- Game Of Myst
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Myst developer Cyan put out a mysterious teaser related to the 25-year-old series last week, and now it's filled in the details: it's releasing updated versions of all five of the Myst games later. Apr 10, 2018 Myst holds a special place in the hearts of many. Released in 1993, it was unlike any video game most had seen at the time — and yet, its DNA lingers in countless games released today. May 24, 2018 Myst sends you to five fascinating worlds, where only your wits and imagination will unlock the ancient betrayal of Ages Past. Myst, the number-one-selling CD-ROM title of all time, has over 2500 photo-realistic images and hundreds of clever puzzles.
Myst | |
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Developer(s) |
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Publisher(s) |
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Producer(s) | Laurie Strand |
Designer(s) | Rand Miller Robyn Miller |
Programmer(s) | Rand Miller Rich Watson |
Artist(s) | Robyn Miller Chuck Carter |
Composer(s) | Robyn Miller |
Series | Myst |
Engine | HyperCard (Myst for Macintosh) Mohawk[1] (Myst & Myst ME for Windows) Plasma[2] (realMyst: Interactive 3D Edition)[3] Unity 3D[4] (realMyst: Masterpiece Edition) |
Platform(s) | Mac OS, Saturn, PlayStation, 3DO, Microsoft Windows, Atari Jaguar CD, CD-i, AmigaOS, Pocket PC, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, iOS, Nintendo 3DS, Android |
Release | Mac OS
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Genre(s) | Graphic adventure, puzzle |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Myst is a graphic adventurepuzzle video game designed by the Miller brothers, Robyn and Rand. It was developed by Cyan, Inc., published by Brøderbund, and released as a PC game for the Macintosh platform in 1993. In the game, players are told that a special book has caused them to travel to Myst Island. There, players solve puzzles and, by doing so, travel to four other worlds, known as Ages, which reveal the backstory of the game's characters.
After the development of several games aimed at children, the Miller brothers conceived of Myst as a game for adults. Development began in 1991 and was Cyan's biggest undertaking to date. Technical constraints of the time influenced the design of the game and the production of its graphics, which were state-of-the-art but static. Robyn Miller ended up composing 40 minutes of synthesized music that became the soundtrack to Myst.
Myst was a surprise hit, with critics lauding the ability of the game to immerse players in its fictional world. The game was the best-selling PC game for a time, until The Sims exceeded its sales in 2002. Myst helped drive adoption of the then-nascent CD-ROM format. Multiple remakes and ports of the game to other platforms have been released, as well as spin-off novels and other media. It was followed by several sequels in the Myst series of games.
- 3Development
- 4Reception
- 5Re-releases and ports
Gameplay[edit]
Screenshot of Myst showing part of an early ship-based puzzle in the foreground and Myst Island's library in the background
Myst's gameplay consists of a first-person journey through an interactive world. Players can interact with specific objects on some screens by clicking or dragging them.[5] The player moves by clicking on locations shown on the screen; the scene then crossfades into another frame, and the player can explore the new area. Myst has an optional 'Zip' feature to assist in rapidly crossing areas already explored; when a lightning bolt cursor appears, players can click and skip several frames to another location. While this provides a rapid method of travel, it can also cause players to miss important items and clues.[6] Some items can be carried by the player and read, including journal pages which provide backstory. Players can only carry a single page at a time, and pages return to their original locations when dropped.[7]
To complete the game, the player must explore the island of Myst.[8] There the player discovers and follows clues to be transported via 'linking books' to several 'Ages', each of which is a self-contained mini-world. Each of the Ages—named Selenitic, Stoneship, Mechanical, and Channelwood—requires the user to solve a series of logical, interrelated puzzles to complete its exploration. Objects and information discovered in one Age may be required to solve puzzles in another Age, or to complete the game's primary puzzle on Myst. For example, in order to activate a switch, players must first discover a combination to a safe, open it, and use the matches found within to start a boiler.[9]
Apart from its predominantly nonverbal storytelling,[9]Myst's gameplay is unusual among adventuring computer games in several ways. The player is provided with very little backstory at the beginning of the game, and no obvious goals or objectives are laid out. This means that players must simply begin to explore. There are no obvious enemies, no physical violence, no time limit to complete the game, and no threat of dying at any point.[8] The game unfolds at its own pace and is solved through a combination of patience, observation, and logical thinking.[9]
Plot[edit]
Players assume the role of an unnamed person who stumbles across an unusual book titled 'Myst'. The player reads the book and discovers a detailed description of an island world called Myst. Placing his or her hand on the last page, the player is whisked away to the world described and is left with no choice but to explore the island.[10][11] Myst contains a library where two additional books can be found, colored red and blue. These books are traps that hold Sirrus and Achenar, the sons of Atrus, who once lived on Myst island with his wife Catherine. Atrus writes special 'linking books' that transport people to the worlds, or 'Ages', that the books describe. From the panels of their books, Sirrus and Achenar tell the player that Atrus is dead; each brother blames the other for the death of their father, as well as the destruction of much of Atrus' library. Both plead for help to escape. The books are missing several pages, rendering the sons' messages unclear and riddled with static.
As the player continues to explore the island, books linking to more Ages are discovered hidden behind complex mechanisms and puzzles. The player must visit each Age, find the red and blue pages hidden there, and return to Myst Island. These pages can then be placed in the corresponding books. As the player adds more pages to these books, the brothers can be seen and heard more clearly. After collecting four pages, the brothers can talk clearly enough to tell the player where the fifth and final missing page for their book is hidden; if the player can complete either book, that brother will be set free. The clearer dialog also allows the player to more accurately judge each brother's personality. The player is left with a choice to help Sirrus, Achenar, or neither.[12]
Sirrus and Achenar beg the player not to touch the green book that is stored in the same location as their final pages, claiming it to be another trap book like their own. In truth, it leads to D'ni, where Atrus is imprisoned. When the book is opened, Atrus asks the player to bring him a final page that is hidden on Myst Island; without it, he cannot bring his sons to justice. The game has several endings, depending on the player's actions. Giving either Sirrus or Achenar the final page of their book causes the player to switch places with the son, leaving the player trapped inside the Prison book. Linking to D'ni without the page Atrus asks for leaves the player and Atrus trapped on D'ni. Linking to D'ni with the page allows Atrus to complete his Myst book and return to the island.[12] Upon returning to the library, the player finds the red and blue books gone, and burn marks on the shelves where they used to be.
Development[edit]
Background[edit]
We started our design work and realized that we would need to have even more story and history than would be revealed in the game itself. It seemed having that depth was just as important as what the explorer would actually see.
