The father of the legendary “Prince of Persia,” one of the most successful franchises in the history of video games, began his career in the 1980’s
Mechner is also a scriptwriter and responsible for the adaptation of his most emblematic title to the cinema
Fun & Serious, the largest video-game festival in Europe, which will be staging its seventh edition from 8 to 11 December, has announced another of the Honorary Awards it shall be presenting this year. Jordan Mechner, the American creator of one of the most famous sagas in the industry, “Prince of Persia,” will be recognized for his talent, narrative ability and innovative vision, all crucial aspects regarding the development of the gaming universe since the 1980’s.
Starting with the earliest titles he developed for Apple II while studying Psychology at Yale, ”Karateka”, and ”Prince of Persia”, Mechner radically transformed the narrative of the game by combining arcade action with realistic animation and storytelling typical of the cinema for the first time.
But Mechner was not only a key influence in the development of the action and adventure genre, but a hard-working technical innovator, responsible for the first rotoscope patent, for “The Last Express,” the most acclaimed video game in its adventure saga, which Mechner created as an independent developer with Smoking Car Productions, the production company that he founded in the 1990’s.
