43 ms·

Jordan Mechner vs. the sands of time

62 points by anonymousab 3y ago

lowercased 3y ago
https://archive.is/FPzmd https://archive.is/FPzmd
- 1000100_1000101 3y ago
  Thanks. Ironic that a story about preservation is locked behind a paywall.
  - uwagar 3y ago
    i like that when an article is behind the paywall, someone posts a link and that is all of their reply :)
    - lowercased 3y ago
      so do i. i rarely get to be the first one to do so... :)
  - manquer 3y ago
    Why so ? Preservation is not free for private for profit companies, why do we expect it to be ? People should get access to older publications for free absolutely, but that is what museums, libraries and copyright law is for . The taxpayer can better fund preservation. A modern government mandated archive like libraries do for papers of record is quite realistic and linked to copyright protection. There is no reason for IP protection to be free , patents are not , trademarks are not , they all require filing fees there is no reason copyright can’t work the same way.
yawpitch 3y ago
“And on the pedestal, these words appear: I am Jordan Mechner, Game Designer of Game Designers, Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.” Never bet against the sands of time… but more power to him.
whoopdedo 3y ago
Clever headline writer making me think he didn't like the Ubisoft games.
- web3-is-a-scam 3y ago
  Unpopular opinion but Warrior Within is my favourite, followed by the cell shaded Reboot and Sands of Time being about equal for me.
  - Narishma 3y ago
    Those two are my favorites as well.
  - 3abiton 3y ago
    "I am the architect of my own destruction" spoke so much to the teenager in me back in the days. Hands down the best Prince of Persia.
    - bitwize 3y ago
      Sounds like nu metal lyrics, so it tracks.
    - gambiting 3y ago
      I think it really depends which stage of your life your played those games at - beeing a very dark and brooding 15-year old who was into all kinds of "edgy" teenage media at the time, the metal soundtrack and darker themes of Warrior Within made it seem like the coolest videogame of all time.
      - web3-is-a-scam 3y ago
        Maybe it’s rose tinted glasses but WW holds up much better today as well, in my opinion. The combat in that game is just absolutely wonderful.
  - rm445 3y ago
aresant 3y ago
This reminds me of buying the Curse of Monkey Island Special Edition for iOS which Disney removed from the store instead of upgrading from 32 bit That drove me right into the hands of ScummVM which somebody in Apple graciously let slip through I always support buying a game when possible, but I also support the emulator community for exactly this reason https://apps.apple.com/us/app/scummvm/id6446184412 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/scummvm/id6446184412
- musicale 3y ago
  So many games were vaporized in the 32-bit apocalypse, both on iOS and macOS. But I note that other game platforms and handhelds have better ABI stability (though they break every 7 years or so due to console generation changes.)
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
DDayMace 3y ago
This is a fine article, but it ends right when it starts to get good. I was totally ready for the less common knowledge or a juicy story. I am on Lutris a lot. It's awesome what can be played on Linux these days. I think it may end up being the primary home of vintage gaming.
agentultra 3y ago
Great article. Replay is an amazing achievement. Preservation is an interesting subject. In art it has been something we have endured for a long time. The Last Supper was painted, as I recall, in an eggshell based paints. This medium had required restoration artists to repaint various sections every X number of years where X < 100. The Shoah Foundation has the problem of preserving the digital transcriptions of holocaust survivor testimonies. Preserving those without bit-rot is also a difficult endeavour. I can’t imagine what it will be like for video games in the future. Great article. And if you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend Replay.
rekado 3y ago
Tangentially related: here's a free software recreation of Prince of Persia: http://oitofelix.github.io/mininim/ http://oitofelix.github.io/mininim/ (Unfortunately, the assets are not under a free license.)
ecaradec 2y ago
A lot of the information here are present in the journal of Jordan Mechner which I found was a very interesting dive into the making of Prince of Persia including doubts and difficulties anyone who tried to create things can probably relate to. Thats a very good read and a great gift to anyone who try to make things on his own : https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1468093657/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr= https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1468093657/ref=tmm_pap_swatch... I absolutly recommend it. There is also a comics that tell his grand father, his father story and himself that tells a lot of what a war is and also tells a little bit of the making of PoP.