Game Of Myst
—Rand Miller, on developing Myst's fictional history[13]
In 1988, brothers Rand and Robyn Miller were living apart in the United States. Robyn was taking a year off from university, writing and trying to establish state residency. Rand was a computer programmer for a bank.[11][14] Rand approached his brother with the idea of making an interactive storybook using HyperCard.[15] The brothers were not big video game players themselves, although they were familiar with Dungeons & Dragons, and had played Zork.[16] In his parents' basement—Robyn did not own a computer himself—Robyn began drawing pictures and creating a nonlinear story that would eventually become their first game, The Manhole.[15]The Manhole and the games that followed--Cosmic Osmo and Spelunx—were specifically aimed at children[11] and shared the same aesthetics: black-and-white graphics, point-and-click gameplay, a first-person point of view, and explorable worlds.[15] Robyn recalled that the games were more about exploration than narrative: 'In the projects we did for children, we didn't really tell stories ... They were just these worlds that you would explore.'[11]
Around 1990,[17] the brothers decided to create a game that would appeal to adults. Among their goals were believable characters, a non-linear story, and for the player as protagonist to make ethical choices. The Millers pitched the game to Activision under the title The Gray Summons; Robyn recalled that Activision told them to stick to children's games.[17] At the time of the rejection, they were not doing well financially—'we were eating rice and beans and government cheese and that [was] our diet.' Facing the end of their game-producing career, Sunsoft approached the Millers to create an adult-oriented game. Like with The Gray Summons, the Millers wanted their game to have a non-linear story with believable characters and an ethical choice. They also wanted to produce a game with far more impressive graphics than their previous efforts—at one point they considered making the game entirely hand-drawn. Finally, they knew their story would be a mystery.[18]
Development of Myst began in 1991.[11] The game's creative team consisted of brothers Rand and Robyn, with help from sound designer Chris Brandkamp, 3D artist and animator Chuck Carter, Richard Watson, Bonnie McDowall, and Ryan Miller, who together made up Cyan, Inc.Myst was the largest and most time-consuming collaboration Cyan had attempted at that point.[19] Cyan took inspiration from games like Zork, Star Wars' mythic universe, portals to other worlds like in C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia, and the mysterious islands of old literature like the works of Jules Verne.[16] The game's name, as well as the overall solitary and mysterious atmosphere of the island, was inspired by the book The Mysterious Island by Verne.[8]
Sunsoft was not interested in the game for PC and was instead focused on the video game console market. At the time, consoles had no hard drives and small memory buffers, meaning the game had to be designed around these technical constraints. To solve this issue, they compartmentalized parts of the game's environments into the different Ages.[20] The Millers decided that most people did not like puzzles. Thus, a good puzzle would feel familiar and part of the world--not like a puzzle, but something for players to figure out like a circuit breaker in their house, using observation and common sense.[21] Cyan did not have fans to please, and did not know exactly who the game would appeal to; Robyn felt like they did not have to second-guess their choices and could 'explore the world as we were designing' and build a game for themselves.[22] In a 2016 interview, Rand Miller stated that they strived to design the puzzles in Myst and their subsequent games by trying to balance three aspects: the puzzles themselves, the environment, and the story.[23] Rand also stated they wanted to make sure that clues to the solutions to puzzles were apparent and presented to the player in a manner for these connections to be made: 'once the player finds the solution, if they blame us, then we haven't done a good job. But if they blame themselves, then we have.'[23]
Cyan proposed Myst to Sunsoft for $265,000—more than double what they thought it would cost to develop the game, but ultimately less than Myst cost to produce.[24] After getting the go-ahead, Cyan playtested the entire game in a role-played Dungeons and Dragons form to identify any large issues before entering full production.[25]
Production[edit]
Macintosh computers like this one were used to develop Myst. Slow single-speed CD-ROM drives and game console memory limitations proved to be major technical constraints.
Myst was not only the largest collaboration Cyan had attempted at the time, but also took the longest to develop.[19] According to Rand Miller, the brothers spent months solely designing the look and puzzles of the Ages,[26] which were influenced by earlier whimsical 'worlds' made for children.[13] Much of the early development time was spent devising puzzles and the Ages, and the story was secondary. 'We were place designers ... and the maps kind of fueled the story,' Rand said. The plot evolved in tandem with the changing environment, developing new story details with each new building in the world.[11] The climactic ending with Atrus was a later development in the game's story after Cyan realized they wanted to create a more complicated ending. In retrospect, Robyn felt that Myst did not quite provoke the emotional reaction and ethical quandary they set out to create.[27]
When Cyan began development, developing believable characters was a major hurdle. The brothers were limited to one-way communication with the player, and at any point, a player could choose to walk away and 'break the spell' of the game. Displaying video in the game was initially infeasible. Designing around the limits, the designers created the trap books, which were location-specific, one-way communication devices. The release of QuickTime halfway through development of the game solved the video issue.[28]
At first, the developers had no idea how they would actually create the physical terrain for the Ages.[26] Eventually, they created grayscale heightmaps, extruding them to create changes in elevation. From this basic terrain, textures were painted onto a colormap which was wrapped around the landscapes. Objects such as trees were added to complete the design.[26] Rand noted that attention to detail allowed Myst to deal with the limitations of CD-ROM drives and graphics, stating 'A lot can be done with texture ... Like finding an interesting texture you can map into the tapestry on the wall, spending a little extra time to actually put the bumps on the tapestry, putting screws in things. These are the things you don't necessarily notice, but if they weren't there, would flag to your subconscious that this is fake.'[29]
The game was created on Macintosh computers, principally Macintosh Quadras. The graphics were individual shots of fully rendered rooms. Overall, Myst contains 2,500 frames, one for each possible area the player can explore.[26] Each scene was modeled and rendered in StrataVision 3D, with some additional modeling in Macromedia MacroModel.[26] The images were then edited and enhanced using Photoshop 1.0.[26]
The original Macintosh version of Myst was constructed in HyperCard. Each Age was a unique HyperCard stack. Navigation was handled by the internal button system and HyperTalk scripts, with image and QuickTime movie display passed off to various plugins; essentially, Myst functions as a series of separate multimedia slides linked together by commands.[30] As the main technical constraint that impacted Myst was slow CD-ROM drive read speeds, Cyan had to go to great lengths to make sure all the game elements loaded as quickly as possible.[13] Images were stored as 8-bit PICT resources with custom color palettes and QuickTime still image compression.[26] Animated elements such as movies and object animations were encoded as QuickTime movies with Cinepak compression;[26] in total, there were more than 66 minutes of Quicktime animation.[26] This careful processing made the finished graphics look like truecolor images despite their low bit depth; the stills were reduced in size from 500 KB to around 80 KB.[26]
Cyan playtested the game with two people sitting in front of the game, finding that they would converse with each other and vocalize their likes and dislikes compared to one person silently playing. Rand and Robyn sat behind the testers taking notes, and could make on-the-fly changes and fixes. Cyan wanted the interface of the game to be invisible, and to craft a game that all kinds of people would enjoy.[31] Early on they had decided that there would be no inventory, enemies, or ways to die; eventually, they included a save system as a concession to the fact that it would take most players months to complete the game.[11] Among the problems testers discovered with the story was that Myst initially had no inciting incident. In response, Cyan added a note from Atrus to Catherine that clued players into the existence of a chamber by the dock that played a message from Atrus and explained the game's objectives.[32]
Audio[edit]
Chris Brandkamp produced most of the ambient and incidental sounds in the game. To make sure the sounds fit, Brandkamp had to wait until the game's visuals were placed in context.[26] Sound effects were drawn from unlikely sources; the noise of a fire in a boiler was created by driving slowly over stones in a driveway because recordings of actual fire did not sound like fire burning.[8] The chimes of a large clock tower were simulated using a wrench, then transposed to a lower pitch.[26]
At first, Myst had no music, because the Millers did not want music to interfere with the gameplay.[26] After a few tests, they realized that the background music did not adversely affect the game and, in fact, 'seemed to really help the mood of certain places that you were at in the game.'[26] Robyn Miller ended up composing 40 minutes of synthesized music that was used in the game and later published as Myst: The Soundtrack.[26] Mixing and effects were done on an E-muProteus MPS synthesizer. The soundtrack was recorded over the course of two weeks' evenings.[33] Initially, Cyan released the soundtrack via a mail-order service, but before the release of Myst's sequel, Riven, Virgin Records acquired the rights to release the soundtrack,[34] and the CD was re-released on April 21, 1998.[35]
Reception[edit]
Reception | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The PC version of Myst holds an average score of 83% at GameRankings based on 7 reviews,[36] although the subsequent remakes of the game and the console ports have generally received lower average scores.
