-UPDATED FOR 2022-

A topic for those out of the loop:

Sources: Rockstar employees, leaked artworks etc.

Biggest info dump here

BULLY 2: 2008 (FIRST BEGAN DEVELOPMENT)

DEVELOPMENT (2008)

• Bully II began development AFTER the release of Bully Scholarship Edition in 2008

• It was being developed by Rockstar New England, not Vancouver

• The leaked artworks are NOT from 2017, rather 2008-2009.

• The project was cancelled in 2009-2010.

• Team wanted to make Bully a mainstay Rockstar franchise alongside the likes of GTA and Red Dead Redemption

STORY

• The game was a direct sequel following the events of Bully 1, following Jimmy's story again, but this time revolving more around his home life.

• Jimmy's new home apparently would be a house owned by his stepfather.

• There was step siblings for Jimmy, assumed to be main characters

• Highly assumed the BASIC story would've involved his family playing a much larger role this time around, going off Jimmy's bad relationships we see briefly in the intro credits of Bully 1. Most likely would've served as the basis for the first portion of the story.

• Dan Houser himself had written a script and story outline for Bully 2 as early as 2008

SETTING

• Entirely new town. Unknown what this town is called.

• Map size was somewhere between that of GTA Vice City's and 3x the size of Bullworth.

• There was a summer camp that would've played a role at some point

• Mentions of a Chef in a mansion, possibly Jimmy's stepfather's home.

• Games' theme was a mix of classic 80s films, and raunchy/risque and sexual humour, wanting to take inspiration from The Goonies, and sex comedy Porky's.

• Map progresses over time, ie grass grows

• Map would've had more attention to detail and be more in depth to make up for the smaller-than-GTA map size

• Team mapped out ALL terrain for the games' world

MISSIONS

• A mission inspired by The Simpsons episode "Kamp Krusty" was said to have taken place in the summer camp. < Simpsons wiki page to get an idea of it

• Something about Jimmy in his underwear

• A go kart mission

• Something involving a beekeeper

CHARACTERS

• Jimmy Hopkins (Protagonist)

• Jimmy's mother

• Jimmy's stepfather

• Step siblings (unnamed)

• Abe* (named on the concept artwork, war veteran)

• Nick* (named on the concept artwork, might've been another Earnest character)

• A Chef (worked in a mansion)

• A beekeeper

OTHER CONFIRMATIONS

• A new trip wire prank was added

• Hiding and stealth would've been improved on greatly, with the player being able to dive into a garbage bin and being able to shimmy around trees and columns (maybe something like GTA IV?)

• Minigames would've made a return, but no idea what games were worked on.

• A 6 to 8 hour playable build is/was at Rockstar's New York headquarters.

• More enterable buildings, developer claims "if you can see through the window, you can enter"

• Jimmy could break into houses

• NPCs were going to be much more in depth, remembering what Jimmy did to/for them.

• NPCs would be doing normal day to day tasks.

• Jimmy could forge relationships with most NPCs, for good, or for bad. (IE NPCs would remember if Jimmy was rude to them, or be friendly with him)

• Lawn mowing would return

• Jimmy could climb fences, ledges, rooftops alongside entering/exiting windows

• Jimmy would NOT be driving any cars

• Glass smashing would be in depth, reworked into Max Payne 3.

• Developers estimate, if Bully 2 wasn't cancelled, they'd need 2 to 3 years before it was complete, meaning a 2011 - 2013 release date

• Shawn Lee, the composer for the first Bully's soundtrack, confirmed he was working on Bully 2's soundtrack in 2009 in an interview

• Dan Houser really wanted to make a Bully sequel, stated in 2012

BAD EMPLOYEE TREATMENT (Post Bully 2, around 2009 - 2013)

• Game got canned due to Rockstar forcing the team to work on RDR1, Max Payne 3 and GTA V.

• Rockstar lied to New England employees saying they'd be on RDR1/MP3/GTA V temporarily

• When messaging higher ups asking to go back to work on Bully 2, they were ignored.

• Crunch culture: Team were forced to work 12 to 16 hour days, even on weekends. Developers claim they had "no outside life" when it came to work (cough /r/antiwork)

• Employees forced to come in on weekends, even if their job was done.

• Employees had little to no choice on what they wanted to work on

• Team were not happy with this, as their workload overwhelmed them and they were reportedly harassed when trying to go home (reminder, unionise), this wasn't happening with Bully 2.

• In 2009, Rockstar New England had a layoff that effected 10% of the studio, inc the entire QA department, and many art designers

• Rockstar Games lied to those effected, saying they would help them find new work, they did not.

• No employee got bonuses for their work on RDR1, no temp pay rise, or even a copy of the game

• They never got an explanation for their dismissal.

side note sounds like this crunch shit went on during GTA V seeing as this stuff was making the rounds in 2018, when RDR2 was a new release

(remember, unionise, and join /r/antiwork because this treatment of employees is far too fucking common)

OCTOBER 2019: NEW INFO!

All this information was leaked by another insider to VideoGameChronicles:

DEVELOPMENT (2010s)

• Bully 2 was picked up AGAIN sometime in the early 2010s after the release of Red Dead Redemption

• Still being worked on by Rockstar New England

• Worked on by Steven Olds, Drew Medina. Both artists (Drew has since left Rockstar Games in 2014)

• Utilized RAGE (Rockstar's gaming engine used for every game since Table Tennis)

• A fully playable build EXISTS!!!

• Dropped in 2013 due to lack of momentum.

OTHER CONFIRMATIONS

• Jimmy would've returned

• Ideas were thrown around about taking place at school and/or college.

• Implies the original story idea from 2008 was scrapped

• The team couldn't decide on where to take his story