Technically, Bully Is GTA: Vice City — With Fistfights and Elaborate Fight Choreography

The nature of the setting imposed certain limitations.

In an interview with Retro Gamer, former Rockstar artist Andrew Wood disclosed some behind-the-scenes details of the project.

Technically speaking, Bully — often described as the “GTA about school” — was largely built on GTA: Vice City: roughly 80% of the RenderWare engine and code was reused. Nonetheless, the game emphasized hand-to-hand brawls rather than the gunplay typical of Grand Theft Auto.

Because Bully takes place in a school environment, the animators faced a delicate challenge — they needed to portray fights without crossing the line into excessive violence:

“The choreography was difficult for the animators because they had to show fights involving other children,” and “if you overdid” the combat animation “it immediately became too violent and inappropriate.”

Source: iXBT.games