This is a great interview with Jordan Mechner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQVB7tP1JIg
How we made hit video game Prince of Persia
81–90 of 113 posts
Re: How we made hit video game Prince of Persia
#82The developers of Prince of Persia still talking about the game more than 30 years later seems very bizarre to me. I remember a game called Flashback having very a similar graphical sprite animation innovation around the time PoP was released and I remember it being very fun to play, but nobody talks about it the same way. What's the deal with Price of Persia?
If you liked Flashback, try an earlier release (also from Delphine software) called Out of this World/Another World
Re: How we made hit video game Prince of Persia
#83I 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.
Oh, Karateka. I had the flawed Atari 7800 version as a kid.
Re: How we made hit video game Prince of Persia
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
Prince of Persia came out in 1989, while Flashback arrived in 1992. In the late 80s and early 90s, pc video game tech was evolving at a breakneck pace, a 3-year gap was an eternity. Prince of Persia ran quite well on an 8-bit XT, Flashback needed a 16-bit 286. They are basically from a different era, and Flashback was surely inspired by PoP.
The 8088 had an 8-bit data bus, but I don't think I would call it (or the XT) "8-bit" overall. By the same logic, a 386SX or 486SLC is "16-bit".
Fair point
Re: How we made hit video game Prince of Persia
#85In my elementary school, we used to have something called computer class, where we just played the 2D Prince of Persia game, which was always in an air-conditioned room :) Many of us were obsessed with this game and the act of using a keyboard. Those perfectly timed jumps necessary to move to the next level are etched in my memory :)
Re: How we made hit video game Prince of Persia
#86I 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. Aft…
That is awesome! I love the origin stories.
Re: How we made hit video game Prince of Persia
#87When I was a kid, my grandparents were involved in a pretty decent intercontinental floppy disk piracy ring. They would buy and clone software sold locally and send it forward and get copies of games in response. My parents ran a small business converting peoples university notes/recordings into well written essays. My grandparents had a PC with Prince of Persia, and as payment for my parents essay writing services o…
My first real paycheck job was a store in Beaverton Oregon that would buy and sell software. Folks would buy the software, copy the disc, bring it back to us to and we would reseal and sell it. I was always more interested in the actual hardware side and spend most of my day helping the pc tech. I think the store got sued eventually for basically pirating Windows.
Re: How we made hit video game Prince of Persia
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
Aren't there low cost courier services in your country which all they do is bring your stuff from the US? In my country, bringing packages from amazon, ebay, etc cost 2.5$ for a pound.
Re: How we made hit video game Prince of Persia
#89I 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.…
Another notable mechanic was the rewind. Didn't see that again until Braid, which really went to town with it.
Re: How we made hit video game Prince of Persia
#90I 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.…
Somehow in my mind the animation of it and Another World/Out of this World felt similar, and way outside everything else that was available at the time. The games even felt very similar, but I never got particularly far in either so that could well be just the perspective of youth.