Myst was generally praised by critics. Computer Gaming World assured its readers that the game was not like other CD-ROM games that were 'high on glitz and low on substance ... Myst is everything it's touted to be and is, quite simply, the best [Macintosh] CD-ROM game'. It praised the game's open-world nature, lack of death, and 'straightforward and simple' storyline. The magazine stated that the 'mesmerizing' and 'stunning' graphics and sound were 'not the star of the show ... the substance of the game is every bit as good as its packaging', and concluded that Myst 'is bound to set a new standard'.[56] In April 1994, the magazine called it an 'artistic masterwork'.[57]
Wired and The New York Times were among the publications that pointed to Myst as evidence that video games could, in fact, evolve into an art form.[58]Entertainment Weekly reported that some players considered Myst's 'virtual morality' a religious experience.[59]Aarhus University professor Søren Pold pointed to Myst as an excellent example of how stories can be told using objects rather than people.[60] Laura Evenson, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, pointed to adult-oriented games like Myst as evidence the video game industry was emerging from its 'adolescent' phase.[61]
GameSpot's Jeff Sengstack wrote that 'Myst is an immersive experience that draws you in and won't let you go.'[47] Writing about Myst's reception, Greg M. Smith noted that Myst had become a hit and was regarded as incredibly immersive despite most closely resembling 'the hoary technology of the slideshow (with accompanying music and effects)'.[9] Smith concluded that 'Myst's primary brilliance lies in the way it provides narrative justification for the very things that are most annoying' about the technological constraints imposed on the game;[9] for instance, Macworld praised Myst's designers for overcoming the occasionally debilitating slowness of CD drives to deliver a consistent experience throughout the game.[62] The publication went on to declare Myst the best game of 1994, stating that Myst removed the 'most annoying parts of adventure games — vocabularies that [you] don't understand, people you can't talk to, wrong moves that get you killed and make you start over. You try to unravel the enigma of the island by exploring the island, but there's no time pressure to distract you, no arbitrary punishments put in your way'.[63]
Some aspects of the game still received criticism. Several publications did not agree with the positive reception of the story; Jeremy Parish of 1UP.com noted that while Myst's lack of interaction and continual plot suited the game, it helped usher in the death of the adventure game genre.[30]Edge stated the main flaw with the game was that the game engine was nowhere near as sophisticated as the graphics.[43] Heidi Fournier of Adventure Gamers noted a few critics complained about the difficulty and lack of context of the puzzles, while others believed these elements added to the gameplay.[42] Similarly, critics were split on whether the lack of a plot the player could actually change was a good or bad element.[64] In 1996 Next Generation called it 'gaming's bleakest hour', saying the static graphics and purely trial-and-error puzzles epitomized poor game design. They said Myst's commercial success, which they owed chiefly to its popularity among non-gamers as a CD-ROM showcase, had led to many other games emulating its negative aspects.[65] In a 2000 retrospective review, IGN declared that Myst had not aged well and that playing it 'was like watching hit TV shows from the 70s. 'People watched that?,' you wonder in horror.'[66]
Myst was named Best Adventure/Fantasy Role-Playing Game at the 1994 Codie awards,[67] and received an honorable mention in Electronic Entertainment's 1993 'Breakthrough Game' category, which ultimately went to The 7th Guest. That magazine's editors wrote, 'One of the best-looking, best-sounding games ever, the Macintosh version of Myst sets new standards for the effective use of CD-ROM.'[68]Myst was also a runner-up for Computer Gaming World's 1993 'Adventure Game of the Year' award, but lost to Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers and Day of the Tentacle (tie).[69] In 1996, the magazine ranked Myst 11th on its list of the most innovative computer games.[70]
Reviews for the game's console ports generally reflected each critic's attitude towards the original game, as critics agreed that the ports for 3DO,[44][52][71] Saturn,[50][54][72] and PlayStation[51][53][73] are virtually identical to the PC original. For example, Sushi-X of Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the 3DO version a 5 out of 10, remarking 'The graphics and sounds are decent but the game never really appealed to me on the PC', while his co-reviewer Danyon Carpenter gave it a 7 out of 10 and assessed that 'This game was all the rage when it debuted on the PC, and that excitement should follow through on the 3DO.'[44] In one of the more enthusiastic reviews for Myst, GamePro gave the 3DO version a perfect 5 out of 5 in all four categories (graphics, sound, control, and funfactor), concluding, 'Beautiful and enchanting, Myst will thrill you and make you think at the same time.'[71] The Jaguar CD version was largely ignored by reviewers, but GamePro commented that apart from the Jaguar CD's lack of a mouse peripheral and occasionally longer load times, this version too is identical to the PC original.[74]
However, the 3DS version received negative reviews even from critics who felt that Myst's popularity was merited, citing graphics and audio well below the 3DS's capabilities and the use of awkward circle pad controls in lieu of the 3DS's touchscreen.[49][55]
Myst was an immense commercial success. Along with The 7th Guest, it was widely regarded as a killer application that accelerated the sales of CD-ROM drives.[30][66] By November 2000, it had sold above 6.3 million units worldwide, including more than 4.3 million in the United States.[75] The game's success also led to a number of games which sought to copy Myst's success, referred to as 'Myst clones'.[30]Myst was the bestselling PC game throughout the 1990s until The Sims exceeded its sales in 2002[76][77][78] and was the top-selling game in the US for a total of 52 months between March 1993 and April 1999.[79]Myst's success baffled some, who wondered how a game that was seen as 'little more than 'an interactive slide show' turned out to be a hit.[80][81] Some developers of adventure games concurrent to Myst's release were somewhat critical of its success due to the number of subsequent video games that copied Myst's style compared to traditional adventure games, which diluted the market with poorly-received clones and which contributed to the waning popularity of the adventure game genre by 2000. Others criticized Myst as the 'ultimate anti-arcade game', as it was much more relaxed and casual than anything that was released before since 1972, since 'there were no lives, no dying, no score, and no time limit. No physical agility or reflexes were required. The only pressure was that which you imposed upon yourself to solve the puzzles and complete the storyline.'[81]
Legacy[edit]
In addition to the numerous remakes and ports of the game, Myst's success led to several sequels. Riven was released on October 29, 1997, in which Atrus asks the player to return to help him rescue his wife from Gehn. Myst III: Exile was released simultaneously for Macintosh and Windows systems in North America on May 7, 2001, and was later ported to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles. Exile was not developed by Cyan; Presto Studios developed the title and Ubisoft published it.[82] Taking place 10 years after the events of Riven, Exile reveals the reasons for Atrus' sons being imprisoned and the disastrous effects their greed caused.[83] The fourth entry in the series, Myst IV: Revelation, was released on September 10, 2004, and was developed and published entirely by Ubisoft. The music was composed by Jack Wall with assistance from Peter Gabriel.[84] The final game in the Myst saga was Myst V: End of Ages, developed by Cyan Worlds and released on September 19, 2005.[85]
In addition to the main Mystsaga, Cyan developed Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, which was released on November 14, 2003.[86]Uru allows players to customize their avatars and renders graphics in real-time. The multiplayer component of Uru was initially canceled, but GameTap eventually revived it as Myst Online: Uru Live, which was in turn canceled.[87] The game was later resurrected as an open source title.[88] The newest and current iteration of online Uru was made open source, and various fan-made Ages have been created. In the mid 1990s the Miller brothers collaborated with David Wingrove, writing several novels based on the Myst universe, which were published by Hyperion. The novels, entitled Myst: The Book of Atrus, Myst: The Book of Ti'ana, and Myst: The Book of D'ni, fill in the games' backstory and were packaged together as The Myst Reader.
