Rockstar Games may be legendary for its incredible crime-based saga and its Western titles, but there were times when they delved into other ideas as well and created some different kinds of masterpieces. One such game was Bully, a title that, to this day, many still want a sequel to, and many continue to wonder what its true legacy is. At the time, many parents felt it was “sending the wrong message” to those who played it, when that actually wasn’t the case. For proof of this, you need only talk to the people who made it, because they had to tone things down from the code that they started the game with.
Confused? At the time, Rockstar Games was churning out quite a few titles all at once, and the reason they could do that was that they used the coding foundation from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to build things upon. A clever idea that saved them time. In a chat with Retro Gamer, though, Environmental Artist Andrew Wood revealed that while the code helped a lot, they had to retool some things to make the school setting feel more “appropriate” when you did certain actions:
“A good 80% of the RenderWare engine and code was from Vice City. Where we differed was our brawler-style gameplay that [lead designer] Mike Skupa, the animators and [animation coder] Liberty Walker really focused on to make the combat fun and visceral. The choreography was hard for animators because you’re getting into fistfights with other kids. It would immediately get too violent and inappropriate.”
And that right there is all the proof you need that Rockstar Games didn’t set out to make a “violent school title about a bully.” They wanted to have a fun game about “school” life, but with a “Rockstar Twist.”
Arguably, the “worst part” about the game was the timing of its release. Rockstar Games already had a “reputation” due to the contents of its M-rated titles, and here was one based in a school. There was a serious “moral panic” going on with adults who clearly didn’t play video games and felt that they were “destroying their kids’ minds,” even though that was the furthest thing from the truth.
Thankfully, the game still did well, but Bully never got a sequel for various reasons. There are some who would still like one, though, or even just a remake to let them dive back into the academy and cause some chaos once again.
