Jordan Mechner: Pioneering game designer on creating Prince of Persia, Karateka, and a new graphic novel memoir

Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/jordan-mechner As a kid in the 80’s, Eli fell in love with games on computers like the Apple II, Commodore 64, and later the Amiga and Macintosh. One of the very first games he played was called Karateka, which was inspiring for the realistic movements of its digital karate antagonists, even on a black-and-green Apple II monitor. Our guest today, Jordan Mechner, created Karateka while an undergrad at Yale University in 1984, and it went on to be a commercial success. He followed it up with the game Prince of Persia (you’ll hear a clip from the soundtrack in the introduction, which Jordan’s father composed and which Jordan invented a way to transpose onto the Apple II’s tinny speakers before game soundtracks were widespread on the machine). Jordan documented the creation of the game in a wonderful published version of his diaries called The Making of Prince of Persia, and we spoke with him about how he taught himself the skills to build successful video games in a pre-internet era, why he journaled about his work process (and what it taught him), and about his new graphic novel Replay, a memoir recounting his own family story of war, exile and new beginnings. Book & links mentioned Journals: Steven Soderbergh, Michael Palin, Brian Eno Hobonichi Techo John August The World of Yesterday, Stefan Zweig Bio Jordan Mechner is an American author, game designer, comic book artist, and screenwriter, best known for creating the iconic video game Prince of Persia in 1989. He relaunched the series with Ubisoft in 2003 and wrote the original screenplay for the film adaptation produced by Disney in 2010, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. This work is considered a timeless classic and has spawned a global transmedia franchise, with over 20 million games sold to date. Since 2017, Jordan has been living in France, where he made his debut as a full author with his autobiographical graphic novel Replay. Among the albums he has written are Monte-Cristo (with Mario Alberti), Liberté! (with Étienne Le Roux and Loïc Chevallier), and Templiers (with LeUyen Pham and Alex Puvilland), which appeared on the New York Times bestsellers list. His latest works were first published in French, with English editions following in 2024. Jordan's video games, such as Karateka (1984) and The Last Express (1997), are recognized for their cinematic storytelling and innovative use of rotoscoping. In 2017, he received the Pioneer Award from the International Game Developers Association. Jordan also wrote and directed Chavez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story, an award-winning documentary broadcast on PBS. He has published his development journals, The Making of Karateka and The Making of Prince of Persia, as well as an adaptation of the Persian tales Samak the Ayyar. A passionate artist, he keeps a sketchbook journal, regularly sharing his thoughts and drawings, a testament to his love for art and storytelling. *** Premium Episodes on Design Better This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books, as well as our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. Upgrade to paid ***