An interview with John State, the First Level

The 1986 NBA draft was hung on June 17, 1986.

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The former blizzard man John State talks to John State about the popular MMO, his contributions to the game and much more.

World of Warcraft has become an inviolable institution of the gaming industry, which has continuously increased in size, scope and popularity in almost 16 years in which it is on the market. But before it came out, there was no guarantee that it would be a success, not least because Blizzard turned a popular RTS franchise into a MMORPG. What the game has launched was primarily the vision and work of the team who worked in the early days - and one of these people was the former Blizzard-Man John State, the fans of the game maybe as his Know all first 3D Level Designer. State, who has worked beimin printing For ten years this would have been a major role in the game to play __ he developed, built and designed many of the most popular raids of the game (among others), while he also wrote a book about the time he wrote The work had spent on the game DAS WOW diary.

Recently, we had the opportunity to conversate with state by asking him for anything to add new content and more content from his book and memories to the early development days of the game to Blizzard's philosophy, the MMO. You can read the full interview below.

I have put together my notes and started to write DAS WOW diary 6 months after my stay at Blizzard. I did that because the project was so confused.

Your book, DAS WOW diary is a fascinating look behind the scenes of development of one of the largest games in the world. When did you get the idea to put your experiences with Blizzard in words?

On the first day I thought about it. The largest part of the day we spent with excited talks with other developers. They were excited to have someone who knew how to build architecture on their project (I was the new, shiny thing), and it was my first professional experience in the game industry. I had spent four years for the mod development and spent most of my time with the daily updates that would publish some FPS developers. I thought this multi-year training had taught me why studios did things, but most of what I learned was so completely wrong ... at least for Blizzard.

There were boxes with non-claimed books in the halls (my book describes the beinintend Dev Area as a pigsty). When browsing, I discovered a book about how Cyan Studios has made riven. It looked cool and contained concept drawings and photos of the team, but the descriptions of the function was not very informative, as if they had written the story in a company a company. At that time I realized that every game company was making such videos and publishes books, but I wanted to write about the juicy stuff: the complaints and personalities, the surprises and mistakes. I have put together my notes and started to write DAS WOW diary 6 months after my stay at Blizzard. I did that because the project was so confused. The game was ugly, the things did not work and nobody had answers how to do things. Months were wasted for dead end solutions, and no one in the team was surprised. The veterans insured us that the development was often so bad, sometimes worse. That, I thought, is an interesting story.

And part of it was also for my own education. I have never worked with animators, so I wanted to know what their production pipeline was. I also interested me for the business side of things and gradually drew a comprehensive and detailed image of a developer team. I am satisfied with the result.

_ World of Warcraft _ has become an institution over the years, but when it was still in the development, what hoped and her colleagues at Blizzard to find the best scenario? Did you expect it to be as massive as it is?

Before online sales, pre-orders were indicators for demand for a title. BEINUTEMENT The pre-sale was terrible, possibly because it gave such a stink at MMOs that people could have doubted that our game would run on low-end systems.

The team has always believed in the MMO genre. I remember that 1 million players in North America were the boldest predictions everyone dared to. The majority of the team believed that a quarter of a million (which was still great) was there where our subscriptions floated. We knew that the game would be fun, but the subscription model made us very nervous. It had never been proven in front of a random audience, especially after EAS The Sims Online flopped.

Given the fact that you have laid a massive and beloved property in a completely new direction, how much pressure was exercised on them to make it completely okay?

The pressure was mainly directed to the team 1 guys who have done that Warcraft 3. The two games were largely developed at the same time, so we could expand their dynamics. Her game expanded the warcraft universe, not ours, so we do not mind that you are our heat shield. We also tested beimin printing so much that we felt comfortable where we went. Everything felt so well that there were no concerns.

So many people have ideas as they can expand the game. The problem was never what to do, but what to do next.

How has the development process changed over the years when your goals have shifted from bringing the game and continue to add content?

I joined when 20 people were in a team, and we have shipped with about 65 developers. The team size was a big change. Hundreds of developers made the corporate culture structured and predictable. Productivity is always the price if predictability is desired. Kevin Kelly has written a great book called The control about how productivity is influenced by various types of organizations. Vanilla BEINUTIND was powered by a low-management system. Therein were tons of waste that were little predictable, but far more productive goods. The key is the setting of motivated employees.

Can you talk to us about the challenges that it brings with it to add a massive game to a massive game over a long period of time?

A trick is to get the old content alive. Press dead zones. Another problem is to create content for the hardcore and casual play audience. It is as if you have to build two different games ... except that you have to exist side by side, so you have to connect the random rewards constantly with the high-end rewards, so that players have the feeling, playing and participating in the competition Can equal space (such as world events and PVP areas). The developers in the team would now be better equipped to answer this question.

How did you make sure that you will find opportunities for so many years of the game to add fresh, new and exciting content?

It was not a problem. So many people have ideas that you can expand the game. The problem was never what to do, but what to do next. There is always a list of systems and content developers you want to try. The only consideration was not to avoid too good rewards. The developers do not want to create any objects that inflate the power too much, as the players want to upgrade a few months later. You also want to avoid a new system that is currently fun to players.

How did you find a balance between the satisfaction of your dedicated player base and the search for new players?

The above answer speaks a bit about the equilibrium problem. A quest designer could probably give you a better answer, you are the game really to bring the game to the random audience. Honestly, developing gameplay that makes fun in many ways, really the key, because simple mouth propaganda attracts new players.

To make a continuation makes no sense when developers can easily upload live updates. I suppose you could call Katastrophe (or an extension) a continuation. I really doubt that Blizzard will ever create it WOW 2.

From all the dungeons, battles and content for which you worked beimpressend is one of them in the course of the years especially their personal favorite?

I like Lower Blackrock Spire and Blackrock Depths. Your layouts immerse the players in credible ecosystems. It feels like going through a living, breathing activity zone. I like dungeons that have a sense of place, purpose and affiliation. The players have the feeling that they sneak into the house of another when they go down the chains to the FRD and go somewhere, where they should not be.

During all your time with Blizzard to work on it BEINUMSTEND Have you ever been a conversation about how long her the game is still expanding before you decide you for a continuation? Is that something you think that it could happen in foreseeable time?

To make a continuation makes no sense when developers can easily upload live updates. I suppose you could call Katastrophe (or an extension) a continuation. I really doubt that Blizzard will ever work it WOW 2 The power of economic point of view simply no sense, especially as you could say, things like Wow classic splits the beinin printing audience.