Jordan Mechner: “Game Development Has Really Come Full Circle”


The mind behind Prince of Persia sees today’s game development environment as similar to that he first faced when writing Karateka back in 1984.

In an interview with TouchArcade, Mechner expands on the development of the recent PC/Xbox/360/iOS version of Karateka, noting what differences in development time and the marketplace there were between the original and the re-imagined version.

“…in many ways game development has really come full circle. We went through a period in the ’90s where it seemed like you needed a big team and a lot of resources to make a game at all. Of course, today’s big games are bigger than ever, but now it’s once again possible for one person or a very small team working out of their house to make a game that might reach a huge number of people and get a lot of attention — and I feel like it hasn’t been this way since the ’80s.”

“It is a much larger audience, but then there are so many apps and games available today, as well as everything else on the Internet that’s competing for your attention. So, on the one hand, it’s great for the developer to be able to reach the consumer directly, but breaking through that noise to make people even aware that your games exists is a huge challenge. Whereas, in 1984, if you were lucky enough to actually get your game published, the number of other Apple II games released was in the dozens, not thousands.”

For whatever it’s worth, I rather like the recent remake, and disagree with the Kotaku US review that says it lacks replayability; it’s a fun 30 minute bash in my estimation. [TouchArcade]


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