If you like that, you'll like this: https://www.filfre.net/2016/10/how-jordan-mechner-made-a-dif...
And an awful lot more written by Jimmy Maher on that site.
How we made hit video game Prince of Persia
61–70 of 113 posts
Re: How we made hit video game Prince of Persia
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
It was also incredibly difficult. As a kid I couldn’t go beyond the first level. It was also difficult to attack the enemy at the right time. But still it was an amazing experience whenever I played it. I felt the pressure and the need to start again like no other game nowadays. But maybe that’s just because I was a kid.
I don't think it was just because you were a kid, if I recall correctly the controls were incredibly unresponsive. Probably a technical reason, that they couldn't or didn't want to interrupt an animation easily, but still. Years later though, and games like Dark Souls and Monster Hunter have a similar sluggishness / unresponsiveness to them. But it doesn't feel as unfair in those games.
I feel like unresponsive controls must have been a platform or hardware issue. On my (...Dell with Windows 3.1?) the controls were perfectly responsive, and they absolutely had to be. So many things relied on being able to, say, run and switch directions on a dime so that only your toe touched the platform that would then fall and break.
Re: How we made hit video game Prince of Persia
#63I have a soft spot for Prince of Persia, but I have an even softer spot for Karateka, its (rotoscoped) predecessor on an ancient green phosphor Apple //e, a computer (and an age) where everything seemed possible.
The first two games to fall in love with - Karatéka and then Alley Cat.
Desperately trying to jump on that bin to avoid the dog only to be pushed back by another cat peering over...
simple but good times
Re: How we made hit video game Prince of Persia
#64I love the 'How we made the...' series on the guardian. They also do it for songs, movies etc. Really interesting to hear the back stories.
Re: How we made hit video game Prince of Persia
#65I really enjoyed Jordan Mechner's graphic memoir Replay. It's a multi-generational family history and personal reflection interwoven together.
Re: How we made hit video game Prince of Persia
#66Like I suspect many here reading the story, I grew up with Prince of Persia and remember it fondly as one of my favorite games from my youth.
It's very interesting to see the filming material used for rotoscoping the characters.
I find it very funny that when they filmed the actress doing the princess (it's cool to see her doing the swirl with her skirt to face the Prince!) they were young nerdy men interacting with an attractive young actress, and they were pretty shy about it! I think Jordan Mechner recounts this somewhere, probably his book about the making of PoP.
(The book is something I really want but never decided to pull the trigger, go figure. Maybe because I already read a lot of it way back when it was a free blog?).
Re: How we made hit video game Prince of Persia
#67I will always have a soft spot for the original Prince of Persia. It was one of those games I played constantly as a child, although only when my dad would let me use his Apple ][c. I only realize it now but it had some very unique game mechanics that even today you don't see very often (ok maybe that's a bit of a stretch but the mechanics were novel to me back then): - Notably you have 60 minutes to finish the game.…
Likewise, but for different reasons: We had a [pirated] copy of the game, and thus didn't have the manual.
Down here in my city in Mexico that's basically how everyone played it, so most of us played only the first level.
At some point, I was tinkering with the "x tree gold" program and saw the "hex view" thing. I remember opening Prince's .sav file, which was a very small file that only appeared after you saved. After tinkering with the numbers I managed to appear in the next level .
It was my 5 minutes of fame at my computer class when I arrived and showed that I had passed the bottles room.
And I became fascinated by cracking at that point.
Re: How we made hit video game Prince of Persia
#68Like I suspect many here reading the story, I grew up with Prince of Persia and remember it fondly as one of my favorite games from my youth. It's very interesting to see the filming material used for rotoscoping the characters. I find it very funny that when they filmed the actress doing the princess (it's cool to see her doing the swirl with her skirt to face the Prince!) they were young nerdy men interacting with…
Assuming we’re talking about the Stripe Press book: if you email me and if you have a US address I’d be glad to mail you my totally unread copy which is mostly just gathering dust for me. (Email in profile.)
Re: How we made hit video game Prince of Persia
#69Like I suspect many here reading the story, I grew up with Prince of Persia and remember it fondly as one of my favorite games from my youth. It's very interesting to see the filming material used for rotoscoping the characters. I find it very funny that when they filmed the actress doing the princess (it's cool to see her doing the swirl with her skirt to face the Prince!) they were young nerdy men interacting with…
Assuming we’re talking about the Stripe Press book: if you email me and if you have a US address I’d be glad to mail you my totally unread copy which is mostly just gathering dust for me. (Email in profile.)
I really appreciate the offer. I live in South America, so this is a no-go.
How come you didn't read it? Did you lose interest?
Re: How we made hit video game Prince of Persia
#70If you haven't already seen it, I highly recommend watching the "War Stories" video on the making of Prince of Persia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw0VfmXKq54 On a related note, I also highly recommend the "War Stories" video for the making of Crash Bandicoot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izxXGuVL21o
That, and more, is available from Jordan Mechner’s site https://www.jordanmechner.com . Prince of Persia info at https://www.jordanmechner.com/en/library/#pop
Yes, specifically buying options for the book are on this page: (recommended) https://www.jordanmechner.com/en/books/journals