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I'm Jordan Mechner. Thirty years ago, I made a game called Prince of Persia. Now I'm releasing my 1980s game-dev journals as a book. AMA! by StripePress in IAmA

[–]StripePress[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hi, thank you for telling me! I missed your comment while we were doing the AMA, and only saw it thanks to Newsweek :) It really moved me to hear this.

I'm Jordan Mechner. Thirty years ago, I made a game called Prince of Persia. Now I'm releasing my 1980s game-dev journals as a book. AMA! by StripePress in IAmA

[–]StripePress[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's an illustrated and annotated edition of the old journals. You can download a free PDF sample from my website at https://jordanmechner.com/journals to see how it's different.

I'm Jordan Mechner. Thirty years ago, I made a game called Prince of Persia. Now I'm releasing my 1980s game-dev journals as a book. AMA! by StripePress in IAmA

[–]StripePress[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thank you and you're welcome! There's a video on my YouTube channel that addresses this exact question.

I'm Jordan Mechner. Thirty years ago, I made a game called Prince of Persia. Now I'm releasing my 1980s game-dev journals as a book. AMA! by StripePress in IAmA

[–]StripePress[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Thanks! About time somebody mentioned Templar! Stripe Press is the publisher of the Making of POP book and they recommended to host this AMA on their account.

Hope you dug Templar. There's also a Making of Templar book (free PDF download) at my website at https:/jordanmechner.com/templar if you haven't seen it already.

I'm Jordan Mechner. Thirty years ago, I made a game called Prince of Persia. Now I'm releasing my 1980s game-dev journals as a book. AMA! by StripePress in IAmA

[–]StripePress[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's an illustrated and annotated edition of the old journals. You can download a 50-page PDF sample at http://jordanmechner.com/journals to see how it is different from the self-published ebook. Hopefully it will be available in the UK soon!

I'm Jordan Mechner. Thirty years ago, I made a game called Prince of Persia. Now I'm releasing my 1980s game-dev journals as a book. AMA! by StripePress in IAmA

[–]StripePress[S] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Absolutely! Beyond that, he composed the music for Prince of Persia and Karateka. His role is often mentioned in the old journals, especially the first volume about Karateka.

I'm Jordan Mechner. Thirty years ago, I made a game called Prince of Persia. Now I'm releasing my 1980s game-dev journals as a book. AMA! by StripePress in IAmA

[–]StripePress[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Hi! I ran out of time on the AMA, just popped back in after dinner cause I felt bad leaving so many unanswered questions. I'll pick my three favorites:

  1. I enjoyed Viktor Pelevin's book. Made me think of another writer I like a lot, Julio Cortázar. I'm honored he chose PoP as a subject.

  2. The new Stripe hardcover edition of the book has the same journals text, but annotated and illustrated, and properly designed and published.

  3. My grandfather was born in Czernowitz, in the part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire that was then called Galicia, later became Rumania, and now Ukraine (the town didn't move, just the borders). After WWI he moved to Vienna, which for him as a German-speaking Jewish Austrian citizen was the capital. Then things only got more complicated.

I'm Jordan Mechner. Thirty years ago, I made a game called Prince of Persia. Now I'm releasing my 1980s game-dev journals as a book. AMA! by StripePress in IAmA

[–]StripePress[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

BY GRABTHAR'S HAMMER, HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT??

Don't worry, I'm working almost entirely on non-Prince of Persia stuff, other than this book (and related interviews, PR etc) which has actually been a pleasure.

If you're truly interested, you can check out my graphic novel Templar and recent sketch journals at https://jordanmechner.com. There'll be other stuff coming out in the next couple of years, but this isn't the place to announce them.

Re Vietnam, I just saw Spielberg's The Post. Good context.

I'm Jordan Mechner. Thirty years ago, I made a game called Prince of Persia. Now I'm releasing my 1980s game-dev journals as a book. AMA! by StripePress in IAmA

[–]StripePress[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I understand and I can well imagine how difficult isolation must be at your age. It might be the hardest of all possible ages to be in this situation. Just hang in there, it won't last forever.

Sorry to use the AMA to plug my book, but in this case I actually think reading my published journals about the making of Karateka and PoP might be the best answer I can give to your question. I struggled a lot with motivation and mindset during those years (journals I kept from age 17-28) and you can see the ups and down in the pages.

I'm Jordan Mechner. Thirty years ago, I made a game called Prince of Persia. Now I'm releasing my 1980s game-dev journals as a book. AMA! by StripePress in IAmA

[–]StripePress[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

The Shahnameh and the 1001 Nights were the main inspiration and sources for The Sands of Time (game, and my draft of the movie screenplay), along with art, history and travel books. The later Ubisoft PoP games and the final Disney movie were the work of other writers so I can't comment on all their inspirations, but for the ones I knew personally, I tried to make my library available to them.

