Stay Awhile and Listen by David L. Craddock

Like a good movie from action movie director Luc Besson, after the exciting beginning we get a bit of a backstory and training montage. They knew immediately that they had something special. Pulling together a cadre of other developers, the team sprung into action to help rescue Blizzard North co-founder Max Schaefer from the acid dogs that had slain him. Stay Awhile and Listen kicks off with what was a frequent end for many of us – a painful death deep in the dungeons of Diablo, and the inevitable reality that a corpse run was going to be a painful experience. Craddock spins a tale around each of the quotes that make up the meat and potatoes of this book, making it a surprisingly cohesive narrative through the humble beginnings of the company at Condor, the pitching of a little game called Diablo, and all of the technical hurdles that somehow all came together to create some of our most beloved franchises. The book’s journey is told through extensive interviews and personal backstory anecdotes alongside the author’s well-written connective webbing to tie it all together. People like David Brevik, Max Schaefer, Rick Seis, Allen Adham, Bill Roper, and Brian Fargo who went on to do incredible work both inside and outside of the walls at Blizzard. Not the company itself, but the people that ran it, built it, and have turned out some of the most profitable franchises in the history of gaming. Craddock did that, and quite a bit more in the first of his book series entitled “ Stay Awhile And Listen”.

If you’ve ever trolled through the official forums, you likely understand what I mean when I say “ reading the blue posts.” Well, author David L.

Stay Awhile and Listen by David L. Craddock