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Mechner Journals #2
The Making of Prince of Persia
Before Prince of Persia was a best-selling video game franchise and a Jerry Bruckheimer movie, it was an Apple II computer game created and programmed by one person, Jordan Mechner.
Mechner's candid and revealing journals from the time capture his journey from his parents' basement to the forefront of the fast-growing 1980s video game industry... and the creative, technical and personal struggles that brought the prince into being and ultimately into the homes of millions of people worldwide.
== What Other Creators Say ==
"Jordan's journals are remarkable. I so wish I had kept a similar record. Reading them transports me back to that place and time. We all knew this was an exciting new industry, but I don't think we had any clue what it was going to turn into during our careers. There were no schools, no books, no theories covering what we were doing. Everyone was just figuring it out on their own. Following Jordan's creative path is a great example of how to go with your own gut instinct. It's also a great inspiration, showing how persistence and determination can lead to unexpected and wonderful results."
-- Will Wright, game designer, creator of The Sims
"Mechner's journals are a time machine that takes us back to a weirdly familiar era, when ambitious young creators were making strange new video games all by themselves and making up the rules as they went. It is not a retrospective; instead, it is a present-tense diary written by the creator throughout the creation of his most influential work. It is a humbling and inspiring record of what it was like to make one of the best video games of all time. I love these journals."
-- Adam "Atomic" Saltsman, game designer, creator of Canabalt
"When an industry is brand-new, its innovators are generally so busy creating the future that they rarely have time to document the present. Luckily, Jordan Mechner did. With these journals, we can track the development of Prince of Persia from a few penciled squiggles to a global franchise. For anyone aspiring to create a game -- or any endeavor that takes months and man-hours -- Jordan's journal is sobering and inspiring."
-- John August, screenwriter of Go, Big Fish and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
== About the Author ==
Jordan Mechner is a game designer, screenwriter, filmmaker, and graphic novelist. He created Prince of Persia, Karateka, and The Last Express.
His graphic novel Solomon's Thieves is also featured on Amazon.
Mechner's candid and revealing journals from the time capture his journey from his parents' basement to the forefront of the fast-growing 1980s video game industry... and the creative, technical and personal struggles that brought the prince into being and ultimately into the homes of millions of people worldwide.
== What Other Creators Say ==
"Jordan's journals are remarkable. I so wish I had kept a similar record. Reading them transports me back to that place and time. We all knew this was an exciting new industry, but I don't think we had any clue what it was going to turn into during our careers. There were no schools, no books, no theories covering what we were doing. Everyone was just figuring it out on their own. Following Jordan's creative path is a great example of how to go with your own gut instinct. It's also a great inspiration, showing how persistence and determination can lead to unexpected and wonderful results."
-- Will Wright, game designer, creator of The Sims
"Mechner's journals are a time machine that takes us back to a weirdly familiar era, when ambitious young creators were making strange new video games all by themselves and making up the rules as they went. It is not a retrospective; instead, it is a present-tense diary written by the creator throughout the creation of his most influential work. It is a humbling and inspiring record of what it was like to make one of the best video games of all time. I love these journals."
-- Adam "Atomic" Saltsman, game designer, creator of Canabalt
"When an industry is brand-new, its innovators are generally so busy creating the future that they rarely have time to document the present. Luckily, Jordan Mechner did. With these journals, we can track the development of Prince of Persia from a few penciled squiggles to a global franchise. For anyone aspiring to create a game -- or any endeavor that takes months and man-hours -- Jordan's journal is sobering and inspiring."
-- John August, screenwriter of Go, Big Fish and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
== About the Author ==
Jordan Mechner is a game designer, screenwriter, filmmaker, and graphic novelist. He created Prince of Persia, Karateka, and The Last Express.
His graphic novel Solomon's Thieves is also featured on Amazon.
332 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 14, 2011
About the author
Jordan Mechner
29 books69 followersJordan Mechner is an author, graphic novelist, video game designer, and screenwriter. He created Prince of Persia as a solo game developer in the 1980s, joined forces with Ubisoft to relaunch the series in 2003 with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and adapted it as a 2010 live-action film for Disney. Jordan's books include his game development journals The Making of Karateka and The Making of Prince of Persia, the graphic novels Templar (a New York Times bestseller) and Monte-Cristo. His games include Karateka and The Last Express. In 2017, he received the Pioneer Award from the International Game Developers Association. @jmechner on Instagram, Facebook, Mastodon and Twitter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 187 reviews
June 27, 2013
This book is supposedly about the development of the famous Prince of Persia game. In reality, it's a book about a guy who really really REALLY loves himself, and a journal about everyone who ever told him that.
I'm of the Prince of Persia generation, a game developer in my past and have a fetish for old-school development, so I figured this book would be right up my alley. The the first half of the book had some of what I expected, heavily diluted in the author's dream of grandeur, self obsession and a meticulous tally of everyone who ever confirmed his grandness to him. The second half had none of the good stuff; only the author's continuing interest in his greatness, as professed to him by other people in his life. I usually abandon books that disappoint me so much at that point, but I had a sliver of hope of running into some meaningful dialogs that have something to do with the premise of the book. I was wrong through and through.
One positively surprising aspect of the first half was an emphasis on the business end of things, something you usually don't run into in professional literature. I appreciated it, and for that I gave the book more than one star. I suspect that the book is not an authentic journal (or at least, not an unedited one like it claims to be), due to its narrative style, back references and common-place address an invisible reader who is NOT Jordan, so even the good parts I had to take with a grain of salt.
Save yourself the trouble of paying 10$ to read how great Jordan Mencher is and almost nothing about how he went about doing his work.
I'm of the Prince of Persia generation, a game developer in my past and have a fetish for old-school development, so I figured this book would be right up my alley. The the first half of the book had some of what I expected, heavily diluted in the author's dream of grandeur, self obsession and a meticulous tally of everyone who ever confirmed his grandness to him. The second half had none of the good stuff; only the author's continuing interest in his greatness, as professed to him by other people in his life. I usually abandon books that disappoint me so much at that point, but I had a sliver of hope of running into some meaningful dialogs that have something to do with the premise of the book. I was wrong through and through.
