Blizzard North - Revision history

Aaron of Mpls: /* Background */ fixed redlink

2013-04-07T11:53:40Z

‎Background: fixed redlink

Flux: /* Blizzard North's Version of Diablo III */

2011-11-03T01:48:33Z

‎Blizzard North's Version of Diablo III

Flux at 20:59, 23 October 2011

2011-10-23T20:59:23Z

Flux at 07:29, 18 March 2011

2011-03-18T07:29:57Z

Flux: /* Diablo III Continuity */

2011-03-18T07:24:58Z

‎Diablo III Continuity

Leord at 22:03, 16 June 2010

2010-06-16T22:03:46Z

Leord at 11:05, 8 June 2010

2010-06-08T11:05:24Z

Flux: Created page with 'Blizzard North was a design studio located in San Mateo, in Northern California. They became part of Blizzard after Blizzard purchased Condor Inc, the game design company created…'

2009-12-31T20:47:33Z

Created page with 'Blizzard North was a design studio located in San Mateo, in Northern California. They became part of Blizzard after Blizzard purchased Condor Inc, the game design company created…'

New page

Blizzard North was a design studio located in San Mateo, in Northern California. They became part of Blizzard after Blizzard purchased Condor Inc, the game design company created by Dave Brevik, Erich Schaefer, and Max Schaefer, the creators of Diablo I. Blizzard North produced Diablo I, Diablo II, and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. After the release of D2X in 2001 they continued working on two unannounced projects, one of them Diablo III. Delays and problems ensued, the "Big Four" ([[Bill Roper]], plus the three company founders; [[David Brevik]], [[Max Schaefer]], and [[Erich Schaefer]].) left in early 2003 to form Flagship Studios, and Blizzard North ultimately closed in summer 2005, without ever announcing, much less releasing, another game.

Almost all the remaining employees of Blizzard North were offered contracts at Blizzard Irvine, and while some took those jobs, most quit and looked for work at other game developers in the Bay Area.

==Diablo III Continuity==

According to various insider accounts, virtually none of the early work completed on Diablo 3 remains in the current version, which was begun almost entirely from scratch by a new team in Irvine in 2005. Bill Roper discussed this in an interview in early 2009. [http://www.incgamers.com/Interviews/175/bill-roper-talks/2]

::''IncGamers.com: Blizzard North had previously been working on the third Diablo, from what I understand?
::'''Bill Roper:''' There was definitely work on it up north, but whenever something switches to a different team or a different lead, they pretty much tend to scrap everything.

::''IncGamers.com: So everything was just thrown out, and started again?
::'''Bill Roper: '''I would guess so, but I have no actual knowledge of what they did or didn't do, as that was well after we were gone. But I wouldn't be surprised – there's hardly anybody from the original team or even the Diablo 2 team that's there – so my guess would be that they thought “Great, we have this awesome thing that we're working on,” so the designers and artists there would now be able to put their visions into the Diablo universe. Nothing that I've seen looks like anything I ever did with the game, so I would imagine they got rid of the vast majority of what I did when I was there.

[[category:Blizzard]]

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 ==Background==
-Blizzard North became part of [[Blizzard Entertainment]] after Blizzard purchased Condor Inc, the game design company created by [[Dave Brevik]], [[Erich Schaefer]], and [[Max Schaefer]], the creators of [[Diablo I]].
+Blizzard North became part of [[Blizzard Entertainment]] after Blizzard purchased Condor Inc, the game design company created by [[David Brevik|Dave Brevik]], [[Erich Schaefer]], and [[Max Schaefer]], the creators of [[Diablo I]].
 Blizzard North produced [[Diablo I]], [[Diablo II]], and [[Diablo II: Lord of Destruction]]. After the release of D2X in 2001 they continued working on two unannounced projects, one of them [[Diablo III]].

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:48, 3 November 2011
Line 22:		Line 22:
	Though Blizzard has never made any official comment on the changes to the project during development, some unofficial info surfaced in 2010 and 2011. Screenshots (allegedly) from the Blizzard North version surfaced in February 2011, showing levels set in the High Heavens[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/the-first-screenshots-from-blizzard-norths-version-of-diablo-iii/]. A couple of months later, Max Schaefer revealed in a podcast interview[http://www.diablopodcast.com/the-diablo-podcast-episode-one/] that work was underway on Diablo III when he left the company in 2003, and that the early plans were for an MMORPG, with a setting similar to that of Diablo II (and not in the High Heavens, indicating that design came in after 2003).		Though Blizzard has never made any official comment on the changes to the project during development, some unofficial info surfaced in 2010 and 2011. Screenshots (allegedly) from the Blizzard North version surfaced in February 2011, showing levels set in the High Heavens[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/the-first-screenshots-from-blizzard-norths-version-of-diablo-iii/]. A couple of months later, Max Schaefer revealed in a podcast interview[http://www.diablopodcast.com/the-diablo-podcast-episode-one/] that work was underway on Diablo III when he left the company in 2003, and that the early plans were for an MMORPG, with a setting similar to that of Diablo II (and not in the High Heavens, indicating that design came in after 2003).

