Myst
Myst box cover
Myst is a graphic adventure computer game created by the brothers Robyn and Rand Miller. It was developed by Cyan, Inc and published and distributed by Broderbund. The Millers began working on Myst in 1991 and released it on September 24, 1993.
Myst has sold over 9 million copies and held the title of best-selling computer game of all time throughout much of the 1990s. Its popularity led to:
- three sequels, Riven, and .
- realMYST, an improved re-release featuring less restricted movement and weather changes using real-time 3D graphics
- the related product , a hybrid single-player game (there used to be an online version -- a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG), but it was cancelled)
- three derivative novels by Cyan in association with Hyperion entitled , , and (with two more releases coming up) and two comic books by Dark Horse
- Pyst, a parody by Parroty Interactive
| Table of contents |
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2 Gameplay 3 Ages 4 External links |
Development
The game was created entirely on Apple Macintosh computers, especially Quadra models. The entire game was essentially a very large, color HyperCard stack, with each card consisting of a three-dimensionally rendered scene. The game was ported to Microsoft Windows in 1994.
Warning: Plot details follow.
The gameplay of Myst consists of a first-person journey through an interactive world. The player moves the character by clicking at the outside border of the game display and can interact with specific objects on some screens by clickinging or dragging them. Unlike some computer games, there are no enemies or threat of "dying" or a "game over" event. The only competition is the player versus the puzzles presented in the game. To complete the game, the player must discover and follow clues to be transported via books to several Ages, each of which is a self-contained mini-world. Once traveling through the Selenitic, Stoneship, Mechanical, and Channelwood Ages, the player would return to the starting point of the game, Myst Island, with all the information necessary to complete the game. For those less patient, this information could be obtained from an outside source and the game objective could be completed in a matter of minutes.
The game included the following 'Ages':
Gameplay
Ages
Some clues in the game lead the player to linking books, books that let a person link to the worlds (in the terms of the D'ni, who had the knowledge of how to create linking books, these worlds were referred to as 'Ages') described in them.External links
Official websites
In the media - articles, reviews and interviews
Fan sites