By 2003, the Myst franchise had sold over twelve million copies worldwide,[89] with Myst representing more than six million copies in the figure.[90] The game was the best-selling PC game until The Sims exceeded its sales in 2002.[76]Myst was added to the collection of video games of the Museum of Modern Art in 2013, where it is displayed as a video presentation.[91]
The game's popularity has led to several mentions in popular culture. References to Myst made appearances in an episode of The Simpsons ('Treehouse of Horror VI'),[92] and Matt Damon wanted The Bourne Conspiracy video game to be a puzzle game like Myst, refusing to lend his voice talent to the game when it was turned into a shooter instead.[93]Myst has also been used for educational and scientific purposes; Becta recognized a primary school teacher, Tim Rylands, who had made literacy gains using Myst as a teaching tool,[94] and researchers have used the game for studies examining the effect of video games on aggression.[95] A parody computer game, Pyst, was released in 1996; the game is a satirical free roam of Myst island which had been apparently vandalized by frustrated visitors.[96]
In retrospective, Myst is considered to be a precursor to casual games that gained popularity with browser platforms and mobile devices which typically do not require players to act quickly, as well as a preliminary example of a walking simulator that allow players to explore and discover the game's narrative at their own pace.[81] Cyan's sequels to Myst also indirectly served to popularize escape the room games, which provide similar puzzle-solving experiences but in a much more confined space.[97]
Disney approached Cyan Worlds about constructing a theme park inspired by Myst, which included scouting an island area within Disney's Florida properties that Rand Miller felt was perfect for the Myst setting.[23] The television streaming service Hulu had obtained the rights to create a television series around Myst in May 2015. The series would explore the origin of the main island featured in Myst. The Hulu series was to be produced by Legendary Television, which had acquired the television rights from Cyan for the series in late 2014. The show will be produced by Matt Tolmach and written by Evan Daugherty.[98] Rand Miller stated in a September 2016 interview that with the show, 'we're farther along now than we've been in a long time', but timelines remain uncertain.[23] In June 2019, Village Roadshow Pictures announced they had acquired the rights to make Myst films, television programs, and other programming, leaving the fate of the Legendary Television vehicle in doubt.[99]
Re-releases and ports[edit]
Myst's success led to the game being ported to multiple platforms, including the Saturn, PlayStation, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Android, iPhone, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Jaguar CD, AmigaOS, CD-i, and 3DO consoles. There was also a version developed and even previewed for the Sega CD, but it was never released by Sunsoft.[100][101]
PC remakes[edit]
Myst – the dock from the starting position on Myst Island as a pre-rendered still from the original game (1993, top)
realMyst – the same scene rendered in real-time (2000, middle)
realMyst: Masterpiece Edition 2.0 – the scene again (2015, bottom)
realMyst – the same scene rendered in real-time (2000, middle)
realMyst: Masterpiece Edition 2.0 – the scene again (2015, bottom)
Myst: Masterpiece Edition was an updated version of the original Myst, released in May 2000. It featured several improvements over the original game's multimedia: the images were re-rendered in 24-bit truecolor instead of the original Myst's 256 colors (8-bit); the score was re-mastered, and sound effects were enhanced.[102]
realMyst: Interactive 3D Edition was a remake of Myst released in November 2000 for Windows PCs, and in January 2002 for Mac. Unlike Myst and the Masterpiece Edition, the gameplay of realMyst featured free-roaming, real-time 3D graphics instead of point-and-click pre-rendered stills.[103] Weather effects like thunderstorms, sunsets, and sunrises were added to the Ages, and minor additions were made to keep the game in sync with the story of the Myst novels and sequels. The game also added a new sixth Age called Rime, which is featured in an extended ending, as well as the addition of Ti'ana's grave on Myst island.[103][104][105]realMyst was developed by Cyan, Inc. and Sunsoft, and published by Ubisoft. While the new interactivity of the game was praised, realMyst ran poorly on most computers of the time.[106] Robyn Miller expressed frustration with realMyst, saying: 'I only saw realMyst after it was released. As a remake, it was a lapse of reason and directionless; overt merchandising of the original Myst. It definitely wasn't how we originally envisioned Myst, as was promoted.'[103][107]
realMyst: Masterpiece Edition, a visually enhanced revision running on the Unity engine that also includes the graphics of the original Myst game, was released on Steam on February 5, 2014.[108][109] The remake was updated to version 2.0 on January 28, 2015, receiving a significant graphical overhaul in which several bugs were fixed and the detail of many models and textures was upgraded.[110]
Console and handhelds[edit]
On May 18, 2012, the PlayStation Network released a port for Myst in the form of a PSone classic for the PlayStation 3 and PSP.[111]
In November 2005, Midway Games announced that they would be developing a remake of Myst for the PlayStation Portable. The remake would include additional content that was not featured in the original Myst, including the Rime age that was earlier seen in realMyst.[112] The game was released in Japan and Europe in 2006, and the US version was released in 2008.[113]
A version of Myst for the Nintendo DS was also released in December 2007. The version features re-mastered video and audio, using source code specifically re-written for the Nintendo DS. The remake features Rime as a playable Age, with an all-new graphics set.[114] This version of the game was released in Europe on December 7, 2007, courtesy of Midway. It was released in North America on May 13, 2008, originally published by Navarre and later reissued by Storm City Games. The version was heavily panned by the gaming press, with an aggregate score of 43/100 on Metacritic.[115] This version was again later re-released for Nintendo 3DS, published by Funbox Media in Europe, and Maximum Family Games in North America and Australia. The game later appeared in digital format via the Nintendo eShop in North America on November 15, 2012,[116] and in Europe on September 5, 2013.[117]
