The development of the initial concept work for
The Sands of Time began in the second quarter of 2001, after Ubisoft had bought the
Prince of Persia license. While Ubisoft held the
Prince of Persia catalog, the actual IP still belonged to the series original creator
Jordan Mechner, but he was initially unwilling to return to the series after poor experiences with
Prince of Persia 3D. The game was developed by
Ubisoft Montreal, which was also a year into developing ''
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell''. After some mock assets had been created, Ubisoft asked Mechner to come and help develop the game, showing them their concepts and the assets as
AVIs. Mechner was impressed by Ubisoft's work and came on board as a creative consultant. He soon became more involved with the project, becoming the game's designer and writer. Full production began in June 2001, and at its peak was worked on by a staff of 65 people, internally known as "PoP Team". Development ran parallel to that of
Splinter Cell, and as part of their research, the development team read
One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of stories originating from the Middle East that Mechner had previously used as inspiration when designing the original
Prince of Persia.
The Sands of Time was announced in March 2003. It was released for the
PlayStation 2,
Xbox,
GameCube,
Game Boy Advance and
Windows. The versions were released gradually between October and November the same year. The Game Boy Advance version of the game was released in North America on October 28 and in Europe on November 14. Scheduled for release in North America on November 11, the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions were shipped to stores on November 6 and November 10, respectively. The PlayStation 2 version was released in Europe on November 21. The GameCube and Xbox versions were released in Europe the following year on February 20, 2004. The various versions had multiple differences in both graphics and control options. The GameCube and Xbox versions included a documentary about the making of the game. The PC port came with support for EAX, EAX2, and EAX3 Advanced HD.
Gameloft developed a version of the game for mobile phones, which was released in April 2004. Two versions were developed for higher and lower-spec mobile phones. The PS2 version was released in Japan on September 2, 2004. The game was published in the region by Sony Computer Entertainment Japan, who were impressed by both the quality and the praise it earned in the west. The main character's acrobatics were designed to be novel to the video game medium, inspired by similar stunts performed in
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and
The Matrix. A video game which provided inspiration for the acrobatic feats of the Prince was ''
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater''. Elements such as using ladders as part of combat, and riding on a magic carpet or a horse were axed early in development. The Rewind function was suggested by the game's director Patrice Désilets based on experiences playing ''
Donald Duck: Goin' Quackers, where he had wished to rewind after making a mistake rather than restarting the entire level. Lacoste highlighted as an influence for the palace the animated film The King and the Mockingbird'', which is set entirely in a single castle with floors stratified by rank with a king at the top, resulting in the desire for the Prince's journey to be a climb through the castle in levels that focused on verticality. The overall art direction tried to enhance the beauty of the
Arabian Nights-inspired environments with blue-tinted lights and extensive
set dressing. Art director Raphael Lacoste did not join the team until July 2002, well into the game's production, resulting in multiple delays in creating the game's environments. This issue was compounded by the need to produce a demo for the
2003 Electronic Entertainment Expo, then to deliver an entire game at the same if not a higher quality than the demo. During the aftermath of E3, the team considered release
The Sands of Time as two games so they could include all the desired content, but the idea was dropped. Another element that needed to be cut after the demo was a griffin boss that would appear three times during the Prince's journey; The way the engine was structured, with all assets in a single accessible folder, proved problematic when alterations needed to be made or new features added, as the team size meant too many people were accessing the engine and were causing data to be overwritten, files to be corrupted, and the whole system to crash. They attempted to solve the problem using a "data monkey" solution which would allow for simultaneous access, but it came late in development and they did not risk making such a radical change to the system. Instead, they set up a file server to manage check-in times, which could allow for management of access and prioritisation of critical work. To enable these seamless transitions regarding a technical restriction of the Jade engine, that was only be able to render one large room at a time, the rooms were separated by large S-shaped corridors, and as the player was halfway through the corridor the game would invisibly unload the previous room and load in the new one.
Writing 2010 Mechner created the scenario and wrote the game's script. Level designer Jean-Christophe Guyot noted that after the earlier versions of the plot had more fantasy elements, including a floating castle, once the game became more story-driven the resulting experience "was a little bit more mature, and with deeper meaning." Mechner noted that the plot was "a disguised
zombie horror story" where the Prince and Farah were the only survivors confined in a location where a plague turned everyone else into undead monsters. Chatwood was chosen for the role as Ubisoft wanted music that had Persian elements in it to fit the setting, while not being pure Persian music. When he was approached, Chatwood expanded his music library as part of his research. To achieve the desired effect, rock elements were mixed with Middle Eastern music and melodies, along with Indian elements. Chatwood used different instruments, including an Indian tabla and strings, along with vocal tracks by
Cindy Gomez and
Maryem Tollar. Tracks from the game were included in an album featuring music from both
The Sands of Time and its two sequels
Warrior Within and
The Two Thrones. The album was released on 1 December 2005 as a pre-order bonus for the PS2 and Xbox versions of
The Two Thrones. A larger compilation album featuring music from the three games was released digitally by Ubisoft on January 3, 2011. For the sound effects, the team worked with sound company Dane Tracks to create most of the game's sound effects, with the rest being done by Ubisoft Montreal. To make the enemies in the game stand out, the sound team mixed "organic and evil" sound effects with whispering sounds, rather than using sound effects associated with the
undead. Farah was voiced by
Joanna Wasick. Lowenthal and Wasick recorded their dialogue in separate studios. == Reception ==