Early Development

This is a sub-page of Prerelease:Saints Row 2.

Covering the phase when it was Saints Row 1.5; same game with added new content before they buckled down into full-on sequel mode.

2006#

circa. Spring-Summer#

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.¹ 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 Japan² 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 gang³ ⁴.

Not much was done with the idea⁵, 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#

Trailer Park#

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.

Prison#

Concept art for the Stilwater prison, dated August 8, 2006.

Summer-Fall#

Renovated Stilwater#

NOTE: A mod was used to remove the fog in Saints Row 2 for clarity., though some buildings may not be present due to draw distance limitations.

Daytime
Saints Row

Night
Saints Row

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. Maero was also originally bald and had a fully-tattooed face.

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. The location in the middle of a lake, as opposed to being on a large river.

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, dated November.

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.

November#

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

This page or section needs more videos.
There's a whole lotta words or pictures here, but not enough videos. Please fix this.
Specifically: 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 and very unfinished look at the Suburbs Expansion area, showing the Marshal Winslow Community Center.

The Money is now listed on the top-right corner, in the Europa Grotesk font except thinner.
The windows were see-through.
The small tree models were very unfinished, lacking the stems and leaves.
The new and redone Character Customization is implemented in this build, that being of a playable female character.
There were no larger trees nor any shrubbery at all.
The road was originally larger before it was changed into a singular road with a garage path and sidewalk being added where the other lane was.
The First Impressions mission marker on the minimap matches that of the final, albeit with the early Third Street Saints icon reused from Saints Row.

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

Saints Row Undercover Car Controls

Early	Final

Yet another unfinished look at a new area, this time being in the renovated Saints Row District.

The car cameras from Saints Row was still being used.
The reworked car colors appear to have been implemented, due to the exact finalized Lipstick Red Matte paint appearing on the Voxel. The Jet Black Paint is different though.
The skybox looked completely different, appearing to use a placeholder cloud texture, and an overall duller coloration, likely as a first draft test of the game's grittier atmosphere.
The Saints Row district was unfinished, as it was missing the streetlights, traffic lights, planters in the middle of the road, the Ultor archways, the bus stop and most of the small trees. The skyscraper on the left was also completely blocked-out with an unusual-looking placeholder texture.
- The small trees now have their model finalized, though.
The minimap and weapon HUD now matches that of the final.
The bridge to the Downtown district on the right uses its design from Saints Row.
The original Five-O decals from Saints Row make their final appearance there.

Police Surrounding the Protagonist'

This page or section needs more images.
There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this.
Specifically: find this...

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