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Stay Awhile and Listen: How Two Blizzards Unleashed Diablo and Forged a Video-Game Empire, Book 1
Two companies. Two opposing cultures. One multi-billion-dollar video game empire.
Stay Awhile and How Two Blizzards Unleashed Diablo and Forged a Video Game Empire invites listeners to discover the origin of Blizzard North, a studio built by gamers, for gamers, and Blizzard Entertainment, a convergence of designers driven to rule their industry.
Composed from exhaustive research and hundreds of personal interviews, the Stay Awhile and Listen series divulges the fated meeting that brought the two Blizzards together, the clashes that tore them apart, and their transformation from grassroots democracy to corporate empire. At the center of it all - Diablo, a hack-and-slash adventure through the darkest recesses of Hell that changed online gaming forever.
Stay Awhile and How Two Blizzards Unleashed Diablo and Forged a Video Game Empire invites listeners to discover the origin of Blizzard North, a studio built by gamers, for gamers, and Blizzard Entertainment, a convergence of designers driven to rule their industry.
Composed from exhaustive research and hundreds of personal interviews, the Stay Awhile and Listen series divulges the fated meeting that brought the two Blizzards together, the clashes that tore them apart, and their transformation from grassroots democracy to corporate empire. At the center of it all - Diablo, a hack-and-slash adventure through the darkest recesses of Hell that changed online gaming forever.
Audible Audio
First published October 27, 2013
67 people are currently reading
800 people want to read
About the author
David L. Craddock
45 books104 followersDavid L. Craddock lives with his wife in Ohio. He is the bestselling author of
Stay Awhile and Listen
: How Two Blizzards Unleashed Diablo and Forged a Video-Game Empire - Book I, and
Heritage
: Book One of the Gairden Chronicles, an epic fantasy series for young adults. Please follow along with him on his website/blog at
DavidLCraddock.com
.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
October 25, 2018
Fun story about the origins of Blizzard, focusing on Diablo (the first one) and some Warcraft.
I'm looking forward to part 2 which it's supposed to come out in 2019.
I'm looking forward to part 2 which it's supposed to come out in 2019.
March 4, 2018
Executive Summary: I can't get enough of Video Game and Computer history books. As a huge fan of Blizzard and Diablo this book was no different. I would have liked some more information from some of the Blizzard folks, but this book still felt well researched and written.
Audiobook: I'm a bit torn on the narration. Normally I like a narrator who does a variety of voices. However this is non-fiction. Every time Mike Rylander did a different voice for someone in this book, I got distracted from what they were saying thinking about if that person sounds even remotely like the voice he gave them.
I think he does a good job with his volume, inflections and speed but this really kept throwing me off and I think I'd have preferred he simply read the entire book in his own voice.
Full Review
There are mainly two companies that got me hooked on video games: Nintendo and Blizzard Entertainment. I played a lot of PC games growing up, but no other companies put out games that have sucked up more of my time than those two.
I was introduced to Blizzard with a demo of Warcraft 2. I've bought every game they've released since. World of Warcraft has sucked up more of my time than I'd care to admit. Until that game came out however, my favorite Blizzard game had to be Diablo. I spent so many hours both alone and with friends clicking until my fingers were numb.
I knew a little bit about David Brevik and Blizzard North before this book. I bought his (largely failed) attempt to release Diablo 3 under a new IP/company Hellgate: London when I found out he was behind it. For me however nothing beats the original. Most people will probably list Diablo 2 as the best/their favorite but for me it's still the original.
The first half of this book covers the early career of David Brevik and the Max and Eric Shaefer, who would go on to found Condor Games (which was later renamed Blizzard North). It also spent some time talking about the foundation of Silicon and Synapse (which was later renamed Blizzard). He spent some time talking about the development of Warcraft 1, much to my delight, but most of it focused on the Blizzard North folks.
