''Myst'' is a
graphic adventure
An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...
/
puzzle video game
Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, sequence solving, spatial recognition, and word completion.
H ...
designed by the Miller brothers,
Robyn
Robin Miriam Carlsson (born 12 June 1979), known as Robyn (), is a Swedish pop singer, songwriter, record producer, and DJ. She arrived on the music scene with her 1995 debut album, ''Robyn Is Here'', which produced two Billboard Hot 100, ''Bil ...
and
Rand
The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed ...
. It was developed by
Cyan, Inc., published by
Broderbund
Broderbund Software, Inc. (stylized as Brøderbund) was an American maker of video games, educational software, and productivity tools. Broderbund is best known for the 8-bit video game hits ''Choplifter'', ''Lode Runner'', ''Karateka'', and '' ...
, and initially released for the
Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
in 1993. In the game, the player's character travels via a special book to the island of Myst. From there, solving puzzles allows the player to travel to four other worlds which reveal the backstory of the game's characters, one of which the player must eventually choose to aid.
The Miller brothers got their start in video game development by creating titles for children. They conceived of ''Myst'' as their first game for adults, receiving funding from Japanese publisher
Sunsoft
, stylized as SUNSOFT, is a Japanese video game developer and publisher.
Sunsoft is the video games division of Japanese electronics manufacturer Sun Corporation. Its U.S. subsidiary operated under the name Sun Corporation of America, though, a ...
. 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 mostly relied on static images. Robyn Miller composed 40 minutes of
synthesized music for the soundtrack.
''Myst'' was a surprise hit. Critics lauded the ability of the game to immerse players in its fictional world; it has since been considered one of the
best video games ever made. Selling more than six million copies, ''Myst'' became the
best-selling PC game until ''
The Sims
''The Sims'' is a series of life simulation video games developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide, and it is one of the best-selling video game series of all time.
The games ...
'' exceeded its sales in 2002. ''Myst'' helped drive adoption of the new
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...
format, spawned a
multimedia franchise
A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or ...
, and inspired clones, parodies, and new genres of video games. Multiple
remakes
A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the sam ...
and
ports
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
of the game to other platforms have been released, as well as spin-off novels and other media.
Gameplay
''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.
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.
Some items can be carried by the player and read, including journal pages which provide
backstory
A backstory, background story, back-story, or background is a set of events invented for a plot, presented as preceding and leading up to that plot. It is a literary device of a narrative history all chronologically earlier than the narrative of p ...
. Players can only carry a single page at a time, and pages return to their original locations when dropped.
To complete the game, the player must fully explore the island of Myst.
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. Each Age must be explored to solve the game's primary puzzle on Myst.
Apart from its predominantly nonverbal storytelling,
''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.
The game unfolds at its own pace and is solved through a combination of patience, observation, and logical thinking.
Plot
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 their 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.
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 Myst (series), ''Myst'' series of adventure computer games deals with the events following the player's discovery of a mysterious book describing an island known as Myst. The book is no ordinary volume; it is a linking book, which serves as ...
, the sons of
Atrus
The Myst (series), ''Myst'' series of adventure computer games deals with the events following the player's discovery of a mysterious book describing an island known as Myst. The book is no ordinary volume; it is a linking book, which serves as ...
, 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.
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.
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
Background
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.
Rand approached his brother with the idea of making an interactive storybook using
HyperCard
HyperCard is a software application and development kit for Apple Macintosh and Apple IIGS computers. It is among the first successful hypermedia systems predating the World Wide Web.
HyperCard combines a flat-file database with a graphical, fl ...
.
The brothers were not big video game players themselves, although they were familiar with ''
Dungeons & Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...
'', and had played ''
Zork
''Zork'' is a text-based adventure game first released in 1977 by developers Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original developers and others, as the company Infocom, expanded and ...
''.
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
''The Manhole'' is an adventure video game in which the player opens a manhole and reveals a gigantic beanstalk, leading to fantastic worlds.
