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Mysterium registration open for URU Live fans
Shorah, followers of Myst Online: URU Live! We know you're waiting patiently to return to the cavern, and to add your own special contributions as part of the open-source Myst Online: URU Live project as promised back in December. However, if you're looking for something to keep your dreams alive in the meantime, there's some good news for you from the Guild of Messengers. News has come down that registration is now open for this year's Mysterium! This year's event celebrating all things Myst will be held in Spokane, WA from July 30th to August 2nd. Tickets are all very reasonably priced, with some special pricing options available for day-passes, families, and groups. Admittedly, there's not a lot up on the site as of yet, but we're sure there will be all manner of Myst and Cyan Worlds goodness dreamed up by the community in no time. So if you love all things Myst and Myst Online, consider popping in to Mysterium this year for a good time with your fellow faithful Myst friends, both old and new.
The Daily Grind: Open source MMOs
In an amazing bit of news yesterday, Cyan Worlds decided to fully open-source Myst Online: URU Live. When we say fully, we mean it - art, client code, server code, development engine, everything. It was a bold move for Cyan to take; essentially trusting in the fans and other MMO addicts to take their code and continue growing Myst Online: URU Live.This morning we thought we'd ask - now that this first step has been taken, what other games would you like to see go open source? Which ones would you like to work on, purely as a fan contribution? What would you build into those worlds if you were given the chance?
Myst Online goes fully open-source
As many know, Myst Online: URU Live has had an incredibly rocky road throughout its history. First sunsetted by Ubisoft, then by GameTap, URU's fans agreed to trying MORE (Myst Online Restoration Experiment) after Cyan Worlds got their IP back. Most recently in October, Cyan posted word that due to financial difficulties, URU and the entire MORE project would be placed on indefinite hold. Since then, nothing - until now. In a startling move, Cyan Worlds has decided to release all of URU Live's assets to the public as open source. This includes the client and server architecture. Amazingly, they aren't simply releasing it into the wild and leaving it alone; Cyan has decided to hold one Myst Online server shard open for players to have a centralized world, despite the fact that others can now freely put up their own Myst Online servers. It's a bold and daring move to open source a project of this scale. We applaud Cyan Worlds' dedication to their fans and love of their game to take a brave step like this, and wish all the URU users the best as they develop their worlds as they see fit. It's going to be really interesting to see how this develops.
Cyan porting Myst to iPhone
An employee of Cyan Worlds (proprietors of the legendary Myst series of games) has announced that they will be porting the original Myst to the iPhone. Apparently it's an "outside-funded" project -- though who might be funding it isn't yet clear -- and is apparently proving to be an "interesting and fun" project with a small team of just three people. No word yet on how it might work (or work differently) from the original, but the classic puzzle/exploration of Myst is good gaming no matter what platform you're playing it on.Starting with the NES emulator, the iPhone was following the evolution of gaming pretty well -- at least until the App Store started mixing things up a bit. After Myst, I think we're right around Wolfenstein and Doom at this point -- those were available jailbroken, but it's about time we get an FPS officially as well. Carmack, you interested?[via TouchArcade, which is strangely down as of this writing]
The Daily Grind: Would you help run your favorite MMOG?
What would you do if your favorite MMOG were suddenly sunsetted? That's a dilemma that's faced several different communities recently, with the closure of Mythos, Hellgate: London (only just saved from the fire, apparently) and Myst Online: URU Live. However, in the case of the last one, the project is being opened up so that users are able to create content moving forward, and that is what is expected to propel the project for the next while. So this morning we ask you -- if your favorite game were suddenly shut down, but re-opened so that you could create content on an unpaid basis to help it survive (and maybe even flourish) would you do it? Or would you just move on to the next game?
The reasons why you need to play Myst Online: Uru Live
Shorah, readers! Kehnehn rahm b'yihm shehm!Myst Online: Uru Live seems to be one game that not only continually gets the proverbial shaft, but also knows how to come back from the dead better than the Scourge of the Eastern Plaguelands. Ubisoft canned it, Cyan Worlds brought it back via a shard system in "Until Uru", GameTap brought it back officially, GameTap canned it after one season, and now Cyan Worlds is once again attempting to put life back into their only online Myst game thanks to the extremely active and vocal community.Mike Fahey over at Kotaku might think Uru should die already, but this blogger is currently squealing in glee in his computer chair. In an attempt to pass the glee on to you, loyal readers of Massively.com, I've compiled not only what Myst Online: Uru Live is all about, but why you should turn your attention to this massive online adventure game.