The second half of this book is mostly about Diablo itself. I found a lot of this absolutely fascinating. There were a lot of good interviews, primarily with the Blizzard North founders and what I assume are all former Blizzard employees. It seems that none of the (at the time) current Blizzard employees were willing (or allowed) to be interviewed for the book.
I would love to see Blizzard put out a book of their own (especially if it focused on Warcraft) but I thought Mr. Craddock did a good job despite this limitation.
I have a few other books by Mr. Craddock on my radar as he seems to have written several non-fiction books after my own heart. I'll definitely pick up some of those books in the future.
Audiobook: I'm a bit torn on the narration. Normally I like a narrator who does a variety of voices. However this is non-fiction. Every time Mike Rylander did a different voice for someone in this book, I got distracted from what they were saying thinking about if that person sounds even remotely like the voice he gave them.
I think he does a good job with his volume, inflections and speed but this really kept throwing me off and I think I'd have preferred he simply read the entire book in his own voice.
Full Review
There are mainly two companies that got me hooked on video games: Nintendo and Blizzard Entertainment. I played a lot of PC games growing up, but no other companies put out games that have sucked up more of my time than those two.
I was introduced to Blizzard with a demo of Warcraft 2. I've bought every game they've released since. World of Warcraft has sucked up more of my time than I'd care to admit. Until that game came out however, my favorite Blizzard game had to be Diablo. I spent so many hours both alone and with friends clicking until my fingers were numb.
I knew a little bit about David Brevik and Blizzard North before this book. I bought his (largely failed) attempt to release Diablo 3 under a new IP/company Hellgate: London when I found out he was behind it. For me however nothing beats the original. Most people will probably list Diablo 2 as the best/their favorite but for me it's still the original.
The first half of this book covers the early career of David Brevik and the Max and Eric Shaefer, who would go on to found Condor Games (which was later renamed Blizzard North). It also spent some time talking about the foundation of Silicon and Synapse (which was later renamed Blizzard). He spent some time talking about the development of Warcraft 1, much to my delight, but most of it focused on the Blizzard North folks.
The second half of this book is mostly about Diablo itself. I found a lot of this absolutely fascinating. There were a lot of good interviews, primarily with the Blizzard North founders and what I assume are all former Blizzard employees. It seems that none of the (at the time) current Blizzard employees were willing (or allowed) to be interviewed for the book.
I would love to see Blizzard put out a book of their own (especially if it focused on Warcraft) but I thought Mr. Craddock did a good job despite this limitation.
I have a few other books by Mr. Craddock on my radar as he seems to have written several non-fiction books after my own heart. I'll definitely pick up some of those books in the future.
November 20, 2018
How Warcraft and Diablo got made by Blizzard and Blizzard North. A bit of fun PC game history written in the vein of David Kushner's "Masters of Doom" and "Prepare to Meet Thy Doom", but not quite. I guess I'm not much of a Diablo guy and although I played Warcraft a lot, I preferred X-COM and C&C at a time. Nonetheless, I hope they're having as much fun nowdays than they were having while developing Warcraft and Diablo!
I guess the most enlightening piece I took away from this piece of history was the feeling why Diablo and Warcraft have always had something important missing - it's the story. There was no writing and world building involved. That's why it feels so empty and generic. And that's why we have these pseudo-fantasy names and themes without any piece of original thought in sight. Which is incredibly sad.
On the other hand, there's no argument that Blizzard is one very important piece of gaming history.
I guess the most enlightening piece I took away from this piece of history was the feeling why Diablo and Warcraft have always had something important missing - it's the story. There was no writing and world building involved. That's why it feels so empty and generic. And that's why we have these pseudo-fantasy names and themes without any piece of original thought in sight. Which is incredibly sad.
On the other hand, there's no argument that Blizzard is one very important piece of gaming history.
