Development of Red Dead Redemption

A team of approximately 1,000 people developed Red Dead Redemption over five years. Rockstar Games published the action-adventure game in May 2010 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. A spiritual successor to the 2004 game Red Dead Revolver, its development was led by Rockstar San Diego's core 180-person team, who collaborated with Rockstar's Leeds, New England, North, and Toronto teams to assist development; Rockstar North, developer of the Grand Theft Auto series, consulted in the creation of the open world. After its announcement in 2009, the game was fervently promoted with press showings, cinematic trailers, and viral marketing strategies. Its release date, though subject to several delays, was widely anticipated. The working hours and managerial style of the studio during development was met with public complaints from staff members.

The open world setting constituted much of the development effort; its three main areas each represent iconic features of the American frontier. Key team members conducted field trips to Washington, D.C. to capture a multitude of photographs, and several classic Western films, television shows, and novels were analyzed for research. Rockstar improved its proprietary Rockstar Advanced Game Engine to increase its animation and draw distance rendering capabilities; the team felt the seventh generation of video game consoles were necessary to achieve their ideal vision, having exhausted the use of older hardware on previous projects. The game was envisioned to improve the core mechanics of Red Dead Revolver by scaling it up to the standard of other Rockstar games, maintaining key gameplay elements like the Dead Eye and dueling mechanics but majorly overhauling the experience otherwise.

Red Dead Redemption's 1,500-page script was written in two years. The game's setting in 1911 was chosen to demonstrate the transformation of the old West into a modern civilization. The developers underwent a secretive audition process to cast its characters. Performance capture was used to record the actors' movements, faces, and voices simultaneously. Rod Edge directed the actors' performances in a studio in Santa Monica, California. The game features around 450 characters, and required a large amount of dialogue for the world to feel alive, comparable to Rockstar's previous game Grand Theft Auto IV (2008). Researchers at Rockstar developed a style guide based on real phrases of the time period. Red Dead Redemption features an original score composed over fifteen months by Bill Elm and Woody Jackson, who engaged several other musicians to create approximately 200 tracks.

History and overview

Publisher Rockstar Games acquired the Western-themed video game Red Dead Revolver from Capcom in 2003 after years of development—partly because it wanted the rights to the franchise for its own Western game—and Rockstar San Diego completed development within nine months. After its May 2004 release, Rockstar wanted to create its own Western game from scratch as it felt Revolver "didn't fundamentally play like a Rockstar game". The studio's work on Revolver and Bully (2006) helped the development team understand the important elements of open world games and blending different genres with the core gameplay of its flagship series Grand Theft Auto. However, the team understood it would require the seventh generation of video game consoles—namely the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360—to achieve their ideal vision. Preliminary work on Red Dead Redemption began by 2005, with a small team at Rockstar San Diego working on the first teaser shown during Sony's E3 conference in May as an early technology demonstration for the PlayStation 3. Full development commenced in 2006, following the formation of a core development team led by lead designer and co-writer Christian Cantamessa, technical director Ted Carson, and art directors Josh Bass and Daren Bader; Cantamessa had worked with Rockstar on

Story and setting

Dan Houser, Michael Unsworth, and Christian Cantamessa wrote Red Dead Redemption's 1,500-page script in two years. Taking inspiration from films like The Wild Bunch (1969), High Plains Drifter (1973), Unforgiven (1992) and The Proposition (2005), the team felt most Western fiction takes place between 1840 and 1880 and Red Dead Redemption's setting in 1911 allowed a more intriguing analysis of the transformation from "the old West" into the modern world. Cantamessa described the overarching theme as "the 'Death of the West' rather than the more conventional 'Myth of the West' that is often seen in the classic John Wayne films". Houser found "a classical 'we are conquering this wilderness' story" to be less interesting, and the time period had the added benefit of allowing strong images of the West—horses, stagecoaches, and lassoes—alongside modern technology like trains and explosives. Lead mission designer Silas Morse felt the limitations set by the time period—weapons, methods of travel, types of enemies—ultimately immersed the player and set the game apart from others. While the game is not an intentional satire on contemporary America, Houser admitted parallels were inevitable. Houser wanted the game to have a serious tone akin to The Wild Bunch, though avoiding topics like existentialism as in the work of Ingmar Bergman. While Houser admitted to having seen several Western films, he tried to avoid considering them in writing the story, wanting it instead to develop naturally. The game's Mexico section was inspired by The Wild Bunch and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), while the action sequences borrowed visual elements from classic shoot-out scenes, including from non-Western films like Heat (1995).

