Bill Roper (video game producer)

Bill Roper is a video game developer and has been a well-known figure in the worldwide gaming industry for thirteen years. He served as a Vice President of Blizzard North and was a Director of Blizzard Entertainment from 1994 - 2003. Roper 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.

After his departure from Blizzard Entertainment, he co-founded and held the position of CEO for Flagship Studios, the developer of "" (which was met with poor reception [http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/hellgatelondon?q=Hellgate] [http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3166996] [http://www.tomsgames.com/us/videos/second_take_worst_games_of_2007.html] [http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/682534/The_MMO_Report_Friday_February_1st.html?detectflash=false&] ) and Mythos (which was never finished). Amidst rumors of layoffs within the company [http://www.flagshipped.com/2008/06/05/fss-senior-programmer-speaks-out] , followed by a reaffirmation that everything was alright [http://forums.hellgatelondon.com/showthread.php?t=101425] , the company dissolved and lost the rights to both Hellgate: London and Mythos to Comerica [http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=0&cId=3169356] , a bank in which they held up the intellectual property rights as collateral on a loan they took out back in March 2008 [http://www.shacknews.com/laryn.x?story=51935] . HanbitSoft currently owns the intellectual property rights to Mythos.

Roper has also performed at the California Renaissance Pleasure Faires, as the character "Captain Black" since 1994. He is the co-founder of the renaissance-themed group, "The Poxy Boggards" [http://www.poxyboggards.com] , and sings baritone and tenor with the group.

Game titles

Below follows an incomplete list of games he has worked on, and the type of work he contributed to each title. For additional info, see his [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0974546/ IMDB profile] .
* "Blackthorne" (1994) - Music
* (1994) - Producer, Voiceover, Documentation
* (1995) - Design, Narration, Voiceover, Documentation
* (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
* (1998) - Executive Producer, Voiceover, Documentation
* (1999) - Producer
* Diablo II (2000) - Senior Producer, Voice Casting, Voiceover, Strike Team
* (2001) - Global Launch Team, Strike Team
* (2002) - Voiceover, Strike Team
* (2003) - Voiceover
* (2007)

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0974546/ IMDB profile]
* [http://www.flagshipstudios.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=29 Official bio at Flagship Studios]
* [http://www.frictionlessinsight.com/archives/2002/08/being-blizzard.html Interview with Bill Roper on stardom, Korea and fun]
* [http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,1020/ Developer bio at MobyGames]
* [http://www.blizzplanet.com/content/104/ Interview]
* [http://archive.gamespy.com/interviews/july03/billroper/ July '03 Interview with GameSpy.com]