post on the city’s chatter: it “needs to wash over you when you’re sprinting down the busiest street in the city.” Michael Kane, vice president of art, calls clothing, styling, cosmetics and hairstyles a “visual shorthand” for character. The satire lines from the same interview are in our 6 October report, and more on Rockstar’s research is in what its team told Dazed.
Sources: LOVE magazine, “Is this the American dream?” by Kacion Mayers, issue 27, online 5 October; LOVE magazine on Instagram, 2 October; Rockstar Games, GTA VI character page. More on the game: the GTA 6 hub.