One positively surprising aspect of the first half was an emphasis on the business end of things, something you usually don't run into in professional literature. I appreciated it, and for that I gave the book more than one star. I suspect that the book is not an authentic journal (or at least, not an unedited one like it claims to be), due to its narrative style, back references and common-place address an invisible reader who is NOT Jordan, so even the good parts I had to take with a grain of salt.
Save yourself the trouble of paying 10$ to read how great Jordan Mencher is and almost nothing about how he went about doing his work.
June 22, 2019
I don't know why I keep reading these things about video games I liked in elementary school. There were no good people in the '80s or early '90s, and while the video game industry specifically sucked in a different, sleazier way than it does today, it did so in the same way the world over.
Jordan Mechner, admittedly, probably wasn't the worst person making video games at the time—he was a misogynist, of course, and a creep (though he was not yet the person who would marry a woman young enough to be his daughter—hell, she wasn't even born yet for the first year or so this book covers, much less in his life), but there was some very stiff competition on that front. He is extremely hard to like, though, mainly because he's a shiftless spoiled brat afflicted with a breath-taking sense of casual entitlement, and watching him do six months of work, if that, in roughly eight years, complaining all the while, is deeply frustrating.
Actually, a quote from the book itself sums it up:
Having been told that doesn't translate to any lasting self-awareness, however, and Mechner spends the first two years of POP's inexplicably four-year development jerking off and writing bad screenplays in the offices Broderbund provides for him, and the last four of the book, when he's supposed to be working on POP 2, flying back and forth between US coasts and European countries for absolutely no discernible reason and writing more bad, pretentious screenplays.
Mechner is, at the time of writing, a spoiled rich kid stereotype who gets everything handed to him on a silver platter for reasons that are sometimes hard to fathom but often plainly nepotism (he spends a lot more time going to dinner with people than he does working) and has never really had to deal with rejection (his first taste of it seems to be when his application to NYU gets rejected—he seems genuinely surprised and outraged by it, even though, as a colleague needs to point out, he didn't even complete his application until months after the deadline). He had two incredible strokes of luck in Karateka and Prince of Persia, mistakes them for pure personal genius, and lets them go to his head immediately and permanently.
Prince of Persia was the first video game I ever played—the DOS version, on (I think) a 386 with a monochrome monitor—and I have fond memories of it, but having read these journals I really wish it had flopped completely. Mechner more than deserved it, and it would have made him a better person.
Anyway, I don't know what kind of a person Mechner is today (I hope not to find out), and the book does deliver what it promises. It's not a development diary, but it is a diary written during development. If you're into knowing way too much about things you may enjoy it; I kind of wish I hadn't read it.
Jordan Mechner, admittedly, probably wasn't the worst person making video games at the time—he was a misogynist, of course, and a creep (though he was not yet the person who would marry a woman young enough to be his daughter—hell, she wasn't even born yet for the first year or so this book covers, much less in his life), but there was some very stiff competition on that front. He is extremely hard to like, though, mainly because he's a shiftless spoiled brat afflicted with a breath-taking sense of casual entitlement, and watching him do six months of work, if that, in roughly eight years, complaining all the while, is deeply frustrating.
Actually, a quote from the book itself sums it up:
As Adam Derman once told me in a letter (about Karateka): "You dumb shit. You've dug your way deep into an active gold mine and are holding off from digging the last two feet because you're too dumb to appreciate what you've got and too lazy to finish what you've started."
Having been told that doesn't translate to any lasting self-awareness, however, and Mechner spends the first two years of POP's inexplicably four-year development jerking off and writing bad screenplays in the offices Broderbund provides for him, and the last four of the book, when he's supposed to be working on POP 2, flying back and forth between US coasts and European countries for absolutely no discernible reason and writing more bad, pretentious screenplays.
I want to make a 7-10 minute film, with little or no dialogue, that paints a portrait of Havana in this poignant moment of transition. A way of life that most Americans have never sen and never understood is about to disappear, or at least undergo some sort of drastic change, and I want to get it on film.
Mechner is, at the time of writing, a spoiled rich kid stereotype who gets everything handed to him on a silver platter for reasons that are sometimes hard to fathom but often plainly nepotism (he spends a lot more time going to dinner with people than he does working) and has never really had to deal with rejection (his first taste of it seems to be when his application to NYU gets rejected—he seems genuinely surprised and outraged by it, even though, as a colleague needs to point out, he didn't even complete his application until months after the deadline). He had two incredible strokes of luck in Karateka and Prince of Persia, mistakes them for pure personal genius, and lets them go to his head immediately and permanently.
Prince of Persia was the first video game I ever played—the DOS version, on (I think) a 386 with a monochrome monitor—and I have fond memories of it, but having read these journals I really wish it had flopped completely. Mechner more than deserved it, and it would have made him a better person.
Anyway, I don't know what kind of a person Mechner is today (I hope not to find out), and the book does deliver what it promises. It's not a development diary, but it is a diary written during development. If you're into knowing way too much about things you may enjoy it; I kind of wish I hadn't read it.
December 20, 2020
Prince of Persia was the first video game I got addicted to as a kid, so this book held a special attraction. It's presented as an unedited sequence of journal entries, some long, some tweet-sized, some a day apart, some months apart. If it's all fake, all the more kudos for making it seem realistic.
I enjoyed the journal style, it was very intimate, though disappointingly chaste. It reminded me of how much I enjoyed The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which was in the form of letters, not a journal, but was similar in that the style itself was responsible for some of the magic. Also Isaac Asimov's 1600+ page autobiography, which I read twice I think. It all makes me wish I'd leveled up my spy skills and read more people's diaries when I had the chance. Ah who am I kidding, I'm still young! Hide your diaries boys and girls, there's a new creep in town. That's right, get off TikTok and start writing.
A few other things I liked:
- how the author managed to consistently write in a journal without boring me to death
- the credible zigzagging between the highs of extreme confidence in himself and the product, and the lows of burnout and all-consuming existential dread
- a great easter egg in his previous hit game, Karateka. I can't find it in the book for some reason, so I copy pasted it from here.