62 points by anonymousab 3y ago

lowercased 3y ago

https://archive.is/FPzmd https://archive.is/FPzmd

1000100_1000101 3y ago
Thanks. Ironic that a story about preservation is locked behind a paywall.
- uwagar 3y ago
  i like that when an article is behind the paywall, someone posts a link and that is all of their reply :)
  - lowercased 3y ago
    so do i. i rarely get to be the first one to do so... :)
- manquer 3y ago
  Why so ? Preservation is not free for private for profit companies, why do we expect it to be ? People should get access to older publications for free absolutely, but that is what museums, libraries and copyright law is for . The taxpayer can better fund preservation. A modern government mandated archive like libraries do for papers of record is quite realistic and linked to copyright protection. There is no reason for IP protection to be free , patents are not , trademarks are not , they all require filing fees there is no reason copyright can’t work the same way.

yawpitch 3y ago

“And on the pedestal, these words appear: I am Jordan Mechner, Game Designer of Game Designers, Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.” Never bet against the sands of time… but more power to him.

whoopdedo 3y ago

Clever headline writer making me think he didn't like the Ubisoft games.

web3-is-a-scam 3y ago
Unpopular opinion but Warrior Within is my favourite, followed by the cell shaded Reboot and Sands of Time being about equal for me.
- Narishma 3y ago
  Those two are my favorites as well.
- 3abiton 3y ago
  "I am the architect of my own destruction" spoke so much to the teenager in me back in the days. Hands down the best Prince of Persia.
  - bitwize 3y ago
    Sounds like nu metal lyrics, so it tracks.
  - gambiting 3y ago
    I think it really depends which stage of your life your played those games at - beeing a very dark and brooding 15-year old who was into all kinds of "edgy" teenage media at the time, the metal soundtrack and darker themes of Warrior Within made it seem like the coolest videogame of all time.
    - web3-is-a-scam 3y ago
      Maybe it’s rose tinted glasses but WW holds up much better today as well, in my opinion. The combat in that game is just absolutely wonderful.
- rm445 3y ago

aresant 3y ago

This reminds me of buying the Curse of Monkey Island Special Edition for iOS which Disney removed from the store instead of upgrading from 32 bit That drove me right into the hands of ScummVM which somebody in Apple graciously let slip through I always support buying a game when possible, but I also support the emulator community for exactly this reason https://apps.apple.com/us/app/scummvm/id6446184412 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/scummvm/id6446184412

musicale 3y ago
So many games were vaporized in the 32-bit apocalypse, both on iOS and macOS. But I note that other game platforms and handhelds have better ABI stability (though they break every 7 years or so due to console generation changes.)

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

DDayMace 3y ago

This is a fine article, but it ends right when it starts to get good. I was totally ready for the less common knowledge or a juicy story. I am on Lutris a lot. It's awesome what can be played on Linux these days. I think it may end up being the primary home of vintage gaming.

agentultra 3y ago

Great article. Replay is an amazing achievement. Preservation is an interesting subject. In art it has been something we have endured for a long time. The Last Supper was painted, as I recall, in an eggshell based paints. This medium had required restoration artists to repaint various sections every X number of years where X < 100. The Shoah Foundation has the problem of preserving the digital transcriptions of holocaust survivor testimonies. Preserving those without bit-rot is also a difficult endeavour. I can’t imagine what it will be like for video games in the future. Great article. And if you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend Replay.

rekado 3y ago

Tangentially related: here's a free software recreation of Prince of Persia: http://oitofelix.github.io/mininim/ http://oitofelix.github.io/mininim/ (Unfortunately, the assets are not under a free license.)

ecaradec 2y ago

A lot of the information here are present in the journal of Jordan Mechner which I found was a very interesting dive into the making of Prince of Persia including doubts and difficulties anyone who tried to create things can probably relate to. Thats a very good read and a great gift to anyone who try to make things on his own : https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1468093657/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr= https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1468093657/ref=tmm_pap_swatch... I absolutly recommend it. There is also a comics that tell his grand father, his father story and himself that tells a lot of what a war is and also tells a little bit of the making of PoP.