The Wow Diary: A Journal of Computer Game Development [Second Edition] - by John Staats (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The WoW (World of Warcraft) Diary offers a rare, unfiltered look inside the gaming industry written by the game's first level designer, John Staats.

The World of Warcraft Diary offers a rare, unfiltered look inside the gaming industry. It was written by the game's first level designer, John Staats, from notes he took during WoW's creation. The WoW Diary explains why developers do things and debunks popular myths about the games industry. In great detail he covers the what it took to finish the project; the surprises, the arguments, the mistakes, and Blizzard's formula for success. The author includes anecdotes about the industry, the company, the dev team; how they worked together, and the philosophy behind their decisions.

The WoW Diary is a story made from notes taken during the dev team's four-year journey. It is a timeline of Vanilla WoW's development cycle, a time-capsule with an exhausting amount of details that also looks at the anatomy of computer game studio. In order to illustrate how all the parts of computer game company work together, he interviewed everyone from the company's founders to his former teammates; and the supporting departments who helped make WoW a reality.

About the Author

John Staats was born and raised in Akron, Ohio. He earned a BFA from Kent State University's Visual Communication Design program and spent ten years in advertising in NYC. Before joining Blizzard he had decades of amateur level design experience, from tabletop games to first-person shooters. After his time in the computer game industry he wrote "The World of Warcraft Diary" based on notes he took during his tenure on WoW. His homepage, whenitsready.com, marks the progress of his various projects, including an upcoming board game based on boss fights, dungeons, and item drops.