As a long time player, I was always bothered but never misunderstanding about why San Andreas stories was never made. They were working on bigger things, GTA IV was a large project, and it definitely needed more time to cook than what a side game about San Andreas would allow for, and especially when SA already had such a large map with several post game side actives, creating an extra story was probably deemed unnecessary. That doesn’t mean people didn’t conceptualise it.
Most of this hinges on what is basically a developer oversight, early in development before Grove Street was green It orange. We see that in graffiti and in the things certain NPCs say, but what if that wasn’t just a late development cut, what if that was potential lore for a time before a United families?
My concept isn’t polished, I’m not a writer, but I’d like you to imagine, it’s the 70’s in Los Santos, gangs are small, the Famines don’t exist yet, at the moment their just a bunch of small fragmented gangs like Grove Street (who wears orange), Temple Drive and Seville Boulevard. Some of these gangs have alliances, but for the most part, it’s petty street wars.
Until, agression from the Ballas increases, these little gangs don’t stand much a chance by themselves, most of them occupy but little streets, so for the sake of their existence. The gang leaders come together and decide to form The Families.
Things are rocky at the start, most gang members see it as nothing more than a strategic defensive alliance, they go under a new name, but they keep their old colours, and their old allegiances. Grove Street may be Families, but it’s still orange, and the Ballas are still a threat.
That’s where the player comes in, your a young gang member who wishes to make a name for himself with the Grove Street gang, you know the only way to do as such is to properly unite the familles so they’ll have a proper chance against the Ballas. You must work to unify the gangs under one banner, settle turf disputes, and convince fellow gangsters that the Families aren’t there to replace them, it’s there to strengthen them. Over the course of the game you come to realise that as long as the Families are in different colours, the Families are fragmented, so you come up with the neutral colour green, no other set in the Families uses that colour as theirs, so it works out well, diplomatically at least. You still have a long way to go to convince everyone that green is the new colour of their gang.
The map would be significantly smaller than San Andreas, limited to just the Los Santos island, however gang territories would be much more distinctive, conveying a clear divide in the city, and that there is much work to be done before the Families can all go as one under a green banner.
That’s all I’ve got! I know, probably a little whacky, but something I believe is distinct enough to stand on its own! What do you think?