Development History (Dead Rising)

"This archive will only discuss unique builds of the game that are known to exist with photo or video evidence, and the only exception to this will be the "Snatcher Build" as it is crucial to the timeline of development. Capcom would have compiled *hundreds* of playable builds during the games development, but footage of only a handful of these actually made it out. I've done my best to group every existing Beta image of Dead Rising into their own respective date and "version" so that the development of this game can be easier to understand. Some of the Pre-Release builds of Dead Rising that you will read about within this article are builds that we actually have *access* to, therefor these will have much more in-depth comparisons. Builds of Dead Rising that we do not own, can only be observed through older trailer footage and promotional material. Image quality will vary throughout this entire article as a result." **- STiP0**

## In-Depth Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTi0S8QetL4

## Complete Development History

This wiki page only contains the major milestones in Dead Rising's development history. To view and read a more in-depth report on all known builds please consider viewing it here.

The Complete History of Dead Rising

## DEAD RISING - "Snatcher" 2005 Prototype

**(2004 - 2005)**

Long before Capcom was ready to showcase their new game to the public, they were working in secret for months to develop various aspects of the game. During this stage of development, Dead Rising was essentially just a *prototype*. Capcom was still *developing* the MT Framework Engine, as both the engine and Dead Rising were being developed simultaneously. Any changes made to the engine were a direct result of changes being made to the *game, and* vice versa. During the earliest months of development, the game did not have a name picked out, and would continue to use their internal codename for the game "*Snatcher*" - It is unknown why they chose such a name, and what it was supposed to mean or be in reference to, but they have used it throughout the *entirety* of Dead Rising's development. The name "Snatcher" is still widely referenced throughout the final game of Dead Rising, with references to it even including the name of the Willamette newspaper. Many internal functions in the game's code are still plainly labeled "Snatcher". It is highly unlikely that the name "Snatcher" is a reference to the 1988 game by Konami, and is *more likely* a miscommunication or a translation of "zombie", but it's completely *unknown*.

## DEAD RISING - E3 2005

**(2005/05/16)**

Dead Rising made it's first *public* appearance at E3 in May of 2005, and was then also shown at the Microsoft *Xbox Summit* convention in July of 2005 using the *same* build. Capcom would produce a unique trailer for each of the two events, therefor different things can be seen between E3 and Xbox Summit footage. While the game was still only in it's *prototyping* phase, this point of Dead Rising's development showcased a completely different "story" compared to what we would end up getting, in which the player would have to survive for a total of 10 days, rather than just 72 hours. Frank's camera was noted to being a much more necessary tool to the player to uncover the games story. This Demo of Dead Rising, and all subsequent builds of Dead Rising during this time ran on Xbox360 *Alpha Hardware*, which would be required in order to run this build if it were to ever surface. It is stated in some articles by IGN that on the last day of E3, Capcom allowed reviewers to actually *play* this Demo privately. Cameras were not allowed in this "VIP" room therefor *no* footage of such gameplay exists, and it's unknown what exactly these reviewers were able to play. The Mall at this point was simply a *mock up* or a "Concept" featuring wallpaper-like textures to act as stores in the background. The entirety of this early mall design would be scraped immediately after E3 2005, and was never seen again. We will use various trailer footage of the game for this section, so image quality will vary.

Naturally, as this is the oldest build in Dead Rising's history, it is going to be the most *polarizing*. If this is your first time seeing this image, it may appear to look *similar* to the Dead Rising we've come to know, as it contains a character *vaguely* resembling Frank West, and it has zombies in a familiar looking tunnel. However the longer you examine it, you'll begin to notice that quite literally *everything* is different and foreign in *one way or another*. Textures, models, lighting and *everything in-between* has undergone a complete overhaul since this build was shown, as this Demo is 1.5 *years* before the game's release. Due to the almost incomprehensible amount of differences that are present in this build, I will try to explain the most *noticeable* and important differences. There was very little variation of zombies at this point in development, consisting of a total of only *7* unique zombies, and 5 of which are just differently colored from each other. This causes an effect throughout the images of the E3 Demo that makes swarms of zombies look like a puddle of red and yellow blobs, as the variation is so little. The butcher's truck was labeled "Chie Club" at this point, but was strangely changed to "Michelle club" immediately after this Demo was shown. Frank's design is completely different in this version of the game, but we will focus on this more in the next couple images.

Here we can see our first glimpse of the original concept mall. The design Capcom used for this mall is completely different from what's available in the final game, as it was only intended to be used as a placeholder for the time being. This original mall would take on the appearance of a strip mall or a "mini mall", and would only contain a handful of stores and very little places to explore. Frank is seen here using the "Face Crusher" skill move, which is quite amazing that it existed this far back in development. In the background we can see a green version of the *Thug* zombie, which was strangely never used in any versions of the game *after* E3 2005. The stores in the background are simply a wall-paper-like texture, and are only there to create the *illusion* of multiple stores existing for the trailer, even though in reality there was only 3-4 *actual* stores that could be entered.

