I’ve never played Prince Of Persia myself but I remember a school mate having a good time during some of our labs in high school. That seemed retro back then already, that was the early 2000s.

Reading these journals, I’ve got to understand that this game has to be completed in 60 minutes, that picked my interest. I think I’ll give it a proper shot soon.

Anyways, this book is, as the title mentions, the journals of Jordan Mechner at the time when he developed and released POP to the world.

It’s raw, that feels unedited. But there’s no rules, that is a personal journal. Plus, as he explains, this book has no publisher or marketing team behind it.

Mechner states his motivation in the introduction, telling the response he got when publishing extracts of his journals to his personal website:

The old journals seem to resonate not only with game developers, but with writers, artists and creators of all stripes, some of whom weren’t born yet in 1985.

I enjoyed to read about the creative process, the struggles to deal as a team to make the game a success and how over time the whole excitement peaks to tremenduous results.

It’s hard to not be nostalgic, that seems fun being a game developer in the 80s.

I wished I could better understand how he got to translate video captures into game sprites while reading. But as it turns out, this kind information is available on his personal website. Have a shot at the ArsTechnica mini doc/interview he shares there to know more.