The allusions to politics throughout the narrative are supposed to represent the darker undertones surrounding the foundations of the American Dream. In addition, the game itself exhibits qualities relating to the movement from a "violent freedom" to a situation of "overt state control", told through a story of innocence and freedom.

Character development

Red Dead Redemption features around 450 characters, with a cast of approximately 100 incidental and 50 main performers. The game required a large amount of character dialogue in order to feel alive, due in part to the improved technology. Houser compared the amount of dialogue required to Grand Theft Auto IV and felt the team was "halfway there" with its prior work on San Andreas and Bully. Several employees across the company worked on different parts of the script, such as the main story and pedestrian dialogue, a process Rockstar began with Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002). Researchers at Rockstar developed a style guide based on real sayings of the time period, which was used to write all dialogue; Houser was originally worried he had never written dialogue that was not in a contemporary setting, but felt they eventually found a "sweet spot". He found the time period lent itself to humorous dialogue, particularly due to items like drugs, patented medicine, and Sears catalogs. The team wanted to create a story that mixed with the game's mechanics to result in a fun and organic experience. As the story developed, a range of characters were organically created based on the period. The character of Edgar Ross was partly inspired by lawyer and political activist Charles Joseph Bonaparte, while other characters were inspired by historical figures of the 20th century including Frank James, Pearl Hart, and Tom Horn. In terms of the random NPC dialogue, Houser felt Red Dead Redemption sits between Bully, in which NPCs remember the protagonist, and Grand Theft Auto, in which NPCs are unaware of the protagonist's identity; in Red Dead Redemption, some NPCs remember the player's action, but less precisely than in Bully.

To cast the characters, the team held auditions; until actors were officially signed to the project, it was only known as an "untitled video game project", for secrecy. Rockstar hired Rod Edge as the full-time director to handle the game's performances, recorded using

Technical and gameplay development

Like other projects since Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis (2006), the game uses the proprietary Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) to perform animation and rendering tasks, and the Euphoria and Bullet engines for further animation and environment rendering tasks. Carson said Euphoria provides "a physically based character performance system" that is "tightly integrated into RAGE's proprietary physics engine". Overhauling the potential processing power of RAGE allowed the game to create a high level of detail, including realistic animations and detailed textures. The potential power of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 experienced through the development kits motivated the team to begin development, and to create a game that could fully render the countryside, which was difficult to achieve on previous hardware; Houser wanted to make "a game that was to the countryside as [Grand Theft Auto] was to the city". He felt that primitive technology of the past had prevented game developers from creating a game that "really did justice" to the Wild West, such as the animation of a lasso. Houser felt previous Western games represented one specific aspect of the period, while Red Dead Redemption attempts to represent all features; he described it as "a complete nightmare" and "a massive headache to make fun and look right".

Though the scope of the open world was initially a large challenge from a technical viewpoint, the team used it to their advantage. The developers at San Diego sought guidance from other Rockstar studios experienced with developing open worlds, particularly Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar North, namely art director Aaron Garbut and producer Leslie Benzies. Early in development, the team looked at Grand Theft Auto as the inspiration for the level of enjoyment they wanted to achieve; senior ambient designer Ghyan Koehne found the experience daunting, noting while Grand Theft Auto "had fast cars, helicopters, rocket launchers, and radio stations to listen to", Red Dead Redemption "had a guy on his horse and endless hills with close to nothing in the world".

Music production

Red Dead Redemption is one of the first games by Rockstar to use an original score. Music supervisor Ivan Pavlovich cited the large scale of the game as one of the largest difficulties when producing the score; to achieve an effective gaming experience, the game could not solely feature licensed music, like previous Rockstar games. In 2008, Rockstar engaged musicians Bill Elm and Woody Jackson, who collaborated to compose approximately 200 tracks for the game over 15 months. The original score and subsequent album were both recorded and mixed at Jackson's studio, Electro-Vox Recording Studios in Los Angeles, and mastered at Capitol Studios. Jackson worked with David Holmes—with whom he had worked on films like Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007)—to produce the soundtrack. The game features vocal performances by Ashtar Command, José González, Jamie Lidell, and William Elliott Whitmore.

