The creator of Karateka later became known as the founder of the Prince of Persia franchise…

Digital Eclipse is developing the Gold Master Series project with indie-developed games celebrating key game designers, studios, and games that changed the world. The first part of the series is about Karateka, and the title also refers to how the game came about (almost forty years ago, as it was one of the best-selling titles of 1984, immediately after the collapse of the American gaming industry).

Digital Eclipse editorial director Chris Kohler said in a blog post, “Our mission [with the Gold Master Series] is to elevate these games, presenting them in their best possible light while putting them in their proper historical context, an approach we’ve dubbed the ‘interactive documentary. You got a taste of this approach if you played last year’s Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration. In the Gold Master Series, we will dive into many more fascinating stories from video game history.”

Here is an overview from Digital Eclipse, “Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner was a college student when he created one of the biggest-selling games of 1984: Karateka. In a new interactive documentary, Digital Eclipse tells the story of how a teenager with an Apple II created one of the most groundbreaking, influential games of all time. Discover how Karateka was made through an exhaustive archive of design documents, playable prototypes, and all-new video features. Like walking through a museum, you can explore the interactive timelines at your own pace. The timelines reveal how Karateka became one of the first games to include cinematic scenes, a moving original soundtrack, rotoscoped animation, and a Hollywood-style love story, influencing the following decades of games.

At any time, play pixel-perfect versions of the original Karateka games and a variety of never-before-seen early prototypes, with rich quality-of-life features like save anywhere, rewind, chapter select, and director’s commentary. Then, enjoy two new games exclusive to The Making of Karateka. Karateka Remastered is an all-new version of the original game featuring cutting-room-floor content, commentary, achievements, and more. Deathbounce: Rebounded is a fast, frantic twin-stick shooter based on Jordan’s unpublished prototype.”

The Making of Karateka will be released later this year for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PC (Steam), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

Source: Gematsu