Bill Roper (video game producer)
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Bill Roper is a video game designer and has been a well-known person in the worldwide gaming industry since 1994.
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[edit] Blizzard Entertainment
Roper served as a Vice President of Blizzard North and was a Director of Blizzard Entertainment from 1994 - 2003. He oversaw and managed all external projects, coordinated internal development teams, and headed Blizzard's project oversight teams where he was instrumental in shaping the direction of the company's games.
Bill Roper worked directly on numerous million-selling games in varied producer positions and played a key role in the success of the Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo franchises. He also acted in and assisted with the direction of the voice recording for Blizzard’s titles, as well as personally representing the games to the global gaming community.
[edit] Flagship Studios
After his departure from Blizzard Entertainment, he co-founded and held the position of CEO for Flagship Studios, the developer of Hellgate: London (which met with poor reception at its launch[1][2][3][4]) and Mythos (which was never released).
Amidst rumors of layoffs within the company[5], the company dissolved and lost the rights to both Mythos and Hellgate: London to Hanbitsoft and Comerica[6] respectively; the Asian market partner and the bank which held up the intellectual property rights as collateral on loans taken to buy time to find investors.[7] HanbitSoft currently owns the intellectual property rights to Mythos while the rights to Hellgate: London are still in the hands of Comerica.
[edit] Cryptic Studios
In November 2008 Roper joined Cryptic Studios as Design Director and Executive Producer of their newest project, Champions Online.[8] At New York Comicon 2009, Roper told the audience that he "played Champions as a kid" and that his efforts to get involved in Cryptic's beta test for Champions Online led to his being offered a job at the company.[9]
[edit] Honors
Roper was named #41 in IGN's Top 100 Game Creators of All Time. [10]
[edit] Game titles
Roper has worked on the following titles:[11]
- Blackthorne (1994) - Music
- Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (1994) - Producer, Voiceover, Documentation
- Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (1995) - Design, Narration, Voiceover, Documentation
- Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal (1996) - Executive Producer, Story Consultant, Narration, Voiceover
- Diablo (1996) - Producer, Voice Production, Casting & Directing, Story, Voiceover, Documentation, Strike Team
- StarCraft (1998) - Producer, Voiceover, Documentation, Strike Team
- StarCraft: Brood War (1998) - Executive Producer, Voiceover, Caterer, Documentation
- Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition (1999) - Producer
- Diablo II (2000) - Senior Producer, Voice Casting, Voiceover, Strike Team
- Diablo II: Lord of Destruction (2001) - Global Launch Team, Strike Team
- Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (2002) - Voiceover, Strike Team
- Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (2003) - Voiceover
- Hellgate: London (2007) - CEO for Single Players
- Champions Online (2008) - Design Director
[edit] Music work
Roper has also performed at the California Renaissance Pleasure Faires, as the character "Captain Black" since 1994. He is the co-founder and music author of the Poxy Boggards, a folk band. He sings baritone and tenor with the group and was featured on their most recent album "Anchor Management" playing tenor and baritone saxophones, tuba, and tin whistle.[12]
[edit] Controversy
Largely because of the failure of Flagship Studios after its poorly-received title Hellgate: London, Bill Roper has been extensively criticized by gamers.[13] Roper acknowledges the game as a failure, but believes he has learned from the experience.[14]
[edit] References
- ^ "Hellgate: London (pc: 2007): Reviews". Metacritic.com. 2007-10-30. http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/hellgatelondon?q=Hellgate. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
- ^ "Top 5 Botched PC Gaming Launches". 1up.com. http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3166996. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
- ^ http://www.tomsgames.com/us/videos/second_take_worst_games_of_2007.html
- ^ "The MMO Report: Friday, February 1st". G4tv.com. http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/682534/The_MMO_Report_Friday_February_1st.html?detectflash=false&. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
- ^ "FSS Senior Developer speaks out at You Got Flagshipped". Flagshipped.com. http://www.flagshipped.com/2008/06/05/fss-senior-programmer-speaks-out. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
- ^ "Flagship Founder Bill Roper Interview". 1up.com. http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=0&cId=3169356. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
- ^ Linde, Aaron (2008-03-26). "Comments - Hellgate: London Receives Additional Financing; Flagship Uses Sales Rights As Loan Collatoral - Shacknews - PC Games, PlayStation, Xbox 360 and Wii video game news, previews and downloads". Shacknews. http://www.shacknews.com/laryn.x?story=51935. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
- ^ "Cryptic Studios Hires Industry Veteran Bill Roper | Champions Online Official Site". Champions-online.com. 2008-11-03. http://www.champions-online.com/node/154. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
- ^ New York Comicon 2009 Panel: Cryptic Studios
- ^ Bill Roper: Top Game Creator
- ^ "IMDB profile". Imdb.com. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0974546/. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
- ^ Poxy Boggards band members
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
