Keeping the classics alive... together
http://classicdosgames.com/forum/
The "classic" DOS version is very cool by itself, but the improved Super Nintendo port might be even better at times, with more levels and enemies, greatly improved graphics and very good music that captures the atmosphere of the game just perfectly.There are pics and sketches from early development, excerpts from Jordan Mechner's journal and other stuff.Prince of Persia was one of the milestones in how video games were made and perceived as a narrative form, but it almost didn't get made. After it got made, it almost flopped. In summer 1985, not too long after his first game Karateka was released, a young game designer / aspiring screenwriter named Jordan Mechner first came up with the idea of a game in an Arabian Nights setting. By the end of the year, a contract was drafted with Karateka-Publisher Brøderbund, and Mechner had shot footage of his brother David performing various movements intended for the game, only the first of many recording sessions in Prince of Persia's development.
Mechner had first applied rotoscoping—that is, a live actor is filmed by a camera doing a variety of movements, and then an artist traces those images on a computer—for Karateka, and for his new game he would refine the technique. Even in the earliest demos, the hero of the game still frequently referred to as Baghdad (the title Prince of Persia was first thought up by the producer at Broderbund a year later) had remarkably fluid animation. He didn't just jump up - he'd squat, leap into the sky and grab ahold of a ledge, swaying in the air before he pulled himself up and over. Considering most game characters at the time were lucky if they had more than three frames of movement animation, this was an extraordinary achievement.
Love Prince of Persia! Never played the SNES version. What makes the game so good on SNES btw?MrFlibble wrote: ↑December 8th, 2018, 3:43 pm Have you played the SNES version? It's probably the best version of the game there is apart from the original.
I remember how Prince of Persia felt simply magical when I was a kid. I cannot describe this but it felt like a living world behind the computer screen, even though it was created from very simple elements. For some reason many games don't fell like that at all to me, especially modern ones that boast very realistic graphics. No idea if there's indeed something special about the game, or just my childhood imagination and a relative lack of experience with video games back then created this effect.