The idea was rather tricky to balance with the two, but three separate stories were decided on in the end so the player can do them in any order they wish. They wanted to implement a reward system the player usually does in freeroam, so it could count as progress. One of the earliest goals in development was to give the player a bigger sense of freedom in the open world by creating different story missions based around activities as the core towards progressing the game, rather than just restricting the player to a singular storyline. It was also Volition's first foray into the open-world genre. Instead of designing a serious gritty crime setting, they decided to look at it in a satirical edge, using hip-hop music videos as a source of influence. They did some research by taking inspiration from fashion magazines while they also took note from underground rap artists in terms of picking music for the game. It started at a time when hip-hop culture was just starting to gain popularity, but they hoped that the game would sell while that trend started to rise over the coming years. It helped the developmental team come up with the ideas of excess and glamour, where both of them were the key points of development. Saints Row started development on the PlayStation 2 as Bling Bling in early 2003, which was first pitched as a 'very MTV pop-y version of gangsta lifestyles'.

Phase 3 - April 2004 (The Bling Bling video).

29 - Saints Row is released in North America. 1 - The demo of Saints Row was released, containing a few differences from the final game. 23 - The demo of Saints Row is announced for a release on August 1.

May 10 - The game is shown off again at E3 2006.

22 - More footage of Saints Row was shown off at GDC 2006.

? - The game is announced for a March 2006 release.

7 - A slightly later build of the game was shown off at X05 event in Amsterdam, including some new features. 9 - Select journalists were invited to see more gameplay of Saints Row at Gamer's Day 2005 event, and the game was said to be '50% complete'

May 18-20 - The game is shown off at E3 2005, as a 'launch window' title for the Xbox 360.

Spring - Stilwater, the city's setting begins to be built.

Spring - Development on the game starts, beginning Phase 1.

6.1.1 Later 10th Anniversary Stream Build.

5.8.2 Saints Row 10th Anniversary Stream Build.

5.6.1 Punisher 2: Sandbox Punishment Vertical Slice.

Saints row 2 mall location map