The Making of Prince of Persia
Journals 1985-1993
by Jordan Mechner · first published 2011
70% recommend27% neutral2% critical
Why HN recommends it
Jordan Mechner's 1985-1993 diary records his real-time doubts, setbacks and ambitions while building the game, free of hindsight. Suits makers, indie devs and 80s-90s gamers who want an honest look at creating.
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For those of you who haven't read them, Jordan Mechner's "The Making of Prince of Persia" is one of the most engaging things I've read online. http://jordanmechner.com/old-journals/ Just realized there's an e-book now... I'll probably get it.
on “Prince of Persia creator finds lost source code 23 years later” ↗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” ↗…redefinition/hijacking of a word that's been in use since long before 2008 to mean exactly "independent" in many different art forms. EDIT: You may find it interesting to read Jordan Mechner's journals about the making of Prince of Persia as a solo dev (published by Broderbund, so not quite fitting the indie self distribution model today, but otherwise fairly similar). They used to be available online, which may not be true anymore, but…
on “‘Braid’ creator sacrifices his fortune to build his next game” ↗Good luck. Enjoy the process. Would recommend reading Jordan Mechner's Journal on the Making of Prince of Persia https://jordanmechner.com/store/the-making-of-prince-of-pers...
on “Ask HN: I'm quitting my job, will create a game – any advice?” ↗Just buy - The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985-1993 (Book #2 in the Mechner Journals Series) By Jordan Mechner highly recommended as 90s gamer
on “How we made hit video game Prince of Persia” ↗…a page-turner despite being pretty aware of the events (spoiler: Obama wins 2012). There's a section about the Obama campaign's digital strategy which is interesting. Also read Jordan Mechner's "The Making of Prince of Persia", which is snippets of his diary from working on the game. It's insanely interesting, very sad I couldn't read more from his life (especially the making of Last Express).
on “Ask HN: What is HN reading?” ↗I enjoyed "The Making of Prince of Persia" [1]. It is a journal and thus misses out on some of the dramatic storytelling the strong, contrasting personalities of Romero and Carmack provided Masters of Doom. However, I found it very interesting…
on “John Carmack's adolescent years (2003)” ↗…ubiquitous Internet, knowledge about game programming was HARD to come by), makes it a unique feat. For those interested, another incredibly interesting and related reading is Jordan Mechner's recount of the making of Prince of Persia : http://www.jordanmechner.com/backstage/journals/
on “"Another World" source code review (2011)” ↗If you like this, Jordan Mechner did a great series of journals about the making of Prince of Persia which you can buy in book form and I think also read for free on archive.org
on “The making of Dark Castle” ↗…just created a file so the list could be augmented at: https://github.com/jhadjar/Notes/blob/master/creation_proces... ----- Not sure it's exactly what you're looking for, but I really liked: - The Making of Prince of Persia - Jordan Mechner - Masters of Doom - David Kushner. - Founders at Work - Jessica Livingston (aggregate of stories) Pretty cool in different ways: - The first shows how the author documented a good chunk…
on “The Autodesk File (2017)” ↗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/ 'From Bedrooms to Billions:…
on “Ask HN: Recommendations on books and documentaries on tech companies/people?” ↗…recommend other similar resources? I guess what really strikes a chord with me is the arc, not only "in" the game, but of the journey to make the game. One book I enjoyed on an emotional level was "The Making of Prince of Persia"[2] by Jordan Mechner. I also enjoyed "Masters of Doom"[3] by David Kushner, but more on the merit of good research, which I really respect. I don't want a montage, I want the story with the suffering…
on “Game Design Curriculum” ↗The Making of Prince of Persia and Karateka books by Jordan Mechner are also very good.
on “Great books on classic video games” ↗Not a new book. But I definitely recommend it, as well as The Making of Prince of Persia by Jordan Mechner. Interesting reads about fascinating times.
on “Sid Meier's Memoir: A Life in Computer Games” ↗A lot of the information here are present in the journal of Jordan Mechner which I found was a very interesting dive into the making of Prince of Persia including doubts and difficulties anyone who tried to create things can probably relate to. Thats a very good read and a great gift to anyone who try to make things on his own : https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1468093657/ref=tmm_pap_swatch...…
on “Jordan Mechner vs. the sands of time” ↗