March 9, 2018
Geeky kids, check. Epic dreams, check. Long hours, check. The recipe for a successful game, made by people who happen to love their craft, is all there. And this book describes Blizzard Entertainment's journey from their early years up to the development of Diablo and Warcraft 2. The book is filled with anecdotes and first-hand accounts of the struggles the creators had with many aspects of game development, as well as financial matters and ultimately their own egos.
I found it a bit less entertaining than Kushner's Masters of Doom, but it did scratch an itch for a bit of computer-gaming history. And some of the material here is, on top of that, pretty sensible game-design advice.
I found it a bit less entertaining than Kushner's Masters of Doom, but it did scratch an itch for a bit of computer-gaming history. And some of the material here is, on top of that, pretty sensible game-design advice.
December 14, 2017
A look at the history of the creators of Blizzard and their games, Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo. The book gives an interesting look at the creators, their backgrounds, influences, and personalities. It was great to learn about the process of how their games came into creation. The book itself was a difficult though. It is sectioned into main story and "side quests", which are optional. I can see where they are going there. But when it comes to audiobooks, I'm often listening as I'm doing other things so I'm not going to try to find where the next section starts. This also made the narration of timelines very confusing, as it sometimes jumped around. The narrator also did very weird voices for the quotes, but maybe they really spoke that way.
February 28, 2021
***The author was kind enough to offer me a copy, when I mentioned being a Diablo fan (while working on a cover for another of his books)***
This was everything you could ask for in a no holds barred behind the scenes kind of way.
I think every Blizzard fan has grown up wondering how something so special was created, but the good part here was that you could pick it up without knowing game specifics and still read through it.
Excellently chronicled, and surprisingly more twists than expected.
5 stars, highly recommended.
This was everything you could ask for in a no holds barred behind the scenes kind of way.
I think every Blizzard fan has grown up wondering how something so special was created, but the good part here was that you could pick it up without knowing game specifics and still read through it.
Excellently chronicled, and surprisingly more twists than expected.
5 stars, highly recommended.
June 9, 2021
The writing style was a bit different than I was expecting with the quotes intermingled with the text, but overall I really enjoyed the story about the creation of Diablo.
Looking forward to reading part 2.
Looking forward to reading part 2.
October 14, 2019
Fraco e chapa branca, escrito num tom meio ghostwriting, meio documentário em formato filme de duas horas. Nem se compara ao maior exemplo - que o autor claramente tentou seguir: Masters of Doom.
February 8, 2021
Stay Awhile and Listen is HD history.
January 3, 2020
If you are a superfan of Diablo, this book is for you. I do think Diablo was a landmark of PC gaming but this was a bit too narrowly focused for me. It could have used more discussion of the series as a whole and how it effected gaming going forward.
December 31, 2022
Great account of the creation of Condor / Blizzard North and Diablo.
Craddock's writing style is starting to grow on me. He obviously struggles with cutting material that some readers might find irrelevant or too niche, so his approach is to include all this side quest content and bonus round chapters. As a super nerdy completionist, this works for me, but I recognize that some more casual readers might prefer to stick only to the core material.
This book was well researched. The storytelling isn't always relevant to the studio or the game, but it does help convey the atmosphere and sense of kinship that existed at the time at Condor / Blizzard North. Some screenshots and other concept art examples would have been great, but I can understand how that might open a copyright issues can of worms.
While I mostly read the book, I listened to the audiobook a bit too. I was not a fan of the "voices" adopted by the reader Mike Rylander. He has a tendency to switch to this really stereotypical "frat house bro" voice and inflection when reading quotes from the developers and artists. That was a turn off, but the rest of the reading was engaging. Also note that the audiobook recording only includes 2 of the 7 bonus rounds chapters from the book, so be aware that you'll miss out on some interesting interview material if you're a completionist like me.
Overall the book is great and recommended if you're interested in the creation of Diablo, though if you're someone who wants to "break into" game development, the industry landscape has changed way too much for any meaningful lessons to be learned here.
