Well, Rand Miller would not likely approve... but...

HarveyMidnight · **Joined:** Sat Apr 14, 2012 2:59 pm **Posts:** 432

Spoilers below for the first Myst game.. be aware, thanks.

I once saw Rand do an interview where he basically said Cyan is not really interested in doing a 'Myst 6'. Tho he did say that might change if there were actually investors asking him to make a Myst 6 on their dime.

Still, tho.... if I were a Cyan employee, I would at least consider the idea of a Myst: Revival kind of game that combined all the Ages from the games Myst & Riven, as well as all the Ages that were available in Exile-- Basically any Age spawned before the events of the first Myst and was therefore written by either Atrus, Catherine, Anna, or Gehn and would be accessible from the Myst library.

It would contain the same events of Myst-- it is a revival after all... only, you'd have the option of playing as The Stranger, OR as Achenar, or Sirrus (or, who knows, even play as Atrus!!!). The extra Ages from Myst 3 would each contain a green page, to help release Atrus, and a brown page to release someone from Riven.. hopefully Catherine, but who knows?!? What if it is Gehn? Maybe the trapped character in Riven can only send letters to the player & you can't see their face or hear their voice...

Playing as the stranger-- the events after the ORIGINAL Myst game would just continue from the fireplace with new content where you have to gather a green or brown page from each Age, and these would be the Ages Atrus wrote for Achenar & Sirrus to learn the skill of Writing... those from, I think, Myst Exile. But playing as one of the brothers, you have the option of releasing Atrus, whoever that is in Riven... or go back thru the Myst Ages and release the other brother. You have to weigh which of those 3 will be in your interest to release. Multiple new 'bad' and 'good' endings, therefore, allow for LOTS of replaying...

Oh.. and the whole thing would use the same style of graphics as Uru, 3d rendering and a customizable avatar with early 1800's clothing... . which, the Stranger might be Mexican or Native American as well as European descent... which would be cool to play around with.

And, of course, the WHOLE thing would be a sandbox environment where you can dig thru and find all sorts of canonical easter-eggs that any seasoned veteran of the Myst games would giggle over.

That's just an idea that popped into my head; thought I'd share.

belford · **Joined:** Thu Jun 08, 2006 7:01 pm **Posts:** 1890

What you're describing is about the second most expensive kind of game Cyan could possibly tackle. (The *most* expensive, obviously, being an MMO. :/ )

Nice to think about, but probably not on the table.

Zekh · **Posted:** Mon Feb 11, 2013 6:00 am

To me, and to stay credible and match with the story, i think that Myst 6 would be called "D'ni"

I explain : What about a prequel ? What about playing Ti'ana as she discovers the city, brings the fall to the D'ni civilisation. Don't you want to see Ae'Gura as it was in the D'ni gold age ? How the Guilds were running and a fully breathing city ? Or if not Ti'ana, playing a D'ni citizen, tracking down a mystery like a murder or something.

That'd be a great occasion to truely understand and see what D'ni was, the people and the city. Instead of doing archeology, you'd be IN.

TheScar(.fr) · **Joined:** Mon Jun 04, 2007 9:38 pm **Posts:** 317

Or... A game where the story will be the same that will be in the movie! :wink:

Wait and see.

DLordofTime · **Posted:** Mon Feb 11, 2013 4:18 pm

I would definitely buy a Myst game where you could play in pre-Fall D'ni.

Tomala · **Posted:** Mon Feb 11, 2013 10:32 pm

manloc wrote:

Or... A game where the story will be the same that will be in the movie! :wink:

Wait and see.

The movie by the original visionaries or the hollywood version?

TheScar(.fr) · **Joined:** Mon Jun 04, 2007 9:38 pm **Posts:** 317

Tomala wrote:

manloc wrote:

Or... A game where the story will be the same that will be in the movie! :wink:

Wait and see.

The movie by the original visionaries or the hollywood version?

The one witch will make more (good) publicity for "MO: UL (a)", to have more new players... :wink:

Ken Telinome · **Posted:** Tue Feb 12, 2013 4:13 pm

I'm not sure if I'd like a game set in pre-fall D'ni. One of the coolest things about the MYST games, and what makes them so mysterious, is that there is nobody around. You start on an empty MYST island--what happened? Three of the four Ages were clearly inhabited at some point--what happened? You get to Riven, and there are a few people around, but not many--why are they all hiding? Exile had just a few other characters barely seen, and the Ages themselves were never inhabited--it's just you. Revelation has Ages that used to be prisons, but now that the prisoners have escaped, it's up to you to explore the empty Ages and figure out what happened.

It's that sense of mystery that I love about the MYST games, that sense of "just abandoned".

DLordofTime · **Posted:** Tue Feb 12, 2013 4:26 pm

Then where would another game go?

matthornb · **Posted:** Tue Feb 12, 2013 5:50 pm

The short answer: There might not be another game, or at least not what any of you are suggesting.

Firstly, because the Myst movie may not be greenlit by a studio. There's still no guarantee it'll go anywhere.

Secondly, the conventional 'single-player' Myst series ended with Myst V. The story of Atrus is over.