Cyan acquires Myst Online, opens game development to fans
We all felt for the Myst community a few months back when Myst Online: URU Live was shutdown. Yet there looks to be some light at the end of the dark tunnel for fans of the unique MMO experience, as Cyan Worlds has acquired the game back from GameTap and plans to re-open its worlds for fans to not only play in, but help develop as well. With a staff that equals less than ten people total, we can understand why the developers are opting for letting the fans help develop new content. Plus, it's a really interesting prospect to have people like the Restoration Engineers creating new content in their own beloved title.We've seen a few games take on user-created content, with Pirates of the Burning Sea coming to mind. However, the type of content one would expect for Myst Online is entirely unique to any other MMO. This is literally a chance for players to see their own stories and puzzles featured in one of their most beloved franchises. Cyan has said that they're considering a $25 per six month fee purely to maintain in-house servers for the players to run on, which is a very small price to pay for the resurrection of an MMO like this.[via Kotaku]
Post mortems for Uru Live and Auto Assault relive the pain
An interesting piece at 1Up talks about the effects of closing down an under-performing MMO, both on the players and the developers. Getting the "don't look back in anger" treatment are Cyan Worlds's Uru Live and NCsoft's Auto Assault. Containing snippets of quotes from the creators of both games, there are lessons here for upcoming MMO devs that should be heeded.Interestingly, there is mention of an indie MMO being developed by some of the Auto Assault team called Apokalypsos, apparently featuring a post-apocalyptic setting. Combining FPS gameplay with vehicular combat, this sounds like Mad Max for the massively multiplayer crowd. We'll keep an eye open for further developments.
The Restoration Engineers say goodbye to Uru Live
It's official: Myst Online: Uru Live is dead. It was a complex, beautiful world and those who had the opportunity to experience it have come away all the richer. This blogger didn't, but has always been a fan of the Cyan Worlds aesthetic, and regrets not jumping into it when the opportunity arose.As a final farewell to its explorers, the Restoration Engineers (Uru Live's version of Greeters) have recorded their thoughts on what it was like to work for the community every day, and how much fun the whole thing was. When it came time to say goodbye, one of them was obviously too moved to say more than 'thank you', and that was enough. Here's hoping that the creative minds behind it all find something new to put their hands to -- in a world filled with knockoffs and retreads, the universe of Myst was a true original.
Follow the progress of the Myst movie
If more game-to-film projects got their start like this, we might end up seeing a few of them. Two filmmakers and Myst nuts, Patrick A. McIntire and Adrian Vanderbosch, set out to make a film based on the game series. Without so much as the rights they began work, eventually winning the endorsement of Cyan Worlds, the company behind the Myst games.Now, they're trying to get some interest for the project with their production blog and website, which you can poke through to find a few different details and hints about the kind of film they'd like to make. The whole shebang is in the early stages, but just looking at the site and the blog, we're encouraged. Even if it doesn't get off the ground, it seems their hearts are in the right place.
GameTap gets interviewed on Myst Online's untimely demise
Recently, Ten Ton Hammer sat down with GameTap's Creative Director and VP of Content to discuss the death of Myst Online: Uru Live. The interview itself covers a lot of ground on the why and how of the game. Subjects like the reason GameTap originally picked up the title are covered, as well as how satisfied the publisher was with Cyan Worlds' first season of content. It's a fairly short interview, but there is some knowledge to be gleaned from it for anybody interested.It's not surprising to us that their biggest disappointment was a lack of subscriber interest. We have to wonder just how many people actually ended up playing the game, considering its alternative nature. Niche titles are loved by many of us here at Massively, so one thing we've been noticing is that some developers are still trying to figure out the exact cost-to-profit ratio when creating them. Hopefully GameTap learned something from this venture and doesn't shy away from other alternative MMOs in the future.
