Jordan Mechner

Last updated

Jordan Mechner
Jordan Mechner GDCA 2017.jpg
Mechner in 2017
Born (1964-06-04) June 4, 1964 (age 59)
New York City, United States
Occupations
  • Video game designer
  • graphic novelist
  • screenwriter
  • author
  • filmmaker
Notable work
Spouse
Whitney Hills
(m. 2014;div. 2017)
[1] [2]
Website jordanmechner.com

Jordan Mechner (born June 4, 1964) [3] is an American video game designer, graphic novelist, author, screenwriter, filmmaker, and former video game programmer. [4] A major figure in the development of cinematic video games [5] and a pioneer in video game animation, [6] he began his career designing and programming the 1984 martial arts game Karateka for the Apple II while a student at Yale University. The game was a bestseller. He followed it with the platform game Prince of Persia five years later; it was widely ported and became a hit. Both games used rotoscoping, where actors shot on film by Mechner were drawn over to create in-game animation. Prince of Persia has become the basis for a long-running franchise, including a 2010 live-action film released by Walt Disney Pictures and an ongoing series of video games, published by Ubisoft.

Contents

Mechner is the recipient of many accolades, including the 2017 GDC Pioneer Award. [7] His works are often included in all-time lists of the game industry's best and most influential titles. [8] [9]

In 1993, Mechner founded Smoking Car Productions to design and direct the adventure game The Last Express . While commercially unprofitable at the time of its release, the game has garnered a cult following and is recognized as an innovative work in interactive narrative. [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]

As an author, Mechner has written graphic novels in collaboration with different illustrators, including the New York Times bestseller Templar (2013), Monte Cristo (2022), and Liberty (2023). [16] In 2023, Mechner made his debut as a graphic novel writer–artist, with the autobiographical Replay: Memoir of an Uprooted Family. Replay was awarded the 2023 Chateau de Cheverny prize for historical graphic novels. [17]

In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time. [18]

Early life

Mechner was born in New York City in 1964, into a family of European Jewish immigrants. His father is psychologist Francis Mechner, [19] [20] and his mother was a programmer. [21] He attended Yale University in the 1980s. [22] [23] [24]

Career

While at Yale, Mechner wrote several Apple II games that he submitted for publication, but which were rejected. Asteroid Blaster, an Asteroids clone, was submitted to Hayden Software and abstract arcade game Deathbounce to Broderbund. Mechner then spent two years at Yale writing his first published game, Karateka (1984), which went to number one on the Billboard software chart.

His second game, Prince of Persia , was released in 1989 after more than three years of work. He wrote both games in the 6502 assembly language for the Apple II, though that system was in decline through the late 1980s, and little new software was released by 1989. Initially, Prince of Persia sold poorly, but as it was ported to other systems, sales increased. Eventually, it was adapted for about thirty computer and console platforms. [25]

Following the completion of Prince of Persia, Mechner attended film school, traveled to Cuba to produce and direct a short documentary film, and lived in Paris for a year. [26] During this period, he designed and directed the sequel, Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame , released in 1993.

He founded the independent developer Smoking Car Productions in 1993, where he led the production of the CD-ROM adventure game The Last Express . [26] Smoking Car grew to sixty people, a huge team for the mid-1990s, and the game took longer to finish than anticipated. When finally released in 1997, it was positively reviewed but did not recoup its budget. It has since become a fan favorite with adventure gamers and critics alike. [10] [27] [28] [29] The Last Express was re-released in 2012 by French publisher DotEmu for mobile and other platforms. [30] [31] [32]

In 2003, Mechner directed the award-winning documentary Chavez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story. [33]

He released the recovered source code to the original Prince of Persia game in 2012 and published his 1980s journals, detailing the development process that went into making Karateka and Prince of Persia. [34] [35]

In 2017, he won the Honorific Award at the Fun & Serious Game Festival. [36]

Prince of Persia revival

In 2001, Mechner worked with Ubisoft to reboot Prince of Persia . Developed at Ubisoft Montreal with Mechner as game designer, writer, and creative consultant, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was released in 2003. It received twelve nominations and eight awards at the Interactive Achievement Awards. [37] Ubisoft has since published four more Prince of Persia sequels and several spinoffs, including the Assassin’s Creed franchise, which was initially conceived as a sequel to Sands of Time. [38] In 2024, Ubisoft released Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown , a new relaunch of the franchise, developed at its Montpellier studio.