Third, it was hard enough creating a 'dead' fallen D'ni. How hard do you think it'd be to create a thriving, living one?
We're talking either 'new MMO' there or single-player game with a multitude of NPCs, and the problem with that is not merely the loss of the traditional Myst solitude but the sheer ambitiousness of the premise.

So what we should be looking for is something limited in scope and achievable on a 'Kickstarter' budget. That is, $1-3 million, roughly. Something comparatively small - about one-third the size of a conventional Myst game - but that compensates for its smallness by being reasonably priced, about $5-7 at first release, and that can function as a cross-platform title in the Unity engine (which is a good toolset and Cyan Worlds already has experience using it.)

Where it'd go, what we'd explore, I'm not sure. But the adage 'go big or go home' isn't really realistic for a studio that likely can't raise the funding to make something big.

One other note to Cyan Worlds - make the puzzles varied and interesting, but also easier; you need to push beyond your current fanbase and win over people who fall outside the hardcore adventure-gamer group.

DLordofTime · **Posted:** Tue Feb 12, 2013 9:22 pm

When I said "Where else would another game go?", I meant, "There is no other avenue for a Myst game."

HarveyMidnight · **Joined:** Sat Apr 14, 2012 2:59 pm **Posts:** 432

matthornb wrote:

One other note to Cyan Worlds - make the puzzles varied and interesting, but also easier; you need to push beyond your current fanbase and win over people who fall outside the hardcore adventure-gamer group.

LOl--- that was always my OTHER thought... taking the future of Myst backward... both The Manhole and Cosmic Osmo were games that functioned similar to Myst's point & click interaction, but they weren't 'puzzles' per se. Just environments where you could 'mess with stuff' and funny things would happen.

We've also seen some really unique games by 'That Game Company' like Flow, and Journey.. where the object of the game is pure escapism: You're not trying to solve anything, you're just trying to see & hear the beauty of the music and the visuals. VERY much akin to what Cyan was originally doing-- only less 'funny' and more reflective.

What are those skydivers all doing in Uru? Why do we continue to hang around in there, even tho there's nothing more to solve? The social aspect is part of it.. but another part of it is just to see and experience D'ni-- get past the barriers & see stuff. That's the MAIN reason I suggested revamping Myst & adding new puzzles, new sites in familiar Ages... because I think half the game would be wandering in those Ages again & seeing the familiar AND the new.

Maybe that's the future of Myst... Something like you said.. a small 'module'; a single Age costing less that 10 dollars that isn't so much a puzzle as something you just can't stop playing for the next 3 or 4 months because of how cool it looks & sounds. Then in about 2 years, another one comes out.. and they connect somehow...

belford · **Joined:** Thu Jun 08, 2006 7:01 pm **Posts:** 1890

Quote:

We've also seen some really unique games by 'That Game Company' like Flow, and Journey.. where the object of the game is pure escapism: You're not trying to solve anything, you're just trying to see & hear the beauty of the music and the visuals.

Similarly _Dear Esther_ and _Proteus_. Very different approaches to narrative and art style, but essentially environments that you explore.

Now, all of these have to address the "fixed-length" problem, which they do in different ways. 30-to-45 minute run-throughs, and I haven't gone back to any of them more than once or twice. Nonetheless -- could be popular enough to be worthwhile.

TheScar(.fr) · **Joined:** Mon Jun 04, 2007 9:38 pm **Posts:** 317

I don't like the "Myst" games... I LOVE them! And all "URU" versions, a little more!! But That's just my thinking.

Now, in 2013', the "new generation" of players is different from the one from 1993'... Those players don't like puzzles for example (or they don't like to have too many, and too hard, puzzles)...

But "Myst" can change from the past and become a "new generation" of "Myst" game(s), for those players (and the "old" players too) to like (or love) this/those game(s)!

One (or more) offline game(s), from the past story of D'ni CAN be a good idea to make new players from "Myst Movie" watchers... We "simply" have to find what to put in this/those) games.

If you've read "The Words" propheties, maybe you've read about Yeesha's daughter...
A game with her can also be a good idea.
Not to continu Atrus story, but to start a new story... (Maybe it will be a new story for new players, and a following of Atrus story for "old" players.)

Ps: I was born in 1980'... I don't know witch players "generation" I'm from...

Mowog · **Joined:** Tue May 09, 2006 2:18 am **Posts:** 1420

Interesting observations above... I was blown away by Dear Esther, and return to the island on occasion when I'm feeling mellow and just want to soak in its ambiance. The developers of Esther built it on the premise that it would be an experiment - basically, a quandary consisting of a "game" that was totally devoid of any of the usual gameplay elements. I think it's that difference, plus the breathtaking execution of the concept, that keeps me coming back.

Similarly, I occasionally return the Cavern and Ages for the same reason - just for the experience of being there, even though I've completed all the tasks many times over, and have little desire to do them again. The Myst saga attracted the incurably curious, and I'd definitely be drawn to any new Ages that provided that same "What's around the corner?" premise.

Mowog

Well, Rand Miller would not likely approve... but...

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