Summary
The game was first released on floppy disks in 1988 by Cyan, Inc. (now ''Cyan Worlds'') and d ...
''.
[—Also mirrored o]
Youtube.
''The Manhole'' and the games that followed—''
Cosmic Osmo
''Cosmic Osmo and the Worlds Beyond the Mackerel'' is a graphic adventure computer game for the Macintosh computer line (Plus, SE, SE/30, II Series, Classic, LC) created by Cyan, Inc. It was published in 1989 and won the 1990 Mac User's Editors' ...
'' and ''
Spelunx
''Spelunx and the Caves of Mr. Seudo'' is an educational computer game intended for young children developed by Cyan (now Cyan Worlds) in 1991.
Gameplay and plot
Spelunx is a first-person point-and-click adventure game. It is structured as a c ...
''—were specifically aimed at children
and shared the same aesthetics: black-and-white graphics, point-and-click gameplay, a first-person point of view, and explorable worlds.
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."
Around 1990,
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
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
under the title ''The Gray Summons''; Robyn recalled that Activision told them to stick to children's games.
At the time of the rejection, they were not doing well financially—"we were eating rice and beans and
government cheese
Government cheese is processed cheese provided to welfare beneficiaries, Food Stamp recipients, and the elderly receiving Social Security in the United States, as well as to food banks and churches. This processed cheese was used in military ki ...
and that
asour diet."
Facing the end of their game-producing career, Japanese developer
Sunsoft
, stylized as SUNSOFT, is a Japanese video game developer and publisher.
Sunsoft is the video games division of Japanese electronics manufacturer Sun Corporation. Its U.S. subsidiary operated under the name Sun Corporation of America, though, a ...
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.
Development of ''Myst'' began in 1991.
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.
Cyan took inspiration from games like ''Zork'', ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' mythic universe, portals to other worlds like in
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...
' ''
The Chronicles of Narnia
''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven high fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' has been adapted for radio, telev ...
'', and the mysterious islands of old literature like the works of
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
.
The game's name, as well as the overall solitary and mysterious atmosphere of the island, was inspired by the book ''
The Mysterious Island
''The Mysterious Island'' (french: L'Île mystérieuse) is a novel by Jules Verne, published in 1875. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Jules Férat. The novel is a crossover sequel to Verne's fam ...
'' by Verne.
Sunsoft was not interested in the PC market and was focused on the video game console market instead. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
The Millers prepared a seven-page game proposal for Sunsoft from their ideas, mostly consisting of maps of the islands they had envisioned.
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 the game's final cost.
Sunsoft had asked the brothers if their game would be as good as the upcoming ''
The 7th Guest
''The 7th Guest'' is an interactive movie puzzle adventure game, produced by Trilobyte (company), Trilobyte and originally released by Virgin Interactive Entertainment in April 1993. It is one of the first computer video games to be released only ...
'', another
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...
video game that had been shown in public preview demonstrations; the Millers assured them it would.
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.
Production
![Macintosh Quadra 700](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Macintosh_Quadra_700.png)
''Myst'' was not only the largest collaboration Cyan had attempted at the time but also took the longest to develop.
According to Rand Miller, the brothers spent months solely designing the look and puzzles of the Ages,
which were influenced by earlier whimsical "worlds" made for children.
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.
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.
The game was created on
Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
computers, principally the
Macintosh Quadra 700
The Macintosh Quadra 700 was a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from October 1991 to March 1993. It was introduced alongside the Macintosh Quadra 900, Quadra 900 as the first computers in the Macintosh Quadra, ...
, using the
HyperCard
HyperCard is a software application and development kit for Apple Macintosh and Apple IIGS computers. It is among the first successful hypermedia systems predating the World Wide Web.
HyperCard combines a flat-file database with a graphical, fl ...
software.