Mechner became one of the few video game creators to adapt his own creation as a feature film, with Disney's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time , produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, directed by Mike Newell, and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, and Alfred Molina. The film was released on May 28, 2010. Mechner wrote the first drafts of the screenplay and acted as executive producer.

Writing and directing

Jordan Mechner at WonderCon 2010 Jordan Mechner at WonderCon 2010 3.JPG
Jordan Mechner at WonderCon 2010

In 2003, Mechner wrote and directed the documentary film Chavez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story. It won the 2003 IDA award for Best Short Documentary, [39] was short-listed[ clarification needed ] for an Academy Award nomination, [40] and received its broadcast premiere on PBS Independent Lens in 2005. [41]

Mechner collaborated with a team on the 2008 Prince of Persia graphic novel. The author's graphic novel Templar was published in July 2013. [42] [43] Templar became a New York Times best-selling book and was nominated for an Eisner Award. [44] Mechner also wrote the graphic novel Prince of Persia: Before the Sandstorm, to tie in with the release of the film in 2010.

Mechner has written a screenplay for a film adaptation of Michael Turner's Fathom for Fox Studios. [45]

He has published two volumes of his game development journals from the 1980s, one describing the making of Karateka and the other focusing on Prince of Persia. He was able to recover the source code of the original Prince of Persia game he programmed from 23-year-old 3.5" Apple ProDOS floppy disks, found in April 2012, and posted it online. [34] [35] [46]

In 2017, Mechner moved to Montpellier, France. He has collaborated with European illustrators on graphic novels, including Monte Cristo (2023) and Liberty (2022). [47] [48] In 2023, he released an autobiographical graphic novel, Replay: Memoires d'une famille. He continues to write new graphic novels. [49] [50]

Works

Games

TitleYearPlatformPublisher
Karateka 1984 Apple II Broderbund
Prince of Persia 1989 Apple II Broderbund
Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame 1993 MS-DOS Broderbund
The Last Express 1997 Windows, MS-DOS, Classic Mac OS Broderbund
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time 2003 Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox Ubisoft
Karateka 2012 Windows, Xbox 360 D3 Publisher
The Making of Karateka 2023 Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch Digital Eclipse

Bibliography

TitleYearPublisherCollaboratorsref
Prince of Persia: The Graphic Novel 2008 First Second Books A.B. Sina (writer), LeUyen Pham & Alex Puvilland (illus.)
The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985–19932010 Amazon
Prince of Persia: Before the Sandstorm2010 Disney Todd McFarlane, Bernard Chang, Cameron Stewart, et al. (illus.)
Solomon's Thieves (Templar: Book One)2010First Second BooksLeUyen Pham & Alex Puvilland (illus.)
The Making of Karateka: Journals 1982–19852012Amazon
Templar2013First Second Books LeUyen Pham & Alex Puvilland (illus.)
The Making of Prince of Persia2020Stripe Press
Samak the Ayyar
(English-language rendering of the Samak-e Ayyar tales)
2021 Columbia University Press Freydoon Rassouli (trans.) [51] [52]
Monte Cristo2022–2023 Glénat Editions Mario Alberti (illus.) & Claudia Palescandolo (col.)
Liberty2023–2024 Delcourt Editions Étienne Le Roux (illus.), Loïc Chevallier (illus.) & Elvire De Cock (col.)
Replay: Mémoires d'une famille2023Delcourt Editions
Replay: Memoir of an Uprooted Family2024First Second Books

Filmography

Personal life

Mechner married Whitney Hills in 2014. [1] The couple divorced in 2017. [53] [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>Prince of Persia</i> (1989 video game) 1989 video game

Prince of Persia is a cinematic platform game developed and published by Broderbund for the Apple II in 1989. It was designed and implemented by Jordan Mechner. Taking place in medieval Persia, players control an unnamed protagonist who must venture through a series of dungeons to defeat the evil Grand Vizier Jaffar and save an imprisoned princess.

