Myst

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This article is about the first computer game titled "Myst". For the entire series, see Myst franchise.
Myst
Developer(s) Cyan, Inc.
Publisher(s) Brøderbund
Designer(s) Robyn and Rand Miller
Engine HyperCard (Mac), Proprietary (Win)
Release date(s) Macintosh
United States September 24, 1993
Windows 3.0
United States 1994
Windows 95
United States 1996
3DO
United States 1995
Jaguar CD
United States 1995
Saturn
Japan November 22, 1994
United States 1995
European Union October 27, 1995
PlayStation
Japan January 27, 1995
United States September 30, 1996
European Union November 19, 1996
PSP
Japan June 15, 2006
Genre(s) First-person graphic adventure, Puzzle
Mode(s) Single player
Rating(s) RSAC: ALL
ESRB: K-A / E
Platform(s) Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, Saturn, PlayStation, Jaguar CD, AmigaOS, CD-i, 3DO, PSP, Pocket PC
Media CD-ROM
System requirements Macintosh: Mac LC, System 7.0.1, 4 MB RAM, 3 MB disk space, 256 Colors, CD-ROM drive. Windows: (MPC) 386, Windows 3.0, 8 MB RAM, 4 MB disk space, SVGA Video, Sound card, CD-ROM drive
Input Keyboard, mouse

Myst (or MYST) is a graphic adventure computer game designed and directed by the brothers Robyn and Rand Miller. It was developed by Cyan, Inc., a Spokane, Washington-based studio, and published and distributed by Brøderbund. The Millers began working on Myst in 1991 and released it for the Macintosh computer on September 24, 1993.

Myst was so successful that it helped to spark a new genre of computer game, the first-person adventure-puzzle game. Many games that followed in this genre are often referred to by both fans and non-fans as "Myst clones".

Contents

[edit] Accomplishments

Myst and its sequels have sold over 11 million copies[1] and held the title of best-selling computer game of all time throughout much of the 1990s before being overtaken by The Sims. Its popularity led to the following:

[edit] Development

The Myst creative team consisted of the brothers Rand and Robyn Miller, with sound designer Chris Brandkamp and graphical artist Chuck Carter. Robyn Miller designed the Ages of Myst Island, Stoneship and Channelwood, while Carter was responsible for the Selenitic and Mechanical Ages, as well as D'ni (K'veer).

The game was created on Apple Macintosh computers, principally Macintosh Quadras. Each scene was modelled and rendered in StrataVision 3D, with some additional modelling in Macromedia MacroModel. Each image was edited and enhanced using Photoshop V1.0. ILM's John Knoll released a Photoshop Plugin to lead artist Chuck Carter so as to read PICS animation format files in filmstrip form which helped with some of the animation editing and color correction. Video editing, compression and compositing were performed in Adobe Premiere.

The original Macintosh version 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 (XCMDs and XFCNs in HyperCard terminology), mainly Simplex HyperTint and Apple's QuickTime XCMD. Images were stored as 8-bit PICT resources with custom color palettes and QuickTime still image compression. Animated elements were QuickTime movies with Cinepak compression. This careful processing made the finished graphics look remarkable despite their low bit depth; in an 8-bit era, Myst was so visually appealing that it quickly set the standard for its contemporaries.

The game was ported to Microsoft Windows in 1994.

[edit] Gameplay

The gameplay of Myst consists of a first-person journey through an interactive world. The player moves the character by clicking on locations shown in the main display and can interact with specific objects on some screens by clicking or dragging them. Unlike many computer games, there are no enemies or any threat of "dying", although it is possible to reach a few "losing" endings. The only competition is the player versus the puzzles presented in the game.

To complete the game, the player must discover and follow clues to be transported via books to several Ages, each of which is a self-contained mini-world. After traveling through each of the Ages of Myst, Selenitic, Stoneship, Mechanical, and Channelwood, the player would return to the starting point of the game, Myst Island, with all the information necessary to complete the game.

According to the creators, 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. Also said to have been an inspiration is The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares, a novel which deals with an anonymous traveller entering a surrealistic island created by a brilliant but deranged scientist.

[edit] Story

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Under obscure circumstances, a mysterious person known as the Stranger (the player) finds an unusual book titled "Myst". According to the instruction booklet, they then read the book and discover a detailed description of an island world. The Stranger then places their hand on the last page and is whisked away to that world with exploration as their only option. However, the events occur differently in the game. Upon opening the book, the Stranger discovers that the first page is occupied by a single moving image or Linking panel. The picture shows an aerial view of an island. Touching this image, the Stranger is transported to that island and is left with no choice but to explore.

Myst Island contains a library where two books can be found — a red book and a blue book. These books are traps for Sirrus and Achenar, respectively, two men who claim to be the sons of Atrus. Atrus is the mysterious and powerful owner of Myst Island who could write special books ("linking books") by an ancient practice known as The Art, which would transport the user to the worlds, or "Ages", that they described. From the linking panels of their books, Sirrus and Achenar plead to the Stranger to let them escape. However, the books are missing several pages, so their messages at first are faint and unclear.

