home_images

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

The Prince dashes into the Palace to save the Princess, an accurate archer is taking aim and his only chance is to hide, duck and dodge the repeated shots as he works his way down the long hall...
To give the richness to the palace with the available technology of Prince of Persia 3D 256X256 and 256x512 textures were used repeatedly in place of 128x128 and 64X64 textures requiring many selection sets to prevent texture popping. A certain color of purple became our transparency.

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

Hey BTW Prince, I hope you were not too distracted, because there are also spike traps in the floor (we tried to give you a hint)...

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

What are you going to do now Prince; the guard has closed the gates. You better find a warm air grill to smash and get in that way; or something ...

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

Pulled in by a golden ray of vertex light and assisted by a friendly mage, the Prince discovers a special box. Keen to the intricacies of Arabic puzzles, the prince finds a way to open the box, low and behold, there is a 'freeze arrow' within ...

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

Is this not the same guy that was shooting arrows at you from below? He now has a staff, it is now time to take your revenge...Prince, you know have a bow and arrow to add to your arsenal! ...

To give the richness to the palace with the available technology of Prince of Persia 3D 256X256 textures were used in place of 128x128 and 64X64 textures requiring many selection sets to prevent texture popping. A certain color of purple became our transparency.

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

Hmm, pay attention Prince, I know that chandelier looks too bright and pointy for this beautifully ornate bath house and funny about all those cracks in the pool floor ... perhaps there is another purpose ... wait, pay attention, there is a little guy hitting me with a staff and he really does he pack a wallop...

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

Good job Prince, you managed to turn on the water - [you know that you are now going to have to freeze the water with your 'freeze arrow', climb up the ice waterfall, jump into that open window, cut down the chandelier, break the central bath floor, turn on the water to the warm bath, and open the gates to extinguish the furnace, before you can jump below into the basement...don't you?]...

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

Well, here we are down in the basement. Now you know that that poor prisoner on the treadmill was pumping the water when you selfishly pulled that switch to fill the baths (no electricity in ancient Persia, you know!) ...anyway, despite his torment, he will give you a hint of how to get to the second part of the Palace by jumping through that conveniently open grate into the Cistern below (Well, of course there is a cistern, we needed water to feed the baths don't you know!)...

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

You cant just expect to jump in a strange hole without finding something lurking below. Kill the beast and climb the stairs out of there...

This was a good foggy place to have a level change and bridged the Palace 1 and Cistern levels.
Previewing the cistern through a large grate at the end was made possible, to give the player a good idea of what is coming and where he is headed.

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

Great, another archer taking pot shots at you. It is a good thing there are extra arrows lying around. If you miss him you will just have to go get him. It is just a small 'leap of faith' to that hanging rope and a big swing on to the stair beyond...

This was the first swinging rope for the player. There was a gradual introduction to new skills, weapons and increase in difficulty of the enemies and traps through the course of the game

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

The first counter-weighted elevator in ancient Persia.

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

If you fall in the water, you better swim fast or get taken by the sister of the sea monster you slew [Sorry, but we could not have you swimming too far!] ...

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

As the prince took a long ride in his boat, he needed time to fight off the assassin, that jumped in on him. In order to keep the geometry down in this seemingly endless cistern, the lead game designer and I mostly occluded the end of the level with fog and moved the same 10 sections of cistern geometry around and past the boat. This also allowed the prince to fight on a static platform, which was necessary.
With the gamma pumped up in this still you can notice the 'Trompe l'oeil' texture at the edge of the cistern that I created from a screenshot of the finished geometry.

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

As the prince reaches his destination he has to figure out a series of counter weighted lifts and puzzles to get out of the Cistern and to the Palace 2 level.

Originally, there was a huge water wheel that was built at the end of this level to bring the Prince through a series of puzzles that was not inserted into the game due to lack of time.

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

As the door closes behind the prince he is met by the strongest guard he has met yet.

As part of the marketing effort we mapped the face of an avid fan on the guard.

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

Upon defeating the guard and making it past a head slicing trap, the Prince must figure out a series of counterweighted ramps to get to the upper levels of the palace. Some of the puzzles involved throwing switches, accessing secret rooms, pushing weights out of a huge counterweight and taking large jumps to make it to the top of the scissoring stairs. This shot of the grand scheme was taken in fly view.
Given the complexity of this puzzle the scripting in 3dsmax became a little complex.

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

As the Prince climbs the ramp the drawbridge beyond and gate close in front of him. Again the carrot is pulled away from him. There is a cut scene somewhere here with the Princess being taken again just out of his reach.
The Prince will have to find another way to the library beyond.

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

Because the Prince relied on the geometry around him to walk and run, he did not react to well to moving objects. We had to freeze him in place and lock him (link him in Max) temporarily in order that he could appear to move on moving planes without breaking the game or falling into space.
At this point in the level the Prince has reactivated the counterweighted ramps by pushing a weight back on to it; removing the great wall that separated him from the 'Great Hall' where he now stands.