All that said, I probably wouldn't recommend this to the average reader. No, I don't mean you, you're clearly well above average. But you over there, definitely pick something else.
I enjoyed the journal style, it was very intimate, though disappointingly chaste. It reminded me of how much I enjoyed The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which was in the form of letters, not a journal, but was similar in that the style itself was responsible for some of the magic. Also Isaac Asimov's 1600+ page autobiography, which I read twice I think. It all makes me wish I'd leveled up my spy skills and read more people's diaries when I had the chance. Ah who am I kidding, I'm still young! Hide your diaries boys and girls, there's a new creep in town. That's right, get off TikTok and start writing.
A few other things I liked:
- how the author managed to consistently write in a journal without boring me to death
- the credible zigzagging between the highs of extreme confidence in himself and the product, and the lows of burnout and all-consuming existential dread
- a great easter egg in his previous hit game, Karateka. I can't find it in the book for some reason, so I copy pasted it from here.
"The programmer doing copy protection for the game figured out that by messing with the bit table, the whole game could be played upside down, which is really hard to do," he explained at San Diego Comic-Con in 2008. "We thought it would be hilarious if we burned the flipped version of the game to the other side of the disk. We figured of all the people who buy the game, a couple would accidentally put the floppy in upside-down. That way, when that person called tech support, that tech support rep would once in a blue moon have the sublime joy of saying, 'Well sir, you put the disk in upside-down,' and that person would think for the rest of their life that's how software works."
All that said, I probably wouldn't recommend this to the average reader. No, I don't mean you, you're clearly well above average. But you over there, definitely pick something else.
July 6, 2020
Great look into the soul of Jordan Mechner as he creates Prince of Persia. We are lucky that he kept a journal during this time, and we should all be journaling more! I've been doing it for a while now, and it's nice to be able to look back sometimes.
The Stripe Press print is just beautiful. Very nice blue cover with many photos and notes inside, just a great reading experience.
The Stripe Press print is just beautiful. Very nice blue cover with many photos and notes inside, just a great reading experience.
August 8, 2012
If there is any reason for people to start keeping a journal of their life, this book would be a great example to prove that point.
The story is a collection of journal entries made by Jordan Mechner, while he was producing the classic game Prince of Persia. You get incite into his worries and feel his triumphants, as the development process and negotiatians go on. You get to read about his deliberations in his head over wether he should stick to this game designing thing or drop it all to take up a movie career that he originally wanted.
The only issue that I have is the book just ends. Prince is doing well, Prince 2 is just about finished up, and the author is coming to realize his movie career shouldn't happen. His passion is creating games. You want to learn more, you want to see what happens next, but you won't get to. The book is his personal journal entries while Prince of Persia was being made. That chapter of his life was pretty much closed and he continues to live the rest of it.
So everyone start keeping your own journal, because everyone out there has a story to tell.
The story is a collection of journal entries made by Jordan Mechner, while he was producing the classic game Prince of Persia. You get incite into his worries and feel his triumphants, as the development process and negotiatians go on. You get to read about his deliberations in his head over wether he should stick to this game designing thing or drop it all to take up a movie career that he originally wanted.
The only issue that I have is the book just ends. Prince is doing well, Prince 2 is just about finished up, and the author is coming to realize his movie career shouldn't happen. His passion is creating games. You want to learn more, you want to see what happens next, but you won't get to. The book is his personal journal entries while Prince of Persia was being made. That chapter of his life was pretty much closed and he continues to live the rest of it.
So everyone start keeping your own journal, because everyone out there has a story to tell.
February 28, 2023
Prince of Persia brought back so many great memories. And I've been sitting through POP & POP2 playthrough videos on YouTube in parallel to reading this book.
But from the diary itself it feels I learned way less about the backstory and creative process. The most amazing were the photos of the author's notebooks with game element sketches, and some semi-technical descriptions of the colorful hardware landscape and constraints of the time. But too much of the text remains either inaccessible to the outsider (like records of which bunch of people in a long list of first names attended which dinner), or somewhat irrelevant to someone who came for the gaming history (like the detours to film school contemplations).
Would love to meet Jordan one day, but until then, a lot of this material remains too personal records to relate to...
But from the diary itself it feels I learned way less about the backstory and creative process. The most amazing were the photos of the author's notebooks with game element sketches, and some semi-technical descriptions of the colorful hardware landscape and constraints of the time. But too much of the text remains either inaccessible to the outsider (like records of which bunch of people in a long list of first names attended which dinner), or somewhat irrelevant to someone who came for the gaming history (like the detours to film school contemplations).
Would love to meet Jordan one day, but until then, a lot of this material remains too personal records to relate to...
Read
February 23, 2023Reading the illustrated edition of this book several years after first encountering the ebook, I think The Making of Prince of Persia is still the most evocative and interesting book of its kind (videogame-related memoir) that I have read (and I have read quite a few now).
Being composed entirely of actual journal entries gives the memoir a raw vitality that makes other books in this genre (e.g. Sid Meier's Memoir) feel flat by comparison. The annotations and side notes in the beautiful illustrated edition add a lot of fascinating context to what was already a good read. Highly recommended.
Being composed entirely of actual journal entries gives the memoir a raw vitality that makes other books in this genre (e.g. Sid Meier's Memoir) feel flat by comparison. The annotations and side notes in the beautiful illustrated edition add a lot of fascinating context to what was already a good read. Highly recommended.
June 10, 2013
It was really amazing to read how the first PC game I ever encountered and madly fell in love with was made over a period of 4 years! The book is in the form of diaries that were kept by Jordan Mechner during this period of his life when he was hesitant about his future; whether to continue writing games or pursue a film career. The book is truly inspiring and fascinating. I loved every single page of it. Highly recommended.
October 19, 2020
I read this book in few sittings over the course of one day. The book captures the excitement, dread, and pain of creating a work of art. It left me feeling a healthy sense of respect for the author as well as inspiration to make more art of my own
May 12, 2020
fun read. specially if you have played the game.
June 9, 2015
This is the personal journals of a twenty-something genius while he single-handed created one of the most artistic video games of all time. It doesn't read like much of a story, since it's a collection of disjointed journal entries; but I found it a page-turner nonetheless.
