The Founder's Story
In short, I am a tech nerd by day. Creative nerd by night 🤓
Ever since I started playing RDR2 in February 2019, I dreamed of visiting a Native Village along the Dakota River.Â
In Sept 2019, when I started playing RDOnline, I saw so much untapped potential that Rockstar seemed unwilling or unable to provide content.Â
Fast forward to Summer 2020, a passing conversation with a friend as we rode along the Great Plains in RDO sparked a seed of an idea that led me to eventually build my own RedM server and to start creating my own custom content. What a thrilling journey it has been!
In July 2021, I was introduced to my first RedM RP server and was awed by the the custom content. Being able to play the game how it could be imagined, was truly a dream come true! It was here that I met and RP'd together with Red, as well as a co-founder who has since moved on to other things.
Fast forward to Oct 2021 when the three of us started playing on our 2nd server together. In Dec, I started dev'ing on that project. Shortly afterward, my co-founder joined me with the dev work. As we applied our career IT knowledge to the project (*45 years in total*), we hit the ground running and learned a lot through trial and error. Exhilarated by what we could do, opened the sky to limitless possibilities!
In late Dec 2021, a conversation with my co-dev sparked a "back of the napkin" sketch for an alt history approach to a RedM server. "Project B" (*the initial/placeholder name*) would be solely ours with full creative liberty. Inspired, encouraged and endorsed by friends, we decided to go for it! During Christmas break, I rented a VDS, rolled up my sleeves and got to work!
In Jan 2022, we were humbled with a full community of people backing us, supporting and willing to follow us. On Jan 26th we announced the official name of our project as "Windswept Horizons" and as we read The Lore and revealed our project name as "Windswept Horizons", the community response was overwhelming and invigorating! WiSH took on a life of its own as the creative team worked busily in the background with crafting our branding, icons, etc.
In Feb 2022, we launched Alpha launch with 31 players in the server at the same time! And as our Public launch date grew nearer, time allowed us to enjoy the world we created, and leading us to build new things in the world, expanding even more, the realm of possibilities!Â
In March 2022, I discovered the map building community, and was blown away! Meeting a lot of other creative nerds doing nerdy things has been an honor, being able to share intel and to learn from one another is invaluable. My very first build, the Dakota Village, brought my dreams of 2019 full circle and is in dedication to all my relations :feather:Â
Windswept Horizons is a culmination of many creative, talented people who gathered together for the love of a game and inspired by a vision to enjoy more of what the beautiful world of Red Dead offers. I'm immensely privileged and so very proud with all that we've accomplished together. Windswept Horizons may been the seed of an idea in my mind, but with your support and contributions, OUR project has grown into a beautiful work of art.Â
Here's to our adventures, wherever they may lead...to the Windswept Horizons and beyond!
~ Coyote
  Founder of Windswept Horizons
  Lead Developer & Creative Nerd