Reasons given publicly for the delay included the creation of new cutscenes to replace the ones already in the game, and the introduction of unannounced features. Combined with the delay of StarCraft, the setbacks to Warcraft Adventures were troubling to Blizzard, as they resulted in no flagship titles being launched in 1997. Redesign by Steve Meretzky Hoping to bring Warcraft Adventures up to company standards, Blizzard Entertainment contracted adventure game designer Steve Meretzky as a consultant in early 1998. Meretzky had created Infocom titles such as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Planetfall, and had recently released The Space Bar with Boffo Games. Blizzard saw him as an expert in the genre, who could correct any mistakes that the team had made due to inexperience. By the time Meretzky was hired, Warcraft Adventures had reached the alpha stage and was almost finished. Voice recording and most of the visuals were complete, and the game could be played from beginning to end, albeit with software bugs. According to Meretzky, the results were seen internally at Blizzard as "good, but not great", and he personally felt that the game's "art was not terrific and the design was only adequate." Meretzky spent a week at Blizzard's Irvine headquarters in mid-February 1998, during the final crunch period for StarCraft. The goal of his visit was to review the entirety of Warcraft Adventures in detail, and to help the team improve the game with minimal changes to the art and story already created. Bill Roper later said that the game had cost "a decent chunk of change", and was "under serious time and budget constraints" that precluded a heavy redesign. Discussing Meretzky's involvement publicly at the time, Susan Wooley of Blizzard stated that the company "wanted to make sure we weren't getting too close" to Warcraft Adventures. Meretzky proceeded to work 10- to 14-hour days alongside the team, and collaborated with Roper and Chris Metzen on a revised plan for the game, including dialogue and gameplay additions and a total overhaul of the user interface. The plan also entailed edits to the game's puzzles, and the creation of certain new art assets. Meretzky said that he and the team "moved some scenes around and added a little bit and tried to be surgical", to avoid heavy increases in budget and development time. After his week at Blizzard's main office, Meretzky returned to Massachusetts and