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

The great hall was an opportunity to have a great view outside the palace and some perspective on the rest of the world we were trying to paint. A few other artists worked hard on modeling and painting a landscape that was reduced to a large map.
I tagged the fountain here to give full health points, a 'fountain of youth. Lighting and torches hinted subtlly at many secrets.

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

A few more climbs, some more found potions and the prince arrives at the top level.
Come on prince, I know someone is shooting arrows at you, you are just going to have to do a few trapeze maneuvers followed by a large swinging jump to get over there and deal with him.

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

This is a shot to the next large selection set of Palace 2. The raised drawbridge can be seen.

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

The prince here has to do some rooftop climbing and take a huge leap again and slide down the ramp to the waiting soldier beyond. The camera was tagged here to give a side view of the Prince sliding down the steep ramp.

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

After working his way through the guard house at the exterior, the Prince opens the large gate and enters this large room and gets direction from another meditating mage on what he should do. He is also drawn to this strange contraption above which he will encounter later. I think we had visions of using a flying carpet at this point, but it became too problematic for us. The prince pulls a book from the shelves to rotate on a platform to a secret stair.

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

After working his way through the guard house at the exterior, the Prince opens the large gate and enters this large room and gets direction from another meditating mage on what he should do. He is also drawn to this strange contraption above which he will encounter later. I think we had visions of using a flying carpet at this point, but it became too problematic for us. The prince pulls a book from the shelves to rotate on a platform to a secret stair.

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

Again, with limited polygon and textures of the time, it was desired to make a huge space, but to achieve this the dropping of the level geometry etc. had to be handled differently here, by breaking it up more. Geometry in this huge room was also occluded by layer fog and depth fading. The doors at the top and bottom opened and closed to close off the geometry beyond.
The Prince found ways to jump in and out of the stacks and platforms of the library, while getting shot at until he reached the librarians book access machine.

PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999

Finally, at the top level inside the dome of the palace library, the iris door closes. The prince works his way outside one of the doors to find a 'feather potion'. At this time the player has little choice but to jump off the top of the tower seemingly to his death over the large chasm below. The game was redesigned at this point, and it became the Prince's (or the players) biggest 'Leap of Faith'. Over to another cut scene, the prince floats down to a bridge spanning the chasm below and to the next level.







			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 The Prince dashes into the Palace to save the Princess, an accurate archer is taking aim and his only chance is to hide, duck and dodge the repeated shots as he works his way down the long hall... To give the richness to the palace with the available technology of Prince of Persia 3D 256X256 and 256x512 textures were used repeatedly in place of 128x128 and 64X64 textures requiring many selection sets to prevent texture popping. A certain color of purple became our transparency.

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 Hey BTW Prince, I hope you were not too distracted, because there are also spike traps in the floor (we tried to give you a hint)...

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 What are you going to do now Prince; the guard has closed the gates. You better find a warm air grill to smash and get in that way; or something ...

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 Pulled in by a golden ray of vertex light and assisted by a friendly mage, the Prince discovers a special box. Keen to the intricacies of Arabic puzzles, the prince finds a way to open the box, low and behold, there is a 'freeze arrow' within ...

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 Is this not the same guy that was shooting arrows at you from below? He now has a staff, it is now time to take your revenge...Prince, you know have a bow and arrow to add to your arsenal! ... To give the richness to the palace with the available technology of Prince of Persia 3D 256X256 textures were used in place of 128x128 and 64X64 textures requiring many selection sets to prevent texture popping. A certain color of purple became our transparency.

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 Hmm, pay attention Prince, I know that chandelier looks too bright and pointy for this beautifully ornate bath house and funny about all those cracks in the pool floor ... perhaps there is another purpose ... wait, pay attention, there is a little guy hitting me with a staff and he really does he pack a wallop...

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 Good job Prince, you managed to turn on the water - [you know that you are now going to have to freeze the water with your 'freeze arrow', climb up the ice waterfall, jump into that open window, cut down the chandelier, break the central bath floor, turn on the water to the warm bath, and open the gates to extinguish the furnace, before you can jump below into the basement...don't you?]...

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 Well, here we are down in the basement. Now you know that that poor prisoner on the treadmill was pumping the water when you selfishly pulled that switch to fill the baths (no electricity in ancient Persia, you know!) ...anyway, despite his torment, he will give you a hint of how to get to the second part of the Palace by jumping through that conveniently open grate into the Cistern below (Well, of course there is a cistern, we needed water to feed the baths don't you know!)...

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 You cant just expect to jump in a strange hole without finding something lurking below. Kill the beast and climb the stairs out of there... This was a good foggy place to have a level change and bridged the Palace 1 and Cistern levels. Previewing the cistern through a large grate at the end was made possible, to give the player a good idea of what is coming and where he is headed.