Frank was able to escort the survivors throughout the mall, and back to the hardware store, as we can see here that the women has been brought to the hardware store. It is still unknown where exactly the player would meet the majority of the survivors in the Demo, or where they would need to be brought *to* in order to rescue them, but It's believed that "NPC00" (Burt) is found within the hardware store, "NPC01" (The women who falls down) is located in Refined Class, and "NPC02" (Natalie) is found within the sports store. "NPC03" was another survivor planned to be in this Demo, according to datamined NPC spawn code, but was never used. "NPC03" actually turns out to be an early beta version of Gordon.

## Tokyo Game Show 2005

**(2005/09/17)**

The *Tokyo Game Show* *2005* Demo of Dead Rising would be the first time the general public would be allowed to *play* the game. While only 4 months after it was last seen at E3 2005, the game has started to take a drastic leap into it's new art style. The Demo takes place in a *familiar* yet dystopian version of North Plaza, aptly named "Concourse". This plaza would connect Mc'Handy's Hardware across from Seon's Food & Stuff, which would both be parallel to Entrance Plaza, which of course is nothing like we know today. This Demo would be the first to finally unveil *partial* details about the game's story, as it's main objective would involve rescuing Isabela from Larry's capture. While not exactly comparative to the final game's story, it would give us our first glimpse into the cast, as well as the general tone and meaning to the game. This would also be the first reveal of Dead Rising to finally show the in-game HUD, which is unlike anything we would receive in the final game. Frank's appearance has been changed since E3, to remove his ogre-like features to a degree. Zombies and weapon models have also received this same treatment, bringing them into a more modern design. Zombies would take the appearance of much more *blood-soaked ghouls* compared to how we saw them previously. Most footage captured from this Demo is unfortunately shaky hand-camera footage, so image quality will vary widely. There was two notable versions of this Demo that you will see footage from, the first being the publicly playable Demo at Tokyo, and the second being from Capcom's internal version of the Demo, which was for procuring trailer footage. The public Demo was shown at three separate events (TGS, X05 & CES) however they were all identical thus we will simply refer to all footage as "TGS".

The TGS 2005 Demo would follow a very basic formula. It was intended to show off the improvements to gameplay and the overall design since it was last seen at E3. The Demo would begin with the player cached away on top of some mall kiosks. The main location the Demo takes place in is named "Concourse" which is an alternate version of the North Plaza we would receive in the final game. You are given 10 minutes to complete the main objective, in English: "A Women With Secrets". This objective would have you make your way through *Seon's Food & Stuff* in order to reach the *Meat Processing Area*, where you would discover Larry holding Isabela capture, much like in the final game with *Carlito* instead. Amongst the main objective, you are also given side-quests, which involve saving survivors trapped on top of more kiosks, as well as in the back-room of the hardware store.

As part of the *two* available side-quests, you would be able to locate and rescue Kathy and Freddie from atop these kiosks. It is not exactly known where you would bring these survivors, as there is currently no footage that exists of a player successfully saving them. Kathy would eventually be renamed to Lindsay Harris, recycled as an intro survivor. Freddie would be removed from the game *entirely*. The second part of the side-quests would involve rescuing two survivors trapped in the back-room of the hardware store. Much like with Kathy and Freddie, it is unknown where you would need to bring these two in order to "rescue" them. These two survivors in the Demo are named Rachel and Alan. Rachel would later be recycled as the woman Frank observes being attacked near her car in the intro, and Alan would be recycled as Ryan LaRosa. Footage from within Seon's Food & Stuff is extremely scarce, as not many players survived long enough to enter it. Here we are able to see the complete redesign to the floor since it was last shown at E3. It now has the reflections (see-through floor with a mirrored model underneath) rather than the standard floor we saw previously. Most of what was seen in this store is exactly as it looks today in the final game.

## Internal Alpha (Pre - Las Vegas)

Sometime in *November / December* of 2005, Capcom had started to completely overhaul and redesign the game from the ground-up. At this time, a new player model of Frank West was introduced, as his TGS appearance was starting to get negative remarks from reviewers. Work was starting to be done on designing and implementing a new vision of the Willamette Mall, as the earlier concept of the mall showcased in TGS 2005 would be scraped. A completely new HUD was given as well, to bring the game closer to their ideal vision. The vast majority of what was shown in the TGS DEMO of Dead Rising had been *more or less* refined within these crucial months. It was at this point in development when the games actual storyline would now fall into place. What we've seen previously in the 2005 ERA of the game would be more or less forgotten. Not many images of this build exist, in fact there is only a total of 5 that we will *ever* find. The images of this build we're included in the files of a very similar, *yet* later build of the game that we will soon discuss in greater length here. (Las Vegas Demo)

## Las Vegas 2006

**(2006/02/01)**

Not long after the complete redesign of the game had begun, Capcom then started to work on a new *DEMO* build of the game utilizing their *new* visual design. This Demo would be created specifically for a private Capcom-held convention in February 2006 in Las Vegas. This event was intended for reviewers to witness the latest development of Dead Rising, as well as other Capcom games. The shear amount of differences present in this build compared to the final game are almost mind-boggling and as a result, this section of the archive will be the largest yet. At this point in development, Dead Rising is still over 6 months away from being completed, and still looks almost unrecognizable compared to the final game. Game assets such as zombies, characters, and even the mall itself is still shockingly different, as this build was still using art and assets from 2005. Various Plazas around the mall are not even *playable* yet and will instead display a warning on the screen when trying to enter into them. This build is stripped down and designed to run as a Demo, therefor the player is only given *one* specific case mission, and various side quests. The mission objective is the "Medicine Run" case, which is what starts up immediately after the title screen. When you bring Brad's medicine back to the security room, The Demo ends. - The side quests involve saving various Beta survivors scattered around the playable areas.

