Bill Roper

Developer BIO

Bill Roper has been a well-known figure in the worldwide gaming industry for over a decade. He served as a Vice President of Blizzard North and was a Director of Blizzard Entertainment. Bill 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 games.

From 1994 to 2003, Bill 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 series. Roper also served as a producer on several Macintosh versions of these games and worked as a member of the project oversight teams for the console versions of Warcraft II: The Dark Saga, Diablo, and StarCraft 64.

Bill applied his education in Commercial Music with vocal emphasis from California State University, Long Beach, by both acting in and assisting with the direction of the voice recording for the Warcraft, Diablo, and StarCraft franchises. He also personally representing the games to the global gaming community.

He left the company in 2003 to co-found Flagship Studios where they created Hellgate: London where he was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company. Following the game's rocky release in October 2007 Flagship got into trouble and was eventually closed down less than a year later.

In November 2008 it was announced Bill Roper had joined Cryptic Studios as a Design Director.

When Bill isn’t busy gaming or working on the next Flagship title, he attends too many sporting events, performs with a strangely compelling renaissance singing group and spends time relaxing with his wife, one cat, three dogs and four cars.

Websites

• The Hard-Won Wisdom of Bill Roper -- A feature interview between Gamasutra and Bill Roper (May, 2009).
• IMDb -- The IMDb profile for Bill Roper

Games Credited

• Diablo III (2012), Blizzard Entertainment Inc.
• Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two (2012), Disney Interactive Studios
• Star Trek Online (2010), Atari Europe S.A.S.U.
• Champions Online (2009), Atari, Inc.
• Hellgate: London (2007), Namco Bandai Games America Inc.
• Psychonauts (2005), Majesco Entertainment Company
• Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (2003), Blizzard Entertainment Inc.
• Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (2002), Blizzard Entertainment Inc.
• Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (Collector's Edition) (2002), Blizzard Entertainment Inc.
• Diablo II: Lord of Destruction (2001), Blizzard Entertainment Inc.
• Kingdom Under Fire (2001), Gathering
• Diablo II (2000), Blizzard Entertainment Inc.
• Diablo II (Collector's Edition) (2000), Blizzard Entertainment Inc.
• StarCraft 64 (2000), Nintendo of America Inc.
• Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition (2000), Blizzard Entertainment Inc.
• StarCraft (1998), Blizzard Entertainment Inc.
• StarCraft: Brood War (1998), Blizzard Entertainment Inc.
• Warcraft II: The Dark Saga (1997), Electronic Arts, Inc.
• Diablo (1996), Blizzard Entertainment Inc.
• Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal (1996), Blizzard Entertainment Inc.
• Justice League Task Force (1995), Acclaim Entertainment, Inc.
• Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (1995), Blizzard Entertainment Europe
• Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (Demo Version) (1995), Blizzard Entertainment Inc.
• Blackthorne (1994), Interplay Productions Ltd.
• WarCraft: Orcs & Humans (1994), Blizzard Entertainment Inc.