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 Great, another archer taking pot shots at you. It is a good thing there are extra arrows lying around. If you miss him you will just have to go get him. It is just a small 'leap of faith' to that hanging rope and a big swing on to the stair beyond... This was the first swinging rope for the player. There was a gradual introduction to new skills, weapons and increase in difficulty of the enemies and traps through the course of the game

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 The first counter-weighted elevator in ancient Persia.

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 If you fall in the water, you better swim fast or get taken by the sister of the sea monster you slew [Sorry, but we could not have you swimming too far!] ...

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 As the prince took a long ride in his boat, he needed time to fight off the assassin, that jumped in on him. In order to keep the geometry down in this seemingly endless cistern, the lead game designer and I mostly occluded the end of the level with fog and moved the same 10 sections of cistern geometry around and past the boat. This also allowed the prince to fight on a static platform, which was necessary. With the gamma pumped up in this still you can notice the 'Trompe l'oeil' texture at the edge of the cistern that I created from a screenshot of the finished geometry.

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 As the prince reaches his destination he has to figure out a series of counter weighted lifts and puzzles to get out of the Cistern and to the Palace 2 level. Originally, there was a huge water wheel that was built at the end of this level to bring the Prince through a series of puzzles that was not inserted into the game due to lack of time.

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 As the door closes behind the prince he is met by the strongest guard he has met yet. As part of the marketing effort we mapped the face of an avid fan on the guard.

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 Upon defeating the guard and making it past a head slicing trap, the Prince must figure out a series of counterweighted ramps to get to the upper levels of the palace. Some of the puzzles involved throwing switches, accessing secret rooms, pushing weights out of a huge counterweight and taking large jumps to make it to the top of the scissoring stairs. This shot of the grand scheme was taken in fly view. Given the complexity of this puzzle the scripting in 3dsmax became a little complex.

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 As the Prince climbs the ramp the drawbridge beyond and gate close in front of him. Again the carrot is pulled away from him. There is a cut scene somewhere here with the Princess being taken again just out of his reach. The Prince will have to find another way to the library beyond.

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 Because the Prince relied on the geometry around him to walk and run, he did not react to well to moving objects. We had to freeze him in place and lock him (link him in Max) temporarily in order that he could appear to move on moving planes without breaking the game or falling into space. At this point in the level the Prince has reactivated the counterweighted ramps by pushing a weight back on to it; removing the great wall that separated him from the 'Great Hall' where he now stands.

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 The great hall was an opportunity to have a great view outside the palace and some perspective on the rest of the world we were trying to paint. A few other artists worked hard on modeling and painting a landscape that was reduced to a large map. I tagged the fountain here to give full health points, a 'fountain of youth. Lighting and torches hinted subtlly at many secrets.

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 A few more climbs, some more found potions and the prince arrives at the top level. Come on prince, I know someone is shooting arrows at you, you are just going to have to do a few trapeze maneuvers followed by a large swinging jump to get over there and deal with him.

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 This is a shot to the next large selection set of Palace 2. The raised drawbridge can be seen.

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 The prince here has to do some rooftop climbing and take a huge leap again and slide down the ramp to the waiting soldier beyond. The camera was tagged here to give a side view of the Prince sliding down the steep ramp.

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 After working his way through the guard house at the exterior, the Prince opens the large gate and enters this large room and gets direction from another meditating mage on what he should do. He is also drawn to this strange contraption above which he will encounter later. I think we had visions of using a flying carpet at this point, but it became too problematic for us. The prince pulls a book from the shelves to rotate on a platform to a secret stair.

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 After working his way through the guard house at the exterior, the Prince opens the large gate and enters this large room and gets direction from another meditating mage on what he should do. He is also drawn to this strange contraption above which he will encounter later. I think we had visions of using a flying carpet at this point, but it became too problematic for us. The prince pulls a book from the shelves to rotate on a platform to a secret stair.

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 Again, with limited polygon and textures of the time, it was desired to make a huge space, but to achieve this the dropping of the level geometry etc. had to be handled differently here, by breaking it up more. Geometry in this huge room was also occluded by layer fog and depth fading. The doors at the top and bottom opened and closed to close off the geometry beyond. The Prince found ways to jump in and out of the stacks and platforms of the library, while getting shot at until he reached the librarians book access machine.

			PRINCE OF PERSIA 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA BRODERBUND 1998-1999 Finally, at the top level inside the dome of the palace library, the iris door closes. The prince works his way outside one of the doors to find a 'feather potion'. At this time the player has little choice but to jump off the top of the tower seemingly to his death over the large chasm below. The game was redesigned at this point, and it became the Prince's (or the players) biggest 'Leap of Faith'. Over to another cut scene, the prince floats down to a bridge spanning the chasm below and to the next level.