15 Facts About Jordan Mechner

1.

Jordan Mechner was born on June 4,1964 and is an American video game designer, author, screenwriter, and filmmaker.

2.

Jordan Mechner is best known for designing and programming the Broderbund Apple II games Karateka and Prince of Persia in the 1980s, the latter of which grew into a multi-platform franchise.

3.

Jordan Mechner's father is psychologist Francis Mechner, and his mother was a programmer.

4.

Jordan Mechner then spent two years at Yale writing his first published game, Karateka, which went to number one on the Billboard software chart.

5.

Jordan Mechner wrote both games in the 6502 assembly language for the Apple II, though that system was in decline through the late 1980s, and little new software was released by 1989.

6.

Jordan Mechner designed and directed the first sequel, Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame, released in 1993.

7.

Jordan Mechner founded independent developer Smoking Car Productions in 1993, where he led the production of the CD-ROM adventure game The Last Express.

8.

In 2001, Jordan Mechner worked with Ubisoft to reboot Prince of Persia.

9.

Jordan Mechner became one of the few video game creators to adapt his own creation as a feature film, with Disney's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, directed by Mike Newell, and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, and Alfred Molina.

10.

Jordan Mechner wrote the first drafts of the screenplay and acted as executive producer.

11.

In 2003, Jordan Mechner wrote and directed the documentary film Chavez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story.

12.

Jordan Mechner collaborated with a team on the 2008 Prince of Persia graphic novel.

13.

Jordan Mechner wrote the graphic novel Prince of Persia: Before the Sandstorm, to tie in with the release of the film in 2010.

14.

Jordan Mechner has written a screenplay for a film adaptation of Michael Turner's Fathom for Fox Studios.

15.

Jordan Mechner has self-published two volumes of his game development journals from the 1980s, one describing the making of Karateka and the other focusing on Prince of Persia.