Bill Roper
From WoWWiki
Bill Roper is a former Blizzard Entertainment game developer.
In 1991 he joined Blizzard, he worked in the game Blackthorne and in the voices of Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, finally he became a full-time employee on August 1st, 1994. He was able to work in many things: from game design to producing, manual concept and layout to voice casting, directing and acting to music, and being a member of several strike teams that provide high-level feedback to the development teams.[1] He served as a Vice President of Blizzard North and was a Director of Blizzard Entertainment from 1994 to 2003.
He and some colleagues left Blizzard because of frustration at the lack of communication with Vivendi management and a dearth of opportunities for them to participate in deciding Blizzard's destiny.[2] After Bill Roper left Blizzard, he went on to co-found Flagship Studios.
During his employment by Blizzard, Roper worked in the following games:
- Blackthorne (1994) - Music
- Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (1994) - Producer, Voiceover, Documentation
- Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (1995) - Design, Narration, Voiceover, Documentation
- Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal (1996) - Executive Producer, Story Consultant, Narration, Voiceover
- Diablo (1996) - Producer, Voice Production, Casting & Directing, Story, Voiceover, Documentation, Strike Team
- StarCraft (1998) - Producer, Voiceover, Documentation, Strike Team
- StarCraft: Brood War (1998) - Executive Producer, Voiceover, Documentation
- Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition (1999) - Producer
- Diablo II (2000) - Senior Producer, Voice Casting, Voiceover, Strike Team
- Diablo II: Lord of Destruction (2001) - Global Launch Team, Strike Team
- Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (2002) - Voiceover, Strike Team
- Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (2003) - Voiceover
Voice actor
Besides being a producer, a musican or a story consultant, he voiced several Warcraft Universe characters. In Warcraft: Orcs & Humans Roper voiced all the units.W1ManH 35W1ManO 35
In Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness he voiced the peons, grunts, the footmen, the elves, the ships of both Alliance and Horde besides being the narrator.[3] In Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal he reprised his role as the narrator, but also voiced Danath, Grom Hellscream[3] and Kargath, besides of the use of the recycled sounds from Tides of Darkness.
In Warcraft Adventures he couldn't make the voice acting of his characters because they were using all union actors and he wasn't in the union; so Roper would have to have needed a special contract signed to be able to work as a voice actor on the game, however, it was possible that Blizzard used previously recorded works, and so he got in the game with recycled sounds.[4]
In Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos he appeared as the footmen, peons, and grunts,[3] but didn't reprised his role as Grom Hellscream. In Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne he voiced the grunts again besides the recycled sounds of Reign of Chaos.
In World of Warcraft, during the quest Counterattack! the recycled voices of the grunts from Warcraft III are used. As he now doesn't work with Blizzard he didn't reprise his role as Kargath nor Danath in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.