One of the first major discoveries Cyan had was how effective
3D rendering
3D rendering is the 3D computer graphics process of converting 3D modeling, 3D models into 2D computer graphics, 2D images on a computer. 3D renders may include photorealistic rendering, photorealistic effects or non-photorealistic rendering, no ...
software was compared to hand-drawn figures that they had used on their previous titles, making it easy to create the worlds of ''Myst''. Additionally, 3D rendering allowed them to use color, something lacking from their previous titles. Robyn generally focused on rendering out the environment using
StrataVision 3D
StrataVision 3D is a comprehensive 3D computer graphics software package developed by Strata. Features include primitives-based modeling with texturising, keyframe animation, raytrace and later radiosity rendering under the name of ''Raydiosit ...
, with some additional modeling in
Macromedia
Macromedia, Inc., was an American graphics, multimedia, and web development software company (1992–2005) headquartered in San Francisco, California, that made products such as Flash and Dreamweaver. It was purchased by its rival Adobe Systems ...
MacroModel,
while Rand would place those images into HyperCard to link them up and test the puzzle aspects.
Overall, ''Myst'' contains 2,500 frames, one for each possible area the player can explore.
Final images for the game were then edited and enhanced using
Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the industry standard not only in raster ...
1.0.
In addition to the indoor settings, ''Myst'' featured exterior environments for each Age. At first, the developers had no idea how they would actually create the physical terrain for the Ages.
Eventually, they created grayscale
heightmap
In computer graphics, a heightmap or heightfield is a raster image used mainly as Discrete Global Grid in secondary elevation modeling. Each pixel stores values, such as surface elevation data, for display in 3D computer graphics. A heightm ...
s, 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.
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."
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
QuickTime is an extensible multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. Created in 1991, the latest Mac version, QuickTime X, is avai ...
halfway through development of the game solved the video issue.
The original HyperCard Macintosh version of ''Myst'' had each Age as a unique HyperCard stack. Navigation was handled by the internal button system and
HyperTalk
HyperTalk is a discontinued high-level, procedural programming language created in 1987 by Dan Winkler and used in conjunction with Apple Computer's HyperCard hypermedia program by Bill Atkinson. Because the main target audience of HyperTalk ...
scripts, with image and
QuickTime
QuickTime is an extensible multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. Created in 1991, the latest Mac version, QuickTime X, is avai ...
movie display passed off to various plugins; essentially, ''Myst'' functions as a series of separate multimedia slides linked together by commands.
The main technical constraint that impacted ''Myst'' was slow CD-ROM drive read speeds—few consumers had anything faster than single-speed drives, limiting the speed of streaming data off the disc.
Cyan had to go to great lengths to make sure all the game elements loaded as quickly as possible.
Images were stored as 8-bit
PICT
The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from ear ...
resources with custom color palettes and QuickTime still image compression.
Animated elements such as movies and object animations were encoded as QuickTime movies with
Cinepak
Cinepak is a lossy video codec developed by Peter Barrett at SuperMac Technologies, and released in 1991 with the Video Spigot, and then in 1992 as part of Apple Computer's QuickTime video suite. One of the first video compression tools to achiev ...
compression;
in total, there were more than 66 minutes of Quicktime animation.
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.
The Millers tried to allocate files on the physical location of the spiral track on the CD in a manner as to reduce the seek time for images and movies that were closely related as to reduce any apparent in-game delay as the player transitions from scene to scene.
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 a wide audience would enjoy.
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.
Among the problems testers discovered with the story was that ''Myst'' initially had no
inciting incident
In a literary work, film, or other narrative, the plot is the sequence of events in which each event affects the next one through the principle of cause-and-effect. The causal events of a plot can be thought of as a series of events linked by th ...
. In response, Cyan added a note from Atrus to Catherine that clued players in to the existence of a chamber by the dock that played a message from Atrus and explained the game's objectives.
Audio
Chris Brandkamp produced most of the
ambient
Ambient or Ambiance or Ambience may refer to:
Music and sound
* Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgrounds
* Ambient music, a genre of music that puts an emphasis on tone and atmosphere
* ''Ambient'' (album), by Moby
* ...
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.
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.
