Several original Grand Theft Auto developers recently attended an event, recalling how the game shifted from a linear mission menu to an open world, partly because the team wanted to avoid creating front-end menus. At Games Day 2026 held in Dundee, Scotland, multiple DMA Design developers discussed the development process of the game.
Gary Penn, former creative director, said that early designs were quite linear, requiring players to select missions from a menu list, with no open world included at that stage. Lead programmer Keith Hamilton recalled that the team later decided to let players jump directly into a level and play continuously. Penn explained that phones scattered throughout the environment replaced the mission list, allowing players to answer calls in any order.
The developers also discussed the production of the game's music. To determine the style, the team initially created short tracks in various genres, which led to the creation of the in-game radio stations. They originally assumed they could use the publisher BMG's music library for free, but after discovering the high costs, they opted to rent a studio to produce the music instead.
The crime codes broadcast on the police radio are taken from the game's internal crime list and are triggered in real time based on player actions. The developers stated that upon receiving a call, the police would depart from the station and head to the player's location.
The team also considered using car turn signals for navigation hints, but since vehicle damage could interfere with this method, they ultimately switched to prominent yellow arrows.