In February 2005, Cyan and Mean Hamster Software released Myst for the Microsoft Windows Mobile platform;[118]Riven was ported shortly after.[119] In August 2008, Cyan announced that the company was developing a version of Myst for Apple's iOS.[120] The game was made available to download from the iTunes App Store on May 2, 2009.[121] The original download size was 727 MB, which was considered very large by iPhone standards.[122] An updated version of realMyst was released for iPad 2 and above, with improved graphics over the original PC release, on June 14, 2012.[123] A version for Android devices based on the realMyst version was released on January 26, 2017, produced and published by Noodlecake, and a similar port for Riven was released on April 26, 2017.[124][125]
realMyst: Masterpiece Edition is set to be released for the Nintendo Switch in Q3 2019.[126]
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External links[edit]
- Myst at MobyGames
- Myst on IMDb
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Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Myst&oldid=916894095'
Myst | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Cyan Worlds Presto Studios Ubisoft |
Publisher(s) | Brøderbund(1993-1996) Red Orb Entertainment(1997-2000) Ubisoft (2000-2007) Cyan Worlds (2008-) |
Creator(s) | Rand Miller Robyn Miller |
Platform(s) | Windows/Mac PCs, various video game consoles, iPhone, Android |
First release | Myst (1993) |
Latest release | Myst Online: Uru Live again (2010) |
Myst is a franchise centered on a series of adventurevideo games. The first game in the series, Myst, was released in 1993 by brothers Rand and Robyn Miller and their video game company Cyan, Inc. Riven, the sequel to Myst, was released in 1997, and was followed by three more direct sequels: Myst III: Exile in 2001, Myst IV: Revelation in 2004, and Myst V: End of Ages in 2005. A spinoff featuring a multiplayer component, Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, was released in 2003 and followed by two expansion packs.
Myst's story concerns an explorer named Atrus who has the ability to write books that serve as links to other worlds, known as Ages. This practice of creating linking books was developed by an ancient civilization known as the D'ni, whose society crumbled after being ravaged by disease. The player takes the role of an unnamed person referred to as the Stranger and assists Atrus by traveling to other Ages and solving puzzles. Over the course of the series Atrus writes a new Age for the D'ni survivors to live on, and players of the games set the course the civilization will follow.
The brothers developed Myst after producing award-winning games for children. Drawing on childhood stories, the brothers spent months designing the Ages players would investigate. The name Myst came from Jules Verne's novel The Mysterious Island. After Riven was released, Robyn left Cyan to pursue other projects and Cyan began developing Uru; developers Presto Studios and Ubisoft created Exile and Revelation before Cyan returned to complete the series with End of Ages. Myst and its sequels were critical and commercial successes, selling more than twelve million copies; the games drove sales of personal computers and CD-ROM drives, as well as attracting casual gamers with its nonviolent gameplay. The video games' success has led to three published novels in addition to soundtracks, a comic series, and television and movie pitches.
Story[edit]
A linking book as seen in realMyst. By touching the animated panel, players are warped to the Age described.
Myst's story begins with the arrival of a people known as the D'ni on Earth, almost 10,000 years ago. The D'ni /dəˈniː/ are an ancient race who used a special skill to create magical books that serve as portals to the worlds they describe, known as Ages. The D'ni build a great city and thriving civilization in underground caverns. A young geologist from the surface, Anna, stumbled upon the D'ni civilization. Learning the D'ni language, Anna becomes known as Ti'ana and marries a D'ni named Aitrus; the couple have a son named Gehn. Soon after, D'ni is ravaged by a plague created by a man named A'Gaeris. Aitrus sacrifices himself to save his wife and child, killing A'Gaeris while Ti'ana and Gehn escape to the surface as the D'ni civilization falls.[1]
Ti'ana raises Gehn until he runs away as a teenager, learning the D'ni Art of writing descriptive books. Ti'ana also cares for Gehn's son, Atrus, until Gehn arrives to teach Atrus the Art. Atrus realizes that his father is reckless and power-hungry, and with the help of Ti'ana and a young woman, Catherine, Atrus traps Gehn on his Age of Riven with no linking books. Atrus and Catherine marry and have two children, Sirrus and Achenar. The brothers grow greedy and after plundering their father's Ages they trap Catherine on Riven. When Atrus returns to investigate, the brothers strand him in a D'ni cavern before they themselves are trapped by special 'prison' books. Through the help of a Stranger, Atrus is freed and sends his benefactor to Riven to retrieve Catherine from the clutches of Gehn.[1] Sirrus and Achenar are punished for their crimes by being imprisoned in separate Ages until they reform.[2]
Atrus writes a new Age called Releeshahn for the D'ni survivors to rebuild their civilization as he and Catherine settle back on Earth, raising a daughter named Yeesha. As Atrus prepares to take the Stranger to Releeshahn, a mysterious man named Saavedro appears and steals the Releeshahn Descriptive Book. The Stranger follows Saavedro through several Ages (which were used to train Sirrus and Achenar in the art of writing Ages), before finally recovering the book. Ten years later, Atrus asks for the Stranger's help in determining if his sons have repented after their lengthy imprisonment; the Stranger saves Yeesha from Sirrus' machinations, but Sirrus and a repentant Achenar are killed. D'ni is not fully restored until the creatures the D'ni enslaved, known as the Bahro, are freed.