The chimes of a large clock tower were simulated using a wrench, then transposed to a lower pitch. For the bubbles, which he recalled as "the most hateful sound", was created from the bubbles in the toilet using various tubes blown.
At first, ''Myst'' had no music, because the Millers did not want music to interfere with the gameplay.
After a few tests, they realized that the background music did not adversely affect the game, alluding to ''
Super Mario Bros.
is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The successor to the 1983 arcade game ''Mario Bros.'' and the first game in the ''Super Mario'' series, it was first released in 1985 for th ...
'' In fact, "seemed to really help the mood of certain places that you were at in the game."
Robyn Miller ended up composing 40 minutes of
synthesized music that was used in the game and later published as ''Myst: The Soundtrack''.
Mixing and effects were done on an
E-mu
E-mu Systems was a software synthesizer, audio interface, MIDI interface, and MIDI keyboard manufacturer. Founded in 1971 as a synthesizer maker, E-mu was a pioneer in samplers, sample-based drum machines and low-cost digital sampling music ...
Proteus MPS synthesizer. The soundtrack was recorded over the course of two weeks' evenings.
[—Also mirrored o]
Youtube.
Initially, Cyan released the soundtrack via a mail-order service, but before the release of ''Myst''s sequel, ''
Riven
''Riven'' is a Adventure game#Puzzle adventure, puzzle adventure video game. It is the sequel to ''Myst'' and second in the Myst (series), ''Myst'' series of games. Developed by Cyan Worlds, it was initially published by Red Orb Entertainment, a ...
'',
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...
acquired the rights to release the soundtrack,
and the CD was re-released on April 21, 1998.
Sales
''Myst'' was an immense commercial success. Along with ''The 7th Guest'', it was widely regarded as a
killer application
In marketing terminology, a killer application (commonly shortened to killer app) is any computer program or software that is so necessary or desirable that it proves the core value of some larger technology, such as computer hardware, a video game ...
that accelerated the sales of CD-ROM drives.
Rand Miller recalled thinking before the game's release that selling 100,000 copies would be "mind-blowing".
Broderbund sold 200,000 copies of the Macintosh version in six months after its September 1993 debut; such sales would have been enough to make it a best-selling
PC game
A personal computer game, also known as a PC game or computer game, is a type of video game played on a personal computer (PC) rather than a video game console or arcade machine. Its defining characteristics include: more diverse and user-deter ...
, and were extraordinary in the much smaller Macintosh market. Although requiring a CD drive further reduced the potential market, the difficulty of
software piracy
Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, su ...
for CD-ROM software before
CD burner
In computing, an optical disc drive is a disc drive that uses laser light or electromagnetic waves within or near the visible light spectrum as part of the process of reading or writing data to or from optical discs. Some drives can only ...
s became popular also helped sales.
The game sold 500,000 copies in its first year.
Broderbund began
port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
ing ''Myst'' to Windows immediately after the Macintosh version's debut. This required the development of a new game engine, Mohawk, because HyperCard was not available in Windows. In March 1994, ''Myst'' was released for Windows, a much larger market. The game sold more than 500,000 copies in 1994, and more than one million copies of the game were sold by spring 1995; even a
strategy guide
Strategy guides are instruction books that contain hints or complete solutions to specific video games. The line between strategy guides and walkthroughs is somewhat blurred, with the former often containing or being written around the latter. Str ...
written in three weeks sold 300,000 copies. Unusually for a video game, sales continued to increase: 850,000 copies in the United States in 1996, and 870,000 in 1997. U.S. sales decreased to 540,000 copies in 1998, but the growing popularity in Europe of
multimedia PC
The Multimedia PC (MPC) was a recommended configuration for a personal computer (PC) with a CD-ROM drive. The standard was set and named by the "Multimedia PC Marketing Council", which was a working group of the Software Publishers Association (SP ...
s increased sales there. Unlike other early CD-ROM games, ''Myst'' did not depend on
full motion video
Full-motion video (FMV) is a video game narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files (rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models) to display action in the game. While many games feature FMVs as a way to present information duri ...
which was of poor quality at the time, so its graphics remained appealing long after release. By April 1998, ''Myst'' had sold 3.82 million units and earned $141.7 million in revenue in the United States. This led PC Data to declare it the country's best-selling computer game for the period between January 1993 and April 1998.
