PARIS: For video game creator Jordan Mechner, “The Prince of Persia” has allowed him to fulfil a childhood dream.
“I had two dreams growing up: make video games and make movies,” the acclaimed creator told AFP. “Thanks to ‘Prince of Persia’ I have achieved both.”
Over a decade after the last installment of the groundbreaking game, Mechner’s medieval hero is poised to make a comeback in “The Lost Crown,” breathing new life into a 30-year-old franchise that has garnered over 20 million copies in sales.
Ubisoft, the French video game maker, is set to launch the new action-adventure on Thursday, drawing inspiration from the folktales of “One Thousand and One Nights.” A lot has evolved from the game’s inception in Mechner’s California “home studio” in the 1980s to the latest iteration developed in Ubisoft’s studios in the French Mediterranean city of Montpellier.
It was among the pioneers in utilizing “motion capture,” a technique where movements are initially filmed to enhance realism when transferred to the screen.
In the 1980s, the now 59-year-old American, residing in Montpellier since 2015, employed a VHS camera to record his little brother’s comprehensive range of movements required for the game. He painstakingly uploaded these frame by frame to a computer, employing the rotoscoping technique borrowed from 20th-century cartoon makers.
Mechner’s father, an amateur pianist, also played a role in this family endeavour by composing the game’s music. “It truly was a handmade production,” he remarked. Upon its debut in 1989, gamers marvelled at the advanced animation and fluid motions, solidifying Mechner’s standing in the industry. He had already gained attention in 1984 with “Karateka,” a game he created entirely on his own while still a student.
Teaching himself the basics of programming by reading magazines and experimenting on his Apple II computer, which he received as a teenager, marked the early stages of Mechner’s journey. —APP