Games[edit]
Game | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Release year | Developer | Platforms | ||
Myst | 1993 | Cyan, Inc. | 3DO, AmigaOS, CD-i, iOS, Jaguar CD, Mac OS, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation, PSP, Saturn, Windows, Windows Mobile, Android | |
The first game in the Myst series was the eponymous Myst, developed by Cyan, Inc. and Brøderbund. Originally released in 1993 for Macintosh and PC platforms, the game was later ported or remade for the Saturn, Windows, Jaguar CD, 3DO, CD-i, PlayStation, AmigaOS, PSP, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS and iPhone. In Myst, players travel across Ages using a point-and-click interface, using the mouse to interact with puzzle objects such as switches or gears.[3] | ||||
Riven | 1997 | Cyan, Inc. | Mac OS, PlayStation, Saturn, Windows, iOS, Android | |
Flush with the success of Myst, Cyan moved to a new office and began work on Riven, which was released in 1997. Like Myst, Riven was a commercial and critical success, selling more than 4.5 million units.[4] | ||||
Myst III: Exile | 2001 | Presto Studios | Mac OS, Mac OS X, PlayStation 2, Windows, Xbox | |
The third game of the series, Myst III: Exile, was developed by Presto Studios and published by Ubisoft in 2001. Exile continued with the frame-based method of player movement, but used a game engine to allow a 360-degree field of view from any point.[5]Exile was a commercial success (though not to the extent of Myst or Riven),[6] selling millions of units. | ||||
Uru: Ages Beyond Myst | 2003 | Cyan Worlds | Windows | |
Uru: Ages Beyond Myst was a departure from the previous games in the series, featuring graphics rendered in real time and a third-person camera. Through avatar customization, players could create their own character to solve puzzles and uncover story information.[7]Uru was to ship with a massively multiplayer online portion, Uru Live, but the initial release was canceled shortly before the single-player aspect was released. Uru Live was rereleased in several incarnations, being canceled each time. Cyan Worlds currently operates the servers for latest iteration of the MMO, MO:ULagain, which is free to play. The running costs are covered through player donations. Though initially well-received, Uru was considered a financial disappointment. Its expansion packs and originality earned the title a cult following.[8] In 2011, Cyan Worlds and OpenUru.org announced the release of Myst Online's client and 3ds Max plugin under the GNU GPL v3 license.[9] | ||||
Myst IV: Revelation | 2004 | Ubisoft | Mac OS X, Windows, Xbox | |
Myst IV: Revelation was produced entirely by Ubisoft, and marked a return to the prerendered graphics of Exile.[10] Since the studio had little experience with such games, Ubisoft hired new employees who had experience in the field.[11] The game was seen as an improvement over Uru,[12][13] and was favorably received upon release. | ||||
Myst V: End of Ages | 2005 | Cyan Worlds | Windows, Mac OS X | |
Cyan returned to develop Myst V: End of Ages, billed as the final game in the series.[14] As with Uru, End of Ages featured graphics rendered in real time, allowing uninhibited player movement. Three control methods were offered to players, similar to those respectively used in Myst, Exile and Uru.[15] The game was judged a fitting end to the series, though a lack of financial backing for new, non-Myst projects nearly caused Cyan to shut down before the release of the game.[16] |
Development[edit]
Myst was originally conceptualized by brothers Rand and Robyn Miller. The Millers had created fictional worlds and stories as young children, influenced by the works of authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien, Robert A. Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov.[17] They formed a video game company together called Cyan, Inc.; their first game, called The Manhole, won the Software Publishers Association award in 1988 for best use of the digital medium. Cyan produced other games, aimed at children; the Millers eventually decided their next project would be made for adults.[18]
The brothers spent months designing the Ages comprising the game,[19] which were influenced by earlier whimsical 'worlds' Cyan had made for children's games.[20] The game's name, as well as the overall solitary and mysterious atmosphere of the island, was inspired by the book The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne.[18] Robyn's unfinished novel, Dunnyhut, influenced aspects of Myst's story,[21] which was developed bit by bit as the brothers conceptualized the various worlds.[21] As development progressed, the Millers realized that they would need to have even more story and history than would be revealed in the game itself.[20] Realizing that fans would enjoy getting a deeper look at the story not in the games, the Millers produced a rough draft of what would become a novel, Myst: The Book of Atrus.[21]
After the enormous response to Myst, work quickly began on the next Myst game. Cyan moved from their garage to a new office and hired additional programmers, designers, and artists.[22] The game was to ship in late 1996, but the release was pushed back a year.[23] Development costs were between $5 and $10 million, many times Myst's budget.[24] After the release of Riven, Robyn Miller left the company to pursue other projects, while Rand stayed behind to work on a Myst franchise.[25]
Richard Watson developed a language and numerical symbols for the D'ni culture
While Rand Miller stated Cyan would not make another sequel to Myst, Mattel (then the owner of the Myst franchise) offered the task of developing a sequel to several video game companies who created detailed story proposals and technology demonstrations.[26]Presto Studios, makers of the Journeyman Project adventure games, was hired to develop Myst III. Presto spent millions developing the game and used the studio's entire staff to complete the project, which took two and a half years to develop.[26] Soon after Myst III: Exile was released, Presto was shut down,[27] and Exile publisher Ubisoft developed the sequel, Myst IV: Revelation, internally.[28] Meanwhile, Cyan produced the spinoff title Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, which included an aborted multiplayer component allowing players to cooperatively solve puzzles.
Cyan returned to produce what was billed as the final game in the series,[14] discarding live action sequences embedded in prerendered graphics for a world rendered in real time. The actors' faces were turned into textures and mapped onto digital characters, with the actor's actions synchronized by motion capture. Shortly before release, Cyan closed down development,[29] although this did not impact the release of the game; the company was able to rehire its employees a few weeks later, and continued to work on non-Myst projects[14] and an attempted resurrection of Uru's multiplayer component, Myst Online. Servers paid for by donation were set up in 2010, and the game went open-source in 2011.
Among the detailed elements of the Myst universe Cyan created was the language and culture of the D'ni. The civilization's numbers and writing first appeared in Riven, and were important to solving some of the game's puzzles.[30] The D'ni language was the language presented in various games and novels of the Myst franchise, created by Richard A. Watson. Several online D'ni dictionaries have been developed as part of the ongoing fan-based culture associated with the game.[31]
Music[edit]
The music for each game in the Myst series has fallen to various composers. Originally, the Millers believed that any music or sound besides ambient noise would distract the player from the game and ruin the sense of reality; Myst, therefore, was to have no music at all. A sound test eventually persuaded the developers that music heightened the sense of immersion rather than lessening it, and as such Robyn Miller composed 40 minutes of synthesized music for the game.[19] He would also produce the music for Riven, which featured leitmotifs for each of the main characters. Virgin Records bought the rights to the music and produced the soundtracks,[32] which were released in 1998.
For Myst III: Exile and Myst IV: Revelation, composer Jack Wall created the music, developing a more active musical style different from Miller's ambient themes. Wall looked at the increasing complexity of games as an opportunity to give players a soundtrack with as much force as a movie score,[33] and tried to create a distinctive sound that was still recognizable as Myst music.[4] In Revelation, Wall adapted the themes for the recurring characters of Myst,[34] and collaborated with Peter Gabriel, who provided a song to the game as well as voicework.[35]
The music for Uru: Ages Beyond Myst and Myst V: End of Ages was composed by Tim Larkin, who had gotten involved in the series doing sound design for Riven.[36] Larkin stepped away from his background as a jazz composer and musician to create music with less structure and without a definite beginning and end.[37] Larkin created different music depending on the location, giving each setting and Age a distinctive tone.[36] For End of Ages, Larkin was unable to afford a full orchestra to perform his score, so he combined individual instrumentation with an array of synthesizers.[38]
Adaptations[edit]
Rand and Robyn Miller both wanted to develop Myst's back story into novels. After the success of Myst, publisher Hyperion signed a three-book, US$1 million deal with the brothers. David Wingrove worked from the Miller brothers' story outlines. The three books, entitled Myst: The Book of Atrus, Myst: The Book of Ti'ana, and Myst: The Book of D'ni, were released in 1995, 1996, and 1997, respectively.[39] The books were later packaged together as The Myst Reader. A fourth novel, entitled Myst: The Book of Marrim, is planned.
