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One of WoW's First Level Designers to Explore the Making of World of Warcraft - World of Warcraft -
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
One of WoW's First Level Designers to Explore the Making of World of Warcraft - World of Warcraft - MMORPG.com
World of Warcraft News - If you're fan of World of Warcraft, a new book in the works called "World of Warcraft Diary" may be of interest. The author named John Staats was one of the original level designers and someone who worked on WoW for 10 years. He will be providing readers with the inside story of the development of the biggest and most successful MMORPG ever made. In order to bring his book to fruition, Staats has started a KickStarter initiative to raise $400,000.
Comments
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I self identify as a monkey.
I'm backer #3
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
You HONESTLY believe that game developers make millions? The companies they worked for, perhaps. But developers are not all that well paid and work horrific hours. *facepalm*
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
And how is it this guy can even do this project given that Blizzard just body slammed the people who wanted to do voice overs of quest text?
Seems to me this is something that Blizzard is highly likely to kill... since money will be changing hands.
If you read the Kickstarter, he has permission from Blizzard for the book.
For those of you poo-pooing the Kickstarter, does it ever occur to you that authors get signing bonuses and enter into contracts with companies to publish their books? This author is bypassing signing contracts and bonuses and eliminating the middleman. Given the huge interest in WoW and the fact he worked on it for 10 years means that, at least theoretically, he has the pull to ask for that much on KS.
*shrugs* Whatever. Everyone backs things that they find worthy. If the project funds, I'll have a shiny, interesting new book to read. If it doesn't, I'm no worse for the effort since no funds are removed.
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No, not cutting out the middle man as he will still need a publisher to put out the book in the long term. What he is doing is waiting for others to fund his project while he sits back and doesn't look for investors. It is lazy development these days, instead of doing legwork and finding someone that believes in your project to back you, you do a kickstarter instead. Sure if you did actual look and find investors they get a cut in the future because they funded you but that is part of the cost of business when you don't have the funds yourself. Overall kickstarter is horrible as it has no protections whatsoever, except the not meeting the goal part, unlike some of the other funding projects which actually hold the people that start them accountable for actually completing the work if they get the money. How many kickstarters have done another kickstarter because they realize that they didn't get enough the first time around?
I would love to see this made and would buy it, but I am not stupid enough to give money away to people who don't have an product, unless I am going to be an investor and with kickstarter you are nothing.
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Still sore that they axed that project. Something the fans really came together for and something WoW could have really benefited from as a whole. Also something Blizzard is incapable / too lazy of doing themselves. Though you have to religiously defend things in today's world as if give someone an inch, they'll take a mile. Still, it would have been a nice gesture for them to find a way or to allow such (since it's an optional addon) so long as just read the dialog (which they were).
IMO MOST decisions gone into this recent version of the game are terrible and i assume why so many keep yelling for vanilla Wow.Even still vanilla is better but still not good,the game design decisions repel me similar to their other games,they seem to not understand what exactly they are designing as well managing to ruin some of the fun aspects of the game.
I think i mentioned it before,lack of shaders/lighting in Wow is really obvious and looks amateur.So what is this book/person going to tell us,how he made amateur looking maps?
Then even if i said WOW those map layouts are amazing,they seem to have an automated system of slapping mobs in a zone.They look to have exact spacing and litter landscapes making simple travel with your mount annoying as hell.
When i wander around Wow maps,i usually just say wtf every couple minutes,there is THAT much wrong with everything their team does.
When i talk to the average Wow player,not those serious RAID people but he average player,i ALWAYS get the feeling they don't pay attention to ANY map or even the game,their goal is always the same>>>>completionist's.Then you think Raid players care about that map,pfft they are there to SPEED run and get loot and nothing more.Yes even the random dungeon finder is just players rushing through to finish and get the loot,NOBODY cares about the level design or even the game.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
So ? Work horrific hours? Then tell them to stay home? I don't get it. You get a job , and you work for someone else. Wanna be vice-versa? Well .. be smarter.
In this case , Blizzard success is based on smart guys. They started from zero. They deserve it.
Reporter: What's behind Blizzard success, and how do you make your gamers happy?
Blizzard Boss: Making gamers happy is not my concern, making money.. yes!
Agree, plus they might work horrific hours, but I bet Blizzard doesn't pay them peanuts either. They get a lot more then they invest (talking about their time). High salary + working for Blizzard opens a lot of doors for their future.
As for those that don't work for Blizzard. Most still get decently high salaries and no matter what they work on their resumes only get better and not worst.
There are a ton of people who work even more horrific hours, but don't get paid even 1/5 of what those devs get so they can't get any sympathy from me.
I work for myself and I also work horrific hours btw, but I do enjoy what I do, so I don't mind
I only see a few rewards left and they are $40.00. It seems like this is being used more as a pre-order (if I get x amount of orders it will be worth it to do it) type of thing.
Also it doesn't look like it's going to fund.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
But he shares his own experience. This is not the same.
He is giving you a book for your money, you are getting a house with my money and 0 return to me... seems pretty logical here, it’s not like Hes saying give me money so I can publish it then pay for the book, you back the project you get a book.
Going in to contracts with companies is different than letting "the people" pay for it up front. A company is an entity, not a person.
"Yeah, this campaign isn't going to happen. LOL. I had some really bad advice. I'll reboot it with 1/10th of a target and give it 30 days to clear. Thanks for your support."
That really inspires me to donate...