I probably found significance in this one since I can relate to the author's circumstances in so many ways. He oscillates between thinking all his hard work is a waste of time, and thinking he's creating something truly great. He follows his instincts on making creative choices that no one else agrees with. He fights bureaucracy attempting to get his work out to the world. And he laments about losing touch with the world as he becomes so tunnel-vision focused on his work that he has no space in his life for curiosity about the world and discovery of new people, places, and things.
Had this been written as a hindsight autobiography, I suspect the tone would have been quite different. In hindsight, it would have seemed clear that he was striving toward artistic greatness, that it was his destiny to mark his mark on the world through the Prince of Persia. But reading his writing about how he felt in the moment reveals how anyone striving for greatness often feels: stressed out, confused, and uncertain about whether this thing will be worth it in the end.
I probably found significance in this one since I can relate to the author's circumstances in so many ways. He oscillates between thinking all his hard work is a waste of time, and thinking he's creating something truly great. He follows his instincts on making creative choices that no one else agrees with. He fights bureaucracy attempting to get his work out to the world. And he laments about losing touch with the world as he becomes so tunnel-vision focused on his work that he has no space in his life for curiosity about the world and discovery of new people, places, and things.
Had this been written as a hindsight autobiography, I suspect the tone would have been quite different. In hindsight, it would have seemed clear that he was striving toward artistic greatness, that it was his destiny to mark his mark on the world through the Prince of Persia. But reading his writing about how he felt in the moment reveals how anyone striving for greatness often feels: stressed out, confused, and uncertain about whether this thing will be worth it in the end.
February 15, 2023
I just loved everything about this book!
I think Mechner's diary will resonate with anyone who has ever built anything functional or created something artistic. In particular, people who code or work in the digital space, but really anyone who has ever laboured with love on any type of project will connect with Michner here.
It's an incredible look at his process of creativity and ingenuity while creating a classic video game (which I have to admit - I've never played any Price of Persia game).
Physically: the most beautiful Stripe Press book I've read to date. The inner half of each page are diary entries, and the outer halves are photos, scanned notes and drawings, and marked-up notations from 2019 when this edition was compiled.
Love, love, love. What a fun read. Highly and broadly recommended.
I think Mechner's diary will resonate with anyone who has ever built anything functional or created something artistic. In particular, people who code or work in the digital space, but really anyone who has ever laboured with love on any type of project will connect with Michner here.
It's an incredible look at his process of creativity and ingenuity while creating a classic video game (which I have to admit - I've never played any Price of Persia game).
Physically: the most beautiful Stripe Press book I've read to date. The inner half of each page are diary entries, and the outer halves are photos, scanned notes and drawings, and marked-up notations from 2019 when this edition was compiled.
Love, love, love. What a fun read. Highly and broadly recommended.
March 8, 2014
Disappointingly, the book has less to do with Prince of Persia, per se, and more to do with Jordan's life around the making of Prince of Persia which is mostly about how he doesn't really want to work on PoP.
And I'm slightly put down by the always complaining author that did one of the coolest things ever. Made me sad, and bored me for a short while. But, after all, it's what his view of things is, that's how he saw them back then, and there are some instructive lessons there, if you can manage to read in negative.
It's ok to read, it's short and it reads fast.
And I'm slightly put down by the always complaining author that did one of the coolest things ever. Made me sad, and bored me for a short while. But, after all, it's what his view of things is, that's how he saw them back then, and there are some instructive lessons there, if you can manage to read in negative.
It's ok to read, it's short and it reads fast.
November 1, 2021
Slow at times with too many unnecessary details but that makes it authentic - after all these are journal entries that were not written to be published. It's completely crazy to think how video games used to be made. I felt jealous reading about an age when a single developer/artist could oversee the entire production of such an influential work of art. There is something special about a work of a single individual (as opposed to teams or entire companies) that carries out a single, well-defined vision with no compromise.
April 7, 2017
I got this as part of a bundle - probably Storybundle as I've bought nearly all their video game bundles - and I had put it off in favor of other books because I don't have a strong connection to Prince of Persia (POP henceforth). My family was working poor until I was getting into later elementary school, by which time a lot of computer game industry had lost its first "death" to the consoles. By the time I was playing computer games, it was mostly just RTSes hanging on and we weren't anywhere near the Steam Renaissance that would make the PC the best place to play games again (except for bad ports).
But a couple months ago, I sat at my computer and took at look at my To Read list on Goodreads and the 400-odd unread ebooks in my Calibre database I'd bought because, "how could you not buy 15 books when they're about $1 each?" So I made a plan to try and satisfy my need to read newer books with my need to read the books I'd purchased (or face my wife's wrath at wasting money on books). So I basically sorted the books by date added to Calibre and selected (approximately) one book per bundle (or free release from Tor.com's ebook club) and when I got to this bundle, I decided to take a look at these journals.
While I was never an Amiga gamer (see above), I've read plenty of how it was the superior machine in terms of what it could do at the time compared with Macs or IBM-Clones (what we now call PCs) and yet management ran it into the ground and we were left making up for progress all these decades. Likewise, BeOS was superior to Windows and Mac when it came out, but MS used their anti-trust strong-arming to keep it from taking off. So I'm already used to the idea that the best don't always rise to the top. Nevertheless, it was frustrating to see how Mechner was thwarted and we almost lost this amazing contribution to video gaming.
Mechner had Broderbund as his publisher - one of the giants of computer gaming at the time. I remember everyone having Print Shop Pro. I remember playing Carmen Sandiego at school and eventually owning it when my family got a computer around the time I was 11. They merged with Sierra, maker of my favorite adventure games as a kid. But they didn't know what to do with this action game. And they refused to give Mechner a promotional budget. I'm sitting here in 2017, knowing how great this series becomes - I played a bit of the Xbox version when my brothers had it one time when I came home from college. It is the spiritual ancestor of the Assassin's Creed series. It ends up becoming a movie. Just goes to show it doesn't matter if what you're doing is brilliant if you don't have the right support. (Spoiler: Eventually he gets the right support)
Who should read this book? Anyone who's interested in the game development scene of the late 80s and early 90s. It was a time when one person could put together a great game and by allying himself with just a few others, produce an incredible game. Since these are his journals they're very personal, not technical so I think you can enjoy it even if you're not a technical person.
