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Myst creators ink deal to turn adventure game into TV series
Legendary Entertainment and Myst developer Cyan have reached an agreement that will see the seminal adventure game leap from the PC (and a dozen other gaming platforms) to your television. Variety claims Rand and Robyn Miller - the duo most commonly cited as the creators of Myst - will be directly involved with the creative direction of the TV series. Their goal is to not only create a "compelling TV drama" but to also expand Myst into a "true transmedia franchise" that might include tablet support and a tie-in video game. Yes, that would be a video game based on a TV show based on a video game. Lacking from Variety's report is word on whether the series will debut on a traditional TV network, via digital distribution or on a streaming service. Likewise, it's unknown what part of the Myst universe the series will be based on. With numerous sequels and spin-offs (including a defunct but rabidly beloved massively multiplayer online game) there's a wealth of material within the Myst mythos to include in the series, and that's assuming the show doesn't create a wholly unique plotline within the Millers' complex universe. [Image: Cyan]
The Game Archaeologist: Myst Online: Uru Live
The impact of Myst in 1993 was akin to an atomic bomb going off in the PC gaming world. The leap forward in graphical fidelity (aided by the large storage capacity of a CD-ROM and all of the full-motion video and gorgeous images tucked into it) captured gamers' imaginations and made this adventure title the best-selling PC game of all time, at least for several years. Brothers Robyn and Rand Miller's story about a stranger who had to solve puzzles through a good-looking (if deserted) landscape was devilishly difficult, yet that challenge kept players coming back for months and even years. The Myst franchise surged forward at that point, with several sequels, remakes, and ports selling like hotcakes through the final game's release in 2005. Yet something interesting happened along the way when an offshoot of the series -- Uru: Ages Beyond Myst -- evolved into an MMO. With a focus on multiplayer exploration and puzzle-solving instead of non-stop combat, it may be one of the very few MMOs out there that eschews fighting for brainpower. It's an oddity, no doubt, and despite it being an incredibly niche title, it has fascinated me enough to pull me into a research rabbit hole. So let's take a look at Myst Online: Uru Live!
Myst Online goes open source (again)
If a dictionary entry for the phrase "long, strange road" existed, it likely would feature an image from Myst Online. The fantasy MMORPG began its checkered life as the multiplayer component of 2003's Uru: Ages Beyond Mist before being scrapped and subsequently revived by GameTap in 2007. Cyan Worlds then acquired the title and released it as a free-to-play MMO, a strange move considering that the company also open-sourced Myst Online assets in 2008 but continued to support a commercial-grade centralized shard. This morning, Rock, Paper Shotgun tipped us to the fact that Cyan is once again fanning the flames of open source by announcing that the game's MOULA client engine and associated development tools (as well as a MOULA server replacement called MOSS) will be made available and hosted on OpenUru.org. "The goal of the open source CyanWorlds.com Engine and the MOSS server is to provide a playground where new writers can learn their craft, and new maintainers can inspect it, and new cartographers can map it. The Cyan Worlds MOULA servers will continue to provide a (relatively) safe environment for the D'ni faithful to mingle and share," explains Cyan's Rand Miller.
Myst + iPhone = iMyst, cue iGag over iNaming iScheme
Oh Myst, whatever happened to you? We loved you when you were original, and we loved you even more when Riven came out. Then we were rudely slapped in the face when the game left Cyan and Ubisoft released Myst III: Exile and later Myst IV: Ages of Revelation. We tried to be chipper when you went back to Cyan and Myst V: End of Ages came out, but honestly too much water had passed under the bridge. Maybe because of the Uru: Ages Beyond Myst / Myst Online: Uru Live debacle.But... what's this? You're coming to the iPhone? And you're being developed by Cyan? Well, glory be. However, you promised as a PSP version, and we're still waiting on that. It came out in Europe in 2006, so what gives? We know your DS version came out recently, but it is not being universally loved. We know you might be too busy and Hollywood now, with your movie deal and iPhone announcement. But, we're still smarting from our past experiences. We'll give you another chance, but you'll need to hurry along while we're still smitten with the iPhone. And please, don't call it iMyst. Myst will do just fine. You wouldn't want us to get Pyst all over again.[Update: We just heard from one of the gents working on the game (Yeah, that's the kind of pull we have) and they tell us "I'm pretty darn sure we're only calling it iMyst internally as a goofy moniker. I really doubt you've got anything to worry about with regards to rebranding of the game. Who knows, maybe if it does well, other Cyan games will follow." Good news all around!]
The father of Myst weighs in on the closure of URU
Rand Miller is probably one of the most influential game designers you've probably never heard of. He, along with his brother, co-founded the company Cyan Worlds. Cyan is the developer of the title Myst and subsequent titles in that series. With 12 million copies sold to date, the simple (but beautiful) point-and-click adventure game has impacted the public perception of videogames to an unprecedented degree. As you might imagine, Mr. Miller had a few things to say about the closure of the online version of Myst, URU Live.The game ended its run earlier this week, with a touching farewell given by the Restoration Engineers. Julian Murdoch, of the Gamers with Jobs website, had a chance to chat with Mr. Miller to get his reaction on URU's closure. What resulted is a twenty minute conversation that touched on GameTap's decision to close the service, Miller's hopes for the MMO genre, and what the talented designer plans to do next with his life. If you're still looking for some closure about the closure, this is some of the best you're likely to get.
Uru Live to let players create ages with developer tools [update 1]
As mentioned in our interview with Rand Miller, co-creator of the Myst empire, Myst Online: Uru Live will eventually let users build their own ages. Miller has always had this poetic goal of letting players "write" Myst environments of their own; Cyan Worlds plans to provide its own development tools to gamers to make this happen.While Miller states that this is "forward looking" and may change, he thinks ambitious gamers are up for the challenge. He says, "We're always amazed at what our fans are able to accomplish, frankly, and by making those tools available, I think we'll be even more surprised. ... Essentially what we're creating in the mythology of all this is a writer's guild."Miller anticipates that the development tools will be available in about six months, the time he thinks is needed for them to stop being updated.Developers rarely give their own game- or level-creating tools to fans. This move is especially uncommon in an MMO with a plot, versus online sandbox games like Second Life. We're interested to see how Cyan Worlds lets players move between its content and community-created ages.Myst Online: Uru Live will launch this "holiday season" as part of GameTap's standard $10 monthly fee.[Update 1: fixed ship date error.]
Joystiq interviews Rand Miller of Cyan Worlds [update 1]
Myst Online: Uru Live will let thousands of players convene in Myst ages to solve puzzles. Touting the persistence of the world as a major feature -- light switches and doors stay how you leave them -- Cyan Worlds thinks the collaborative nature of Myst will make a unique Massively Multiplayer Online game. Two years ago, Uru Live was canceled just before its initial launch under Ubisoft. Now, after developing it for a total of six years, Cyan Worlds is working with its new publisher, GameTap, to prepare the game for a "holiday" release. Uru Live will be offered as part of the monthly $10 GameTap subscription for the U.S. audience, but GameTap will release Uru Live as a stand-alone subscription in other parts of the world. (GameTap is not yet offered outside of the U.S.) We recently spoke with Myst co-creator Rand Miller, while Producer, Mark "Moke" Dobratz demonstrated the game. They talked about how Uru Live supports the collaborative sensibility of Myst players, how the game will let you have individual experiences within its MMO structure, and plans to let users build their own ages.[Update 1: Fixed ship-date error.]
