A portion of a Game Informer interview with Jordan Mechner...

GI: That leads me to wonder, what motivated you to make your first game? Was it a project you did for fun that ended up being something you were able to sell?

JM: Before I got my first Apple II in high school, I liked to draw cartoons, I liked to write stories, I was fascinated by Disney animation. I was trying to make my own animated movies, so I was doing all these things, of course, I was a kid so the animated movies that I made obviously were not as good as what I could go and see in the theatre. I could make little movies with my friends, but clearly it was not on the same level as Star Wars. The thing that was so compelling about the Apple II computer, when I got it, was that here was a device that I could use to make little interactive movies and stories. I could show my friends and they could play and it didn’t seem like there was that huge a gap between the games I was making on my Apple, and the games I was buying at the computer store. That was really addictive and magical for a 14, 15 year old to think, okay here is a field and I am within striking distance of being able to compete with the professionals.