But a couple months ago, I sat at my computer and took at look at my To Read list on Goodreads and the 400-odd unread ebooks in my Calibre database I'd bought because, "how could you not buy 15 books when they're about $1 each?" So I made a plan to try and satisfy my need to read newer books with my need to read the books I'd purchased (or face my wife's wrath at wasting money on books). So I basically sorted the books by date added to Calibre and selected (approximately) one book per bundle (or free release from Tor.com's ebook club) and when I got to this bundle, I decided to take a look at these journals.
While I was never an Amiga gamer (see above), I've read plenty of how it was the superior machine in terms of what it could do at the time compared with Macs or IBM-Clones (what we now call PCs) and yet management ran it into the ground and we were left making up for progress all these decades. Likewise, BeOS was superior to Windows and Mac when it came out, but MS used their anti-trust strong-arming to keep it from taking off. So I'm already used to the idea that the best don't always rise to the top. Nevertheless, it was frustrating to see how Mechner was thwarted and we almost lost this amazing contribution to video gaming.
Mechner had Broderbund as his publisher - one of the giants of computer gaming at the time. I remember everyone having Print Shop Pro. I remember playing Carmen Sandiego at school and eventually owning it when my family got a computer around the time I was 11. They merged with Sierra, maker of my favorite adventure games as a kid. But they didn't know what to do with this action game. And they refused to give Mechner a promotional budget. I'm sitting here in 2017, knowing how great this series becomes - I played a bit of the Xbox version when my brothers had it one time when I came home from college. It is the spiritual ancestor of the Assassin's Creed series. It ends up becoming a movie. Just goes to show it doesn't matter if what you're doing is brilliant if you don't have the right support. (Spoiler: Eventually he gets the right support)
Who should read this book? Anyone who's interested in the game development scene of the late 80s and early 90s. It was a time when one person could put together a great game and by allying himself with just a few others, produce an incredible game. Since these are his journals they're very personal, not technical so I think you can enjoy it even if you're not a technical person.
June 22, 2018
I must say, I liked it. It wasn't about Prince of Persia as such, but Mechner's personal journals from the time period that mostly intersected with the making of Prince. I'm fine with that; especially given how humane and mortal it made Mechner seem, when he let us see how he struggled with doubt, how he searched for a direction (he wanted to do movies and not games, except did he really?), how he changed his mind and his goals. That's something that probably most creative people experience in one way or another.
I'm not giving it four stars just because of the point where it got cut off. A big part of the book was about Prince 2 (and more movies.) I did enjoy it, and the contrast with Prince 1 was especially noteworthy - but it was cut off _before_ PoP2 was finished, and it felt just so jarringly incomplete.
Still, if you're interested in artistic processes or an artist's doubts and struggles (because I'd argue that's the core of the book more than PoP itself), I'd recommend reading it.
I'm not giving it four stars just because of the point where it got cut off. A big part of the book was about Prince 2 (and more movies.) I did enjoy it, and the contrast with Prince 1 was especially noteworthy - but it was cut off _before_ PoP2 was finished, and it felt just so jarringly incomplete.
Still, if you're interested in artistic processes or an artist's doubts and struggles (because I'd argue that's the core of the book more than PoP itself), I'd recommend reading it.
April 2, 2021
Having spent fevered days and nights playing Prince of Persia on my PC, this was a very entertaining look behind-the-scenes. Mind bending to think how much has changed in the gaming industry, from writing to publishing to distribution and devices. The author seems to be a polarising figure but I liked him well enough, at least based on what he reveals about himself in the book.
Buy the print edition - the illustrations and hand notes suck on Kindle.
Buy the print edition - the illustrations and hand notes suck on Kindle.
December 20, 2020
This book just blew my mind! Wish more people write about their experiences like this and open their journals for us to read them.
December 24, 2020
“Prince of Privilege”
Not a book, but an edited and published collection of diary entries. It takes a hard, drastic nosedive two thirds of the way into this volume. There are hints all along. It’s hardly surprising because the author’s stunted geek-child ego isn’t hiding. Nothing stealthy, slick or clandestine here. The top entry on page 289 could stand as a placeholder for the entire 300+ page diary:
“[San Rafael] ‘Prince 2’ is looking good. It feels cool, being the young game designer who lives in Paris and breezes into town for the week to look in on the project that’s going to keep him rich for a few more years.”
LUCK-Y!
So... what does a young, rich and talented game designer make of such a charmed life? Trust me, he dishes in glorious, anticlimactic monotony. From his diary we learn that his life mainly consists of going out to lunch, jet setting between trendy expensive cities, wishing you were in a different trendy expensive city and seeking humans for feedback. “Feedback”, meaning he finds underlings to stroke his ego and then remind him how he’s so humble AND talented. When this privileged game designer’s life path leads to an obstacle, i.e. anything that bores him or doesn’t cooperate with him on the first try, this charmed game designer runs away like Forrest Gump. Yup, he skips town, abandons ship because, you see... this wunderkind game designer is secretly a REALLY talented film maker. He was on his way to being the next Francis Ford Coppola, but this successful video game side gig of his slowed him down.
These diaries are not recommended for anyone who has had to work hard or struggle to achieve any morsel of success in life, as they could anger you with how blasé and spoiled they read. You will not learn a single thing about the Prince of Persia video game that you couldn’t skim from the Wikipedia page. The author’s narcissism and sense of entitlement steal the show. Apparently he thinks people will care about where he ate lunch with people we don’t know. “Diary of a Spoiled Kid.”
Not a book, but an edited and published collection of diary entries. It takes a hard, drastic nosedive two thirds of the way into this volume. There are hints all along. It’s hardly surprising because the author’s stunted geek-child ego isn’t hiding. Nothing stealthy, slick or clandestine here. The top entry on page 289 could stand as a placeholder for the entire 300+ page diary:
“[San Rafael] ‘Prince 2’ is looking good. It feels cool, being the young game designer who lives in Paris and breezes into town for the week to look in on the project that’s going to keep him rich for a few more years.”
