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Fife-based DMA Design legend on life after Grand Theft Auto, latest GTA trailer and Dundee legacy

Keith Hamilton was lead programmer for Grand Theft Auto and joined project when it was called Race’n’Chase.

Keith Hamilton has shared his views on the GTA VI trailer
Keith Hamilton has had his say on GTA 6 trailer. Image: Pufferfish Displays/Rockstar Games/YouTube

The GTA 6 trailer has racked up 154 million views – and one of its biggest fans was a key player in making the first instalment happen.

DMA Design legend Keith Hamilton – the lead programmer for Grand Theft Auto assigned to the project when it was called Race’n’Chase – was blown away by the Rockstar Games teaser that emerged earlier this month.

Fife-based Keith, 54, still feels a personal connection to the series despite leaving DMA nearly a quarter of a century ago.

Speaking to The Courier, he also lifted the lid on the highs and lows of working on such an eagerly-anticipated release.

‘Like a movie’

He said: “The new video is really exciting.

“I sympathise with the team as it says that it will finally release in 2025. That means they’re going to be crunching and working really hard for more than a year.

“I remember what that was like, not particularly fondly.

“The pressure is exciting once you have an actual deadline, then it becomes serious because there’s money involved.

“It’s not just the case of having fun designing the game.

The Grand Theft Auto VI trailer has been viewed over 150 million times. Image: Rockstar Games/YouTube

“The game has amplified to an enormous level from when we were dealing with little tiny cartoon graphics.

“From the look of the trailer you would think it was a movie.

“You wouldn’t realise it was a game and I’m assuming that they were using actual gameplay shots.

“If the game is actually like that, it’ll be fantastic.”

Personal connection

The GTA 6 trailer is now the most viewed non-music video on YouTube in the first 24 hours after release.

And the series – created by David Jones and Mike Dailly, backed by the wizardry of the DMA Design team that included Keith, Steve Hammond, Russell Kay and Brian Baglow – remains one of the City of Discovery’s finest exports.

Keith said: “I definitely still feel like there is a personal connection to the games.

“DMA split towards the end of 1999 because we opened an Edinburgh office. Some people chose to work there and others wanted to stay in Dundee.

David Jones (centre) and the DMA Design team in 1997 before the release of Grand Theft Auto. Image: DC Thomson.

“Eventually there were a series of takeovers and sales and the DMA office closed down.

“We started another company called Real Time Worlds [founded by David Jones and based in Dundee] but there was no acrimony with the others.

“We went on to work on game called Crackdown for Microsoft, which to me felt like the real sequel to GTA 1 and 2.

“It’s a really fun game, I was really proud of that one.”

‘Happy where I am’

In recent years he has noticed a change in how players invest in video games.

Keith – who grew up in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire, before moving to Fife in 1990 – added: “We built a game that we wanted to play. We thought of fun things for the player to do and then eventually constructed a sort of story around it.

“The modern game is very much story-driven rather than gameplay, but that’s what players expect.

“They want to be working their way through our story while also having an open world where you can do what you like.

“You can’t have a sort of gameplay mechanic and promise that this is going to be fun when there isn’t a story.”

Keith is now the head of software at Edinburgh-based Pufferfish Displays, who provide spherical displays for companies to create immersive experiences at concerts, live performances and sports events.

Keith Hamilton.

The job allows him to work from his home in Newport-on-Tay.

He said: “I’m staying away from the games industry and I am happy where I am for the moment, I’m enjoying it.

“But you see these courses Abertay University provide and they are something else.

“I was there for an open day for my daughter and I walked into the games department – they’ve got what looks like an actual game studio.

“They are preparing young people for the games industry very well.”

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