When starting a new game, it will automatically load us into the "Medicine Run" cutscene, and it is our first glimpse at how incredibility early this build truly is. Cutscenes contain no lip-syncing on character models and there is no sound effects or music of any kind. The only thing that can be heard is the voice acting. Here is a few images of this early cutscene, and our first proper look at this "new" 2006 redesign of Frank West.

The Security Room uses intense bump-mapping on the textures for some strange reason, but was likely *only* to show off the power of the game's engine to reviewers - and not intended to be the final product. You'll notice the HUD has changed considerably since we last saw it in the November/December Development build, as the blocks of health are Grey this time, however the rest of the UI and Inventory takes on the shape that it will retain in the final game. The guide arrow is a long skinny yellow arrow, and was much less accurate. There is no kill counter in this build either, much like all the builds of the game before this. The NPC names were green, with a dark rounded background. The NPC health bar would also scale to the size of the NPC's name proportionately. (It no longer does this in the final game).

## "ROMRelease" Internal Development Build (Ver. 0.70)

**(2006/02/27)**

This build is internally labeled "ROMRelease" which is a term Capcom used for many of their in-development games to indicate that this build is an *internal debugging* version that is never intended to be shown to reviewers. As a result of this, the performance in these types of builds is very poor, as it's not *essential* for the build to achieve a high frame-rate. "DEMO" versions of games are highly curated versions made to showcase specific scenes that are representative of the final product, while these internal development builds are the *complete* opposite, and contain features that are completely busted and can crash the Xbox360 at complete random. Frank's appearance in this build has now been finalized, however his animations have not. The available cutscenes in this build are still *highly* incomplete, and the majority of them are not even included in the game yet.

Most features in the game that you would expect to be completed this late in development are simply not, showing an immense amount of *crunch time* during these last few months of development. The game is now visually starting to resemble the Dead Rising we've come to know, however *everything* lacks a layer of polish. The BUG count of this build is almost impossible to keep track of. The HUD is very close to the final game visually, as it now has yellow blocks of health, however the rest of the game's UI is still very early.

## Promotional Build (Private Reviewer Showcase)

**(2006/04/14)**
This build is fairly similar to a previous *ROMRelease* *0.70* build, however this one is in a much more playable state comparatively, and seems to have more of the story available. While the previous build was only meant for *internal* development testing within Capcom, *this* build was used to show reviewers privately how Dead Rising was shaping up as of April 2006. It seems a total of *3* review companies (*IGN, Gamespy & Gamespot*) were shown this build, and articles that were written on their experiences seeing this build would interestingly state that a few people from Capcom actually visited these offices *in person* to show them the build. The most noticeable improvements over the earlier 0.70 build was the ability to now rescue survivors throughout the mall without the game completely crashing, and the build had the ability to now encounter more boss fights, and various lighting issues have been resolved. Judging from the pictures that exist, it seems almost the *entire* game was playable, with nearly all of the cutscenes implemented into the game.

## E3 2006

Dead Rising has now reached it's largest milestone in development before release. What was shown in this build was considered "the final look" of the game, however *many* differences can still be seen, both physically and internally. The majority of the game's assets are visually finalized, and cutscenes are now in a *near-complete* state. Most of the graphical and technical issues that plagued previous development builds (*specifically 0.70*) are now polished out. This is the actual Demo that was ran at the E3 2006 convention, therefor this build operates like any typical Demo would at such an event. This build does not contain the debug functionalities that we've seen previously, however it has a few developer options that were mainly used to assist the presentation at E3. The title screen states "E3 Version" - and this build is only playable until you encounter Doctor Barnaby. After the encounter, the Demo will promptly end with a message stating "Coming in 2006". There is a constant timer in the build that will end the Demo in 15 minutes, regardless of if you locate Barnaby or not. There is also an "Idle Timer" that will end the Demo if the player has no touched the controller for roughly a minute. This is because the build was meant to be restarted *several* times for each attendee at E3. Saving has also been disabled in this build due to that exact reason. I will exploit the game's code in order to bypass several E3-specific limitations to allow us to see much more early content within this build.

### **Special Thanks To:**

* *PixelButts*
* *Freako*
* *-BNJ-*
* *Reese*
* *Solidcal*
* *SWEGTA*
* *ping182*
* *ASSEMbler*
* *Wombat*
* *Drahcir*
* *ThrowingOutRoX*
* *Venny*
* *CAPCOM (Japan)*
* *CAPCOM (Vancouver)*