LUCK-Y!
So... what does a young, rich and talented game designer make of such a charmed life? Trust me, he dishes in glorious, anticlimactic monotony. From his diary we learn that his life mainly consists of going out to lunch, jet setting between trendy expensive cities, wishing you were in a different trendy expensive city and seeking humans for feedback. “Feedback”, meaning he finds underlings to stroke his ego and then remind him how he’s so humble AND talented. When this privileged game designer’s life path leads to an obstacle, i.e. anything that bores him or doesn’t cooperate with him on the first try, this charmed game designer runs away like Forrest Gump. Yup, he skips town, abandons ship because, you see... this wunderkind game designer is secretly a REALLY talented film maker. He was on his way to being the next Francis Ford Coppola, but this successful video game side gig of his slowed him down.
These diaries are not recommended for anyone who has had to work hard or struggle to achieve any morsel of success in life, as they could anger you with how blasé and spoiled they read. You will not learn a single thing about the Prince of Persia video game that you couldn’t skim from the Wikipedia page. The author’s narcissism and sense of entitlement steal the show. Apparently he thinks people will care about where he ate lunch with people we don’t know. “Diary of a Spoiled Kid.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 14, 2020
I enjoyed this book. A coming of age story of both the author and the games industry. It shocked me to read that he wasn't sure if there would be a games industry by the time his game published! We're very lucky to have someone who is so open and vulnerable sharing what was on his mind 35 years ago. This book mirrors emotions and situations I've felt working in games technology the last 20 years. If you're a fan of stories about creators, this is a very nice journal with all the rough edges left in place. I don't think I've read anything like it.
Quotes that stood out:
The Good
• Very personal look a that emotional roller coaster of developing Prince of Persia. More like Indie Game the Movie rather than a technical how to.
Life isn't about making games. Jordan has other interests, ambitions and desires that enrich his story. This makes this a different tale than books like Masters of Doom that seem to focus on "pizzas and crunch".
• There are examples of learning and growing throughout. Things can be messy in business or moving across the world. It is inspiring how much travel and learning adventures Jordan was on simultaneously.
• A focus on people. Jordan interacts with a wide variety of people in many different situations. Collaborations between many different creative types indicate his approaches worked.
Quality of the book itself is amazing (print/binding/cover). The additions to the 30th anniversary are fantastic. This is my first experience with these Journals.
• He has crossed paths with many famous people! It was enjoyable to read the connections throughout the book.
• Above all, he seems to follow his passions and learns from them. He shares his doubts, even at times when things were going great. This reminds me that the people that inspire us are grounded people.
• He comes across to as a romantic.
• Good example of breaking down the short comings of his game throughout. He took many suggestions from others and players to improve his game.
The Bad
• The extra images on the sides of the page are sometimes a touch to small or text is cropped. They're tantalizing in being nearly legible but then not exactly 100%. Still better for having them but I spent a fair amount of time squinting trying to read some of them!
• Very little coverage of any of the technical challenges. We have Fabien for that!
More Information
Fabien Sanglard - Prince of Persia
Ars Technica - War Stories - Great version of shadow man etc. Good to see people in the book.
Quotes that stood out:
"A story doesn't move forward until a character wants something. So -- a game doesn't move forward until the player wants something. Five seconds after you press start, you'd better know the answer to the question 'What do I want to happen?'" page 80
"The more experiences I have, the more I realize that working with poeple you like and respect is more impartant than anything else." page 185
The Good
• Very personal look a that emotional roller coaster of developing Prince of Persia. More like Indie Game the Movie rather than a technical how to.
Life isn't about making games. Jordan has other interests, ambitions and desires that enrich his story. This makes this a different tale than books like Masters of Doom that seem to focus on "pizzas and crunch".
• There are examples of learning and growing throughout. Things can be messy in business or moving across the world. It is inspiring how much travel and learning adventures Jordan was on simultaneously.
• A focus on people. Jordan interacts with a wide variety of people in many different situations. Collaborations between many different creative types indicate his approaches worked.
Quality of the book itself is amazing (print/binding/cover). The additions to the 30th anniversary are fantastic. This is my first experience with these Journals.
• He has crossed paths with many famous people! It was enjoyable to read the connections throughout the book.
• Above all, he seems to follow his passions and learns from them. He shares his doubts, even at times when things were going great. This reminds me that the people that inspire us are grounded people.
• He comes across to as a romantic.
• Good example of breaking down the short comings of his game throughout. He took many suggestions from others and players to improve his game.
The Bad
• The extra images on the sides of the page are sometimes a touch to small or text is cropped. They're tantalizing in being nearly legible but then not exactly 100%. Still better for having them but I spent a fair amount of time squinting trying to read some of them!
• Very little coverage of any of the technical challenges. We have Fabien for that!
More Information
Fabien Sanglard - Prince of Persia
Ars Technica - War Stories - Great version of shadow man etc. Good to see people in the book.
February 24, 2021
Dropped this book at 23% mark. It's been interesting to read about how one of my most favorite games was developed.
Mechner is a guy who had opinions way beyond his time. He correctly guessed the psychology that glues people to games and tried to implement that into PoP. Not 100% sure but I think the actual research papers on these topics came much much later on. I'm talking about the days when ordinary dos games like pacman, pong, space invaders were the hit games. And during that time Jordan MEchner already figured out the psychology of people when they're involved in games and correctly predicted that the days of such games like pacman / pong are over and people want to be more involved in the story + gameplay.
Around the 23% mark he talks a little about the psychological aspect of making the game. How he doesn't want the game to be linear but instead wants people to have constant cycles of elevating tension and release. Each time you finish a level it gets easier at the beginning of the next level and then again harder until its end. It's incredible to experience what he describes - how that glues us to the game.
He also talks about how he has to push corporate throughout the time. Corporate honchos just want him to make a part2 of his then successful game "karateka" instead of prince of persia. He pitches his idea to many corporates but most of them are not on board. There's very few people who are "neutral" about his idea and even fewer who are actually excited. Nevertheless, he loves the concept and keeps pushing through to work for it.