''Myst'' sold more than 6.3 million units worldwide by 2000, including more than 4.3 million in the United States;
the figures exclude
bundled software
In marketing, product bundling is offering several products or services for sale as one combined product or service package. It is a common feature in many imperfectly competitive product and service markets. Industries engaged in the practice ...
sales with multimedia upgrade kits.
''Myst'' was the
bestselling PC game throughout the 1990s until ''
The Sims
''The Sims'' is a series of life simulation video games developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide, and it is one of the best-selling video game series of all time.
The games ...
'' exceeded its sales in 2002,
and was the top-selling game in the US for a total of 52 months between March 1994 and April 1999.
Reception
''Myst'' was generally praised by critics. ''
Computer Gaming World
''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...
'' 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
acintoshCD-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".
In April 1994, the magazine called it an "artistic masterwork".
Jeff Koke
Jeff Koke is a writer, graphic designer and business owner currently living in Austin, Texas. He is best known for his writing work for Steve Jackson Games in the 1990s, including '' GURPS Vampire: The Masquerade'', an adaptation of the well-known ...
reviewed ''Myst'' in ''
Pyramid
A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...
'' #8 (July/August 1994), and stated that "It is the first adventure game in which I left feeling as though I had visited a real place."
''
Wired'' and ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' were among the publications that pointed to ''Myst'' as evidence that video games could, in fact, evolve into an art form. ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' reported that some players considered ''Myst''s "virtual morality" a religious experience.
Aarhus University
Aarhus University ( da, Aarhus Universitet, abbreviated AU) is a public research university with its main campus located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Gr ...
professor Søren Pold pointed to ''Myst'' as an excellent example of how stories can be told using objects rather than people. Laura Evenson, writing for the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'', pointed to adult-oriented games like ''Myst'' as evidence the video game industry was emerging from its "adolescent" phase.
GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
's Jeff Sengstack wrote that "''Myst'' is an immersive experience that draws you in and won't let you go."
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)".
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;
for instance, ''
Macworld
''Macworld'' is a website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG Inc. It started life as a print magazine in 1984 and had the largest audited circulation (both total and newsstand) of Macint ...
'' praised ''Myst''s designers for overcoming the occasionally debilitating slowness of CD drives to deliver a consistent experience throughout the game. 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
oudon'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".
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
''1Up.com'' was an American entertainment website that focused on video games. Launched in 2003, ''1Up.com'' provided its own original features, news stories, game reviews, and video interviews, and also featured comprehensive PC-focused conten ...
noted that while its lack of interaction and continual plot suited the game, ''Myst''s helped end the adventure game genre.
''
Edge'' stated the main flaw with the game was that the game engine was nowhere near as sophisticated as the graphics.
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.
(The game is so difficult that Broderbund included a blank pad of paper for taking notes. The Miller brothers estimate that half or less of players left the starting island.) Similarly, critics were split on whether the lack of a plot the player could actually change was a good or bad element.
In 1996 ''
Next Generation
Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to:
Publications and literature
* ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company
* Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...
'' called ''Myst'' "gaming's bleakest hour", saying the static graphics and purely trial-and-error puzzles epitomized poor game design. The magazine said its 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. In a 2000 retrospective review,
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
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."
''Myst'' was named Best Adventure/Fantasy Role-Playing Game at the 1994
Codie award
The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) is a trade association dedicated to the entertainment, consumer and business software industries. Established in 1984 as the Software Publishers Association (SPA), the SIIA took its new na ...
s,
and received an honorable mention in ''
Electronic Entertainment
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedback ...