Craddock's writing style is starting to grow on me. He obviously struggles with cutting material that some readers might find irrelevant or too niche, so his approach is to include all this side quest content and bonus round chapters. As a super nerdy completionist, this works for me, but I recognize that some more casual readers might prefer to stick only to the core material.
This book was well researched. The storytelling isn't always relevant to the studio or the game, but it does help convey the atmosphere and sense of kinship that existed at the time at Condor / Blizzard North. Some screenshots and other concept art examples would have been great, but I can understand how that might open a copyright issues can of worms.
While I mostly read the book, I listened to the audiobook a bit too. I was not a fan of the "voices" adopted by the reader Mike Rylander. He has a tendency to switch to this really stereotypical "frat house bro" voice and inflection when reading quotes from the developers and artists. That was a turn off, but the rest of the reading was engaging. Also note that the audiobook recording only includes 2 of the 7 bonus rounds chapters from the book, so be aware that you'll miss out on some interesting interview material if you're a completionist like me.
Overall the book is great and recommended if you're interested in the creation of Diablo, though if you're someone who wants to "break into" game development, the industry landscape has changed way too much for any meaningful lessons to be learned here.
February 18, 2016
I must admit I probably wouldn't have read this, was it not for Masters of Doom. Unfortunately the two doesn't compare at all. Whilst I did enjoy the story of how the two Blizzards came to be as well as the formation of the grandfather of modern action RPGs; Diablo, the format of the book kind of got in the way of immersion. Most of it is comprised of quotes from interviewed parties, and the jump between quotes and narrative is tiring. Maybe this annoyance is exaggerated on the Kindle, but to me it was a major detractor and I much prefer the "story" like weaving in of facts as done in Masters of Doom. Aside from this the actual book is only ~3/5 of the numbered pages. The rest is left for footnotes, or "sidequests", as their are so thematically called, as well as some extra interviews. All in all, the material is there, but the presentation is lacking. Not the best of reads.
October 11, 2020
If you like stories of “how it all started” and how the gaming industry has evolved since the mid eighties, this is definitely the book for you.
The layout is a little strange and some of the content unnecessary, but the main book is well worth a listen/read if you’re a gamer and like Diablo/Blizzard.
The layout is a little strange and some of the content unnecessary, but the main book is well worth a listen/read if you’re a gamer and like Diablo/Blizzard.
March 13, 2020
A fragmented early history of the creation of the revolutionary video games Diablo and Warcraft, by two development studios, Condor and Chaos, respectively. The latter company grew to become Blizzard Entertainment, and acquired the former, which was renamed Blizzard North. (Since the events described herein, Blizzard North has dissolved.)
I've never played Diablo or Warcraft. Nevertheless, the story of these games' development, and of the associated personalities, held my interest, if the audio delivery distracted. More on this later. For this book, Craddock interviewed several of the developers of both games (though interestingly, Blizzard itself declined comment for the book). He then pieced together a loose chronology that fills the interstices between hundreds of attributed quotes. It's a clunky format that reads like a raw oral history project, but it gets the job done. Much of the material that didn't fit his timeline, or which contradicted the official Blizzard narrative, Craddock relegated to "Side Quests", optional nuggets nestled between the main chapters that further interrupt the flow.
We mostly hear from the employees of the small contract console port studio Condor, founded by David Brevik and brothers Erich and Max Schaefer. Condor got its first big break in the late 90s when Blizzard agreed to publish their dream PC game Diablo, a multi-player CRPG, inspired by ASCII-based roguelike games and XCOM UFO Defense, even as other industry gatekeepers insisted "RPGs are dead". Sensing the game would become a hit, Blizzard soon bought Condor and renamed the studio Blizzard North. Their new bosses insisted on Diablo being real-time instead of turn-based like its forebears, and with this directive, the die was cast; Diablo's subsequent stratospheric success singlehandedly resurrected the CRPG genre.
