Researching the West: Read Dead Redemtion

Although I have talked briefly about the map of Red Dead Redemption and how its terrain varies, and land is full of hidden stories. I have not gone into detail about how the areas will influence my work, and what elements I would like to to influence from, and what might be in them in my world.

Armadillo

In the many times I have played through Red Dead Redemption, and explored the vast and dangerous world that is the new frontier, I've always felt like, no matter how rough it is, Armadillo is home. Now I find this strange as the game places you in Mcfarlanes Ranch (a fictional ranch in the game) and I've always kind of knew if the game wanted you to have a home, that would be it. I realise the character has an actual home and family in the game, but you cannot 'sleep' there (sleeping is saving in this game) and therefore never really felt like your home as you never spent any time there. I don't know if other players did this but I would always ride back to Armadillo to save my game, and I'm not sure why. It's not like it was the only place to save the game, or that you could customise your room, or building, or anything like that. So why the attraction to Armadillo? I feel it may be due to it's resemblance to the real town of Deadwood (shown in the images below), or the similar layout to many towns you will see in western movies. They are usually one lone road, maybe two, that contain a saloon, a sheriffs office and a train station. Or maybe it's simply that I settled here on my first play and it's always felt natural after that. I'm admittedly not usually a big gamer, I've only ever really completed and got into Red Dead, Black Flag and the Arkham Series. Other games I've just finished the story and put it down. But Red Dead especially was my escape from reality. During the more severe years of my depression, I would go on this endlessly to escape anything and everything, so it's safe to say I know this game inside out, I could tell you where to find each flower or plant in this games map, or where each gang will be hiding out. This maybe another reason I felt it necessary to find a home and life in this game, as I was using it as more of a second life than just the game it was created to be.  

Whatever the reason in my subconscious for feeling like Armadillo was a home away from home, it  was and still is for me when I visit. One of these many possible explanations is the reason the main town in my world will be based on Armadillo. This is where the main character, or characters will live, and it will be featured in many of the stories. Even the interior of the saloon, playing poker, getting drunk,  or throwing out gang members (Usually the Watons Gang, you can tell as they usually have short or no selves and a red ribbon on their top hats) feels like chilling out in my living room. It's a strange and nerdy concept. But unfortunately its true, and the reason this will be the home of the main characters in my story. 

Although I rarely used it, the sheriffs office always felt like visiting a friend. Now I can't say I always treated this home right, weather it was robbing the bank or kidnapping prostitute and tying her up on the railway track and watch it mow her down. I always had an evidently and obviously misguided sense that I was this towns protector, the Batman to its Gotham. But hey, gamers gonna game. This does however make me feel like the main character who lives here, should be the sheriff Gorilla, Ambam, (the friend I would visit) and the vigilante rouge (character I would use as an avatar), who possibly will suffer from depression, to convey the stories I created in west (Raccoon, Sawyer Carson).

Thieves Landing 

This town has always had a dangerous and frightening atmosphere. The green and brown colour palette and water surrounding the town has always made it feel very swamp like. I've always seen this as a gang hideout, or where Gustave Sobek, the gunslinger crocodile would temporarily be living (as he's secretly a Egyptian god). I've always seen opportunity to turn this into a transportation of stolen goods town, where they could unload the pirate ships in the dead of night.

Pikes Basin

Pikes Basin in a gang hideout in the game, usually crawling with members of the Bollard Twins Gang members. It's a huge canyon, with little delicate bridges between the ridges. I've always felt like an environment idea like this could be expanded. A bigger Canyon, like, the Grand Canyon could hold a city of thieves. Pirate ships could sail through the bottom of the canyons, or maybe the canyons are only the tip of a network of underground caves that hide these criminals from the laws sight and jurisdiction. 

Hanging rock

This is in area of the game where there is hidden gold, beneath a large rock and tree with a noose on it. Hence the name. The idea to have a place where outlaws would take folk and hang them is an evil concept, but an interesting one. You could have a burrow or home under an area like this, where a vigilante makes a home, after perhaps intervening in a hanging and becoming injured, needing somewhere out of the sun to rest and recover. 

Fort Mercer

This in the game is a stronghold for gangs, usually held by the Banditos. One they must have taken and make into their own little town. This is an awesome idea, something I would struggle to better, but I would use it an area where gang kidnap other animals and keep them temporally before sending to Mauti for processing to be sold as either food or slaves. This idea of an already evil government, being corrupt in taking his own people for profit both suits the character of Mauti's history perfectly, as it is something he has done before.    

 Tall Trees

Tall trees is a less occupied area of the map. It is still populated by Grizzly Bears, Wolves, Elk and other large dangerous animals. This area of vast wilderness I would take further, make it more beautiful, with lakes and waterfalls and have much more Native American tribes, as I think this is a hugely interesting part of 1800 Americans culture that is hugely underused in both this game, and almost all modern westerns, and when used in older westerns they are portrayed appallingly. Last of the Mohicans an Pocahontas are the only films I've seen where I thought they were half decently portrayed.

Coots Chapel

Coots Chapel is a church and graveyard that is never used in the game, and seems abandoned for the most part. It's always reminded me on the great animation 'The Blackwater Gospel' or maybe what was left after the events of that awesome story.

Tumbleweed

Tumbleweed is a ghost town in the game, and a well designed one at that. It's not just the derelict building that give it away, but also the paths and roads. The broken and abandoned pieces of junk through out the town. Players of the game even suspect that the fictional town is haunted, nothing was ever confirmed by rockstar, and although there are voices and gunshots in the supposedly empty house they only sound like every other voice in the game. After a bit of digging I found a secret room that you cannot gain access too, but does contain a number of people in it, just people like everyone else in the game, you can kill these men and shut them up trough a window outside, this seems to be where the rumours started and maybe escalated. However the interesting part is weather Rockstar (the developer) did this deliberately, to create rumours of haunting outside of that game, to give it the extra atmosphere. Red Dead is no stranger to mythological and supernatural qualities, such as the DLC Undead nightmare (a zombie infested prequel) and the Sasquatch you can find and hunt in game.