Development
The Finnish studio Remedy Entertainment is known for creating the critically acclaimed Max Payne (2001), and its sequel, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (2003). After shipping Max Payne 2, Remedy Entertainment spent some time "recovering from the crunch", and started coming up with different concepts for a new project. Among these was the concept for Alan Wake.
The game was announced at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) for "the next generation of consoles and PCs", and was shown to the press behind closed doors in the form of a tech demo. In 2006, Remedy partnered with Microsoft Game Studios to publish the game exclusively for Microsoft's Xbox 360 video game console and then-current Windows Vista PC operating system. The first screenshots depicted the character of Alan Wake in much different attire, as well as a different layout for the town of Bright Falls, compared to the released game.
After four years of having repeatedly demonstrated the Windows version, in 2009, Remedy confirmed that at that point the game was being developed exclusively for the Xbox 360 and the decision to make a PC version was in Microsoft's hands. After the game's release in 2010, Remedy said that bringing the game to the PC was "not on the cards at the moment." However, nearly two years after its release, Remedy was able to secure the rights to publish a PC version.
The game was announced as "done" and undergoing final polishing in August 2009. The game eventually went gold on 7 April 2010, and was released in May.
Originally, Remedy planned Bright Falls as a free-roaming, sandbox-style open world city, similar to those seen in the Grand Theft Auto series. After trying this idea for six months, the team decided to scrap it, because it interfered with the pacing and storytelling they intended to deliver in a thriller game.
The game's enemies were designed by drawing concept art and then pouring water over them to make them feel "Just a bit off". For the character of Alan Wake himself, Remedy used "concept photos" as opposed to more traditional concept artwork. To research the Pacific Northwest setting for the game, a Remedy team traveled to the area, and produced a large amount of photographs and videos.
Read more about this topic: Alan Wake
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