To a lesser extent, we also hear about Chaos (formerly Silicon and Synapse), renamed again to Blizzard when acquired by education software distributor Davidson and Associates. Shortly after this acquisition, Blizzard unleashed its own blockbuster, Warcraft, a multi-player real-time strategy game, and the first RTS for PC. Best quote of the book goes to Warcraft dev Pat Wyatt, who summed up Blizzard's ethos: "We make games that rock balls."
I particularly found fascinating the bits involving Brian Fargo in Chapter 6, and its Side Quest 5. Founder of video game studios Interplay and inXile, which he leads in its current incarnation as a Microsoft subsidiary, Fargo owned 10% of Silicon and Synapse at the time of its sale to Davidson and Associates. Fargo also mentored the young company, and he encouraged cofounder Allen Adham not to settle for the $3.5 million the Davidsons were offering; they subsequently doubled their offer, which he accepted. According to official Blizzard history (from its 20th year retrospective), Silicon and Synapse preferred Davidson over Interplay because the former were "the adults in the room." Fargo calls this bunk.
Anyway, the narration. OK, I get it, the setting is California, but why does the narrator insist on a slightly different surfer dude voice for most of the attributed quotes? I frequently thought I was listening to a Saturday morning TNMT cartoon, only with Michelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello and Raphael as gnarly game devs. It was funny at first, but it got distracting. There are other ways to express a game designer's enthusiasm; cf. Wil Wheaton's narration of David Kushner's excellent Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture, the gold standard in video game creation stories, IMHO.
I've never played Diablo or Warcraft. Nevertheless, the story of these games' development, and of the associated personalities, held my interest, if the audio delivery distracted. More on this later. For this book, Craddock interviewed several of the developers of both games (though interestingly, Blizzard itself declined comment for the book). He then pieced together a loose chronology that fills the interstices between hundreds of attributed quotes. It's a clunky format that reads like a raw oral history project, but it gets the job done. Much of the material that didn't fit his timeline, or which contradicted the official Blizzard narrative, Craddock relegated to "Side Quests", optional nuggets nestled between the main chapters that further interrupt the flow.
We mostly hear from the employees of the small contract console port studio Condor, founded by David Brevik and brothers Erich and Max Schaefer. Condor got its first big break in the late 90s when Blizzard agreed to publish their dream PC game Diablo, a multi-player CRPG, inspired by ASCII-based roguelike games and XCOM UFO Defense, even as other industry gatekeepers insisted "RPGs are dead". Sensing the game would become a hit, Blizzard soon bought Condor and renamed the studio Blizzard North. Their new bosses insisted on Diablo being real-time instead of turn-based like its forebears, and with this directive, the die was cast; Diablo's subsequent stratospheric success singlehandedly resurrected the CRPG genre.
To a lesser extent, we also hear about Chaos (formerly Silicon and Synapse), renamed again to Blizzard when acquired by education software distributor Davidson and Associates. Shortly after this acquisition, Blizzard unleashed its own blockbuster, Warcraft, a multi-player real-time strategy game, and the first RTS for PC. Best quote of the book goes to Warcraft dev Pat Wyatt, who summed up Blizzard's ethos: "We make games that rock balls."
I particularly found fascinating the bits involving Brian Fargo in Chapter 6, and its Side Quest 5. Founder of video game studios Interplay and inXile, which he leads in its current incarnation as a Microsoft subsidiary, Fargo owned 10% of Silicon and Synapse at the time of its sale to Davidson and Associates. Fargo also mentored the young company, and he encouraged cofounder Allen Adham not to settle for the $3.5 million the Davidsons were offering; they subsequently doubled their offer, which he accepted. According to official Blizzard history (from its 20th year retrospective), Silicon and Synapse preferred Davidson over Interplay because the former were "the adults in the room." Fargo calls this bunk.
