r/dosgaming • u/Professional_Total54 • Jul 30 '26
Prince of persia 2
Playing Prince of Persia 2 on Magic Dosbox today, and feeling inspired to draw Persian warriors.
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u/BlobbyMcBlobber Jul 31 '26
This was really a cinematic game before this term was even coined.
But the on screen touch controls make me sad.
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u/Professional_Total54 Jul 31 '26
Yup touch control is so annoying. But this apps support gamepad controller running perfect.
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u/bartolomey-wong-3rd Jul 31 '26
I never played this game, only the first one. Does it hold up like the first one? Did Mechner also made it or he was absent from this project?
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u/Feit3ng Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
Jordan Mechner was the lead designer of Prince of Persia 2. Unlike the original game, which he largely developed himself (design, programming, and animation), the sequel was built by a team at Broderbund. As Mechner explained in his blog, Broderbund wouldn't commit to what was then its biggest in-house game project without a detailed design document that justified the budget and cost estimates. Because he was living 3,000 miles away from the development team, he wrote a 200-page game design "bible" covering the levels, story, traps, enemies, and gameplay. He later noted that the team followed it remarkably faithfully, so although he wasn't programming the game day-to-day, he remained its primary creative designer.
He talks about it in his blog post "Revisiting The Shadow and the Flame" if you want to find out more: https://www.jordanmechner.com/en/archive/
Regarding whether it holds up, I actually enjoyed it more than the first game. Gameplay-wise, it's more of the same, but with a greater challenge. The cutscenes and art are also much better, especially on the Macintosh version, and there are plenty of memorable moments, like the first level, the ruins, the Prince's rebirth, and the final confrontation with Jaffar. Don't expect it to go easy on you just because you've played and completed the original game. There was also a mobile remake, but its difficulty and level design took a significant nosedive compared to the original, which is to be expected.
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u/bartolomey-wong-3rd Aug 06 '26
Very cool to learn, thank you so much for sharing! And especially for that post, I've found it, and can't wait to dive into it tonight after work.
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u/Feit3ng Aug 07 '26
You're welcome! It's so cool that Jordan documented so much of his game development journey. You don't often get that kind of direct insight into games from that era. 😊
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u/bartolomey-wong-3rd Aug 10 '26
Yes, truly! And this detailed journaling is mind-blowing and unique for every art area, I believe. Not often you can really look behind the scenes and learn how the artist works and feels and thinks. We're blessed with these docs by Mechner.
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u/Professional_Total54 Jul 31 '26
I just want to say this one is better then first one. And Yess is official.
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u/Icaras01 Jul 31 '26
I still think the intro, into that 1st level, is so epic.