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The World of Warcraft Diary

Created by John Staats

If you missed Kickstarter's most-funded nonfiction book in history, you can order it here! The WoW Diary was written by the game's first level designer and covers the story behind making Vanilla WoW. With over 130 behind-the-scenes images and 336 full-color pages, it is the must-have book about game development.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Day Two's Belated Update
over 5 years ago – Fri, Aug 31, 2018 at 06:21:11 AM

Hi everyone, 

I’ve had a full 2 ½ hours of sleep last night, so I can address you with a clear and rested head. Since I’m still thanking individuals for their help with my campaign, let me once again extend my gratitude to you for backing this project. Being funded doesn’t just mean a number of preordered products; it’s the cornerstone in my publishing company, whenitsready. To illustrate what this means to me, let me belabor another Blizzard reference: The answer Mike Morhaime gave to me, when I asked him, “How can Blizzard do things that other studios can’t?” He replied simply, “It’s because we publish our own games.” 

“Owning your work” was the Mike’s formula for success. He explained Blizzard was agile enough to terminate its mistakes and double-down on promising leads. Self-publishers can organically iterate, polish, and augment their material without being weighed down by trending fads, unrealistic budgets, or contrived schedules. Owning your own projects is also uplifting. When you have skin in the game, you fight harder for success. 

Ownership is Blizzard's foundation. That is what you’ve given me. 

I’ve an interview with Wowcrendor now. After that, I’ll move my computer back into my place (I have internet again!) and that involves minor drilling and pulling wires. I hope to get some sleep. Tomorrow I’ve a 10 AM interview with LeystTV. After that, I’ll be able to focus on addressing specific questions or concerns. 

I found the post update button!
over 5 years ago – Wed, Aug 29, 2018 at 02:50:09 PM

Funded. Ok, enough of the old news. [wink]

First of all, forgive my crazy typos on the AMA on r/wow/ and Facebook, as I am hunched over a dining room table at my relative's house. Why am I here during my Kickstarter? I am here because my neighborhood's internet went out yesterday. So my fingers are killing me, my back is sore, so excuse the unwriterly manner to which my reddit and Facebook answers were cast. 

I need to collect my thoughts. I don't have a prepared, canned update of generic platitudes and gratitudes. I've reached my spamming threshold for the day. I won't ask you to retweet, share, cajole, pimp, or shout. We'll put a pin in that for tomorrow.  :D

I've more interviews and articles to pique more interests down the road. It'll be a fun journey, and there's a lot of work to do, but for now, let me simply thank you for helping me get a leg up on my new company, whenitsready. 

Thanks for believing in me. 

- John Staats