Cryptic CCO, Blizzard Veteran Bill Roper To Keynote GDC China

Bill Roper, the former Blizzard executive who now serves as chief creative officer for MMO developer Cryptic Studios, will deliver a keynote address at the 2010 Game Developers Conference China in Shanghai this December, event organizers announced today. In his keynote presentation, Roper will "speak to the future of game development" in a wide-ranging speech on his career and views on the industry, according to an official statement. Best known for the decade he spent at Blizzard, Roper was heavily involved in all of the studio's franchises starting with its first PC game, WarCraft: Orcs & Humans, on which he served as producer. Over his time with Blizzard, he contributed in a variety of roles to StarCraft and Diablo as well, and became most associated with Diablo after becoming a VP at that series' creator, Blizzard North. After leaving Blizzard in 2003, Roper co-founded Flagship Studios, which produced the online action-RPG Hellgate: London before the company folded. Since late 2008 he has been the CCO at Cryptic Studios, the original developer of City of Heroes and now the company behind Champions Online and Star Trek Online. "We are delighted to host such a luminary as Bill Roper for the keynote address," said event director Meggan Scavio in a statement. "Bill's expertise helps cement GDC China's place as the essential event for learning, networking, and inspiration for the Chinese game development community." This year marks the third GDC China event, to be held from December 5 to 7 in Shanghai -- more information on the event, which is created by the UBM TechWeb Game Network, as is this website, is available on the official event website.