For "The Sands of Time", the character was completely redesigned, taking reference purely from the original game rather than "Prince of Persia 3D". Mechner wrote the new story for the Prince purely for newcomers to the series, wanting the character to be memorable so as to provide a good "hook" for players together with the gameplay. He again drew inspiration from the opening of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" for the opening of "The Sands of Time". Something he was pleased with was his initially unsympathetic portrayal of the Prince. His inspiration for the character's more serious portrayal was the stories of the "Shahnameh", although he later admitted that he could not entirely remove the influences of the original Prince. In his view, "It's Prince's inability to solve this conflict that gives him his particular charm." For his gameplay model, the Prince had over 780 movement animations scripted, far more than any other character in the game. This conversely led to difficulties with other enemy movements. The Prince was designed by Raphael Lacoste, the game's art director, who went through multiple versions from a young boy to a bare-chested older man. His final look was partially determined by the aesthetics of the game's environments.