The Making of Karateka
by Jordan Mechner · first published 2012
100% recommend
Why HN recommends it
Jordan Mechner's personal journals from building the 1980s game Karateka, offering an candid, first-hand look at early computer game development; suits aspiring game developers and readers curious about gaming history.
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Jordan Mechner published his journals from the period when he made Karateka and Prince of Persia. I found them to be very inspirational. The Making of Karateka https://www.amazon.com/dp/1480297232/ The Making of Prince of Persia https://www.amazon.com/dp/1468093657/ I recommend reading them in order.
on “Two player Karateka using a 42 byte patch” ↗…you liked those: * Jordan Mechner - of Prince of Persia / Karateka [1] * Ready Player One - fiction - but in the same vein [2] [1] Jordan's website w general links: http://www.jordanmechner.com/ The Making of Karateka - 1982- 1985 : http://www.amazon.com/Making-Karateka-Journals-1982-1985/dp/... The Making of Prince of Persia - Journals 1985-1993: http://www.amazon.com/Making-Prince-Persia-Journals-1985/dp/... [2] Ready…
on “Microsoft's forthcoming Minecraft Education Edition is written in C++” ↗Recommendations in this area; Books 'The Making of Karateka' by Jordan Mechner http://amzn.eu/5iUrxxo 'The Making of Prince of Persia' by Jordan Mechner http://amzn.eu/fJ0Nfr2 Documentaries 'From Bedrooms to Billions' http://www.frombedroomstobillions.com/about-the-film https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2404567/…
on “Ask HN: Recommendations on books and documentaries on tech companies/people?” ↗If anybody wants to see how that entire creative process went, there's a "game" called "The Making of Karateka" on Steam that is a nice interactive experience telling the story of Jordan Mechner's start in the games industry and how Karateka came to be. It's a fun media experience with a lot of playable prototypes.
on “How we made hit video game Prince of Persia” ↗The book is awesome, make sure to read also Making of Karateka, about his previous game. I read both books 4 or 5 times, basically once a year everytime I start having doubts about being indie (non-game) developer.
on “The Making of Prince of Persia (2011) [pdf]” ↗…passions? Taking and highly-weighing advice from people not at the top of the field could be very detrimental to your development as an engineer. From reading books like: Coders at work, Masters of Doom, Making of Karateka, you will realize that the best engineers were driven by their ideas and projects very early on. They ended up learning to make things happen. But don't take my word for it, find these people, study their…
on “Ask HN: What topics/subjects are worth learning for a new software engineer?” ↗I love that book as well as Making of Karateka (his previous game), I read both books for 5 times and each time when I started to have doubts about my decision to be indie developer (not doing games anymore) and when I started to think about finding…
on “A 30th anniversary note to Prince of Persia fans” ↗Jordan's books "The Making of Karateka" and "The Making of Prince of Persia" are delightful stream of consciousness journals of his time working on these early pioneering titles and are a fascinating look into the history of the personal computer…
on “A platform-jumping prince – History of Prince of Persia's 1990s Ports” ↗