He's also explained how the Prince's + other character's animations were developed. He video taped actual people running and then created the animation frame by frame from the video. I also found it interesting Dos had a limit to how many animations he could pack in a game. Due to this restriction he couldn't add the animation for the shadow character. Then someone suggested re-using the Prince's animations for the shadow. And that's how he overcame that limit.
Throughout the 23% mark, another thing I liked was how he's always talking to various people and constantly discussing his ideas. This is something very unique if you think more about it. When you're doing something innovative you would normally tend to do your own research, think about things, do a lot of processing and figuring out alone rather than talking to other people. But he takes the latter approach throughout and the people around him somehow are helpful enough to actually share opinions instead of playing dirty politics (like constantly trying to steal petty credit somehow, or discredit him/his new project, or to politically push their own tasks onto him when he tries to talk to them, or to mislead him so that he fails (out of jealousy) - all of which I believe would be quite likely in the country where I live).
Overall, it's been a great read. But unfortunately, I must drop this book because it's making me think more about games and I don't want to fall back into the gaming addiction that I just overcame (again!).
Mechner is a guy who had opinions way beyond his time. He correctly guessed the psychology that glues people to games and tried to implement that into PoP. Not 100% sure but I think the actual research papers on these topics came much much later on. I'm talking about the days when ordinary dos games like pacman, pong, space invaders were the hit games. And during that time Jordan MEchner already figured out the psychology of people when they're involved in games and correctly predicted that the days of such games like pacman / pong are over and people want to be more involved in the story + gameplay.
Around the 23% mark he talks a little about the psychological aspect of making the game. How he doesn't want the game to be linear but instead wants people to have constant cycles of elevating tension and release. Each time you finish a level it gets easier at the beginning of the next level and then again harder until its end. It's incredible to experience what he describes - how that glues us to the game.
He also talks about how he has to push corporate throughout the time. Corporate honchos just want him to make a part2 of his then successful game "karateka" instead of prince of persia. He pitches his idea to many corporates but most of them are not on board. There's very few people who are "neutral" about his idea and even fewer who are actually excited. Nevertheless, he loves the concept and keeps pushing through to work for it.
He's also explained how the Prince's + other character's animations were developed. He video taped actual people running and then created the animation frame by frame from the video. I also found it interesting Dos had a limit to how many animations he could pack in a game. Due to this restriction he couldn't add the animation for the shadow character. Then someone suggested re-using the Prince's animations for the shadow. And that's how he overcame that limit.
Throughout the 23% mark, another thing I liked was how he's always talking to various people and constantly discussing his ideas. This is something very unique if you think more about it. When you're doing something innovative you would normally tend to do your own research, think about things, do a lot of processing and figuring out alone rather than talking to other people. But he takes the latter approach throughout and the people around him somehow are helpful enough to actually share opinions instead of playing dirty politics (like constantly trying to steal petty credit somehow, or discredit him/his new project, or to politically push their own tasks onto him when he tries to talk to them, or to mislead him so that he fails (out of jealousy) - all of which I believe would be quite likely in the country where I live).
Overall, it's been a great read. But unfortunately, I must drop this book because it's making me think more about games and I don't want to fall back into the gaming addiction that I just overcame (again!).
August 9, 2021
Most people tend to glamourize their struggle after they've been successful. Liked reading the raw thoughts of Jordan when he was building the now super successful Prince of Persia franchise.
I wish more people maintain such a notebook for their professional work. Would pay double to read the background true internal stories of building of Amazon prime, Netflix etc...
I wish more people maintain such a notebook for their professional work. Would pay double to read the background true internal stories of building of Amazon prime, Netflix etc...
January 1, 2021
If you came into this book expecting only what the title says, you will be disappointed.
If you are not the sort of person who reads forewords, you will be disappointed.
This is not a book about the making of Prince of Persia, despite its title. It is a book about the life of Jordan Mechner, almost exclusively compiled from his contemporary journal entries. The exceptions are his modern-day comments in the sidebars, and a final few pages of fan retrospectives about the titular game. As a work of archival history, it is invaluable for getting a sense of the ideas, personality, and influences that went into making one of the definitive games of the late 80's. As a history about how the game was actually made, it is full of the sorts of gaps that one would expect when asking a 20-something to write a journal in the moment about what they think is important.
Mechner's voice comes through quite clearly, and as he says in the foreword, it is very much the voice of a highly privileged kid in his 20's with no sense of how good he has it. There is a reason why most of us hide the journals of our youth where they can never be found, let alone published, and it is very apparent in reading the words of young Jordan Mechner.
That aside, it is an interesting look at the person behind the game, and the ideas, challenges, and limitations that influenced its development. Much more of a "behind the music" type of source than a Rinzler-style "making-of."
If you are not the sort of person who reads forewords, you will be disappointed.
This is not a book about the making of Prince of Persia, despite its title. It is a book about the life of Jordan Mechner, almost exclusively compiled from his contemporary journal entries. The exceptions are his modern-day comments in the sidebars, and a final few pages of fan retrospectives about the titular game. As a work of archival history, it is invaluable for getting a sense of the ideas, personality, and influences that went into making one of the definitive games of the late 80's. As a history about how the game was actually made, it is full of the sorts of gaps that one would expect when asking a 20-something to write a journal in the moment about what they think is important.
Mechner's voice comes through quite clearly, and as he says in the foreword, it is very much the voice of a highly privileged kid in his 20's with no sense of how good he has it. There is a reason why most of us hide the journals of our youth where they can never be found, let alone published, and it is very apparent in reading the words of young Jordan Mechner.
That aside, it is an interesting look at the person behind the game, and the ideas, challenges, and limitations that influenced its development. Much more of a "behind the music" type of source than a Rinzler-style "making-of."
December 17, 2019
Sure, the guy is a bit of an egomaniac, & it makes the last quarter or so a lot less meaningful than what comes before, but it's easy to read & ultimately quite interesting. I forgive a lot of the self-congratulatory bullshit - I mean, he's young, he's becoming successful, he was probably a bit of a basement-dweller leading up to the inflow of cashmoney... & it was a personal journal, he didn't know people would be reading this shit 30 years later. You can see a lot of his struggles, as well - I think the journal is a bit of him hyping himself up, directing himself, trying to get better. So that's my stance on that.