Anyway, the narration. OK, I get it, the setting is California, but why does the narrator insist on a slightly different surfer dude voice for most of the attributed quotes? I frequently thought I was listening to a Saturday morning TNMT cartoon, only with Michelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello and Raphael as gnarly game devs. It was funny at first, but it got distracting. There are other ways to express a game designer's enthusiasm; cf. Wil Wheaton's narration of David Kushner's excellent Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture, the gold standard in video game creation stories, IMHO.
July 9, 2019
I listened to the audio version of this book.
I played a lot of Diablo and Diablo II as kid. Playing online with friends or sneaking it onto school computers to play with classmates when we were supposed to be programming, it was always a blast.
Stay Awhile and Listen goes behind the scenes and tells the story of how the original Diablo was made. It was pretty amazing to see how everything came together in a perfect storm of creativity and code to make such a landmark title in gaming. There was so much going on with companies forming, being purchased, making deals - things that I never knew about before now. I knew that both Blizzard and Condor made games before WarCraft and Diablo, respectively, but I was unaware of just how much they had to do before they could really get their feet under themselves to make the hits we all remember.
If you're interested in the history of videogames or are just a big Diablo fan, this book is certainly worth a read. I definitely recommend it for anyone who has spent days of their lives crawling through dungeons to banish the legions of hell.
I played a lot of Diablo and Diablo II as kid. Playing online with friends or sneaking it onto school computers to play with classmates when we were supposed to be programming, it was always a blast.
Stay Awhile and Listen goes behind the scenes and tells the story of how the original Diablo was made. It was pretty amazing to see how everything came together in a perfect storm of creativity and code to make such a landmark title in gaming. There was so much going on with companies forming, being purchased, making deals - things that I never knew about before now. I knew that both Blizzard and Condor made games before WarCraft and Diablo, respectively, but I was unaware of just how much they had to do before they could really get their feet under themselves to make the hits we all remember.
If you're interested in the history of videogames or are just a big Diablo fan, this book is certainly worth a read. I definitely recommend it for anyone who has spent days of their lives crawling through dungeons to banish the legions of hell.
July 14, 2017
What a mess this book is. The information it contains is some great behind the scenes info on the two companies that became Blizzard, but the timeline is just nuts! You get through the company's porting of SNES games and then suddenly there's a quote from an artist from before that port was even started and then a chapter long rabbit hole that takes place somewhere between those to things. It's just all over the damn place.
Also, as I did the audio version, the voice actor was TERRIBLE! Picture a 14 year old doing a homosexual Californian stereotype voice, and then a Brooklyn accent, then a surfer dude. Oh man, so terrible I would actually cringe at some of these voices.
Bottom line, if you're a Blizzard super fan looking for some behind the scenes stuff from the Diablo 1, Warcraft II era, see if you can satisfy yourself with Google searches. If not, check out the print version of this book and prepare to skip over about half of it.
Also, as I did the audio version, the voice actor was TERRIBLE! Picture a 14 year old doing a homosexual Californian stereotype voice, and then a Brooklyn accent, then a surfer dude. Oh man, so terrible I would actually cringe at some of these voices.
Bottom line, if you're a Blizzard super fan looking for some behind the scenes stuff from the Diablo 1, Warcraft II era, see if you can satisfy yourself with Google searches. If not, check out the print version of this book and prepare to skip over about half of it.
August 6, 2017
I enjoyed the book. I wanted to enjoy it, having grown up playing these games and seeing their new gameplay and enjoying them. To hear how their work and experiences lead to these ideas and gave them the opportunities and challenges to overcome. The decisions and debates that were made internally, and as the reader I can imagine what might have been instead. How would Diablo be different if it was not real time? What if Warcraft was serious and not cartoony? Or how close the studios came to failure and financial ruin, before this success.