Cyan partnered with Dark Horse Comics in 1993 to release a limited four-part comic series called Myst: The Book of Black Ships. The series would have focused on Atrus and his young sons, taking place before the events of Myst. The first issue was released on September 3, 1997,[40] but further books were canceled after Cyan decided the first issue did not live up to expectations.[39] Another comic, Myst #0: Passages, was later released online.[39]
After the Myst series' success, various proposals for films and television series based on the franchise were planned or rumored.[30] The Sci Fi Channel announced in 2002 that a TV miniseries would be produced based on Myst, to be produced by Mandalay Television Pictures in association with Columbia TriStar Domestic Television and Cyan,[41] but never materialized. According to Rand Miller, none of the various proposals met Cyan's approval, or were too formulaic or silly.[42] Independent filmmakers Patrick McIntire and Adrian Vanderbosch, themselves Myst fans, took it upon themselves to produce a motion picture based on the story revealed in the Myst novels. In 2006, the filmmakers sent a DVD proposal to Cyan. The developers gave the filmmakers permission to begin production.[43] The film was set to be based on the novel Myst: The Book of Ti'ana,[44] but no longer appears to be in production.[45]
In October 2014, Legendary Entertainment announced that it was developing a television series based on Myst, with the involvement of the Miller brothers and Cyan. Legendary stated that they plan to use transmedia companion pieces for the show, such as new video games.[46]
In May 2015, Unwritten: Adventures in the Ages of MYST and Beyond was published by Inkworks Productions as an authorized,[47] Myst-based pencil-and-paper role-playing game. Unwritten was built on the popular Fate Core RPG system with a focus on investigation and non-violent adventure. Two small supplements exist as background for game-players: The D'Ni Primer explaining the history of the D'Ni, and The Myst Saga giving a chronology of the Myst series.
In 2016, Cyan Worlds released the Kickstarter-backed Obduction. While Obduction is not narratively linked to Myst, the game was considered by Rand Miller to be a spiritual successor to the Myst series, borrowing several of its themes and puzzle-design approaches, as well as incorporating full-motion video in homage to Myst. Robyn, who had left Cyan before this point, collaborated to help score the game and take on the role of one of the in-game characters.[48]
In anticipation of the first game's 25th anniversary in September 2018, Cyan Worlds secured the necessary rights to release all of the Myst games, updated for modern Windows systems with assistance of GOG.com to be released as a collected physical collectors edition.[49] Further, Cyan launched a Kickstarter in April 2018 to provide digital copies of the seven games as well as backer rewards including a simulated Linking Book, using an LCD screen inserted into a book binding.[50] The Kickstarter was successfully funded, bringing in US$2.8 million on a US$250,000 target goal.[51]
Rand Miller stated in June 2018, following the successful Kickstarter, that Cyan Worlds may return to the Myst series in the future. Miller said that with Obduction and the potential of virtual reality, he felt there is opportunity to develop a new story for Myst that includes revisiting some of the previous Ages.[51]
On June 26, 2019, Village Roadshow Entertainment Group announced that they have acquired the rights to the franchise and plans to expand its mythology to develop a multi-platform universe that includes movies and TV series. They will work alongside Miller and his brother Ryan as well as Isaac Testerman and Yale Rice of Delve Media. [52]
Reception and impact[edit]
Game | Metacritic[53] | GameRankings[54] |
---|---|---|
Myst | n/a | 82.57% |
Riven | 83% | 84.60% |
Myst III: Exile | 83% | 77.07% |
Uru: Ages Beyond Myst | 79% | 76.19% |
Uru: The Path of the Shell | 72% | 67.69% |
Uru: Complete Chronicles | n/a | 84.67% |
Myst IV: Revelation | 82% | 81.72% |
Myst V: End of Ages | 80% | 79.82% |
Myst Online: Uru Live (GameTap) | 78% | 82.67% |
Overall, the Myst series has been commercially and critically successful. Rand and Robyn Miller were expecting Myst to perform as well as previous Cyan titles, making enough money to fund the next project.[55] Instead, Myst sold more than six million units, becoming the top-selling PC game of all time until The Sims surpassed its sales in 2002.[56] The first three games in the series have sold more than twelve million copies.
Game Of Thrones Mystery Minis Series 1
1UP.com writer Jeremy Parish noted that there have been two main opinions of Myst's slow, puzzle-based gameplay; 'Fans consider Myst an elegant, intelligent game for grown-ups, while detractors call it a soulless stroll through a digital museum, more art than game.'[57] Game industry executives were confused by Myst's success, not understanding how an 'interactive slide show' turned out to be a huge hit. Online magazine writer Russell Pitts of The Escapist called Myst 'unlike anything that had come before, weaving video almost seamlessly into a beautifully rendered world, presenting a captivating landscape filled with puzzles and mystery. In a game market dominated by Doom clones and simulators, Myst took us by the hand and showed us the future of gaming. It took almost a decade for anyone to follow its lead.'[58] Critics from Wired and Salon considered the games approaching the level of art,[59][60] while authors Henry Jenkins and Lev Manovich pointed out the series as exemplifying the promise of new media to create unseen art forms.[61][62]
The series caused a major trend shift in the adventure game genre. Unlike previous games, Myst attempted to keep players immersed in the world by removing all information not associated with the fictional world itself—no explanatory text, inventory, or score counters.[63]Myst has also been cited as the reason for the decline of the adventure game genre; eager to capitalize on Myst's success, publishers churned out mediocre Myst clones, which flooded the market.[64] By Exile's release, games like Myst were considered to be an 'antiquated' form of gaming by some critics.[65]
Game Of Thrones Mystery Minis Series 3
Myst's effects extended to those who played the games and technology. The title was widely credited as one of the first games to appeal not just to hardcore gamers but to casual players and demographics that generally did not play games, such as women.[25]Myst's lack of conventional game elements—violence, dying, and failure—appealed to nongamers and those contemplating buying a computer.[66] The Millers' decision to develop Myst for the nascent CD-ROM format helped boost interest and adoption of disc drives.[67]
Game Of Thrones Mystery Box
The game inspired a CD parody game entitled Pyst, written by comedian Peter Bergman and featured John Goodman in video scenes.[68] Players traveled across the spoiled island of Myst after millions of players walked over it, with the parody game poking fun at elements of the prototype.[69]
Fan conventions[edit]
The game has spawned annual fan conventions around the world. Mysterium has been held since 2000, which grew out of the plans of a small group of fans who wanted to meet in person. Eventually approximately 200 people attended the meeting in Spokane, Washington, which was held at the headquarters of Cyan Worlds, developers of the game. Subsequent conventions have been more formally planned, involving presentations and live music.[70] Similar to Mysterium, Mystralia is a gathering for Australia and New Zealand and has been held since 2005.
References[edit]
- ^ abStaff (November 1, 2004). ''Myst IV: Revelation': A Family Affair'. Apple Inc. Retrieved November 9, 2008.
- ^Castro, Juan (October 4, 2004). 'Myst IV Revelation Review; Is the latest adventure worth the trip?'. IGN. Retrieved December 19, 2007.