Other than somewhat defending (or at least excusing) the megalomaniacal side of things, I don't have too much to say. It was a bit of a breezy read length- & voice-wise, it showed a lot of the business side of things that I didn't really expect but appreciated, & hearkens back to a time when a single man could create a videogame that takes over the world - at the forefront of fancy graphics, no less. Makes me want to go back & actually try beating the game - because I'm not sure I ever got past the start of the second level as a kid.
Other than somewhat defending (or at least excusing) the megalomaniacal side of things, I don't have too much to say. It was a bit of a breezy read length- & voice-wise, it showed a lot of the business side of things that I didn't really expect but appreciated, & hearkens back to a time when a single man could create a videogame that takes over the world - at the forefront of fancy graphics, no less. Makes me want to go back & actually try beating the game - because I'm not sure I ever got past the start of the second level as a kid.
May 25, 2020
(meta-review about the process: It has been some time that I have read a new book and feels good to be able to finish one!)
Programming is fun and these days, it is on the rise. All the top companies in the stock market are the tech giants. However, back in the 80s, it was not the case. People were not very sure. Then if you narrow it down to "games", it was a very small niche market. Nobody knew whether they will be around or what it will be in the next few years.
Jordan had a success making his previous game Karateka and was attempting to make the second game: Prince of Persia. He loved the fun part of the process, which is writing codes and making the graphics.
Given that the book contents were the diary entries of Jordan, they were raw and funny.
For anyone who is interested in how he made certain part of the games, also checkout this amazing video by Jordan.
Programming is fun and these days, it is on the rise. All the top companies in the stock market are the tech giants. However, back in the 80s, it was not the case. People were not very sure. Then if you narrow it down to "games", it was a very small niche market. Nobody knew whether they will be around or what it will be in the next few years.
Jordan had a success making his previous game Karateka and was attempting to make the second game: Prince of Persia. He loved the fun part of the process, which is writing codes and making the graphics.
Given that the book contents were the diary entries of Jordan, they were raw and funny.
For anyone who is interested in how he made certain part of the games, also checkout this amazing video by Jordan.
August 6, 2020
Make no mistake, this is a book about the author of Prince of Persia, rather than a book about Prince of Persia, the entire book being his journals entries during the several stages of making the game. While in his own right to do so, of course, I personally expected a book more focused on the development of the game, rather than the personal life of the author.
That being said, it was extremely interesting to see the process, and to be mindblowned by the way the animations were digitised and crafted from film. It serves as a reminder that it doesn’t take a lot of technology to perform some truly amazing results, and that creativity and resourcefulness above all, dictate the difference between a success and a failure.
While it did make me appreciate the game even more, I was left unsatisfied.
That being said, it was extremely interesting to see the process, and to be mindblowned by the way the animations were digitised and crafted from film. It serves as a reminder that it doesn’t take a lot of technology to perform some truly amazing results, and that creativity and resourcefulness above all, dictate the difference between a success and a failure.
While it did make me appreciate the game even more, I was left unsatisfied.
April 23, 2012
Super quick read, and super enjoyable if you are into video game development. Probably if you are into film-making or other creative pursuits. Great to see Jordan, a now-super-successful developer, struggling with self-confidence, professional development, motivation and deadlines.
Some great quotes:
"But, as Brian pointed out, if players get frustrated they can always call Tech Support for hints."
(Yes, technical support for video game issues)
"Level design is a creative process, like screenwriting: you can’t just sit down and put in ten hours at a stretch, you need time in between to let your ideas work themselves out."
"The more experiences I have, the more I realize that working with people you like and respect is more important than anything else."
Some great quotes:
"But, as Brian pointed out, if players get frustrated they can always call Tech Support for hints."
(Yes, technical support for video game issues)
"Level design is a creative process, like screenwriting: you can’t just sit down and put in ten hours at a stretch, you need time in between to let your ideas work themselves out."
"The more experiences I have, the more I realize that working with people you like and respect is more important than anything else."
April 11, 2022
The first half of the book was really exciting to read, given how important Prince of Persia was for me as a child, and how I’ve been casually keeping an eye on what Jordan Mechner has done later. I also love The Last Express.
I developed an interest in making games myself, but I never managed to make it more than a hobby, which was later replaced by filmmaking. I guess if you never had these hobbies then the book might not be as interesting as it was to me.
The second half of the book is a bit of a let down, focusing on the time of the development of Prince 2, with a much less hands on role for Mechner, and much less drama and excitement. It becomes more textual, the notes and illustrations in the margins become disconnected from the text.
I developed an interest in making games myself, but I never managed to make it more than a hobby, which was later replaced by filmmaking. I guess if you never had these hobbies then the book might not be as interesting as it was to me.
The second half of the book is a bit of a let down, focusing on the time of the development of Prince 2, with a much less hands on role for Mechner, and much less drama and excitement. It becomes more textual, the notes and illustrations in the margins become disconnected from the text.
October 25, 2016
2.5 stars
It was not a very interesting book. It was a journal of Jordan Mechner's life while he was working on Prince of Persia and it's sequel. And in that aspect, it was a nice enough read. I like game development and I would like to get a job in this industry, so for me, it was sort of historical fun. All the hassles of game making and working with a studio. But the knowledge isn't really transferable. Because it was for more than 25 years ago, and it wasn't an industry back then.
So only read this if you know what you are getting yourself into.
It was not a very interesting book. It was a journal of Jordan Mechner's life while he was working on Prince of Persia and it's sequel. And in that aspect, it was a nice enough read. I like game development and I would like to get a job in this industry, so for me, it was sort of historical fun. All the hassles of game making and working with a studio. But the knowledge isn't really transferable. Because it was for more than 25 years ago, and it wasn't an industry back then.
So only read this if you know what you are getting yourself into.
July 21, 2020
A collection of the diaries Mechner kept as he was developing the computer game that would go on to become a mega-hit. Wonderfully candid, occasionally cringe-worthy, and packed with creative insight, his journals are so fun and illuminating in no small part because they are not a memoir written after the fact, but contemporaneous, fractional glimpses into the mess of a life spent making great things.
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