The Making of Prince of Persia

About the book

The Making of Prince of Persia collects Jordan Mechner's personal journals from 1985 to 1993, the years in which he designed and programmed the original Prince of Persia and its sequel. The entries track a young developer moving from student projects into commercial game production, recording design decisions, technical problems, deadlines, and the ordinary texture of long working days.

The book belongs to the small shelf of first-hand development diaries. Mechner writes as a participant rather than a historian, so the reader sees plans before outcomes are known. Rotoscoped animation, level design, publishing arrangements, and the pressures of a small team all appear as subjects he is working through, not as settled history. The journals also carry the personal side of those years: family, relationships, money, and the strain of sustained creative effort.

Because the material is a diary, its shape follows the calendar rather than an argument. Readers get accumulation and repetition alongside breakthroughs, which makes the book a record of process as much as a story about one famous game.

How to read it

Read it as a primary document. The entries were written in the moment, so opinions shift and early assumptions sometimes survive longer than they should. Treat Mechner's assessments of his own work and of the industry as one developer's view from inside a specific project.

The diary format rewards steady reading over long sittings. Gaps, mundane stretches, and returning worries are part of the texture. Readers curious about programming craft, animation, or the business of games in the late 1980s and early 1990s will find concrete detail; readers wanting a polished narrative should expect to assemble the arc themselves.

Who it suits

This suits readers interested in game development history, independent production, and creative work documented at close range. Designers and programmers will recognize the mix of technical problem-solving and scheduling pressure. Readers of diaries and working memoirs will value the unguarded, day-by-day view. Anyone curious about how a widely known game took shape will find the process more instructive than a retrospective summary.

Reading considerations

The journals are selective and personal, so the book offers one participant's perspective rather than a full production history. Readers seeking a technical manual or a complete account of the game's reception should look elsewhere.