• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 18:56
CEST 00:56
KST 07:56
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Code S RO8 Preview: herO, Zoun, Bunny, Classic2Code S RO8 Preview: Rogue, GuMiho, Solar, Maru3BGE Stara Zagora 2025: Info & Preview27Code S RO12 Preview: GuMiho, Bunny, SHIN, ByuN3The Memories We Share - Facing the Final(?) GSL47
Community News
BGE Stara Zagora 2025 - Replay Pack2Weekly Cups (June 2-8): herO doubles down1[BSL20] ProLeague: Bracket Stage & Dates9GSL Ro4 and Finals moved to Sunday June 15th13Weekly Cups (May 27-June 1): ByuN goes back-to-back0
StarCraft 2
General
Jim claims he and Firefly were involved in match-fixing The SCII GOAT: A statistical Evaluation Code S RO8 Preview: herO, Zoun, Bunny, Classic DreamHack Dallas 2025 - Official Replay Pack BGE Stara Zagora 2025 - Replay Pack
Tourneys
[GSL 2025] Code S:Season 2 - RO8 - Group A RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series SOOPer7s Showmatches 2025 Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond)
Strategy
[G] Darkgrid Layout Simple Questions Simple Answers [G] PvT Cheese: 13 Gate Proxy Robo
Custom Maps
[UMS] Zillion Zerglings
External Content
Mutation # 477 Slow and Steady Mutation # 476 Charnel House Mutation # 475 Hard Target Mutation # 474 Futile Resistance
Brood War
General
BGH auto balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW General Discussion FlaSh Witnesses SCV Pull Off the Impossible vs Shu StarCraft & BroodWar Campaign Speedrun Quest Will foreigners ever be able to challenge Koreans?
Tourneys
[ASL19] Grand Finals [BSL20] GosuLeague RO16 - Tue & Wed 20:00+CET NA Team League 6/8/2025 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues
Strategy
I am doing this better than progamers do. [G] How to get started on ladder as a new Z player
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Beyond All Reason Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Path of Exile What do you want from future RTS games?
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Wizard Hilton Cybertech Crypto Recovery: Proven Re
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine UK Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Vape Nation Thread
Fan Clubs
Maru Fan Club Serral Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Korean Music Discussion [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2025 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion NHL Playoffs 2024
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
A Better Routine For Progame…
TrAiDoS
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Heero Yuy & the Tax…
KrillinFromwales
I was completely wrong ab…
jameswatts
Need Your Help/Advice
Glider
Trip to the Zoo
micronesia
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 32056 users

The genius of Prince Of Persia 1 (Level 7, 8)

Blogs > 0x64
Post a Reply
0x64
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
Finland4544 Posts
October 28 2013 23:43 GMT
#1
Back to business.
The last levels will be grinding. We won't see anything huge.
We will try to see what how is the progress of the player implemented in the level.



We start with level 7.

1. We just fell, we though we were dead but hey back to square one, bottom of the dungeon. We notice a new kind of potion.

2. Straight away, strong guards, slicers. This level keeps the player very busy. The game make it clear you are not going to climb back up as fast as you did the first time.

3. Back to the first room, We drink the potion and the music is somewhat "floaty". Does it help to make the leap of faith.

4. Access to the final door, an easy super health potion.

Now, the level didn't really help the Prince, he wants to get out, up, and levels 7 and 8 keep having him going deeper.



Level 8

1. Cut Scene with something special!! Princess talking to mouse.

2. Start the level with one of the toughest guards.

3. The player arrives quickly to the final door, again with the trigger in the same room, as the distance will be quite big to reach it.

4. A long road, with few guards, slicers and grid race challenge. We are at the heart of it, one of the hardest level of the game. Those race challenges are essential to create a feeling of failure at the end of this level.

5. The trapped prince. Deus Ex Machina. We hope you understand the Mouse Clue!! I sure as hell didn't when I was 8. A friend had to tell me at school, I still wouldn't believe it. Is it bad game design or great game story telling? Build the expectation, never trap totally the player, give him clues, yet, it is a bit of an anti-pattern.


These levels are fillers, in the good meaning of the word. These are the meat of the game, the real challenge, no pity on the player anymore. Now this time, passing levels and getting out of the dungeon means something!

Now since the design analysis was a bit boring this time. Let's have a quick look at the 60 minutes given to the player. The first thing that is important to note is that the first time player, probably, doesn't know how many levels there was (Jordan Mechner initially intended to build 50 levels like in Load Runner). Now, even if each level is quick, if you are having troubles in level 8 and you have 30 min left and keep dying, you will start to worry about the time when you reach 15 minutes.
The other thing that was revolutionary at that time was to let go of lives. This strange patterns that gave a limited amount of tries to succeed. Here the time replace this in a very clever way, you may fail a various amount of time, in various places but you have a real limit, a challenge that feels real. A pressure that you are reminded every time you start a level.

