You may not know Gary Platner, but you’ve read many of the places he worked on at Blizzard. Gary, Principal Exterior Level Designer on WoW, announces his retirement after 23 years spent within the walls of the studio in Irvine.
Gary Platner began his career at Ringler Studios where he worked on games that no one remembers today. To give you an example, he participated in the adaptation of Brett Hull Hockey on the Atari Jaguar console.
Shortly before the disappearance of the company, Gary moved to Interplay where he worked on far more significant titles. He was indeed Lead Artist on Fallout then Art Director on Fallout 2. He will also spend time on Planescape Torment, in short only games that bring sparks to the eyes of players.
Gary Platner joined Blizzard in May 1999 and joined the team responsible for Nomad, an MMO where the player could control a team of three characters. However, the management of the project is difficult, especially since Everquest has arrived and the team members find the game fantastic. Several managers then decide to go see Mike Morhaime, CEO of Blizzard, in order to propose the concept of a Warcraft in the 3rd person. The board of directors approves the idea, which will precipitate the abandonment of Nomad. WoW was kind of built on the ashes of the MMO.
Although several members of the team left the studio, Gary remained at Blizzard and made his way to become Lead Environment Artist on World of Warcraft in 2006. At the time, the game was such a success that Blizzard immediately wanted to put an extension under construction. Gary decides to divide the artistic team into four smaller groups, each of which will focus on a specific discipline. It is under his responsibility that the trees, the land, the sky and all the elements that contribute to making the open world alive are born. In 2016, Gary rose to prominence and became responsible for environmental graphics, a position he held until today.
After 23 years at Blizzard, Gary is giving up his apron and heading for new adventures. He’s not an employee you often see on the front lines, but he still hosted several conferences at BlizzCon. It was also found in the series Azeroth Choopers and he also signed an article on the official blog dedicated to Spiers of Arak.