Recorded at 130 beats per minute in A minor, most of songs featured are constructed from stems in the game's dynamic soundtrack. A mix of modern instruments and those featured in traditional Western films, such as the jaw harp, were used. Unique sounds were created through creative uses of instruments, such as playing a trumpet onto the surface of a timpani drum. Rockstar consulted musicians who played traditional Western instruments; harmonica player Tommy Morgan, who had been featured on several films over his 60-year career, provided traditional harmonica segments for the game. Beyond trumpets, nylon guitars and

Sound design

From the beginning of development, the sound development team wished to achieve authenticity in the game's sounds. After the art department sent artwork to the sound department, the latter were inspired to achieve realism, researching all sounds to be used in the game. Throughout development, sound editors often presented ideas, which would then be achieved by the audio programmers. The three main areas of the game world contain unique ambiences; these are broken down into smaller sounds, such as bugs and animals, which are further refined to reflect the weather and time. The sound department was given specific instructions for the tone of game locations; for example, Thieves' Landing was to feel "creepy" and "off-putting". The sounds of the game's weapons were intricately developed; in order to feel as realistic as possible, each weapon has a variety of similar firing sounds. The development of the game's Foley began with a week-long session, where two Foley artists from Los Angeles were sent to record thousands of sounds relating to the game's setting. The sound department spent time on specific gameplay elements; Dead Eye was meant to sound "organic" as opposed to "sci-fi or electronic", while animals—a feature the team found challenging—was to immerse players in the experience. For the final sound mix, audio director Jeffrey Whitcher and lead sound designer Matthew Smith worked together to balance and blend the three main aspects of the soundtrack: dialogue, sound effects, and music. Smith coded systems to blend the three aspects, in order to keep the mix "dynamic".

Release

An early trailer for an untitled Western project by Rockstar Games for PlayStation 3 was shown at Sony's E3 conference in May 2005; it was a technology demonstration of RAGE, and theorized to be a sequel to Red Dead Revolver. Rockstar officially announced Red Dead Redemption on February 3, 2009, with a release date set for late 2009 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The April 2009 edition of Game Informer noted the game would be released for Windows in addition to consoles, though Rockstar later confirmed it had "no current plans" for a Windows release; according to lead multiplayer designer Kris Roberts, a Windows version was never seriously considered. In May 2009, the game was pushed to a 2010 release. In November 2009, Rockstar confirmed Red Dead Redemption would be released on April 27, 2010, and April 30 internationally. In March 2010, Rockstar announced the game would miss its original projected date, pushed back to May 18 in North America and May 21 internationally, citing the "optimal time frame" for release. The game was released in Japan on October 7, 2010.

Downloadable content (DLC) for the game was released following its launch, with focus on maps and game types suggested by the community. According to Strauss Zelnick, chief executive officer of Rockstar's parent company Take-Two Interactive, the game's DLC releases were an effort to slow used game sales, providing an incentive for players to keep the game after completion. Rockstar wanted to be able to publish DLC relatively quickly after the game's launch, as opposed to the lengthy development required for Grand Theft Auto IV's episodic DLC. Outlaws to the End, released on June 22, 2010, added six cooperative side missions for multiplayer. Legends and Killers was released on August 10, 2010, and added multiplayer characters from Red Dead Revolver, as well as new map locations and a Tomahawk weapon. On September 21, 2010, Liars and Cheats added competitive multiplayer modes, minigames, characters, and a weapon.

Promotion

Red Dead Redemption received an extensive and expensive marketing campaign, during which Rockstar partnered with several companies and media outlets, including IGN, GameSpot, LoveFilm, Microsoft, and YouTube. The game's debut trailer was released on May 6, 2009, introducing its concept and world, as well as the first information about its characters. In the week that followed, IGN extensively previewed the game, including gameplay screenshots and interviews with Houser. A trailer titled "My Name is John Marston" was released on December 1, 2009, having leaked the previous week before being pulled from Rockstar; the trailer introduced John Marston and his story, as well as some of the game's supporting characters. Kotaku's Jason Schreier cited the trailer as among the best of the game's generation. The first in a series of gameplay videos was released on December 15, 2009; titled "Introduction", it was the first footage to showcase Red Dead Redemption's gameplay. The second in this series, titled "Weapons & Death", was released on January 28, 2010, demonstrating the game's Dead Eye mechanic and weaponry. A trailer titled "The Law" was released on February 11, 2010, introducing characters Marshal Leigh Johnson and Edgar Ross. This was followed by "The Women: Sinners, Saints & Survivors" on February 24, focusing on the game's female characters, and the third gameplay video, "Life in the West", on March 17, introducing some open world activities. A trio of trailers announcing the game's exclusive pre-order content was released on March 19.

The game's cover art was revealed on March 22, 2010, followed by a video titled "Gentlemen & Vagabonds" on March 24, focusing on some of the male characters of the game, including Seth Briars, Harold MacDougal, and Nigel West Dickens. The game was exhibited at PAX East in late March, with a 15–30 minute playable demonstration. The fourth gameplay video, titled "Life in the West Part II", was released on April 2, further showcasing activities available in the open world.