Meta tags:
description=Jordan Mechner is an author, graphic novelist, screenwriter and video game designer, best known as the creator of Prince of Persia, Karateka, and The Last Express. Follow his latest projects here.;

Headings (most frequently used words):

on, gameplay, storytelling,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (35), and (25), game (14), what (9), player (8), jordan (7), too (5), but (5), players (5), about (5), they (5), characters (5), games (5), for (5), that (5), our (5), #graphic (4), video (4), prince (4), persia (4), with (4), cinematics (4), them (4), will (4), every (4), watch (4), can (4), movie (4), mechner (3), his (3), making (3), scenes (3), not (3), gameplay (3), want (3), their (3), might (3), action (3), play (3), movies (3), moment (3), could (3), 2026 (2), known (2), this (2), behind (2), epic (2), adventure (2), read (2), more (2), news (2), are (2), there (2), long (2), window (2), when (2), have (2), objectives (2), writer (2), analyze (2), terms (2), goal (2), how (2), spectacular (2), sound (2), wants (2), someone (2), adventures (2), experience (2), novels (2), become (2), other (2), story (2), suspense (2), own (2), feelings (2), look (2), into (2), try (2), affects (2), where (2), next (2), sword (2), get (2), content (2), like (2), skip (2), writing (2), novel (2), artworks (2), author, novelist, screenwriter, designer, best, creator, website, years, ago, journal, continues, through, last, express, karateka, early, landmark, digital, eclipse, acclaimed, interactive, documentary, embark, rogue, liberty, historical, revealing, little, black, ops, chapter, american, revolution, monte, cristo, classic, tale, injustice, revenge, redemption, reimagined, post, america, all, articles, sometimes, described, giving, breather, think, accurate, metaphor, pulling, underwater, hold, your, start, drown, advice, use, sparingly, judiciously, dressing, show, off, production, value, moments, you, truly, something, important, useful, tell, world, invested, should, weigh, scene, script, element, only, unsure, currently, seeing, onscreen, affect, inner, boredom, clock, begins, tick, even, screen, filled, emotion, fury, don, passively, else, emotions, vicariously, local, supermarket, active, protagonist, identifying, character, deepen, enhance, pleasure, pain, care, most, arise, course, attempting, succeed, theater, film, writers, actors, directors, learn, big, picture, beat, prop, word, touch, potential, insight, progress, human, quest, aware, another, person, fail, modify, strategy, again, achieve, inherently, fascinating, notice, people, sidewalk, stop, struggle, maneuver, car, small, parking, space, empathy, flow, naturally, such, situations, between, two, heighten, emotional, involvement, recently, taken, planning, take, possible, future, outcome, explosion, collapses, building, forces, devise, new, plan, getting, need, showing, enemy, unbuckle, put, certain, place, before, goes, bed, riveting, enter, environment, steal, unlike, clip, holds, interest, mainly, insofar, audience, sees, hears, nothing, wrong, having, sequences, listen, call, cutscenes, whatever, many, unrelated, impatient, just, past, thing, remember, exists, serve, design, way, around, much, radio, those, surface, similarities, deceptive, trap, wrote, article, jon, ingold, inkle, anthology, 100, essays, craft, mine, page, 234, narrative, kaleidoscope, march, storytelling, latest, dive, follow, creative, journey, recent, sketchbooks, discover, award, winning, memoir, replay, library, books, main,

Text of the page (random words):
jordan mechner video games graphic novels and movies skip to main content books games movies artworks about library discover jordan s award winning graphic novel memoir replay follow jordan s creative journey in his recent sketchbooks and artworks dive behind the scenes of the making of prince of persia latest news on gameplay storytelling march 4 2026 i wrote this article for jon ingold inkle s the game narrative kaleidoscope an anthology of 100 essays on the craft of game writing mine is on page 234 the thing about writing for games is to remember that the story exists to serve the game design not the other way around as much as a game might look or sound like a movie or graphic novel or radio play those surface similarities can be deceptive and a trap for a writer a movie is what an audience sees and hears it s what the characters do a game is what the players do there s nothing wrong with having sequences where a player s action is listen and watch call them in game cinematics cutscenes or whatever but if they re too many or too long or too unrelated to the gameplay players will get impatient and just want to skip past them cinematics can be movie like but unlike a movie clip the content holds interest mainly insofar as it affects what a player can or can t or wants to do next showing an enemy unbuckle his sword and put it in a certain place before he goes to bed could be riveting if players will get to enter that environment and steal the sword an explosion that collapses a building could be spectacular if it forces players to devise a new plan for getting where they need to go next a moment between two characters could heighten emotional involvement if it affects a player s feelings about an action they ve recently taken or are planning to take or a possible future outcome theater and film writers actors and directors learn to analyze scenes in terms of what characters want moment to moment and in the big picture every beat every prop every word or look or touch is a potential window of insight into the progress of a human quest to become aware of another person s goal to watch them try fail modify their strategy and try again to achieve it is inherently fascinating notice how people on the sidewalk will stop to watch someone struggle to maneuver their car into a too small parking space empathy and suspense flow naturally in such situations we don t play video games to passively watch someone else s adventures or experience emotions vicariously for that we have movies novels and our local supermarket we play games to become the active protagonist of our own adventures identifying with the player s character or other characters in a game story might deepen or enhance our experience but the suspense pleasure and pain we care most about is our own the feelings that arise in the course of attempting to succeed in our game objectives a video game writer should weigh and analyze every scene and script element not only in terms of what the characters want but what the player wants when a player is unsure of what their goal is or how what they re currently seeing onscreen might affect it an inner boredom clock begins to tick even if the screen is filled with spectacular action emotion sound and fury game cinematics are sometimes described as giving the player a breather i think a more accurate metaphor is pulling the player underwater hold them there too long and your game will start to drown my advice is to use cinematics sparingly and judiciously not as window dressing or to show off production value but at moments when you truly have something important and useful to tell players about the game world and gameplay objectives they re invested in read all news articles read more monte cristo the classic tale of injustice revenge and redemption reimagined in post 9 11 america liberty an epic historical adventure revealing a little known black ops chapter of the american revolution embark on an epic adventure with the rogue prince of persia the making of karateka go behind the scenes of jordan s early landmark game in digital eclipse s acclaimed interactive documentary jordan s 30 years ago journal continues through the making of prince of persia 2 and the last express jordan mechner is an author graphic novelist screenwriter and video game designer best known as the creator of prince of persia this is his website 2026 jordan mechner