Prerelease:Saints Row 2

To do: *LOTS of concept art from 2006-2007. Early Screens: https://mega.nz/file/q1t3AAoR#lkmrZQr992OAvn_9xSQ_Q6gs5hOYDzRzCQ7GqzkYEPQ page 90 https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1012462/Designing-for-Co-Operative-Play [1] Dec 2007 images [2] [3]

This page details prerelease information and/or media for Saints Row 2.

Saints Row 2 was planned before the original game was released, because Volition and THQ thought it would be a big franchise. Development started on the existing engine with new project leads due to the original having burnout from the previous game's overwhelming development. It initially began as further experimentation, where the team wanted to implement ideas that were initially cut. But when the unexpected success of the previous entry shined after the original game's release, the developmental team were a lot more ambitious and passionate this time around.

It wasn't all play and no work; there were multiple negotiations with THQ on how the game should be developed, leading immense amounts of crunch time rivalling that of the previous game's development.

By the time of release in late 2008, the game was considered a flop by THQ selling just over 270,000 units on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 systems out of the two million copies shipped but it all turned around when the game came out on Windows in January 2009, ramping up to 2.6 million copies the next month and outselling the original game.

The game also received critical acclaim in the end, while reaching a wider audience on different platforms and praise for the game's features and customization. It is considered by many to be the franchise's strongest point.

Developmental Timeline

2006

• circa. July - Pre-production begins on the next Saints Row game.
• Aug. 29 - Development fully begins, after the original was released to critical acclaim.

2007

• Feb. 2 - Saints Row is listed as a "2008 fiscal year" title.
• May 11 - Saints Row 2 is officially announced by THQ. The PlayStation 3 port of Saints Row was also scrapped so the team could work on the new game.
• circa. Nov - Electric Gaming Monthly reviews Volition on Saints Row 2.

2008

• Mar. - More info of Saints Row 2 is released.
• Apr. 3 - During the Gamers' Day Event, Saints Row 2 is confirmed for an August 26th release.
• May 16 - Saints Row 2 is delayed to October 14 "for polish", though the game is in a complete state.
• Oct. 14-17 - Saints Row 2 is released.

Sub-Pages

Early Development Spring-Winter 2006. Now with brand new features!

Later Development Early-Mid 2007. When the sequel quota came, the devs stepped up their game.

2008 Look at all those new features!

2006

July-August?

Early Development

Pre-Production

Pre-production of a Saints Row sequel started months before the release of the previous game, assuming that it would be a hit based on marketing research at that time. A new lead took control of the project, whereas the original developmental team was burnt out from the overwhelming development, even in the finalization stages.

They decided to keep some of the original developers that wanted to implement features that never made the cut, and developers that wanted to implement completely new features in the game. They also didn't want to create a new setting because wanted the game to be about the Saints and their home territory, and to show what had happened to Stilwater in the past few years.

Original Story Pitch

One of the first story pitches for a second Saints Row game was a prequel set in the 1970s with Julius Little and Ben King, where it would end in the present day, with the protagonist coming out of the water feeling frustrated after surviving Alderman Hughes' yacht explosion. This also would have led to a possible third entry where the protagonist flew to Japan to get revenge on the "buyers" that were mentioned in the Westside Rollerz arc as their only lead on who blew up the yacht, where they were Kazuo Akuji of the Ronin gang.

Not much was done with the idea, and was quickly set aside with a completely different story except that the Ronin made it into the final game with a completely different storyline revolving around them. They intentionally went for a grittier tone, to go with the protagonist's feelings for revenge on what happened at the end of Saints Row but keeping the occasional tongue-in-cheek tone of the previous game.

Early Concept Art

For the Trailer park, Dated July 2006.

It looks a lot more cluttered in comparison to the final, plus there's also an unknown water tower.

Summer-Fall

Renovated Stilwater

Daytime
Saints Row	Concept Art	Final Game
395px		455px
Night
Saints Row	Concept Art	Final Game
395px		455px

Gangs

The Gangs were apparently one of the first concepts to be designed. Many different ideas were considered.

Scrapped or Early Gang Concepts

Below are the gangs that didn't make it past the initial concept.

A "clown-like" gang that would use flamethrowers and molotov cocktails, while driving in "clown cars". The real-life car pictured is a 1998 Volkswagen New Beetle Cabriolet.	A gang themed after mimes, which may or may not have been related to the image on the left.	Concepts for a biker gang, may have served inspiration for The Brotherhood.
Concept for a "leather gang", some design elements would likely be recycled for The Brotherhood gang, specifically the middle-left character's pose being reused for The Brotherhood concept art.	A concept for an angelic-themed "hooker gang", where they would have used Beretta-styled guns and ninja stars as weapons. The car bears some resemblance to Lin's Voxel.	Concept for a scrapped gypsy gang.

Later Gang Concepts

Leaders of Progression

This gang is what could have been described as a "military punk gang", which would carry the color of green. Elements of the gang would likely be reworked into The Brotherhood, a military-themed gang would be loosely reworked into Ultor Masako in the final, and STAG in Saints Row: The Third to an extent. Even though they were cut, one Dialogue in The Mix 107.77 radio station suggests they got further in design.

