Before Prince of Persia, there was Karateka. Released in 1984, the directorial debut of game creator Jordan Mechner was a worldwide hit, full of groundbreaking innovations in story, cinematics, music, and animation. It was also the work of an unknown teenager looking to break into the game industry.

Forty years later, Jordan discusses how he pushed the limits of Apple II technology to create his breakthrough success. Through original design documents, film footage, prototype gameplay, and more, Jordan tells the story of how he developed his craft as an independent game developer and brought the illusion of life to computer screens around the world with Karateka.

GDC returns to San Francisco in March 2025! For more information, be sure to visit our website and follow the #GDC2025 hashtag on social media.

Subscribe to the GDC newsletter and get regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or RSS.

Join the GDC mailing list: http://www.gdconf.com/subscribe

Follow GDC on Twitter:   / official_gdc  

GDC talks cover a range of developmental topics including game design, programming, audio, visual arts, business management, production, online games, and much more. We post a fresh GDC video every day. Subscribe to the channel to stay on top of regular updates, and check out GDC Vault for thousands of more indepth talks from our archives.