As the Stranger further explores the island, more books are discovered hidden behind complex mechanisms and puzzles. There are four books in total, each linking to a different world or Age. The Stranger must visit each Age, find the red and blue pages hidden in that age, and then return to Myst.

Those pages can then be placed in the corresponding books. As the Stranger adds more pages to these books, the brothers can speak more and more clearly. Throughout this process, each brother maintains that the other brother cannot be trusted. After collecting five pages, the brothers can talk clearly enough to tell the Stranger where the sixth page is hidden. If the Stranger gives either brother their sixth page, they will be free. The Stranger is left with a choice. Should she or he help Sirrus or Achenar? Or neither?

The brothers plead to be liberated and, above all, that the player not access a green book that is stored in the same location as the last pages. They claim that it is a book like their own and, if opened, will trap the Stranger. In truth, it leads to D'ni, where their father Atrus is imprisoned. He asks the player to bring him a final page that is hidden on Myst Island. Atrus cannot bring justice to his sons on Myst without the final page. The note explaining how to reach the page has been ripped and brought to two of the ages by the brothers. This is the only way that leads to victory; entering D'ni without the page leads to eternal imprisonment, and freeing one of the brothers leaves the player trapped inside a book.

[edit] Ages

As the player explores the game, he or she discovers four linking books, books that allow a person to link to the worlds that the books describe. The Art of Writing was practiced by the D'ni, an ancient civilization that lived in a large cavern deep in the Earth.

The game includes the following "Ages":

Stoneship Age
Enlarge
Stoneship Age
  • Myst Island, the starting Age. This island remains the central "hub" Age throughout the plot.
  • Channelwood Age, a small, swamp-like Age with boardwalks covering most of the ground. The water is the key to everything in it.
  • Stoneship Age, a somewhat small Age consisting of a few large rocky islands and a broken ship.
  • Selenitic Age, a very large Age consisting of rocky towers, a small forest, and massive underground caverns, among other things.
  • Mechanical Age, a rotating fortress mounted between three islands.
  • Rime Age, found only as a special bonus at the end of realMYST and the PSP port of Myst
  • D'ni(Pronounced quickly as deh-ni, but sometimes also as dunny or die-nee), later revealed to be only a small part of D'ni proper.

See Ages of Myst for full descriptions.

[edit] Variant versions

In 1994, the Windows version for IBM PCs was released. When porting from the original Macintosh version to Windows, a few technical problems occurred and as a result the following changes were necessary: Sound effects were no longer subtle, for example, instead of a gentle breeze in one area on Myst Island, there was gusting wind. Another example, sounds of running machinery would not fade out as the player leaves that area. In addition, the soundtrack was shortened in several areas and transitions between the different images became less smooth. The Myst: Masterpiece Edition (below) for Windows does not correct these changes. The Masterpiece Edition for Macintosh computers is a port of the Windows Masterpiece Edition and features the edits. Console versions such as that for the Sega Saturn, featured narration for the letters viewed during gameplay.

[edit] Remakes

[edit] Myst: Masterpiece Edition

Myst: Masterpiece Edition was an updated version of the original Myst. Due to the hint system's bugs and some shortening in the soundtrack, the updated edition was not well received by audiences. Updates included:

  • Re-rendered images in truecolor (24-bit) instead of 8-bit color
  • Additional point-of-view images
  • Enhanced audio effects and music
    • Shortened version of the Pool Imager theme
  • In-game maps and hint system

Slight further enhancements, and a restore of the original soundtrack, were made to the MME release as part of the Myst DVD 10th Anniversary Edition which bundled DVD versions of MME, Riven, and Exile.

[edit] realMYST

realMyst box cover
Enlarge
realMyst box cover

realMyst: Interactive 3D Edition was a re-make of the Myst computer game featuring various changes over the original:

  • Graphics were rendered by an early version of the real-time 3D Plasma 1.0 engine also later used in Uru: Ages Beyond Myst (2.0) and Myst V: End of Ages (2.1)
  • Navigation provided much more freedom due to the above
  • Weather effects like thunderstorms and sunsets/sunrises were added
  • Some minor additions to the main Age (Myst Island), like the addition of a gravestone for Ti'ana, adjusted the gameplay to the Myst novels and sequels
  • All of Rand Miller's scenes as Atrus, as well as the opening narration, were redone
  • Several minor alterations in the scenery (eg. different lamp models) and more realistic textures.
  • Rime as a new Age was added and loosely tied into the storyline

realMyst was developed by Cyan, Inc. and Sunsoft, and published by Ubisoft. Production of the game was discontinued after its release, due to its slow performance on most computers.