But the audiobook really needs refinement to not read everything in the book. Hearing the full titles of anyone quoted, hearing the headings in the sidequests. And most of all, the narrator's attempt to recreate *everyone's'* voices is annoying. Sometimes, the quotes seem to come from a different person, but often the narrator's basic voice still is audible.
Interesting to read, tiring to hear.
But the audiobook really needs refinement to not read everything in the book. Hearing the full titles of anyone quoted, hearing the headings in the sidequests. And most of all, the narrator's attempt to recreate *everyone's'* voices is annoying. Sometimes, the quotes seem to come from a different person, but often the narrator's basic voice still is audible.
Interesting to read, tiring to hear.
April 18, 2020
The good: exactly what I was hoping for, a chronological 'making of' description of one of the greatest pc games of all time.
The bad: the book needs an editor to go through and remove the many spelling errors. Also, the many quotes, albeit interesting, usually only repeat what is already said in the main text. This results in a way larger wordcount than it actually should be.
The ugly: almost 30% of the book is backfiller, including descriptions of abandoned games, a mini making of of warcraft, etc. The fact that there's a book 2 makes me wonder if both book couldn't be combined without all the flush filling in order to give book 1 enough meat.
Then again, the book is interesting and clearly written by a fan. In the end, that is all that counts. If the core gameplay is good, all the rest is secondary 😉
The bad: the book needs an editor to go through and remove the many spelling errors. Also, the many quotes, albeit interesting, usually only repeat what is already said in the main text. This results in a way larger wordcount than it actually should be.
The ugly: almost 30% of the book is backfiller, including descriptions of abandoned games, a mini making of of warcraft, etc. The fact that there's a book 2 makes me wonder if both book couldn't be combined without all the flush filling in order to give book 1 enough meat.
Then again, the book is interesting and clearly written by a fan. In the end, that is all that counts. If the core gameplay is good, all the rest is secondary 😉
May 12, 2022
A fun book that stokes nostalgia for those who played PC games during the mid-90's. It details the founders of Blizzard with a focus on the development of the first Diablo game. This could best be described as a catching-lightning-in-a-bottle type moment in time. A group of talented gamers start a company making video games. They eat, live, and breathe video games and enjoy the comradery that comes with their deep commitment.
The takeaway lesson. Take chances and chase what you love before you have something to lose. Living and working as these people did would not allow for much else in life. In the book this is referred to as the "Blizzard Curse"
A note about the audiobook. The narrator comes up with some great vocal impressions. I found them stereotypical but entertaining, and probably dead on!
The takeaway lesson. Take chances and chase what you love before you have something to lose. Living and working as these people did would not allow for much else in life. In the book this is referred to as the "Blizzard Curse"
A note about the audiobook. The narrator comes up with some great vocal impressions. I found them stereotypical but entertaining, and probably dead on!
May 14, 2023
As far as these kinds of books go, this was fine. It covered all the bases you expect like the careers of the main people involved and some of the conflicts that arose during the making of the game. However, the story just isn't that interesting, especially if you've read other 'making of game x' before. Some of the anecdotes were fun, and the few snippets of arguments that went into design decisions were great, but even those were pretty much what I expected anyway.
So if you're a die-hard fan of the games or particularly Blizzard (there's quite a lot of content about Warcraft), this account will fill in a lot of details about how things were done back then. For the casual gamer with a nostalgic itch, the recollections of certain levels, monsters, and characters should bring back fond memories. For everyone else, there's not too much else here to recommend, unfortunately.
So if you're a die-hard fan of the games or particularly Blizzard (there's quite a lot of content about Warcraft), this account will fill in a lot of details about how things were done back then. For the casual gamer with a nostalgic itch, the recollections of certain levels, monsters, and characters should bring back fond memories. For everyone else, there's not too much else here to recommend, unfortunately.
