Questifer

Principal Content Designer at Crop Circle Games. Formerly New World at Amazon Games and World of Warcraft at Blizzard Entertainment. All opinions are my own and do not represent my employers, past or present.

[questifer]

So one of the lifestyle upgrades I've made since leaving Blizzard was getting a dog. This is my ESA, Layla. She gets me up in the morning and huffs and grumps at me at night until I go to sleep. She gives me structure, joy, and companionship while I work exclusively from home.

Today she demonstrated the purity of her heart and her obsession with helping me carry small items.

[questifer]

It's Been A While

Some of you have been following me on Twitter for quite a while now, but for everyone else I'd like to summarize just where I've been and what I have been up to since I left Tumblr. I was going to write this out all in one post, but as it turns out recapping 3 years' worth of dramatic life and career events is a lot. So today, I'll be posting only the first part: Why I left Blizzard and what happened next.

Chapter One: The End of an Era

Last time I was active on here, it was around the 2019 Blizzcon in which I helped create the Bastion Blizzcon Demo. It was a hard Blizzcon and many who were staying with me at the con may have noticed that I was struggling to enjoy myself. As it turned out, the journey up to shipping that demo had been extremely difficult for me. I didn't know it at the time, but I was also in the throes of a 6 month long manic episode. To summarize without going into too much detail, I became extremely paranoid about my coworkers talking behind my back, making choices without consulting me that impacted my work, and dismissing me when I raised concerns. That paranoia manifested in anger that I struggled to contain and so I damaged several important work relationships along the way. I also was barely sleeping, had developed extreme caffeine sensitivity, and ended up at urgent care for gastritis and heart palpitations on more than one occasion. At its peak, I would come home from work and scream-cry on my floor and contemplate either quitting or committing suicide. It became very clear to me that this wasn't your run-of-the-mill creative psychosis that comes over me on occasion when the work itself gets hard. I'll get into the diagnosis, how my psychiatrist and I recognized the manic episode, and how I got to where I am now in a later post. By the time COVID hit and we were all sent home in March 2020, I could not have been happier to get out of the office with people I no longer trusted or thought liked me at all. All at once the social pressure to put on a happy face, respond to people walking up to my desk randomly, and moderate my chaotic emotional state evaporated. With the context of only being perceived while on video calls, I gained the ability to control how I interacted with others. I thought this change in attitude would improve my relationship with my peers, but sadly it didn't. They had already decided I was a horrible collaborator and no longer advocated for me behind closed doors. In truth, I don't really blame them, but I do wish they had given me the benefit of the doubt. It was not business as usual up in my brain-meats. After 4 months of more of the same, I updated my resume and browsed LinkedIn for roles that raised my interest. In truth I had been daydreaming about something new, something with less baggage, but my love for WoW, my team, and Blizzard was still extremely strong. I was very conflicted about leaving. When an opportunity arose to work with a studio in Sweden on an IP that I really liked, it presented a rather romantic idea of what my life could be. I could break clean with all that had been going on at Blizzard. I could live somewhere new and different. I could finally prove that I was not just a WoW quest designer, but a game designer of considerable skill. My friends and family were encouraging but I did not hear them when they brought up very reasonable concerns. Was it too far? How would I do without a support system? Was there another way to accomplish my goals? It was extreme, and I knew it, but a part of me felt that the world would just prevent me from going if I wasn't meant to. And that's how I learned just how easy it was to sell almost everything I owned, pack my life into 3 suitcases, get on a plane, and suddenly live in Sweden.

And with that, I'll pick up with the Sweden Saga in my next post.

[questifer]

Twitter’s Exploding

So I guess I’m back! But the blog will need a lot of overhauling as uh... I am no longer a quest designer on World of Warcraft!

[questifer]

I don’t think I’ll be spending much more time on tumblr. I’m leaving the blog up purely so I can catch the odd DM that comes my way (still happens occasionally), but my presence is entirely available on twitter now. Find me @CallMeQuestifer More than happy to talk shop, squeal about games and story, or just swap memes. It’s been wild, y’all.

[questifer]

Oh Lort She Tweet

I finally pulled the trigger. I'm on twitter now. Find me @CallMeQuestifer

[questifer]

Questifer Blizzcon Schedule

Since I won’t be hosting a dedicated meet-up this year, I figured some folks might want to hang out. Here’s how it shakes out:

Thursday, 10/31, evening: Hanging out at Con Before The Storm

Friday, 11/1, 3PM to 10PM: Working the World of Warcraft demo

Saturday, 11/2, 3PM to 4PM: At the World of Warcraft signing tables

Feel free to say hi!

[questifer]

Today, in the Quest Pit

“I’m gonna turn that bench into a missile. Benches love missiles.”

[questifer]

Hello, it's a shame that things didn't work out for a Blizzcon2019 tumblr meet-up, but it might be nice to meet up some pointy during the convention if you've got any time. Maybe we can find the artist behind Quel'Fabulous and see if we can talk them into doodling some of those impossibly fluffy chickens they draw so well. Sincerely, Ghosts Of Kezan (Maxla-Sisters Of Elune)

Might be able to arrange this. What do you think, @quelfabulous ?

[questifer]

Ah yes. Let the datamining and no-context speculation and reaction cycle begin.

[questifer]

[questifer]

Nothing quite like ending a day with your bug list empty, your task list complete, and doing so well before hitting overtime.

Game design can be intensely stressful, no doubt, but ultimately the payoff comes when you get to look back on what you made and see the finished product. I’m not quite there yet, but today was a significant milestone in the process for this thing I’m working on. :) I can see the finish line now, at least!

[questifer]

Have you ever had the chance to put a story into the game that you've always wanted to see told?

Before I got this job I was a huge fan of draenei lore. Still am, but I was then too. So when I was assigned to Argus and given a chance to flesh out the culture of the ancient Eredar in addition to telling the story of the flight from Argus I was ecstatic. Absolutely a dream come true. I've worked on a lot of things I'm passionate about but nothing really compares to being able to write for your favorite race.

[questifer]

I am curious. Were the honey-colored bunnies of Stormsong taken into account when creating the jelly nodes for the bee mount?

Yep.

[questifer]

What are some obscure Warcraft characters you adore? Doesn't have to be from the game, it could be from the books!

I don’t know about obscure, but I really want to know what Valtrois and Stellagosa are up to rn.

[questifer]

If you could get any Warcraft asset a modern-day remaster, which one would you do? For example, a sword model or statue etc.

This actually already happened. Druid tier 6 was my favorite armor set ever, and we uprezzed it in Tomb of Sargeras if I’m not mistaken. :) 

[questifer]

Dat cinematic tho. (No spoilers here.)

I do find it pretty interesting how people react when they don’t have 3 months of no-context datamining and streamers telling them how to feel about the story. Watching genuine, immediate reactions to the story was pretty gratifying. There are still going to be a variety of opinions on the direction and contents of the story, but for the most part I feel encryption was a net gain for us as storytellers.

[questifer]

Stormsong Valley’s Newest Hive is the Bee’s Knees - WoW

Discover what beekeepers are abuzz about in Stormsong Valley.

Fun anecdote: While working on this, every single time I spoke to a new person about the bee mount, they would start subconsciously dragging out the word ‘be’ when spoken out loud. Also I have a pun license and I am not afraid to use it. Bees.