Forging Worlds: Stories Behind the Art of Blizzard Entertainment - by Micky Neilson (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

To celebrate Blizzard's 30th anniversary, a gorgeous retrospective on artistry at Blizzard and the impact the studio has left emblazoned on gaming history.
For thirty years, Blizzard has been pushing boundaries and breaking expectations of what it means to draw for video games. Get a glimpse behind the curtain at how art has evolved at Blizzard and meet some of the artists who've shaped Blizzard's style and range to what it is today. Discover how art cross-pollinated amongst game teams and how grassroots movements from fans inspired some of Blizzard's most iconic artwork. With insights from more than fifty artists, animators, designers, and storytellers, this sweeping compendium is fans' ultimate keys to the kingdom of three decades in Blizzard artistry.

Dig into the technical side of Blizzard polish--how light bounces around optimistic Overwatch scenes but seeps through the cracks in Diablo.

Explore the development history behind your favorite games, including how Blizzard's fallen games helped produce some of the studio's most iconic heroes.

Pore over never before seen images of the worldbuilding process, how levels and landscapes were born from post-it doodles and whiteboard sketches.

About the Author

Micky Neilson is a two-time New York Times best-selling author whose graphic novels, Ashbringer (#2 on the list) and Pearl of Pandaria (#3) have both been published in six languages. As one of the first writers at Blizzard Entertainment, he has more than two decades of experience in the cutting edge of the gaming industry. In 2016 Riverdale Avenue Press published his memoir Lost and Found: An Autobiography About Discovering Family, available wherever books are sold. He has also self-published three horror novels in his original series The Turning, on Amazon. In 2017 Micky was tapped to write The Howling: Revenge of the Werewolf Queen, a comic book continuation of the beloved 1981 Joe Dante horror film The Howling. Also in 2017 Micky completed the Call of Duty Field Manual, a companion book to the best-selling video game Call of Duty World War II. Most recently, Micky has written his first original sci-fi novel, Ridgerunners, as well as co-writing the illustrated novel Strange Highways.