Leonard Boyarsky
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Leonard Boyarsky is an American
computer game designer Video game design is the process of designing the rules and content of video games in the Video game development#Pre-production, pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the Video game development ...
and
visual artist The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...
. He is one of the key designers of the video games ''
Fallout Nuclear fallout is residual radioactive material that is created by the reactions producing a nuclear explosion. It is initially present in the radioactive cloud created by the explosion, and "falls out" of the cloud as it is moved by the ...
'' and ''
Diablo III ''Diablo III'' is a 2012 online-only action role-playing dungeon crawling game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment as the third installment in the ''Diablo'' franchise. It was released for Microsoft Windows and OS X in May 2012, ...
''.


Early life

After he earned a
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
in Illustration (at
Cal State Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public research university in Fullerton, California, United States. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the California State ...
) and a bachelor's degree in Fine Art (at
Art Center College of Design The ArtCenter College of Design is a private art college in Pasadena, California. It was incorporated in 1930 as a degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the visual arts and design. ...
), he worked as freelance artist for Interplay and
Maxis Maxis is an American video game developer and a Division (business), division of Electronic Arts (EA). The studio was founded in 1987 by Will Wright (game designer), Will Wright and Jeff Braun, and acquired by Electronic Arts in 1997. Maxis is ...
in 1992. He has cited ''
Wizardry Wizardry may refer to: * ''Wizardry'' (video game series), role-playing video game series, originally published by Sir-Tech ** '' Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord'', the first game of the series, released in 1981 * ''Wizardry'' (The ...
'' and '' Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos'' as being his favorite video games, albeit admittedly he was more into comic books when first entering the industry.


Career


Interplay Entertainment (1992–1998)

Boyarsky joined
Interplay Entertainment Interplay Entertainment Corp. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by developers Brian Fargo, Jay Patel, Troy Worrell, and Rebecca Heineman, as well a ...
as employee number 88. After some freelance work for Interplay (''Rags to Riches: The Financial Market Simulation'' and '' Castles II: Siege and Conquest'') he was hired as art director, lead artist and designer-writer. His first work was as lead artist in 1995 was '' Stonekeep''. He was in charge of the conceptualization and implementation of 2D and 3D sprites. While at Interplay, Boyarsky met
Tim Cain Timothy Cain is an American video game developer and YouTuber best known as the creator, producer, lead programmer and one of the main designers of the 1997 video game ''Fallout''. In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creat ...
and Jason D. Anderson, the future co-founders of
Troika Games Troika Games was an American video game developer co-founded by Jason Anderson (artist), Jason Anderson, Tim Cain, and Leonard Boyarsky. The company was focused on role-playing video games between 1998 and 2005, best known for ''Arcanum: Of Steam ...
. The three met after work hours to play
Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...
and
GURPS The ''Generic Universal Role Playing System'', or ''GURPS'', is a tabletop role-playing game system published by Steve Jackson Games. The system is designed to run any genre using the same core mechanics. The core rules were first written by St ...
. Cain eventually sent an email around, proposing colleagues to meet after work hours over pizza to discuss making a video game based on an engine he had built. The five people who showed up, including Boyarsky and Anderson, would become the core team working on ''
Fallout Nuclear fallout is residual radioactive material that is created by the reactions producing a nuclear explosion. It is initially present in the radioactive cloud created by the explosion, and "falls out" of the cloud as it is moved by the ...
''. Boyarsky recalls suggesting the post-apocalyptic setting, as he and Anderson were both huge
Mad Max 2 ''Mad Max 2'' (released as ''The Road Warrior'' in the United States) is a 1981 Australian Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic Utopian and dystopian fiction, dystopian action film directed by George Miller (filmmaker), G ...
fans. Boyarsky was adamant about not making a fantasy game, due to the large number of fantasy RPGs in the market. Two years later, in 1997, he finished his work as art director on ''Fallout'', where he set the recognizable 1950s future graphics style, the humorous Vault Boy Traitcards and also the unusual ending. He also did some polishing on the dialogs for the game. Before leaving Interplay to form Troika Games with Cain and Anderson, he designed the overall gameplay refinements and main story arc, quests, areas, and characters for ''
Fallout 2 ''Fallout 2'' (also known as ''Fallout 2: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game'') is a 1998 role-playing video game developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay Productions. It is a sequel to ''Fallout (video game), Fallout'' (1997), ...
'' in 1998.