[edit] PSP Remake

In November of 2005, Midway 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. [2] The remake was (and is) reported by IGN as having a Japanese release date of March 30, 2006; however, the actual date was June 15 of the same year. The game is slated for release in North America and Europe in the early part of 2007; however, an official release date has not yet been announced.[2]

[edit] Pocket PC Remake

Mean Hamster Software, Inc. has developed a port of Myst for the Pocket PC. [3]

[edit] Parodies and fan games

  • Pyst is a satirized version of the Myst universe, where everything appeared to be trashed and vandalized by disgruntled gamers unable to solve Myst's puzzles. It was notable for featuring a performance by John Goodman. Although nothing more than slideshow of desecrated Myst screenshots, it was popular enough to spawn "Pyst: Special Edition," which included a preview of "Driven: The Sequel to Pyst," which never saw the light of day, as creator Parroty Interactive went bankrupt.
  • Missed is a text-based online game in which you must help Ascii, who is lost on the web, find the six keys of the internet. The game involves spoofs of various buildings, characters and Ages in Myst.
  • Mylk, produced by Bart Gold (PC version by Wayne Twitchell), is a parody based on dairy products and other foodstuffs.
  • Missed Island, a recreation of Myst as a map for Marathon Infinity. It can be downloaded from Bungie.Org's Marathon archives.

[edit] Criticism

Though Myst was an extremely popular and commercially successful game it was also intensively criticised, mostly around the lack of "action" in the game, leading some to claim the game is boring (a typical review of this type describes the game as a "slide-show"). These reviews often complain about the difficulty and lack of context of the puzzles, which those who like the game would claim is the main point. The Myst page of Mobygames has several reviews putting forth both views.

[edit] TV Miniseries

A miniseries was planned with Cyan and Mandalay Television Pictures, but was cancelled, probably because Cyan didn't like the direction the show was going. The project also received little support and funding.

[edit] Trivia

  • In Germany, the game's title was subject to a number of jokes — while the title clearly alludes to both mist and "Mysterious" in the English language, the word Mist in German means "manure".
  • After the Myst back-story was further revealed, it was fixed that the events in Myst occurred in the early 1800s. However the last game in the series, Myst 5, is set some 200 years later. Myst 5 in fact continues the story of Uru, which is set in the present day.
  • Myst 3 was produced by Presto and Myst 4 was produced by Ubisoft (with a tiny bit of input from Cyan) instead of the original Cyan team who made Myst, Riven and Myst 5. Because of this, there are differences in the style and overall "feel" of the games. Myst 4 may seem to flatly contradict a major aspect of the prison books, central to the plot of both Myst and Riven, although Richard A. Watson stated[3] as early as 2000 that prison/trap books were actually regular Ages, but weren't portrayed as such due to storyline limitations and because a "bad player" should not be rewarded with another set of Ages to explore.
  • The mosaic in D'ni, taken by many to be a representation of Ri'neref, is actually the face of Chuck Carter, one of the modelers who worked on the original Myst game.
  • A Sega CD edition of the game was produced, but never released [4]. However, versions were released for the 3DO, CD-i, Atari Jaguar, Sony PlayStation, and the Sega Saturn. A planned LaserActive Mega LD-ROM version was planned by Sega, but also cancelled. There are very few prototypes available. Thirteen years after its original release new ports are still being produced, including one to the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP).
  • At the time, this game was one of the reasons why many people purchased a computer with a CD-ROM drive. This game and The 7th Guest were both responsible for the sudden boom in the popularity of the drives.[5]
  • The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror VI included a segment Homer3 where a 3-D version of Homer Simpson encounters, among other notable objects, the library from Myst while the library theme music briefly plays.
  • Lucasarts' The Curse of Monkey Island includes, when Guybrush asks the Lost Welshman about the "mist", the Lost Welshman returns that it is pretty, but otherwise dull, in reference to Myst supposedly being a minimally interactive slideshow.
  • Myst Island makes two return appearances in later games - in the Uru expansion pack "The Path of the Shell", and in Myst V. K'veer (D'ni) also appears in those two games.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ubisoft (publisher) at a glance: "Myst® (entire series): more than 11 million units sold worldwide"
  2. ^ Myst Set for PSP ign.com (accessed March 29, 2006)
  3. ^ [1] RAWA answers questions regarding "game history" vs. "D'ni history" (accessed June 7, 2006)
  4. ^ Sega CD & Mega CD Reviews SegaBase (accessed March 29, 2006)
  5. ^ Gamespy credits Myst with making CD-ROMs ubiquitous on desktops (accessed June 12, 2006)

[edit] External links

[edit] Official websites

[edit] In the media — articles, reviews and interviews

[edit] The soundtrack music

[edit] Game Archive and Review sites

M Y S T

Games and Ages

• Myst (Ages, Soundtrack) • Riven (Ages, Soundtrack) • Myst III (Ages, Soundtrack) • Myst IV (Ages, Soundtrack) • Uru (Ages, Soundtrack) • Myst V (Ages, Soundtrack)

Characters

• Aitrus • Ti'ana • Veovis • Gehn • Atrus • Catherine • Achenar • Sirrus • Yeesha • Saavedro • Esher • The Stranger

Publications

• Book of Atrus • Book of Ti'ana • Book of D'ni • Book of Marrim • Passages • The Book of Black Ships

D'ni

• D'ni Ages • The Art • Items • Kings • Language • Numerals • DRC • Timeline • Wildlife

Organizations

• Cyan • Brøderbund • Red Orb • Presto • Ubisoft • Turner • GameTap
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../m/y/s/Myst.html"