Development Team

In this post, we'll explore the development team behind Rockstar's 2010, multiple "Game of the Year" winner, Red Dead Redemption.

Red Dead Redemption was released May 18, 2010 by publisher Rockstar Games Inc., developed by Rockstar San Diego, who also found success with other titles such as Grand Theft Auto V, L.A. Noir, Max Payne 3, and the Midnight Club series. The San Diego studio began in 1984 as Angel Studios, and later became Rockstar San Diego in 2002 after being acquired by Take-Two Interactive.

Red Dead Redemption's producers were Steve Martin and David Kunkler. Steve graduated from Sheffield Halam University in 1996 with a BA

(with honors) in 3D Product Design. He began his professional game career as an artist at Eidos Interactive, and later held several positions at Midway Games before moving on to EA where he worked as a Development Director. In 2005, he was picked up by Rockstar San Diego as a producer, and after Redemption was released, Steve became a studio manager. David Kunkler graduated from the University of Michigan in 1988 with a BS in Computer Science and Philosophy. He also worked as a producer at Midway Games, during some of the same years as Steve Martin. David was also a senior producer at Obsidian Entertainment before joining Rockstar Games as a senior producer. Both Steve and David continue their work at Rockstar today.

Lead designer and co-writer Christian Cantamessa began his career as a game designer at Trecision, and spent time as a game designer as Ubisoft before moving to Rockstar Games. He has since spent most of his time as a writer/director for film, television, and games, such as Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, and The Crew.

The technical director was Ted Carson, a 1992 graduate from UCLA with a BS in Physics. He was attending classes at UC San Diego when he was hired by Rockstar in 2000 as a Technical Director. He worked on a previous title in the Red Dead series, Red Dead Revolver, as well as the Midnight Club series, and Max Payne 3 in 2012. He still works there today.

The art direction for Red Dead Redemption was done by Joshua Bass and Daren Bader. Bass graduated from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 1997, and joined the video game industry immediately afterward when he began as a junior artist at High Voltage Software. He began work as a art department director at Angel Studios in 2000, prior to its acquisition and renaming as Rockstar San Diego. Daren Bader attended San Diego State University and studied fine and studio arts in 1989. Before starting at Rockstar 1994, Daren worked as a lead animator for American Film Technologies, as well as a freelance illustrator.

The lead audio designer was Jeffrey R. Whitcher, a 1989 recording arts BA graduate from Loyola Marymount University. He worked as a sound effects editor on a number of films before being hired by Rockstar in 2004 as lead sound designer where he continues to work today, and still occasionally does sound editing for films.