Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto series, commonly known as GTA, presents players with an open world where they encounter various mysteries and unexpected events. Recently, another mystery in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, or GTA: SA, has been solved.
Why did the moon grow when shot in GTA: SA?
As players of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas know, shooting at the moon in the game caused it to increase in size. The reason why the company added such a feature has been a topic of curiosity for years. Fortunately, it seems this mystery has finally been solved.
A developer who worked at Rockstar Games between 1995 and 2009 recently addressed the long-debated question of “why does the moon grow when shot?” Obbe Vermeij, this developer, was involved in the development process of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, released in 2004.
Vermeij explained that during the game’s development, there was a focus on the moon. The design team provided him with a texture design. Following their instructions, the developer created the night appearance of the moon and gave it a reasonable size.
However, a few days later, four members of the design team requested a change in the moon’s size. Vermeij adjusted the moon’s size as per their request. Yet, later on, it became apparent that the design team was indecisive about the moon’s size. Two members wanted a smaller moon for realism, while the other two preferred a larger moon for cinematic purposes.
After lengthy discussions, Vermeij proposed a solution to determine the moon’s size: suggest changing the moon’s size when shot at. This way, the team could reach a decision more easily.
The design team accepted the suggestion, and Vermeij added a special adjustment to the sniper rifle he was working on. Now, shooting at the moon would change its size. With each shot, it fluctuated between three different sizes: small, medium, and large.
According to the developer, despite the passage of time, the design team didn’t finalize their decision. Hence, the feature of the moon’s size changing upon shooting remained in the game, meaning it was not removed.
The developer who shared this intriguing mystery was asked to retract all explanations by Rockstar North in an email a few hours later.
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