January 3, 2022
An informative yet scattershot account of the early days of Blizzard Entertainment and Blizzard North. This pop history volume shares a lot in common with David Kushner's Masters of Doom in terms of style and readability. It's a quick, jaunty run through the corridors of yet another of the 90s' plucky game development studios. Having said that, the format is a little disjointed by digressions and 'side quests' that distract from the overall account - and I found there were a few chronological peccadillos where a game, studio, or person was introduced later when they had already been mentioned previously. Still - it's a fun and interesting read for fans of any of Blizzard's 90s offerings.
July 25, 2017
Fun book about the founding of Blizzard, it mostly focuses on the development of Diablo, with some side-trips into Warcraft and Warcraft 2.
Overall I enjoyed the book and it'll probably be the best book written about Blizzard. That said, it wasn't the best it could have been. And I listened to the audio book, which has a weird structure ('side quests' with more boilerplate that got read than content), and the narrator did some annoying voices.
On the whole, recommended if you're a Blizzard fan. Otherwise, I think you can skip it.
Overall I enjoyed the book and it'll probably be the best book written about Blizzard. That said, it wasn't the best it could have been. And I listened to the audio book, which has a weird structure ('side quests' with more boilerplate that got read than content), and the narrator did some annoying voices.
On the whole, recommended if you're a Blizzard fan. Otherwise, I think you can skip it.
August 16, 2018
Interesting reading about game development scene in '90s. The title says it all - the book is more about two Blizzards (that is two game development companies and people in them) than about the game Diablo itself. I would give it one more star for more technical details, but I'm probably not the expected audience (which are gamers probably). For this, look for David Brevik's a classic game postmortem from GDC 2016 on youtube.
March 9, 2020
It was interesting to read about the development of some of my favorite games from back in the day. It's filled with interesting stories and quotes from developers. Though it is similar, I felt Masters of Doom was better than this one.
I was not a fan of the style of using subquests and such. I wouldn't have minded if those sections were included in the main body of the book. I was interested in those topics, so I ended up flipping around in the book quite a bit and it got to be annoying.
I was not a fan of the style of using subquests and such. I wouldn't have minded if those sections were included in the main body of the book. I was interested in those topics, so I ended up flipping around in the book quite a bit and it got to be annoying.
February 7, 2021
Easy to read and easy to follow, backed up by direct quotations (perhaps too much so - they often interrupted the flow of the story sometimes) from employees at both Blizzard North and South on the development of a classic. Not perhaps as comprehensive for the wholesale environment as, for instance, Game Over or Masters of Doom, but still a pretty interesting and authoritative read on a now-influential company back in its dorm-room days.
May 7, 2017
I have to admit, I’m a sucker for good gaming pioneer history books. And this definitely is one; I still remember breezing through it because I wanted to know more. I roughly knew Blizzard’s history before reading to book but it gave me a much better feeling for the human factor.
Anyone who doesn’t care about computer games can subtract 4 stars. :)
Anyone who doesn’t care about computer games can subtract 4 stars. :)
December 6, 2024
Probably biased, but just LOVED the book, shows exactly the mentality of a company that I'd love to work in, and do exactly the stuff that I'd love to do, but I've never done. And with the current state of the game development business, I doubt that it would even be possible to do so, especially in a deadend country as mine.
August 12, 2017
Absolutely fascinating biography of Blizzard and its founders. A must read for WoW/Blizz fans. I felt so nostalgic I renewed WoW and got my kids back into the game with me. The book doesn't go into WoW, it's about Warcraft and Diablo and ends there. Makes me want to play D2.
February 3, 2019
Holy wow. This is a book of quotes strung together by a tight narrative. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the two companies coming together and the passion they had for creating these great games. It also helps that I've been a Blizzard fan since my early teens.
February 19, 2020
Acquired taste. I'm sure you get more enjoyment reading this if you've either played their games or worked in the industry.
I never knew they had worked with Acclaim Entertainment, or that there was some history with Iguana. Very cool.
I never knew they had worked with Acclaim Entertainment, or that there was some history with Iguana. Very cool.
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