<i>Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame</i> 1993 platform video game

Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame is a platform game released by Broderbund in 1993 for the MS-DOS, and later ported to Macintosh, Super NES, and FM Towns. It is the second installment in the Prince of Persia series, and a direct sequel to 1989's Prince of Persia. Both games were designed by Jordan Mechner, but unlike the original, he did not program the sequel himself. In the game, players control the Prince as he attempts to return to Persia and defeat the evil wizard Jaffar once and for all, who has assumed his appearance, seized the throne, and put his love interest, the Princess, under a death spell.

<i>Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time</i> 2003 video game

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is an action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. The game was released on the Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox and Windows in November 2003. The Sands of Time is a reboot of the Prince of Persia series created by Jordan Mechner. Mechner served as creative consultant, designer, and scenario writer for The Sands of Time.

<i>The Last Express</i> 1997 adventure video game

The Last Express is an adventure video game designed by Jordan Mechner and published by Broderbund in 1997 for PC. Players take on the role of an American who accepts an invite by a friend to join them on the Orient Express, days before the start of World War I, only to become involved in a maelstrom of treachery, lies, political conspiracies, personal interests, romance and murder, upon boarding the train. The game is unique in how it was created, its non-linear story, and in how events in the game are conducted within real-time.

<i>Prince of Persia: Warrior Within</i> 2004 video game by Ubisoft

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Ubisoft for GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, and Xbox on November 30, 2004. A port for the PlayStation Portable developed by Pipeworks Software, titled Prince of Persia: Revelations, was released on December 6, 2005. Two mobile versions of Warrior Within were published by Gameloft for the cell phone and iOS in 2004 and 2010, respectively. Due to issues with the in-game menu, the iOS version was pulled from the App Store for two weeks, re-releasing on June 18, 2010.

<i>Prince of Persia 3D</i> 1999 action-adventure video game

Prince of Persia 3D is a 1999 action-adventure video game developed by Mindscape, and published by Red Orb Entertainment for Microsoft Windows. A port for the Dreamcast was developed by Avalanche Software and published by Mattel Interactive in North America the following year under the title Prince of Persia: Arabian Nights. It is the first 3D installment in the Prince of Persia series, and the final game in the trilogy that started with the original 1989 game. Taking the role of the titular unnamed character rescuing his bride from a monstrous suitor's schemes, gameplay follows the Prince as he explores environments, platforming and solving puzzles while engaging in combat scenarios.

Prince (<i>Prince of Persia</i>) Fictional characters in the Prince of Persia franchise

The Prince is the name given to a group of fictional characters who act as the main protagonists of the Prince of Persia franchise, originally created by Jordan Mechner and currently owned by Ubisoft. Beginning with the titular original game in 1989, there have been several distinct Prince characters, all sharing general traits. The most prominent version was first featured in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2003), who has featured in a large number of games set within that game's continuity. In the 2008 reboot, the Prince is not from a royal family, but was planned to earn his title during the course of his journey. Other versions of the Prince have appeared in related media, most prominently the character Dastan in the 2010 Prince of Persia film portrayed by Jake Gyllenhaal.

Nasir Gebelli is an Iranian-American programmer and video game designer usually credited in his games as simply Nasir. Gebelli wrote Apple II games for Sirius Software, created his own company Gebelli Software, and worked for Squaresoft. He became known in the early 1980s for producing fast action games for the Apple II, including 3D shooters.

