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Stay Awhile and Listen: Book II - Heaven, Hell, and Secret Cow Levels
Orcs and Humans. Angels and Devils. North and South. Harmony and Discord.
Stay Awhile and Listen: Book II – Heaven, Hell, and Secret Cow Levels continues the saga of the two Blizzards—Blizzard Entertainment, creator of the groundbreaking WarCraft series of strategy titles, and Blizzard North, architect of Diablo's digital hellscape—as both studios struggle to find their identity and forge a path forward.
Threatened by competition in the space they popularized, Blizzard Entertainment looks to the stars to build a new franchise and evolve into a well-oiled machine. No longer the underdog, Blizzard North takes Diablo out of murky dungeons and across deserts, jungles, and snowy mountaintops.
Success comes at a cost. Corporate greed threatens to overshadow artistic breakthroughs, new talent throws company cultures into flux, and a passion to be the best result in brutal work schedules, broken relationships, and creative burnout that incapacitates visionaries and leaves their teams directionless.
Weaving together the making of bestselling products and the crucibles of the people who made them, Stay Awhile and Listen: Book II tells the story of two teams that formed an unstoppable juggernaut even as they proved too combustible to co-exist.
Stay Awhile and Listen: Book II – Heaven, Hell, and Secret Cow Levels continues the saga of the two Blizzards—Blizzard Entertainment, creator of the groundbreaking WarCraft series of strategy titles, and Blizzard North, architect of Diablo's digital hellscape—as both studios struggle to find their identity and forge a path forward.
Threatened by competition in the space they popularized, Blizzard Entertainment looks to the stars to build a new franchise and evolve into a well-oiled machine. No longer the underdog, Blizzard North takes Diablo out of murky dungeons and across deserts, jungles, and snowy mountaintops.
Success comes at a cost. Corporate greed threatens to overshadow artistic breakthroughs, new talent throws company cultures into flux, and a passion to be the best result in brutal work schedules, broken relationships, and creative burnout that incapacitates visionaries and leaves their teams directionless.
Weaving together the making of bestselling products and the crucibles of the people who made them, Stay Awhile and Listen: Book II tells the story of two teams that formed an unstoppable juggernaut even as they proved too combustible to co-exist.
358 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 10, 2019
28 people are currently reading
183 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 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 2, 2020
As tough to put down as Diablo II itself, I learned a lot from reading Stay Awhile Book 2 about one of my favorite games of all-time. It's probably worthy of a fifth star, but it's definitely not perfect. There were moments when I felt like chronological information was left out, like when Shenk left the company and was immortalized in the game with a unique monster, only to later be named head of the company with a (oh yeah, he came back sometime since the last time we talked about him) line. There were also a lot more mistakes/typos than I usually let slide in something I'm recommending, on one occasion a sentence was repeated right after it and, in a moment that stuck out to me, while mentioning Maya there were brackets that reminded the author to go back later and explain what Maya is. But, still, this was great! Especially after the super dramatic ending, I'm looking forward to reading Book 3.
April 27, 2020
Very insightful book on what went on at, mainly, Blizzard North. I expected a bit more technical parts, because most of the book is focused on the internal struggles of different factions in the company which I get but aren't that interested in.
The book is much better than the previous book in terms editing and layout (still some typos and copy paste errors though) . The quotes are now in front of the chapter and not between the text itself (however, some quotes are a bit useless now without more context. Tip for Book 3: leave 90% of the quotes out and rewrite them in the text itself. It's clear for the reader that everything being written is based on sources). Still, there's many repetitions in the text itseld where different interviewees are quoted basically saying the same thing, as if the author wanted to prove that different people had that opinion.
The book is much better than the previous book in terms editing and layout (still some typos and copy paste errors though) . The quotes are now in front of the chapter and not between the text itself (however, some quotes are a bit useless now without more context. Tip for Book 3: leave 90% of the quotes out and rewrite them in the text itself. It's clear for the reader that everything being written is based on sources). Still, there's many repetitions in the text itseld where different interviewees are quoted basically saying the same thing, as if the author wanted to prove that different people had that opinion.
August 18, 2020
This is just as interesting as book 1 but with all the bugs and quirks fixed. It's
mostly about the development of Diablo 2 and all the trouble and mismanagement
that was between Blizzard North/Blizzard Entertainment and internally in
Blizzard North.
The Side Quests are still there but not as distracting and kept to a minimum
that works well with the overall story.
The timeline is a little wonky at times and can be quite hard to keep track of
sometimes.
Overall a good book if you like game development and is a fan of Diablo.
mostly about the development of Diablo 2 and all the trouble and mismanagement
that was between Blizzard North/Blizzard Entertainment and internally in
Blizzard North.
The Side Quests are still there but not as distracting and kept to a minimum
that works well with the overall story.
The timeline is a little wonky at times and can be quite hard to keep track of
sometimes.
Overall a good book if you like game development and is a fan of Diablo.
January 12, 2020
It’s a diamond in the rough as a book. The chapters are loosely chronological but there’s some confusing jumping back and forth in time. It could have benefited from a clear timeline with major events. But boy does it have so many juicy discussions of Diablo II’s development and that makes it invaluable.
September 13, 2021
This book is to Diablo II, what the book Masters of Doom was for the FPS genre -- heavily researched, sourced, and tons of interviews. While the book isn't too technical, it does a great job of painting a picture of what life was like for Blizzard North back in the glory days of video game development. I really enjoyed reading how the various teams worked together, played together, and built more than just a successful company. Working in the tech industry, I found this book to be very motivating with lessons that cross into any industry -- not just gaming.
June 21, 2021
Great lesson about how capitalism works
This book explains more about the business of software than most business books. And that is: You are either ownership class, or you are there to be exploited. The ones who end up owning the IP will have all the power. That’s the alpha and the omega of it.
This book explains more about the business of software than most business books. And that is: You are either ownership class, or you are there to be exploited. The ones who end up owning the IP will have all the power. That’s the alpha and the omega of it.
June 19, 2021
The writing style of the second book was much closer to what I was expecting when I read the first book of this series. Great look into the inner workings of the Blizzard North team when they were working on Diablo II. Can’t wait for the third and final chapter of this saga.
October 11, 2020
A riveting and harrowing tale
A great book on how Diablo II was developed and the toll it had taken on the team that developed it, ultimately leading to the studio's demise
A great book on how Diablo II was developed and the toll it had taken on the team that developed it, ultimately leading to the studio's demise
May 26, 2022
Interesting continuation of the Blizzard North story.
July 18, 2022
Quite excellent.
September 26, 2022
Loved it - history of the game development plus politics in the office
March 9, 2023
It always surprises me how inane the project management on game dev is as a norm.
May 25, 2023
It was interesting but the narrative didnt flow for me, felt choppy.
January 17, 2025
Stay Awhile and Listen: Book II - Heaven, Hell, and Secret Cow Levels is watching a dissection.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews