Story 2: His Bet: The Entire Company. His Prize: The Future of Gaming.

What does it take to bet your entire company on a single idea?
For Don Daglow, the pioneering designer and founder of Stormfront
Studios, the answer was to risk everything on a concept the world
had never seen: a graphical online role-playing game.


In this episode of "Behind the Scenes," recorded live at devcom
2025, we sit down with Don Daglow for a masterful look back at
the birth of a genre. This isn't just the story of Neverwinter
Nights; it’s the story of a high-stakes gamble in the wild west
of the games industry, where three competing titans—AOL, SSI, and
TSR—were united by a single, audacious vision.


We dive deep into the pivotal moments that made it all possible,
from a legendary "green light" meeting in a Dungeons &
Dragons-themed castle in Las Vegas to the single most important
moment of Don's career—a story that involves a quiet hotel suite,
a direct question, and a handshake that sealed the fate of his
entire company.


This episode is a powerful look at the reality of game
development before it was a corporate machine, the immense
personal risk required to innovate, and the invaluable lessons
learned from betting it all on a "Holy Grail" project.


In this episode, you will learn:


Why Neverwinter Nights was considered a "Holy Grail" that
other developers had tried and failed to achieve.

The incredible story of the handshake deal that represented
the ultimate "bet-the-company" moment.

How Don Daglow navigated the complex, high-stakes
partnerships between AOL, SSI, and the creators of Dungeons &
Dragons.

The clever technical and design compromises that were
necessary to make the world's first graphical MMORPG a reality.

Why the groundbreaking and successful game was ultimately
shut down due to a business decision, not failure.






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