Myst Online: Uru Live Tap-ped out again
Ricardo Sanchez, VP of Content and Creative Director for GameTap, has officially announced that they'll no longer be carrying Myst Online: Uru Live and its final day of operation will be 60 days from today, either April the 5th, or April the 7th, depending on whether they'll end it over the weekend or not.This will doubtless hit many fans in the heart, and it's not stated exactly why GameTap's discontinuing service, but if I had to guess, I'd say they looked at the subscriber numbers vs the maintenance costs and made their fateful decision. Historically, this marks the second time this title's been canceled -- the first time, of course, being in 2004 when Ubioft gave it the axe. Our condolences to all fans of the wondrous Myst universe, and we'll wait to hear if Cyan Worlds has any final thoughts.[Thanks, Veotax!]
Myst DS landing in US this March
Fans of point-and-click classic Myst will have a chance to relive the experience this March, when publisher Empire Interactive brings a DS adaptation of the title to the US. Myst DS has been out in Europe since last Fall, but this will mark the title's debut in the States.A tad more than just a straight port, the DS version of Myst features remastered video, a bonus area previously available in the realMyst remake, and touch-screen features such as note-taking and shortcut icons. The game will also feature the ability to take snapshots of certain screens for later reference, hopefully cutting down on all the tedious backtracking and rote memorization made so popular by the groundbreaking PC game. It seems that developer Hoplite Research put a lot of thought into this adaptation, making it a tempting buy for anyone who actually enjoyed the original.
The Escapist wants you to consider Myst Online
Storytelling in massively multiplayer games usually occurs only in footnotes. You might read a lore item's description here, get a hint in the quest text there, but it's almost always an ancillary part of the experience. In the olden days of text MUDs, that wasn't necessarily the case. In some MUDs, players and wizards engaged in communal storytelling, as in the best pen-and-paper roleplaying sessions.If you look at today's mainstream online games, it seems as if that art has been lost. There are some smaller communities out there that still herald that kind of experience, though. The Escapist focused on one of those in an article titled "The Ending Has Not Yet Been Written." It's an excellent piece about how players and developers alike have fostered a unique, niche-storytelling experience in Cyan Worlds' Myst Online: Uru Live.Myst has always been an eccentric in the gaming world. It was a groundbreaking success for computer games, and it spawned countless clones, but no one ever recaptured its magic. Now the series is treading a unique path in the online world, despite past setbacks.
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.]
New Myst screens unveiled; I think I've seen them somewhere before
If you're a member of the anti-PSP port camp, then I have some bad news for you – Myst, a 13-year-old game, is making its way onto the PSP sometime next year. And to make you even happier, IGN has just posted some new screens of the game in "action."Unlike some ports, developers Hoplite Research/Cyan Worlds, Inc. isn't resting on its laurels and just porting the ancient game to the PSP. The port will have "new adventure scenarios, as well as updating the game's visuals for the PSP's widescreen format," according to IGN.I'm actually pretty excited about this game. I played the hell outta it back in the day and to get it on the go, has me salivating. Oh, and I have a question for you port haters. Why aren't you complaining about the ports on Xbox Live Arcade and Nintendo's Virtual Console, but are always bashing any old-school game or port released on the PSP?(Via IGN)
A second life for Uru Live
Myst fans who weren't stymied by installation problems and frequent crashes in the Uru spin-off games were left lamenting the cancellation of Uru Live back in early 2004. The opportunity to build virtual neighborhoods and engage in multiplayer exploration of the Miller brothers' wondrous ages was taken away when Ubisoft decided there were not enough projected subscribers to support an online service.Enter GameTap. Last week at E3, Ted Turner's on-demand gaming service announced they will team with developer Cyan Worlds to give Uru a proper online home this holiday season. The decision was due in no small part to the active Uru Live community that nurtured the franchise after the plug was pulled two years ago. Read more about these fan-created services in the CNET article, and for more information on the game itself, visit Uru Live where you can sign up for the beta.Now, maybe Ted can do something about Duke Nukem Forever.[Thanks to Daniel at CNET]
