The mega-leak about GTA 6 has caused disillusionment among some fans because of the graphics. Some developers are now publishing videos and pictures of how their games looked during development.
The huge leak on GTA 6 was an absolute blast. Among other things, we now know that we’ll be returning to Vice City and taking on the roles of two main characters. However, some fans were anything but enthusiastic about the material.
According to some comments, the graphics are worse than expected and more like GTA 5. However, this does not take into account that the game is still in the middle of the development phase.
Now some outside developers are coming forward and showing how their games still looked during the working process. Everything from absurdly funny to absolutely unattractive is there. At the time of release, however, the titles were all graphically flawless.
Some developers also sarcastically point out the argumentation of some fans that the graphics were one of the first steps in the development – which is obviously not true. But enough of the long speech, let’s get started:
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Detroit: Become Human
The official Twitter account of the story adventure Detroit: Become Human gives us a little insight into the unfinished first mission of the game. You will search in vain for details, the animations could hardly be stiffer. The final product, however, was an absolute beauty.
Making a video game is a long journey, and as for any other art form, it all starts with a sketch.
Here’s what DetroitBecomeHuman looked like in its early stages! pic.twitter.com/WctUSgBrCg– Detroit: Become Human (@Detroit_Game) September 21, 2022
Horizon: Zero Dawn
Even the initially Playstation-exclusive Horizon: Zero Dawn wasn’t full of fascinating robo-dinos right from the start. In the following image we see a mighty thunder jaw, but at the time of development it looked more like a child’s toy.
“Graphics are the first thing finished in a video game”
Here’s a Thunderjaw from an early build of Horizon: Zero Dawn pic.twitter.com/Xq6fw5fS0e
– Cian Maher (@cianmaher0) September 20, 2022
Destiny
In the Destiny loot shooter, there is also a considerable difference between an early alpha and the final product. We probably don’t need to mention which version can be seen on which page.
“Graphics are the first thing finished in a video game”
Don’t ever trigger game devs, especially when know nothing their work.
Below is @Bungie‘s Destiny‘s early Alpha build vs Destiny Rise of Iron pic.twitter.com/9Np6gqlshv
– Excelhedge (@Excelhedge) September 20, 2022
Uncharted 4
Kurt Margenau, co-lead designer of Uncharted 4 posted on Twitter the jeep chase in Madagascar. The only thing that looks halfway finished is Nathan’s vehicle. Outside the car, the treasure hunter is surrounded by placeholders.
Here’s that downhill chase section played in blockmesh vs art blockmesh vs final art. There are a million stages between. blocktober pic.twitter.com/goTrkE2XEM
– Kurt Margenau (@kurtmargenau) October 4, 2017
Last of Us
The official Twitter account of Naughty Dog Central also shows a short clip from the development phase of The Last of Us at the time. The environment is more reminiscent of Roblox than a zombie-infested game world.
Yes..this is what the Last of Us looked like in it’s development stages.
Every game you ever played went through this. pic.twitter.com/acNFSRjIAo
– Naughty Dog Central (@NaughtyNDC) September 20, 2022
Sea of Thieves
The co-op game Sea of Thieves also went through quite a few development phases. In the prototype, the players still had more resemblance to TicTacs than to real pirates.
“ugghhh why does GTA 6 look so UGLY? Clearly an in development game releasing in 2024 has to look amazing already!”
Sea of Thieves prototype: pic.twitter.com/59hVnE8DpM
– 🐱Sophie/Cookie🍪🏳️⚧️ (@Cookie__Sophie) September 20, 2022
At least real game pieces have been seen in November 2014, but the title was certainly not pretty at that time.
This is Sea of Thieves footage from Novmber of 2014. An upgrade from the earliest pill pirates, but still very much a work in progress. It was using Unity for more agile, iterative testing, while work in Unreal at this time was very early, aiming to create the reveal trailer. pic.twitter.com/yIPLtBLIUv
– Jeph Pérez (@rare_fanatic) September 20, 2022
God of War
Santa Monica’s 2018 action masterpiece wasn’t eye candy from the start either. In the following video, we see the first battle between Kratos and Baldur, with the latter barely visible. Apart from a few trees and rocks, there’s also a complete lack of environmental detail.
Cult of the Lamb
But the recently released build-up game Cult of the Lamb also looked quite different at first. Instead of cuddly graphics and a heap of details, only the absolute bare minimum was presented at the time. If that had been the final version, Cult of the Lamb probably wouldn’t have done quite as well in our test.
“Graphics are the first thing finished in a video game”
Here’s what early versions of Cult of the Lamb looked like pic.twitter.com/F5EyEH6M9r
– Cult of the Lamb 🙏🐑👑 (@cultofthelamb) September 20, 2022
Star Citizen, Dead Space, Starfield and Jedi: Fallen Order
Twitter user The Spaceshipper posts no less than four images of unfinished game titles. On the top left is Star Citizen, on the top right you can see the unfinished state of Dead Space, on the bottom left is probably an early version of Starfield and on the bottom right is the Star Wars adventure Jedi: Fallen Order.
Apart from the entitled angry gamers (aka our toxic fandoms), it’s surprising to see with this GTA 6 leak that most people don’t know what a game looks like in development.
Here are examples for Star Citizen, Dead Space, Starfield & Jedi: Fallen Order.https://t.co/4RVpMfS9ph pic.twitter.com/p2MrZ7PHmK
– The Spaceshipper 🚀 (@TheSpaceshipper) September 19, 2022
Control
Even the graphically impressive Control looked considerably less outstanding during development. Yet the title even won a few prizes for its excellent graphics, as lead designer Paul Ehreth points out:
Since graphics are the first thing finished in a video game, and CONTROL won multiple awards for excellence in graphics, here is footage from the beginning of development 🙂
Full video here: https://t.co/l2g7oPhtk7
🔻 pic.twitter.com/cGnmJZXF5E– Paul Ehreth 🔻 (@bacon_sanwich) September 20, 2022
What do you think of the unfinished footage? Are you still sceptical about GTA 6 or were you aware of the development process? Feel free to drop us a line in the comments!
