Jordan Mechner, game designer, programmer, screenwriter, and creator of the widely acclaimed Prince of Persia franchise, will deliver a keynote address at the 2009 Game Developers Conference China. GDC China presented by Think Services, a division of United Business Media, will take place at the Shanghai International Convention Center, October 11-13 of this year.
Mechner’s keynote address will explore the success of the Prince of Persia series which was first released in 1989 as well as his own success as a game designer, programmer, and finally director and screenwriter. Following the release of seven chapters of the series, Mechner wrote the script for the film version of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Mike Newell. The movie will be released by Walt Disney Pictures in May of 2010.
“We are so excited to welcome Jordan to the stage in Shanghai,” said Meggan Scavio, GDC China event director. “He has a great story to share with the audience from a game design, artistic, and storytelling perspective; as well as the business acumen to succeed in maintaining a strong brand, building commercial success, and further transitioning games to film.”
Mechner’s first hit game was Karateka (1984), written while he was still an undergraduate Yale University. Prince of Persia, released in 1989, was noted for its fluid animation of human figures. Both titles were published by Brøderbund. In 1993, he formed Smoking Car Productions, an entertainment software development group based in San Francisco. In 2003, Ubisoft released the fourth installment of the Prince of Persia saga, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, on which Mechner collaborated as writer and game designer. Mechner today divides his time between writing screenplays, graphic novels, and designing video games. He also wrote and directed two award-winning documentaries, including Chavez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story. He is writing the screenplay for a film adaptation of Michael Turner’s Fathom starring Megan Fox. He is collaborating with artists LeUyen Pham and Alex Puvilland on a new graphic novel to be published by First Second Books in 2010.
Mechner joins a prominent lineup of GDC China speakers including Kelly Snapka (Art Director, Volition, Inc.), Todd Coleman (Co-Founder, Wolfpack Studios Inc.), Chris Ulm (CEO, Appy), Billy Hsu (CEO, DJL Worldwide), Mack Growen (GM, Playfish China), Brad MacDonald (Art Director, Large Animal Games), Tony Chen (Online Business Development Manager, Take Two Asia), Simon Carless (Publisher, Gamasutra.com and Game Developer Magazine), and several more. The GDC China early bird rate ends Tuesday, September 15, 2009.