Likely a first draft of the "military gang" similar to the first-pass gangs from above, with a sort of basic outfit idea. The motorcycle depicted is a military BMW R75.	Another concept, this time as something more military-like. Design bears resemblance to the Masako Team in the final.	A slightly later concept, with a punk element included.

Later designs settling on a green gang color was conceptualized before it was scrapped altogether;

The Ronin

Possible first design of the Ronin Gang, due to looking different from other concepts in this section. Except for the katana, the weapons in this concept art would not appear in the final. Though, a crossbow weapon would not be introduced until Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell.

The Brotherhood

Concept art was posted on Volition's Tumblr, but was mysteriously removed.

Early gang design ideas for The Brotherhood, before settling on the finalized design on the right.	Possible further variants based off the image on the left.

Vertical Slice Trailer

A Vertical Slice trailer was made around the time, showcasing some of the new features using the original Saints Row engine.

• Many of the locations were at the state of being renovated for the expanded Stilwater featured in the finalized game.
• There is a cut fighting move, where the player pushes the other person to a wall.
• The Sons of Samedi were originally the Leaders of Progression, where they sported the same green gang color as in the final. Their elements were likely reworked into The Brotherhood, most notably with the Swindle taking the place.
• Streaking is listed as an activity rather than as a diversion.
• The infamous Human Torch activity makes its first appearance here.
• A cut mobility scooter vehicle can be seen.
• A car resembling the Voyage, used by Vice Kings can be seen near the end of the trailer. This may have been a placeholder for a car, but no gang in Saints Row 2 ever uses the Voyage.
• A cut boat resembling the Maelstrom can be seen.
• A cut activity called "Happy_Fun_Ball" is shown in the video, where the player controlled a wrecking ball in a field to smash as many objects as possible to create enough cost in damage under a time limit. A similar kind of "wrecking ball" element would appear in Saints Row (2022).

October-November

Concepts dated from around that time period.

Kanto

Concept art for the Kanto restaurant, dated October 17, 2006.

Finalized Gang Concepts

Sons of Samedi

The Sons of Samedi likely took the place of the scrapped Leaders of Progression gang due to the green color, but doesn't appear to reuse further design elements.

Logo Concepts

Gang Member concepts

Early gang design ideas for The Brotherhood, before settling on the finalized design on the right.	Possible further variants based off the image on the left.

Gang Vehicles

When the rival Gangs were finalized, vehicles were designed for them.

The Ronin

Concepts for the Kenshin, Wakazashi, Tetsuo and Hayate Z70, all dated October. Interestingly, the Tetsuo appears as a model render rather than concept art, likely reused from the Vertical Slice build.	A concept art of the Kaneda aka Akuji's Prototype Bike, which is dated November.

Sons of Samedi

Concepts for the Churchill, Wallington and Danville, along with the modified Stiletto, all dated October. The Stiletto shows the rims being gold rather than silver, lacking the voodoo-like decals in the final.	Concept for the Hounfor, dated November.	Hounfor interior concept.

The Brotherhood

Concept for the Swindle, dated October.	Concept art for the Compensator.	Compensator concept art with Maero.

Gang Weapons

A general idea was shown on what weapons each gang should use. Oddly, a variant of The Brotherhood cannot be found despite the gang already being finalized at that stage.

The Ronin	Sons of Samedi

A few of them show weapons that did not make it to the final game;

• The Ronin originally had shuriken stars, which don't appear.
• There was also a crossbow weapon, that doesn't appear. It would be introduced in Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell.

December

Weapon Concepts

Concepts for new weapons were completed at various points in December.

Winter

Early Builds

Several early Saints Row 2 screenshots have turned up at unusual places. They'll be arranged in order of completion.

Toilet Homie

To do: Find the clip.

It was shown in a Saints Row 10th Anniversary Livestream, where it had a moving couch, serving inspiration for the infamous Toilet Homie in Saints Row: The Third.

• The new genderless customizable Playa model is now used.
• The Skybox is now missing in this build.
• The minimap for the Suburbs Expansion has now been added.
• The Money on hand is now shown at the top-right corner, except in a smaller font.
• Los Carnales were using the FBI car (originally named Bureaucrat 2500XL) instead of Betsy, likely as stand-ins for the Alaskan and Brotherhood gang, which were already decided on at that point.

Saints Row Undercover Design Document Controls

Early	Final

An early look at the Suburbs Expansion area.

• The Money is now listed on the top-right corner, in the Europa Grotesk font except thinner.
• The new and redone Character Customization is implemented in this build, that being of a playable female character.
• Only the Marshal Winslow Community Center can be seen.

Co-Op Design for an Open World'

An early map showing the basic changes of Stilwater was in the presentation, closely matching that to early builds.

Saints Row	Early Map	Final Game

• A large amount of Stilwater from Saints Row matches that to the respective game.
• The highway leading to Wardill Airport had a slightly different turn, being located over the other side of the road bend rather than at the other end.
• It seemed that the railroad leading to the On Track club was supposed to be removed.
• The renovated Saint's Row district appears to be implemented at this build, having several changes;
  • There was no marina at the bottom part.
  • The highway entrances were a lot less spread out.