''s 1993 "Breakthrough Game" category, which ultimately went to ''
The 7th Guest
''The 7th Guest'' is an interactive movie puzzle adventure game, produced by Trilobyte (company), Trilobyte and originally released by Virgin Interactive Entertainment in April 1993. It is one of the first computer video games to be released only ...
''. 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."
''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
''Day of the Tentacle'', also known as ''Maniac Mansion II: Day of the Tentacle'', is a 1993 graphic adventure game developed and published by LucasArts. It is the sequel to the 1987 game ''Maniac Mansion''. The plot follows Bernard Bernoulli a ...
'' (tie).
In 1996, the magazine ranked ''Myst'' 11th on its list of the most innovative computer games.
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,
Saturn,[ and PlayStation][ are virtually identical to the PC original. For example, Sushi-X of '']Electronic Gaming Monthly
''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews.
History
The m ...
'' 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."[ In one of the more enthusiastic reviews for ''Myst'', '']GamePro
Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...
'' 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."[ 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.
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.][
]
Legacy
''Myst''s achievements led to a number of games which sought to copy its success, referred to as "''Myst'' clones". Its 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. As early as December 1994, ''Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
'' compared ''Myst'' to "an art film
An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...
, destined to gather critical acclaim and then dust on the shelves".
Some developers of adventure games concurrent to ''Myst''s release were critical of its success, due to the number of subsequent video games that copied ''Myst''s style compared to traditional adventure games. These games diluted the market with poorly-received clones and were perceived as contributing to the decline of the genre. Others criticized ''Myst'' as the "ultimate anti-arcade game", as it was much more relaxed and casual than anything that was released since 1972, as "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." However, ''Myst'', along with other published works using the CD-ROM format, had created a new way of thinking about presentation in video games due to the nature of the CD-ROM: whereas most games before could be viewed as "games of emergence", in which game elements combined in novel and surprising ways to the player, ''Myst'' demonstrated one of the first "games of progression" where the player is guided through predefined sets of encounters. This helped to provide alternative experiences atypical of usual video games, and subsequently helped to validate the arthouse approach used in many indie video game
An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. ...
s developed in the 2000s.
''Myst''s success led to several sequels. ''Riven
''Riven'' is a Adventure game#Puzzle adventure, puzzle adventure video game. It is the sequel to ''Myst'' and second in the Myst (series), ''Myst'' series of games. Developed by Cyan Worlds, it was initially published by Red Orb Entertainment, a ...
'' was released in 1997 and continues ''Myst''s storyline, with Atrus asking the player to help him rescue his wife Catherine. Presto Studios and Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...
developed and published '' Myst III: Exile'' in 2001, '' Myst IV: Revelation'' was developed and published entirely by Ubisoft and released in 2004. The latest game in the franchise is '' Myst V: End of Ages'', developed by Cyan Worlds and released in 2005. In addition to the main games, Cyan developed '' Uru: Ages Beyond Myst''. The multiplayer component of ''Uru'' was initially canceled, but GameTap eventually revived it as '' Myst Online: Uru Live''. After ''Uru Live'' was cancelled, the game was released as an open source title. The Miller brothers collaborated with David Wingrove to produce 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
''The Myst Reader'' is a collection of three novels based on the ''Myst'' series of adventure games. The collection was published in September 2004 and combines three works previously published separately: ''The Book of Atrus'' (1995), ''The Bo ...
''. By 2003, the ''Myst'' franchise had sold over twelve million copies worldwide, with ''Myst'' representing more than six million copies in the figure.
''Myst'' became a cultural touchstone of the day; the game was so popular the Miller brothers appeared in advertisements for The Gap The Gap may refer to:
Places Australia
* The Gap, New South Wales, a locality near Wagga Wagga, New South Wales
* The Gap, Northern Territory, a suburb of Alice Springs, Northern Territory
* The Gap, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
...
. Actor 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. ''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, and researchers have used the game for studies examining the effect of video games on aggression. A parody computer game, ''Pyst
''Pyst'' (stylised as ''PYST'') is an adventure computer game released in October 1996. It was created as a parody of the highly successful adventure game ''Myst''. ''Pyst'' was written by Peter Bergman, a co-founder of the Firesign Theatre, a ...
