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David Craddock and Two Blizzard North Co-Founders (Video 2 of 2)

Posted by Soulskill on from the lots-of-corporate-slashing-and-burning-behind-the-scenes dept.

In this video, we continue our conversation with author David Craddock about his investigation into the early days of game studio Blizzard for his new book, Stay Awhile and Listen. He's joined by Dave Brevik and Max Schaefer, two of the co-founders of Blizzard North. They talk about keeping games accessible, the importance of getting the amount of background story right in Diablo, and whether the creators of these early games have any regrets about them. They also talk about designing The Butcher. (This is video part 2 of 2. The transcript of Part 1 is now available, too, if you care to go back and read it.)

14 comments

  1. videos suck by Gothmolly · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They tried this with FarkTV. People read faster than you can talk, and not everyone has free bandwidth and necessary codecs. Stop sucking.

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    I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
    1. Re:videos suck by i+kan+reed · · Score: 1

      Also, it demeans your user base's intelligence. We can get that kind of drivel on buzzfeed or reddit.

    2. Re:videos suck by neminem · · Score: 2

      On the plus side, slashdot does include transcripts with all its videos now, something I wish every site would do. (Though I'd still rather prefer originally-written content, than transcribed content, but it's still better than watching a video for most things, unless they're specifically trying to demonstrate a visual concept.)

    3. Re:videos suck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Though I'd still rather prefer originally-written content, than transcribed content

      As Kevin Nealon once said as the Weekend Update anchor on SNL: "If you want a transcript of tonight's program, get a pen and write down everything I said."

    4. Re:videos suck by Finallyjoined!!! · · Score: 1

      RTNR - and the point of this article is what, precisely?

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      If I had an Ass, I'd call it Fanny Bottom, then I could slap my Ass; Fanny Bottom, on the Arse.
    5. Re:videos suck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Flashblock. Noscript.
      Don't load any video you don't click on. Which is most of them.

      You can't fix stupid. But you can work around it.

    6. Re:videos suck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      On other sites, they use videos since it is a way to pitch ads that are unskippable.

  2. I won't read the article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But I'll just say this: They don't deserve the money nor the fame.

  3. The Book by The+Cat · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Craddock's story is instructive. It was not until Blizzard North received corporate backing and a practically unlimited budget that Diablo became a viable project and even then, it took somewhere between 50 and 100 man-years to ship it (while the developers basically neglected everything else in their lives)

    It is also instructive in that video games have not advanced one inch since. Development is still impossibly labor-intensive, prone to all manner of bizarre technical risks and requires hundreds, if not thousands of man-years of effort backed by multiple eight-figure investors.

    Those that don't burn out are fired. No technology survives two release cycles, and the result is at least half of the players bitch and cry and rage because a) the game has a price tag > 0 and b) the graphics suck. (The graphics always suck) Anyone with any sanity at all abandons the industry by age 25.

    Crawford had it nailed 15 years ago. Video games are dead. They are just expensive inflatable dolls.

    1. Re:The Book by binarylarry · · Score: 1

      Video games *as they've been* are dead.

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      Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
  4. Re:Stay Awhile and Listen? by binarylarry · · Score: 1

    FuckU and Go Away!

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    Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
  5. The last of the real game designers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have the UTMOST respect for the Blizzard North team. Dave Brevik and Max Schaefer are probably the most honest and genuine guys in the gaming world today. Jay Wilson shit all over Brevik and disgraced his legacy, and for that I will NEVER support another game that has his pawprints on it.

  6. Ad torture by Avatar8 · · Score: 1
    I understand the need for ads to keep /. free.

    I'm okay with losing 20, 30 even 60 seconds of my life in order to watch a video.

    But 2:15 of IBM talking about vague business practices around the "cloud" is horrendous and sadistic.

    Stop torturing your audience, get sponsors that have something to do with technology and understand it and keep the ads at least reasonable to the typical TV :30 or :60 at most.