		+	* See the [[Blizzard_North%27s_Diablo_III\|Blizzard North's Diablo III article]] for many more details and visuals of this issue.

	==Diablo III Continuity==		==Diablo III Continuity==

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Background==
 Blizzard North became part of [[Blizzard Entertainment]] after Blizzard purchased Condor Inc, the game design company created by [[Dave Brevik]], [[Erich Schaefer]], and [[Max Schaefer]], the creators of [[Diablo I]].
 Blizzard North produced [[Diablo I]], [[Diablo II]], and [[Diablo II: Lord of Destruction]]. After the release of D2X in 2001 they continued working on two unannounced projects, one of them [[Diablo III]].
@@ Line 16: / Line 15: @@
 Delays and problems ensued, the "Big Four" ([[Bill Roper]], plus the three company founders; [[David Brevik]], [[Max Schaefer]], and [[Erich Schaefer]].) left in early 2003 to form [[Flagship Studios]], and Blizzard North ultimately closed in summer 2005, without ever announcing, much less releasing, another game.
-Almost all the remaining employees of Blizzard North were offered contracts at Blizzard Irvine, and while some took those jobs, most quit and looked for work at other game developers in the Bay Area.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 '''Blizzard North''' was a game developer studio located in San Mateo, in Northern California that created [[Diablo I]] , [[Diablo II]] and [[Diablo II: Lord of Destruction]].
@@ Line 20: / Line 23: @@
 According to various insider accounts, virtually none of the early work completed on Diablo 3 remains in the current version, which was begun almost entirely from scratch by a new team in Irvine in 2005. [[Bill Roper]] discussed this in an interview in early 2009. [http://www.incgamers.com/Interviews/175/bill-roper-talks/2]
-::''IncGamers.com: Blizzard North had previously been working on the third Diablo, from what I understand?
+::'''''IncGamers.com:''' Blizzard North had previously been working on the third Diablo, from what I understand?
 ::'''Bill Roper:''' There was definitely work on it up north, but whenever something switches to a different team or a different lead, they pretty much tend to scrap everything.
-::''IncGamers.com: So everything was just thrown out, and started again?
+::'''''IncGamers.com: '''So everything was just thrown out, and started again?
 ::'''Bill Roper: '''I would guess so, but I have no actual knowledge of what they did or didn't do, as that was well after we were gone. But I wouldn't be surprised – there's hardly anybody from the original team or even the Diablo 2 team that's there – so my guess would be that they thought “Great, we have this awesome thing that we're working on,” so the designers and artists there would now be able to put their visions into the [[Diablo universe]]. Nothing that I've seen looks like anything I ever did with the game, so I would imagine they got rid of the vast majority of what I did when I was there.

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:24, 18 March 2011
Line 26:		Line 26:
	::'''Bill Roper: '''I would guess so, but I have no actual knowledge of what they did or didn't do, as that was well after we were gone. But I wouldn't be surprised – there's hardly anybody from the original team or even the Diablo 2 team that's there – so my guess would be that they thought “Great, we have this awesome thing that we're working on,” so the designers and artists there would now be able to put their visions into the [[Diablo universe]]. Nothing that I've seen looks like anything I ever did with the game, so I would imagine they got rid of the vast majority of what I did when I was there.		::'''Bill Roper: '''I would guess so, but I have no actual knowledge of what they did or didn't do, as that was well after we were gone. But I wouldn't be surprised – there's hardly anybody from the original team or even the Diablo 2 team that's there – so my guess would be that they thought “Great, we have this awesome thing that we're working on,” so the designers and artists there would now be able to put their visions into the [[Diablo universe]]. Nothing that I've seen looks like anything I ever did with the game, so I would imagine they got rid of the vast majority of what I did when I was there.

		+	* Consult the [[Diablo III History]] article for much more detail about the creation of Diablo III, starting in 2000 at Blizzard North.

	==References==		==References==

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:05, 8 June 2010
Line 13:		Line 13:
	::'''Bill Roper: '''I would guess so, but I have no actual knowledge of what they did or didn't do, as that was well after we were gone. But I wouldn't be surprised – there's hardly anybody from the original team or even the Diablo 2 team that's there – so my guess would be that they thought “Great, we have this awesome thing that we're working on,” so the designers and artists there would now be able to put their visions into the Diablo universe. Nothing that I've seen looks like anything I ever did with the game, so I would imagine they got rid of the vast majority of what I did when I was there.		::'''Bill Roper: '''I would guess so, but I have no actual knowledge of what they did or didn't do, as that was well after we were gone. But I wouldn't be surprised – there's hardly anybody from the original team or even the Diablo 2 team that's there – so my guess would be that they thought “Great, we have this awesome thing that we're working on,” so the designers and artists there would now be able to put their visions into the Diablo universe. Nothing that I've seen looks like anything I ever did with the game, so I would imagine they got rid of the vast majority of what I did when I was there.

		+
		+	{{Blizzard navbox}}

	[[category:Blizzard]]		[[category:Blizzard]]