'', was released in 1996; the game is a satirical free roam of Myst island which had been apparently vandalized by frustrated visitors. Starring John Goodman
John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He gained national fame for his role as the family patriarch Dan Conner in the ABC comedy series '' Roseanne'' (1988–1997; 2018), for which he received a Golden Globe Award, an ...
, the parody cost far more to develop than the original. ''Myst'' was added to the collection of video games of the Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
in 2013, where it is displayed as a video presentation.
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
An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...
that allow players to explore and discover the game's narrative at their own pace. Cyan's sequels to ''Myst'' also indirectly served to popularize escape the room
Escape the room, also known as room escape or escape game, is a subgenre of point-and-click adventure game which requires a player to escape from imprisonment by exploiting their surroundings. The room usually consists of a locked door, objects ...
games, which provide similar puzzle-solving experiences but in a much more confined space.
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
approached Cyan Worlds about constructing a theme park
An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...
inspired by ''Myst'', which included scouting an island area within Disney's Florida properties that Rand Miller felt was perfect for the ''Myst'' setting. The television streaming service Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
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 was to have been produced by Matt Tolmach and written by Evan Daugherty
Evan Daugherty (born 1981) is an American screenwriter. He wrote the films '' Killing Season'', ''Snow White and the Huntsman'' and the film adaptation of '' Divergent''.
Career
Daugherty’s first screenplay was ''Shrapnel''. It won first plac ...
. 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.
In June 2019, Village Roadshow Pictures
Village Roadshow Pictures is the American subsidiary of the Australian co-producer and co-financier of major Hollywood motion pictures established in 1986. It is a division under Village Roadshow Entertainment Group (VREG), which in turn is o ...
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. Ashley Edward Miller
Ashley Edward Miller (born March 16, 1971) is an American screenwriter and producer best known for his work on the television series '' Andromeda'', '' Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles'', and ''Fringe''. He also worked on the films ''Thor ...
was announced as the showrunner and writer for the show's pilot.
Re-releases and ports
''Myst''s success led to the game being ported to multiple platforms, including the Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...
, PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
, PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...
, PlayStation Portable
The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...
, Android
Android may refer to:
Science and technology
* Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human
* Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system
** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...
, iPhone, Nintendo DS
The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...
, Nintendo 3DS
The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...
, Jaguar CD
The Atari Jaguar CD is a CD-ROM peripheral for the Jaguar video game console.
Atari announced a CD-ROM drive for the Jaguar before the console's November 1993 launch. Codenamed Jaguar II during development, the Jaguar CD was released on Septem ...
, AmigaOS, CD-i
The Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-I, later CD-i) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage device, data storage format that was mostly developed and marketed by Dutch company Philips. It was created as an extension of Compact Disc Di ...
, and 3DO consoles. There was also a version developed and even previewed for the Sega CD, but it was never released by Sunsoft.
PC remakes
''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.
''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. 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. ''realMyst'' was developed by Cyan, Inc. and Sunsoft
, stylized as SUNSOFT, is a Japanese video game developer and publisher.
Sunsoft is the video games division of Japanese electronics manufacturer Sun Corporation. Its U.S. subsidiary operated under the name Sun Corporation of America, though, a ...
, and published by Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...
. While the new interactivity of the game was praised, ''realMyst'' ran poorly on most computers of the time. 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."
Carla Harker reviewed the PC version of the game for ''Next Generation
Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to:
Publications and literature
* ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company
* Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...
'', rating it one star out of five, and stated that "With only graphics to stand on, ''realMYST'' is beautiful, but there's no real substance here."
''realMyst: Masterpiece Edition'', a visually enhanced revision running on the Unity engine
Unity is a cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies, first announced and released in June 2005 at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference as a Mac OS X game engine. The engine has since been gradually extended to support a varie ...
that also includes the graphics of the original ''Myst'' game, was released on Windows and macOS on February 7, 2014. 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.