• There is no minimap.
• money is shown at the top-right corner.

Saints Row Undercover Car Controls

Early	Final

The game is now starting to take shape of the final

• The overall graphics are now less saturated to give the city a duller feeling, notably the grey skies.
• The Skybox was grey instead of using minimal colors.
• The minimap and weapon HUD now matches that of the final.
• The original Five-O decals make their final appearance there.

Police Surrounding Playa'

• The daytime atmopshere seems to be finalized in this screenshot.
• The original Five-O decals make their final appearance there.

2007

January

Later Trailer Park Concept Art

March

Ultor Pyramid Concept Art

Spring-Summer

This map of Stilwater was given to Flippy from Mike Watson, but an alternate version with Gang Territories was oddly found in the Polish Collector's Edition of the game. It is unknown when the exact timeframe of the map is, but judging from the dates of the concept arts, it's assumed to be from Spring-Summer 2007.

It contains a number of curious differences, many pointing to scrapped content;

• The removed Piracy and Guardian Angel Activities was present.
• Ship It! was originally named High Tide Ride.
• Train Stations are present on the map, implying they were once functional like in Saints Row.
• There was originally a Parachute Shop, which seemed to do with customizing the parachute.
• Brass Knuckles didn't exist as a business.
• There was originally a secondary music shop called "Aural Fixation", located in the Suburbs Expansion district. Both of them were replaced with a regular Scratch That store in the final.
• The scrapped Yacht and Barrio Cribs were present.
• There was originally a Sloppy Seconds at Wardill Airport, but was likely replaced with a Charred Hard Burgers in that area.

There's also a handful of location changes;

• One of the sunken docks was originally a stronghold, before the location was completely removed in the final.
• There was originally an unspecified weapon shop present in the Saint's Row district, but removed.
• There was an unspecified clothing store present in the Saint's Row district, which would be Impressions in the final.
• There was a Sloppy Seconds store present oddly at the airport; was likely a placeholder for a scrapped souvenir store?
• Company of Gyros originally took the place of Freckle Bitch's in Misty Lane.
• There was originally a Ship It! in the Marina district.

September-October

havok_sitting

The earliest video in the GDC 2009 presentation, internally dated September 12, 2007 showing demonstration of psychics.

• There is no sound present.
• The mission map icons for the Saints Row 2 gangs are shown for the first time. The designs of the mission map icons resembled that more of the previous entry.

ped_bags_disappear

The second earliest video in the GDC 2009 presentation, internally dated October 2, 2007.

• There is no sound present.
• Interestingly, this video shows the removed Human Torch Activity where you have to cause enough damage to nearby pedestrians by spreading fire.
  • The "replaceme" graphic is used as a placeholder.
• The Mission/Activity/Stronghold name on the top left still used the design from Saints Row, albeit with the new text font.

December

First Public Coverage

Gaming website Gamersyde publicly released five exclusive images of Saints Row 2, showing off the game for the very first time. Some of the images would be released in higher resolution later on.

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• The daytime atmosphere appears to be different, looking less "polluted" and more "sunny".

2008

February

Crib_battle

A video from the GDC 2009 presentation, internally dated February 11, 2008.

• A handful of the pedestrians still use their quotes from Saints Row.
• The mission map icon now matches that of the final.

March

bench_exit

A brief clip showing gameplay footage of pedestrian reactions.

• The environment is on "ugly mode", where renderings of the graphics aren't displayed for debugging purposes.
• The Five-O now use their decals matching the final design.

player_get_on_bench

A video of a late build of Saints Row 2, demonstrating the main character bench sitting psychics gone wrong.

• There is no sound present.
• Interestingly, the video seems to show an earlier daytime timecycle.

Unknown

Initiation Pack Differences

The Handbook that comes with the rare Initiation Pack of the game has a few interesting differences in the pages.

• It was stated that Pierce can be found by the Ultor Dome, gathering information on The Ronin but no such event happens.
• It was explicitly stated that The General can be seeing driving around Stilwater University in a Hounfor limo, but he never visits that area in the final.
• The guidebook mentions that The Ronin makes their money via street racing, but they're never seen doing that. It was also said that they are based in Chinatown but the territory is actually controlled by The Brotherhood.
• It was mentioned that Crib Hangars and garages hold an "unlimited number of vehicles", but they don't have that sort of behavior.
• The Hounfor is oddly listed as a vehicle in the checklist, despite not legitimately being obtainable outside of glitches.
• The weapon checklist has a Pimp Hand, where it is actually called the Foam Finger in the final game.
• The World 105.0 is not listed as a Radio Station, likely as an error in the guide.

References

• Designing Over the Top - Saints Row: The Third Postmortem
• [4]
• [Saints Row 10th Anniversary - Saints Row The Third Stream]
• Saints Row Undercover Design Document
• [5]

Magazine Articles

• Electric Gaming Monthly Issue 221

References

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