This is a fine article, but it ends right when it starts to get good. I was totally ready for the less common knowledge or a juicy story.<p>I am on Lutris a lot. It's awesome what can be played on Linux these days. I think it may end up being the primary home of vintage gaming.
“And on the pedestal, these words appear:
I am Jordan Mechner, Game Designer of Game Designers,
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”<p>Never bet against the sands of time… but more power to him.
A lot of the information here are present in the journal of Jordan Mechner which I found was a very interesting dive into the making of Prince of Persia including doubts and difficulties anyone who tried to create things can probably relate to. Thats a very good read and a great gift to anyone who try to make things on his own : <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1468093657/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1468093657/ref=tmm_pap_swatch...</a><p>I absolutly recommend it. There is also a comics that tell his grand father, his father story and himself that tells a lot of what a war is and also tells a little bit of the making of PoP.
This reminds me of buying the Curse of Monkey Island Special Edition for iOS which Disney removed from the store instead of upgrading from 32 bit<p>That drove me right into the hands of ScummVM which somebody in Apple graciously let slip through<p>I always support buying a game when possible, but I also support the emulator community for exactly this reason<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/scummvm/id6446184412" rel="nofollow">https://apps.apple.com/us/app/scummvm/id6446184412</a>
Tangentially related: here's a free software recreation of Prince of Persia: <a href="http://oitofelix.github.io/mininim/" rel="nofollow">http://oitofelix.github.io/mininim/</a><p>(Unfortunately, the assets are not under a free license.)
Great article. Replay is an amazing achievement.<p>Preservation is an interesting subject. In art it has been something we have endured for a long time. The Last Supper was painted, as I recall, in an eggshell based paints. This medium had required restoration artists to repaint various sections every X number of years where X < 100.<p>The Shoah Foundation has the problem of preserving the digital transcriptions of holocaust survivor testimonies. Preserving those without bit-rot is also a difficult endeavour. I can’t imagine what it will be like for video games in the future.<p>Great article. And if you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend Replay.