Console and handhelds
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.
In November 2005, Midway Games
Midway Games Inc., known previously as Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known as simply Midway, was an American video game developer and publisher. Midway's franchises included ''Mortal Kombat'', ''Rampage (series), Rampage'' ...
announced that they would be developing a remake of ''Myst'' for the PlayStation Portable
The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...
. The remake would include additional content that was not featured in the original ''Myst'', including the Rime age that was earlier seen in ''realMyst''. The game was released in Japan and Europe in 2006, and the US version was released in 2008.
A version of ''Myst'' for the Nintendo DS
The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...
was also released in December 2007. The version features re-mastered video and audio, using source code
In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...
specifically re-written for the Nintendo DS. The remake features Rime as a playable Age, with an all-new graphics set. 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. 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
The Nintendo eShop is a digital distribution service powered by the Nintendo Network for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, and by a dedicated online infrastructure for the Nintendo Switch. Launched in June 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS, the eShop was en ...
in North America on November 15, 2012, and in Europe on September 5, 2013.
In February 2005, Cyan and Mean Hamster Software
Mean Hamster Software, Inc. was a video game developer founded by John Swiderski in 1985. Mean Hamster Software created several games for the Atari 5200 from 1999-2004. They then created ''Myst'' for Windows Mobile in 2005, and after the release ...
released ''Myst'' for the Microsoft Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants.
Its origin dated back to Windows CE in 1996, though Windows Mobile itself first appeared in 2000 as Pock ...
platform; ''Riven
''Riven'' is a Adventure game#Puzzle adventure, puzzle adventure video game. It is the sequel to ''Myst'' and second in the Myst (series), ''Myst'' series of games. Developed by Cyan Worlds, it was initially published by Red Orb Entertainment, a ...
'' was ported shortly after. In August 2008, Cyan announced that the company was developing a version of ''Myst'' for Apple's iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
. The game was made available to download from the iTunes App Store on May 2, 2009. The original download size was 727 MB, which was considered very large by iPhone standards. An updated version of ''realMyst'' was released for iPad 2 and above, with improved graphics over the original PC release, on June 14, 2012. A version for Android
Android may refer to:
Science and technology
* Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human
* Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system
** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...
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.
''realMyst: Masterpiece Edition'' was released for the Nintendo Switch
The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...
on May 21, 2020.
3D remake for virtual reality and other platforms
Cyan announced a new remake of ''Myst'' for high-definition screens and virtual reality
Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...
, with the game's worlds fully created in free-roam 3D environments, using Unreal Engine 4, along with features like puzzle randomization, in September 2020. ''Myst'' for the Oculus Quest and Oculus Quest 2 was released on December 10, 2020.
The VR version but adapted for "flatscreen" monitors was released on August 26, 2021, for Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
, macOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
, Xbox Series X/S
The Xbox Series X/S are home video game consoles developed by Microsoft. They were both released on November 10, 2020, as the fourth generation Xbox, succeeding the Xbox One. Along with Sony's PlayStation 5, also released in November 2020, t ...
and Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
.
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Myst
1993 video games
3DO Interactive Multiplayer games
Acclaim Entertainment games
Amiga games
Amiga 1200 games
Android (operating system) games
Atari Jaguar CD games
Broderbund games
Cancelled Sega CD games
CD-i games
Cyan Worlds games
First-person adventure games
IOS games
Classic Mac OS games
Microcabin games
Myst
Nintendo 3DS games
Nintendo 3DS eShop games
Nintendo DS games
Nintendo Switch games
PlayStation (console) games
PlayStation Network games
PlayStation Portable games
Psygnosis games
Puzzle video games
ScummVM-supported games
Sega Saturn games
Single-player video games
Sunsoft games
Unreal Engine games
Video games adapted into comics
Video games scored by Robyn Miller
Video games set on uninhabited islands
Video games with alternate endings
Video games set on fictional islands
Windows games
Empire Interactive games
Video games developed in the United States
Red Orb Entertainment games