The Making Of Prince Of Persia (2000) - Plot & Excerpts
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. A fun quick read. It was interesting to peer into the mind of such an acclaimed game designer as he worked on Prince of Persia 1&2. Uh I was struck by his perfectionist tendencies and his 'If you want something done right...' ethos. Also his insecurity! As he gains (more) financial and critical success he finds himself wondering why he doesn't feel as awesome as everyone says he is. I love his worries in the beginning that he won't be able to program when he is Old. Luckily he is inspired by one of his passionate coworkers: "Roland is 23 but he is still young at heart." (location 669) Ha ha. Or he stresses about whether there will even be a videogame market anymore by the time his game comes out.Near the end of the book he is rich and globe-trotting and knows 5 languages but seems to still have trouble with ladies. Also he comes across as eternally restless! He flits about from several different cities and countries, each time thinking he has finally found his calling and the perfect place to live. He finds himself wondering why he can't just be happy settling down somewhere. Has he ever read ECCLESIASTES (5/5)? I found it striking that when he was working on the sequel he was doing less actual work but Broderbund valued/loved him even more! He would roll in every few months from his latest expedition and spend a 70hr week at the office consulting/directing/programming/cleaning up mistakes and then fly back off into the sunset. "Two weeks ago, Salamanca was a name on a map. I just can't get over the way you can decide to do something and then the next thing you know, it's really happening." (location 4463)
What do You think about The Making Of Prince Of Persia (2000)?
An interesting read into the making of what lead to some of my favourite gaming memories.
—hmcevoy