<i>Assassins Creed</i> (video game) 2007 video game

Assassin's Creed is an action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the first installment in the Assassin's Creed series. The video game was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2007. A Microsoft Windows version titled Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition containing additional content was released in April 2008.

<i>Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time</i> (film) 2010 American action fantasy film

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a 2010 American action fantasy film directed by Mike Newell from a screenplay by Boaz Yakin, Doug Miro, and Carlo Bernard, based on the video game series Prince of Persia created by Jordan Mechner. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley, Gemma Arterton, and Alfred Molina. It is an adaptation of the 2003 video game of the same name published by Ubisoft. Elements from its sequels Warrior Within and The Two Thrones are also incorporated.

Prince of Persia is a video game franchise created by Jordan Mechner. It is centered around a series of action-adventure games focused on various incarnations of the eponymous Prince, set in ancient and medieval Persia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ubisoft Montreal</span> Canadian video game developer

Ubisoft Divertissements Inc., doing business as Ubisoft Montreal, is a Canadian video game developer and a studio of Ubisoft based in Montreal.

<i>Prince of Persia</i> (2008 video game) 2008 video game

Prince of Persia is an action-adventure and platforming video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the seventh main installment in the Prince of Persia franchise, and the second reboot, establishing a new continuity that is separate from other games in the series. It was released in the United States on December 2, 2008, for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and on December 9 for Windows. It was released on March 24, 2009, for Mac OS X via the Cider engine. The game was also released on November 11, 2008, by Gameloft for mobile phones that runs on the Java platform taking place in a 2D environment, and has a feature of enabling the players to control a second character at certain points of levels.

<i>Assassins Creed</i> Video game series

Assassin's Creed is an open-world, action-adventure, and stealth game franchise published by Ubisoft and developed mainly by its studio Ubisoft Montreal using the game engine Anvil and its more advanced derivatives. Created by Patrice Désilets, Jade Raymond, and Corey May, the Assassin's Creed video game series depicts a fictional millennia-old struggle between the Order of Assassins, who fight for peace and free will, and the Knights Templar, who desire peace through order and control. The series features historical fiction, science fiction, and fictional characters intertwined with real-world historical events and historical figures. In most games, players control a historical Assassin while also playing as an Assassin Initiate or someone caught in the Assassin–Templar conflict in the present-day framing story. Considered a spiritual successor to the Prince of Persia series, Assassin's Creed took inspiration from the novel Alamut by the Slovenian writer Vladimir Bartol, based on the historical Hashashin sect of the medieval Middle East.

<i>Karateka</i> (video game) 1984 video game

Karateka is a 1984 martial arts action game for the Apple II by Jordan Mechner. It is his first published game and was created while he was attending Yale University. The game was published in North America by Broderbund and in Europe by Ariolasoft. Along with Karate Champ and Yie-Ar Kung Fu, Karateka is one of the earliest martial arts fighting games. It was inspired by Japanese culture and by early Disney animated films and silent pictures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altaïr Ibn-LaʼAhad</span> Assassins Creed character

Altaïr Ibn-LaʼAhad is a fictional character in Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed video game series. He first appears as the main playable character in the original Assassin's Creed game, which takes place during the Third Crusade. His later appearances include the spin-offs Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles and Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines, which also feature him as the protagonist, and the sequels Assassin's Creed II and Assassin's Creed: Revelations, in which he is playable only during certain sequences. Philip Shahbaz voiced Altaïr in the original game, while Owen Thomas took over the role in Bloodlines and Cas Anvar voiced him in Revelations.

<i>Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands</i> 2010 video game

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands refers to a group of 2010 action-adventure video games developed and published by Ubisoft, with each version handled by different internal teams. The main version was developed for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows; other versions were developed for Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, mobile and web browsers, and a notable version for the Wii. It forms part of the Prince of Persia series, and is set within the continuity of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2003).

<i>Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown</i> 2024 video game

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is an action-adventure game developed and published by Ubisoft, part of Prince of Persia series. It was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on 18 January 2024, and received positive reviews from critics.

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