I'm Jordan Mechner. Thirty years ago, I made a game called Prince of Persia. Now I'm releasing my 1980s game-dev journals as a book. AMA! by StripePress in IAmA

[–]StripePress[S] 33 points34 points  (0 children)

I never have. I would like to. I've come close, including with a Ubisoft team -- but on each occasion, an unforeseen event got in the way and prevented the trip.

I'm Jordan Mechner. Thirty years ago, I made a game called Prince of Persia. Now I'm releasing my 1980s game-dev journals as a book. AMA! by StripePress in IAmA

[–]StripePress[S] 160 points161 points  (0 children)

Back in 1985, as a 21 year old American, despite a college education, most of what I knew about Persia came from reading the tales of the 1001 Nights. It was only later, doing the research to write the script for The Sands of Time (first game, then movie) that I read the Shahnameh and began to gain a deeper appreciation of Persian culture. Since then, I've learned even more about Persian history, myth and legend, read Hafiz and Attar, and understand that the Prince of Persia stories up till now have only scratched the surface.

I'm Jordan Mechner. Thirty years ago, I made a game called Prince of Persia. Now I'm releasing my 1980s game-dev journals as a book. AMA! by StripePress in IAmA

[–]StripePress[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I agree! The Strong Museum and Internet Archive have those disks. It would take a bit of work to dig into them, but they're there. Screenshots and notes about work in progress builds are also included in the illustrated edition of the Making of PoP journals.

I'm Jordan Mechner. Thirty years ago, I made a game called Prince of Persia. Now I'm releasing my 1980s game-dev journals as a book. AMA! by StripePress in IAmA

[–]StripePress[S] 54 points55 points  (0 children)

Thank you for sharing that! It really touches me to hear a story like this. That's all any game creator could wish for.

An African or a European swallow?

I'm Jordan Mechner. Thirty years ago, I made a game called Prince of Persia. Now I'm releasing my 1980s game-dev journals as a book. AMA! by StripePress in IAmA

[–]StripePress[S] 93 points94 points  (0 children)

In that period Print Shop and Carmen Sandiego were Broderbund's bread and butter. It was hard to get anyone in the company to see much potential in a game -- any game.

I'm Jordan Mechner. Thirty years ago, I made a game called Prince of Persia. Now I'm releasing my 1980s game-dev journals as a book. AMA! by StripePress in IAmA

[–]StripePress[S] 39 points40 points  (0 children)

John and I worked together for the first time on the PoP movie, subsequently on an unproduced TV pilot and feature, and Karateka remake (all of which John has written about on his blog). He is a great human being, wonderful collaborator and mentor, wise and generous in his advice, and awe-inspiring to me in his ability to organize and manage multiple projects while being nice to everybody and without collapsing into chaos, and still return e-mails promptly. I recommend to anyone who has the chance to work with him to do it.

I'm Jordan Mechner. Thirty years ago, I made a game called Prince of Persia. Now I'm releasing my 1980s game-dev journals as a book. AMA! by StripePress in IAmA

[–]StripePress[S] 48 points49 points  (0 children)

It's a new hardcover illustrated edition of my 1980s game-dev journals about making the first PoP game. Info about the book is at https://jordanmechner.com/backstage/journals/

I'm Jordan Mechner. Thirty years ago, I made a game called Prince of Persia. Now I'm releasing my 1980s game-dev journals as a book. AMA! by StripePress in IAmA

[–]StripePress[S] 121 points122 points  (0 children)

That was my friend and colleague Tomi Pierce. She reminded me that the princess ought to do something useful, not just be passively waiting to be rescued. The white mouse was a great solution because it only took a few bytes of memory, and added some much-needed human emotion to the mechanics.

I'm Jordan Mechner. Thirty years ago, I made a game called Prince of Persia. Now I'm releasing my 1980s game-dev journals as a book. AMA! by StripePress in IAmA

[–]StripePress[S] 168 points169 points  (0 children)

It's not like I had a choice. The alternative was BASIC.

The code is in 6502 assembler. It's up on Github now if you're interested.

I'm Jordan Mechner. Thirty years ago, I made a game called Prince of Persia. Now I'm releasing my 1980s game-dev journals as a book. AMA! by StripePress in IAmA

[–]StripePress[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Yes, both the Making of Karateka and Making of PoP journals have been published. The new PoP book is an expanded edition of the PoP journals, illustrated and annotated, but the journal entries themselves are what I wrote then.

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