Troika Games (1998–2005)

Boyarsky had different roles at
Troika Games Troika Games was an American video game developer co-founded by Jason Anderson (artist), Jason Anderson, Tim Cain, and Leonard Boyarsky. The company was focused on role-playing video games between 1998 and 2005, best known for ''Arcanum: Of Steam ...
; among others he was project leader, art director, designer-writer and
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...
. On their first project, '' Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura'', which was released 2001, he filled similar positions as in ''Fallout'', doing the art direction, dialog writing-editing and story-quest design. He was the project leader and art director on Troika's last released game in late 2004, '' Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines''. He worked also on an untitled post-apocalyptic game which was never released due to financial trouble, though a demonstration video of the engine was later released for the public. As Troika closed in early
2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
, he took a year off due to burnout syndrome. He was later asked by
Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Irvine, California, and a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard. Originally founded in 1991, the company is best known for producing the h ...
to work on the story and RPG elements on ''
Diablo III ''Diablo III'' is a 2012 online-only action role-playing dungeon crawling game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment as the third installment in the ''Diablo'' franchise. It was released for Microsoft Windows and OS X in May 2012, ...
''.


Blizzard Entertainment (2006–2016)

Boyarsky worked as lead world designer on ''
Diablo III ''Diablo III'' is a 2012 online-only action role-playing dungeon crawling game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment as the third installment in the ''Diablo'' franchise. It was released for Microsoft Windows and OS X in May 2012, ...
'' and its subsequent expansion Diablo III: Reaper of Souls at
Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Irvine, California, and a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard. Originally founded in 1991, the company is best known for producing the h ...
. His role included fleshing out the lore, dialogue and quests in the game. He found it important to build upon the story elements of the Diablo franchise, and convey its intricacies in a more compelling way. This emphasis marked a shift for Blizzard, who had previously focused less on developing the story elements of the Diablo franchise. This shift was exemplified at 2011’s
BlizzCon BlizzCon is an annual gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to promote its major franchises including '' Warcraft'', '' StarCraft'', '' Diablo'', ''Hearthstone'', ''Heroes of the Storm,'' and '' Overwatch''. The first BlizzCon was h ...
, where
Chris Metzen Christopher Vincent Metzen (born November 22, 1973) is an American game designer, artist, voice actor, and author known for his work creating the fictional universes and scripts for Blizzard Entertainment's three major award-winning media fran ...
chaired the first-ever lore panel, with Boyarsky as the main presenter. Subsequently, Boyarsky would go on make several public appearances and became somewhat of a spokesperson for the lore and story aspects of Diablo III. Boyarsky was affectionately known as ‘LeBo’ in the Diablo fan community. A legendary gem called ‘Boyarsky’s Chip’ can be found in ''
Diablo III ''Diablo III'' is a 2012 online-only action role-playing dungeon crawling game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment as the third installment in the ''Diablo'' franchise. It was released for Microsoft Windows and OS X in May 2012, ...
'' as an homage. Its item description contains a reference to ''
Fallout Nuclear fallout is residual radioactive material that is created by the reactions producing a nuclear explosion. It is initially present in the radioactive cloud created by the explosion, and "falls out" of the cloud as it is moved by the ...
''.


Obsidian Entertainment (2016–present)

In April 2016, Boyarsky joined
Obsidian Entertainment Obsidian Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Irvine, California and part of Xbox Game Studios. It was founded in June 2003, shortly before the closure of Black Isle Studios, by ex-Black Isle employees Feargus Urquh ...
. Soon after, Feargus Urquhart has confirmed that Boyarsky and
Tim Cain Timothy Cain is an American video game developer and YouTuber best known as the creator, producer, lead programmer and one of the main designers of the 1997 video game ''Fallout''. In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creat ...
are working together on an unannounced project. Urquhart also stated that the duo were not working on then current Obsidian projects such as
Tyranny A tyrant (), in the modern English language, English usage of the word, is an autocracy, absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurper, usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defen ...
, Pillars of Eternity or ''
Armored Warfare Armoured warfare or armored warfare (American English; see spelling differences), is the use of armoured fighting vehicles in modern warfare. It is a major component of modern methods of war. The premise of armored warfare rests on the abil ...
''. Boyarsky has described the project as his “dream game”. During the 2018 Game Awards, Obsidian announced that the game Boyarsky and Cain have been working on is ''
The Outer Worlds ''The Outer Worlds'' is a 2019 action role-playing game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Private Division. Set in an alternate future, the game takes place in Halcyon, a distant star system colonized by megacorporations. In ...
'', a first-person
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
action-RPG that takes place on a terraformed
exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first confirmed detection of an exoplanet was in 1992 around a pulsar, and the first detection around a main-sequence star was in 1995. A different planet, first det ...
. The game was released for
Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
,
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...
, and
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...
on October 25, 2019.


Quotes

When later asked why he left Interplay, Boyarsky commented that After the ''Fallout'' IP was bought by Bethesda he said (in 2004):


Games


References


External links

* *
Developer Profile
a
No Mutants Allowed
Fallout Fan-Site {{DEFAULTSORT:Boyarsky, Leonard American video game designers Black Isle Studios California State University, Fullerton alumni Interplay Entertainment people Living people Nebula Award winners Obsidian Entertainment people Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)