- ^Cyan, Inc (1993). Myst User Manual. 'Manipulating Objects' (Windows version ed.). Brøderbund. pp. 5–6.
- ^ abPham, Alex (May 17, 2001). 'Game Design; Adding Texture, Detail to Miller Brothers' Legacy'. Los Angeles Times. p. T4.
- ^Presto Studios (2001). Myst III: Exile - User's Manual. 'Playing the Game' (PC/Mac ed.). Ubisoft. p. 4.
- ^Odelius, Dwight (January 8, 2004). 'Game is magical and immersive - and nonviolent'. Houston Chronicle. p. 3.
- ^Krause, Staci (December 4, 2003). 'Uru: Ages Beyond Myst Review (page 1)'. IGN. Retrieved October 29, 2008.
- ^Jenkins, David (September 5, 2005). 'Report: Cyan Worlds Slims To 'Skeleton Crew''. Gamasutra. Retrieved November 4, 2008.
- ^'CyanWorlds.com Engine - OpenUru'. wiki.openuru.org. Retrieved September 11, 2016.
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- ^ abcSowa, Tom (January 12, 2005). 'Cyan Worlds ends one story, ponders new one'. The Spokesman-Review. p. A8.
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- ^Gardner, Fran (November 7, 1995). 'Book by Myst Brothers Unveils Atrus' world before the game'. The Oregonian. p. E1.
- ^ abCarroll, John (August 1994). 'Guerrillas in the Myst'. Wired. 2 (8).
- ^ abMiller, Rand and Robyn; Cyan (1993). The Making of Myst (CR-RPM). Cyan, Inc./Brøderbund.
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- ^Takashi, Dean (August 26, 1997). 'Can Myst's Sequel Live Up to Expectations?'. The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ abLillington, Karen (March 2, 1998). ''Myst' partnership is riven'. Salon. Archived from the original on December 6, 2008. Retrieved October 10, 2008.
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- ^Saladino, Michael (December 2002). 'And presto... it's gone!'. Game Developer. 9 (12): 44–49.
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- ^ abFicara, Ken (October 31, 1997). 'Breathtaking Sequel to 'Myst' Lacks Its Sense of Exploration'. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 8, 2007.
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- ^ abMiller, Jennifer. 'Interview with Tim Larkin'. Just Adventure. Archived from the original on May 14, 2008. Retrieved October 19, 2008.
- ^Gutoff, Bija. 'Tim Larkin: Composing Myst's Musical World (page 3)'. Apple, Inc. Archived from the original on December 17, 2008. Retrieved September 12, 2008.
- ^Staff (September 1, 2005). 'Interview with Myst V audio director and composer Tim Larkin'. Music4Games. Archived from the original on March 7, 2009. Retrieved November 1, 2008.
- ^ abcCook, Brad (April 1, 2001). 'The Lost Ages: Myst 3 Revealed (page 2)'. Apple, Inc. Archived from the original on March 20, 2008. Retrieved June 3, 2008.
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- ^NBC Universal (April 2, 2002). 'SCI FI Channel Announces Ambitious New Slate of Original Movies and Miniseries'. Sci Fi Channel.
- ^Sowa, Tom (May 10, 2008). 'Avoiding Hollywood, Cyan Worlds allows two fans to develop a Myst movie'. The Spokesman-Review. Archived from the original on December 16, 2010. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
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- ^Graser, Marc (October 7, 2014). 'Series Based on 'Myst' Games in Development at Legendary'. Variety. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
- ^'Other Interesting Links'. Cyan Worlds. March 25, 2016. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
- ^Dingman, Hayman (October 4, 2014). 'Exclusive preview: This is 'Obduction,' Cyan's spiritual successor to 'Myst''. PC World. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
- ^Horti, Samuel (March 17, 2018). 'Cyan is releasing updated versions of all the Myst games to mark series' 25th anniversary'. PC Gamer. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
- ^Kuchera, Ben (April 9, 2018). 'Myst Kickstarter offers $1,000 tier that's actually worth it'. Polygon. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
- ^ abChalk, Andy (June 29, 2018). 'Myst 3 and 4 finally come to GOG, Cyan is planning new games in the series'. PC Gamer. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
- ^'Village Roadshow Developing 'Myst' Video Game Into Multi-Platform Film & TV Universe'. Deadline. June 26, 2019. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
- ^Riven, Exile, Revelation, End of Ages, Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, Uru: The Path of the Shell, and Myst Online: Uru Live on Metacritic. Accessed on September 14, 2014. All scores for Windows PC versions of the games.
- ^Myst, Riven, Exile, Revelation, End of Ages, Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, Uru: The Path of the Shell, Myst: Uru Complete Chronicles, and Myst Online: Uru Live on GameRankings. Accessed on September 14, 2014. All scores for Windows PC versions of the games.
- ^Miller, Robyn (2007). 'The Secret History of 'Myst''. Make. 8 (1): 54–61.
- ^Walker, Trey (March 22, 2002). 'The Sims overtakes Myst'. GameSpot. Retrieved March 17, 2008.
- ^'Myst IV: Revelation Review'. 1UP.com. Archived from the original on June 14, 2006. Retrieved November 18, 2008.
- ^Pitts, Russell (July 8, 2008). 'A Three-Year History of Gaming'. The Escapist. Retrieved November 19, 2008.
- ^Miller, Laura (November 6, 1997). 'Riven Rapt'. Salon. Archived from the original on April 2, 2008. Retrieved April 7, 2008.
- ^Rothstein, Edward (December 4, 1994). 'A New Art Form May Arise From the 'Myst''. The New York Times. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^Jenkins, Henry; Tara McPherson, Jane Shattuc (2002). Hop on Pop: The Politics and Pleasures of Popular Culture. Duke University Press. p. 494. ISBN0-8223-2737-6.
- ^Manovich, Lev (2002). The Language of New Media. MIT Press. p. 244. ISBN0-262-63255-1.
- ^Wolf, Mark (2007). The Video Game Explosion: A History from Pong to Playstation and Beyond. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 88–90. ISBN0-313-33868-X.
- ^Staff (January 12, 2005). 'The Essential 50 Part 33: Myst'. 1UP.com. Archived from the original on February 2, 2016. Retrieved November 18, 2008.
- ^Hamilton, Anita (August 9, 2004). 'Secrets of The New Myst'. Time. Retrieved November 17, 2008.
- ^Staff. 'History of Myst; 10 years and counting'. Tiscali.co.uk. Archived from the original on July 24, 2008. Retrieved November 9, 2008.
- ^Staff (August 1, 2000). 'RC Retroview: Myst'. IGN. Retrieved April 21, 2008.
- ^Schwartz, Bruce (October 10, 1996). 'Seeing through the 'Myst'-tique 'Pyst' pokes fun at hit CD-ROM'. USA Today.
- ^Eng, Paul M (October 21, 1996). 'Myst Gets Dissed on CD-ROM'. BusinessWeek.
- ^'Myst'ified fans find parity in fantastic worlds, Deseret Morning News, Scott Iwasaki, August 28, 2006
External links[edit]
Game Of Thrones Mysteries
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