Posted December 31, 1969 by Tim Moore

When Bill Roper, David Brevik, and the Schaefer brothers Erich and Max announced they had left Blizzard it sent a wave of shock through the gaming community. A few weeks later those same four announced a new game development company called FlagShip Studios. In this interview, I caught up with ex-Blizzard North employee and one of the key members of the Diablo and Diablo II development team, Bill Roper, to ask him a few questions about this new company.

First off, I would like to thank Bill Roper for kindly agreeing to take the time out of his busy schedule to answer these questions.

: Can you tell us when FlagShip Studios was started?

Bill Roper: We started the company in July of 2003, doing about a hundred things at once immediately after our departure from Blizzard. In all honesty, we took one day off to let the shock of leaving settle in, and then it was all about getting together and figuring out what our first game as a new company would be.

: Why did you choose FlagShip Studios as the name of your new company?

Bill Roper: When we were talking to publishers about what kind of game we wanted to make, it kept being referred to as, ?a real flagship title?. We just kept hearing that and decided it would be both a great goal to set for ourselves and a great name as well. We wanted a name we had to live up to that also identifies that we have a lot of experience as developers. We like to find ways to motivate ourselves, and having a name like Flagships sets that high bar for ourselves.

Also, we had recently seen Pirates of the Caribbean and a few of us were beta-testing Puzzle Pirates, the nautical theme was running through our heads pretty strongly.

: Can you tell us anything about your upcoming game? Maybe its name?

Bill Roper: Unfortunately, no. It's just too early to talk about what we are doing because we will make so many changes between now and when we announce the game and show it for the first time, it could be pretty different. All I can say is stay tuned to our website and as soon as we have more we can say, we will let you know!

: How many staff do you currently have working at FlagShip Studios? Do you have an army of peons working for you behind the scenes?

Bill Roper: We have nine people here now. The company was founded by David Brevik, Max Schaefer, Erich Schaefer, Bill Roper, and Kenneth Williams. Joining us as additional co-founders are David Glenn, Peter Hu, Philip Shenk, and Tyler Thompson. We all worked together at Blizzard North for many years, some of us on all of the Diablo games, so we have a great core team from which to grow.

: What about the peons?

Bill Roper: umm?they are only holiday..,:D

: And finally, where is your company based? Do you have any intentions to move in the future?

Bill Roper: We all live in the San Francisco area and intend to stay here for quite some time. We love the city and the climate, and talk about great food!

: Thank you!