A final note today about the higher amount of guards is very well linked to the players progress, he should by now master sword fighting and now killing shitload of guard make him feel like a hero. The player can now handle the trouble.

Now that we also know enough about the story and the structure. I leave you with a bit of homework and see how PoP relates to the Hero's journey. Not every part is present and what can we learn from the absence of those part and that's great. Does the prince experience a refusal to the hero's call at any point? I can't think about anything, maybe the first prison room? A little far fetch... If noone does this analysis, I'll go through it in the next post, going through only level design has it's limits.





*****
Dump of assembler code from 0xffffffec to 0x64: End of assembler dump.
LastWish
Profile Blog Joined September 2004
2013 Posts
October 29 2013 14:58 GMT
#2
Relating to the mouse special in level 8.
This is similiar to the ghost/shadow fight at level 12, which is not very intuitive.

Also I think the by far hardest puzzle was in PoP2: the Shadow and the Flame: He who would steal the flame must die!
I actually only solved this puzzle by accident but what all of this puzzles share is the great feeling that last long when you figure it out(especially by yourself).
- It's all just treason - They bring me down with their lies - Don't know the reason - My life is fire and ice -
Starparty
Profile Blog Joined December 2004
Sweden1963 Posts
October 30 2013 23:42 GMT
#3
Logged in to 5star this. Such a brilliant post!
The artist formerly known as Starparty
xcalibur201
Profile Joined September 2019
2 Posts
September 28 2019 12:57 GMT
#4
(once again, pardon me for posting years later. hopefully this is permitted)

the guard at the beginning of level 8 is one of the trickiest in the game. he always blocks your attack, and always strikes when you're within range. he's intended as a puzzle -- you're supposed to use the combined parry/slash to push him onto the spikes. however, it's possible to defeat this enemy normally, but it involves breaking his pattern. to do this, get within range and block his attack, and keep stepping forward and blocking. done correctly, you should get close enough so the blades are connecting low. then, quickly do a normal strike, and you should score a hit. rinse and repeat, and you'll be able to slay this enemy without the spikes. this method is particularly useful for romhacks where he appears away from traps (eg 4d prince, level 11).
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 4m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
UpATreeSC 141
ForJumy 69
PiGStarcraft34
EnDerr 24
CosmosSc2 23
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 11176
Calm 2257
Rain 1243
Artosis 637
Mini 391
Soulkey 153
Aegong 39
TY 34
Dota 2
Dendi2218
NeuroSwarm88
PGG 80
Counter-Strike
Stewie2K969
flusha610
Foxcn333
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox178
AZ_Axe87
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor191
Other Games
tarik_tv14300
summit1g9919
Grubby3255
shahzam1358
mouzStarbuck237
ViBE199
Maynarde82
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream3754
Other Games
gamesdonequick213
BasetradeTV131
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 19 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH188
• RyuSc2 65
• davetesta41
• Hupsaiya 5
• IndyKCrew
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• Migwel
• intothetv
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Kozan
StarCraft: Brood War
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota22249
League of Legends
• Doublelift5079
• TFBlade1343
Counter-Strike
• Shiphtur326
Other Games
• imaqtpie1094
Upcoming Events
GSL
4m
Rogue vs GuMiho
Maru vs Solar
PiGStarcraft34
Online Event
1h 4m
Replay Cast
3h 4m
GSL Code S
10h 34m
herO vs Zoun
Classic vs Bunny
The PondCast
11h 4m
Replay Cast
1d 1h
WardiTV Invitational
1d 12h
OSC
1d 14h
Korean StarCraft League
2 days
SOOP
2 days
sOs vs Percival
[ Show More ]
CranKy Ducklings
2 days
WardiTV Invitational
2 days
Cheesadelphia
2 days
CSO Cup
2 days
GSL Code S
3 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Wardi Open
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
RSL Revival
5 days
Cure vs Percival
ByuN vs Spirit
RSL Revival
6 days
herO vs sOs
Zoun vs Clem
Liquipedia Results

Completed

CSL Season 17: Qualifier 2
BGE Stara Zagora 2025
Heroes 10 EU

Ongoing

JPL Season 2
BSL 2v2 Season 3
BSL Season 20
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 2
NPSL S3
Rose Open S1
CSL 17: 2025 SUMMER
2025 GSL S2
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 7
IEM Dallas 2025
PGL Astana 2025
Asian Champions League '25
BLAST Rivals Spring 2025
MESA Nomadic Masters
CCT Season 2 Global Finals
IEM Melbourne 2025
YaLLa Compass Qatar 2025
PGL Bucharest 2025
BLAST Open Spring 2025

Upcoming

Copa Latinoamericana 4
CSLPRO Last Chance 2025
CSLPRO Chat StarLAN 3
K-Championship
SEL Season 2 Championship
Esports World Cup 2025
HSC XXVII
Championship of Russia 2025
Murky Cup #2
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.