By Rupesh Nair
Before Rockstar Games became the kings of game development, the company began from humble beginnings as DMA Designs based in Edinburgh, Ireland.
The first Grand Theft Auto title stemmed from a glitch in DMA Designs' previous title Race 'n' Chase, which revolved around players taking over the role of cops pursuing criminals.
During playtesting, a glitch in Race 'n' Chase allowed players to run off a criminal's car off the road instead of pulling them over. Rather than fixing it, DMA Designs overhauled the game to focus on this element after seeing its popularity among playtesters.
Eventually, DMA Designs opted to allow players to become the criminal instead of the police. The game largely revolved around players becoming reckless in-game with fast-paced action gameplay.
Confidence for Grand Theft Auto was low among developers at DMA Designs. Following several developmental issues such as lack of direction and buggy gameplay, GTA was regarded by developers as "most likely not to succeed."
Following 14 months of development, Grand Theft Auto dropped on MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows in November 1997 and December 1997, respectively. However originally, the title was meant to release on the Nintendo 64 and Sega Saturn as well.
The game was a commercial success despite the controversies surrounding its violent content. Moreover, Grand Theft Auto also received mixed critical reception.
Grand Theft Auto featured three locations in Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas, which were further expanded upon in future titles of the franchise.