Every map of Florida has three things a game could not resist: the theme parks of Orlando, the beaches, and the coast where rockets go up. Rockstar took the beaches and left the other two alone.
The parks are out
Paul MacPherson, senior vice president of environment art at Rockstar, told Game Informer that Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and the Orlando area are not in Leonida. The coast with the launch pads is out as well. His explanation is about choosing: the studio weighs which towns, buildings and sights earn a place, and says what it kept adds up to the full Florida.
A parody park somewhere else is still possible. GTA has built them before, from the pier in Los Santos to the amusement park on Firefly Island in Liberty City. Rockstar ruled out those particular places, including a resort the size of Disney World taking up a region of the map.
The map is the biggest Rockstar has made
Aaron Garbut of Rockstar called Leonida the largest map the studio has built, by some degree, and put it at about twice the size of GTA 5. What he stressed was density: rooftops, alleys and interiors, built until buildings read as real inside as well as out. The six regions of the state are already known, from the Keys to the national park in the north.
The story will not take you everywhere
Rupert Humphries, senior vice president of narrative, said the job of the story is to bring the player around the map in a way that feels earned, and then named the limit: there is no time to take you everywhere, and the studio wants you to go looking on your own.
Everything else from the issue is in our article on the Game Informer cover story.
