PoP: The Forgotten Sands already in the works before last game was released

Level design director for Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, Michael McIntyre, has revealed that the new adventure in the Prince's series was started before the 2008 version was even finished.

Speaking with Joystiq, McIntyre said that while the last outing was different, all PoP games have something in common.

"Actually, this project was started before that game even released, so we had no idea how that game [the 2008 release] was going to be received," he said. "We knew that the PoP 2008 was a daring take on the Prince of Persia franchise. but we knew that there would be people that definitely liked it and we just weren't certain what fans of Sands of Time would take it, even though we knew it was quite different from Sands of Time. So, there was already an early plan to do a Sands of Time-type game, not at the same time but it was already in progress.

"I think they're still getting a feel for that. I think they may even wait to see what the reception is like for The Forgotten Sands, but we're really proud of what we did with it, and we understand that it was a game that was very polarizing, that there were some people that didn't like it because it didn't feel like Prince of Persia to them.

"But then, there were other people that loved it because they had never quite seen a game like that before. And I know that Ubisoft is definitely behind the idea of continuing to innovate, and trying to stretch the boundaries of what defines a lot of our brands, but I don't know precisely what they're going to do with that game.

"I think for us, Prince of Persia is kind of a vibe, as much as any specific game. Because, I mean, Prince of Persia of course goes back to Jordan Mechner's game in the '80s, right? They all have a lot of things in common, like the acrobatics, the idea of fluid animation, there is some combat, there are some puzzles and there's just this world that's very convincing.

"All those things, we always, always try to put in there, no matter which philosophy we're taking with the game. So, for this one here, for The Forgotten Sands, it's squarely aimed at people who are fans of that Sands of Time take on Prince of Persia, and we've gone back to visit that universe because it's a very rich one and one that we can still explore".

The Forgotten Sands lands on Xbox 360 and PS3 in May, with the PC version hitting in June.

DS, PSP and Wii are getting versions as well.