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Mechner has also taken the liberty to share his old journal entries from the Prince of Persia era. A lengthy, inspiring read, and highly relevant to people tryi

by heed 17y ago

Mechner has also taken the liberty to share his old journal entries from the Prince of Persia era. A lengthy, inspiring read, and highly relevant to people trying to build something. Check them out on his website: http://jordanmechner.com/old-journals/ http://jordanmechner.com/old-journals/

whatusername 17y ago
Can I just second that these are an engrossing read. See the HN discussion here - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=952029 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=952029
- wallflower 17y ago
  Thanks!!! Plowing through it, enjoying the read, sad it will soon be done. It's like reading Coders at Work in autobiographical form. One of the best non-book books I've read in months. > We chatted for an hour about peripherally related topics. Broderbund, corporate America, the rat race, capitalism, freedom. I was seducing him. At the critical psychological moment, I remarked: “You know, all my clipping is done on the byte boundaries.” There was a pause April 3, 1989 > The other thing is, I liked them. Lately I’d been starting to feel jaded about this whole enterprise – “Oh well, it’s just a computer game” – but watching Chris and Stu, I realized: These guys love games. They love games the way I loved movies in college. Even more, because they’re not interested in girls yet. Computer games are like the air they breathe. If I can make one that they can get excited about, that’s a real accomplishment. That’s something I can be proud of. So I worked till ten with renewed enthusiasm. May 6, 1989
drawkbox 17y ago
This entry is funny: http://jordanmechner.com/old-journals/1985/07/july-5-1985/ http://jordanmechner.com/old-journals/1985/07/july-5-1985/ "There’s no guarantee the new game will be as successful. Or that there will even be a computer games market a couple of years from now."
- waterlesscloud 17y ago
  Yeah, I loved that one. Does provide some perspective. On the other hand, I kept thinking how thrilled he must be that his game is going to be a huge movie, since he really wanted to be a filmmaker all along.
  - dk 17y ago
    I hope it lives up to the potential. Chris Roberts of Wing Commander fame went down that path and has barely been heard from since. OTOH he never got anywhere close to a $200m budget.
enki 17y ago
and it seems he worked for 4 years to write POP in 6502 assembler (non-fulltime - via http://jordanmechner.com/page/4/ http://jordanmechner.com/page/4/). with all the usual HN talk about release early, release often, that's a pre-release timeframe i have problems even imagining. wish jordan was a HN reader!
wlievens 17y ago
I third this. It's like reading Microserfs, except it's REAL

by heed 17y ago

whatusername 17y ago

Can I just second that these are an engrossing read. See the HN discussion here - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=952029 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=952029

wallflower 17y ago
Thanks!!! Plowing through it, enjoying the read, sad it will soon be done. It's like reading Coders at Work in autobiographical form. One of the best non-book books I've read in months. > We chatted for an hour about peripherally related topics. Broderbund, corporate America, the rat race, capitalism, freedom. I was seducing him. At the critical psychological moment, I remarked: “You know, all my clipping is done on the byte boundaries.” There was a pause April 3, 1989 > The other thing is, I liked them. Lately I’d been starting to feel jaded about this whole enterprise – “Oh well, it’s just a computer game” – but watching Chris and Stu, I realized: These guys love games. They love games the way I loved movies in college. Even more, because they’re not interested in girls yet. Computer games are like the air they breathe. If I can make one that they can get excited about, that’s a real accomplishment. That’s something I can be proud of. So I worked till ten with renewed enthusiasm. May 6, 1989

drawkbox 17y ago

This entry is funny: http://jordanmechner.com/old-journals/1985/07/july-5-1985/ http://jordanmechner.com/old-journals/1985/07/july-5-1985/ "There’s no guarantee the new game will be as successful. Or that there will even be a computer games market a couple of years from now."

waterlesscloud 17y ago
Yeah, I loved that one. Does provide some perspective. On the other hand, I kept thinking how thrilled he must be that his game is going to be a huge movie, since he really wanted to be a filmmaker all along.
- dk 17y ago
  I hope it lives up to the potential. Chris Roberts of Wing Commander fame went down that path and has barely been heard from since. OTOH he never got anywhere close to a $200m budget.

enki 17y ago

and it seems he worked for 4 years to write POP in 6502 assembler (non-fulltime - via http://jordanmechner.com/page/4/ http://jordanmechner.com/page/4/). with all the usual HN talk about release early, release often, that's a pre-release timeframe i have problems even imagining. wish jordan was a HN reader!

wlievens 17y ago

I third this. It's like reading Microserfs, except it's REAL