Looking back on the game 'Myst' on its 20th anniversary

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9713372/looking-back-game-myst-20th-anniversary

by libovness • 13 years ago

159 117 13 years ago

axxl• 13 years ago

I think a Myst game with the Oculus Rift could be amazing. Especially with some sort of wiimote type device to manipulate objects.

rocky11383• 13 years ago

I used to play realMYST (the real-time 3D version) with my 3D stereoscopic glasses back in ~2004 and it was indeed awesome. Exploring the ages was a treat in real 3d.

fennecfoxen3• 13 years ago

Would it be outrageous to suggest that smaller and narrower (but still exploratory) indie puzzle-solving games like _Machinarium_ occupy a substantial portion of the Myst-like niche in the modern video game market?

FredFredrickson• 13 years ago

You stated this as if it would be a controversial opinion, but I'm not sure I understand why that it would be.

sliverstorm• 13 years ago

Because not-actually-controversial opinions that market themselves as controversial get more meaningless internet points?

jljljl• 13 years ago

It's part of it, but Myst's allure was always more than pure puzzle solving. There were plenty of adventure/puzzle games before Myst, but it was the open world, exploratory nature of Myst that was its unique appeal.

fennecfoxen3• 13 years ago

Perhaps _Skyrim_ etc, then?

geuis• 13 years ago

After a fashion, I think part of the success of Minecraft is because it ties deeply into the open world, build and explore feelings that Myst hit upon. Indeed, the audience of players is similar in how it ranges from young kids to the oldest of us. On the UK Minecraft server I frequent, the average age is late 20s up. Some of us are in their 40's and 50's even.

I definitely think there's room for Myst today.

nevster2• 13 years ago

The whole time I was reading the article I was thinking, "what about Minecraft!"

duskwuff• 13 years ago

I seriously doubt that. Myst was entirely unlike Minecraft - it contains a finite amount of content to explore, and your interactions with that content are limited entirely to viewing and exploring what the developers put there. You can't create anything, and you can't go outside the boundaries drawn by the game.

wtallis• 13 years ago

Minecraft's lack of borders is certainly part of why it has managed to outsell the entire Myst series (though it's less impressive when you consider how much larger the market is these days, and how much easier it is to get to 12 million sales). But the atmosphere of mostly-peaceful exploration of a different world is something that Mincraft and Myst undoubtedly share, and something that hasn't been recreated by very many games in between. Bethesda's RPGs do an okay job of allowing exploration, but they come with a heavy emphasis on combat and a very in-your-face plot line that completely changes the mood of the exploration. Minecraft and Myst just drop you into a new world without any preface, challenge, or goal.

pokpokpok• 13 years ago

jonathan blow's the witness

druiid• 13 years ago

I think the Cyan Worlds guys might have the right idea at the right time. With the Oculus Rift coming out at some point soon in a more general fashion, it could be very good timing. I think basically this class of games could actually be perfect for the platform. A lot of the video of trying to play Team Fortress and similar on O.R. kind of makes me dizzy.

I think many people (myself included) would be very interested in seeing a O.R powered 'Myst' game of some sort or another. If anyone remembers the movie eXistenZ, I can somehow see worlds like that eventually happening. Would be interesting stuff if actually taken outside of the sci-fi context!

Edit: The right idea at the right time was in regards to Kickstarter.

devindotcom2• 13 years ago

Yes, more cerebral yet immersive games like The Witness, Kairo, Dear Esther, and Routine are definitely on the rise, and OR support will make some of them really shine, I think. I'm really looking forward to those rather than, say, Call of Duty: OCULUS EDITION.

tobobo• 13 years ago

Thank you for mentioning Dear Esther! One of the most memorable games I've ever played. I'll check out the others you've listed.

jared3142• 13 years ago

OpenUru [1] has the source code and the content creation tools required to do something like you are describing. You might have to modify the client, to handle the perspective change, but it would even allow for online multiplayer puzzle solving and user created content.

[1] http://openuru.org/

ironmagma• 13 years ago

At Starry Expanse (the remake of Riven, which is the sequel to Myst), we put some of the work we've done into the Oculus Rift... it was absolutely breathtaking. The Myst series is absolutely the perfect genre for that platform, in my opinion.

breckinloggins• 13 years ago

Maybe part of its popularity was the illusion (through pre-rendered images) that your computer could show you more "real" worlds than you ever thought possible. That was certainly one of the things I thought was so cool about Myst.

If that's the case, it partly explains why nothing seemed to follow in its footsteps: you can only pull the rabbit out of the hat once.

metaxy2• 13 years ago

I think that really happened with Riven. It's easy to forget, but some of those stills were as beautiful and realistic as anything being done in realtime 3D games today. [1] [2]

[1] http://www.mysterium.ch/riven/pictures/riven_05.jpg

[2] http://www.grandecaverna.com/myst2/myst2_eramoiety.jpg

jerf3• 13 years ago

Eh, I'd have to argue we've passed those. I'm pretty sure this is rendered realtime, for instance: http://www.bioshockinfinite.com/images/media/screenshots/Sky...

GrantS3• 13 years ago

Higher quality render of that first Riven image:

http://img7.hostingpics.net/pics/104111.jpg

More (low-res) examples from Riven in 1997 that I agree still beat modern realtime environments in many ways:

http://www.rpgfan.com/pics/riven/ss-004.jpg

http://www.rpgfan.com/pics/riven/ss-001.jpg

thezilch2• 13 years ago

I think id Tech 5 wants to get there: http://www.google.com/search?q=id+tech+5&tbm=isch

Someone3• 13 years ago

Are you sure? One could argue Myst is not much more than a fairy tale with a set of beautifully rendered illustrations. The illustrations weren't _that_ brilliant on their own, and the fairy tale part wasn't in a league of its own at all.

The combination was quite new, though and execution certainly was very good.

However, I think that rabbit did get pulled out of the same hat earlier a couple of times. At the very least, the first movie and "the wizard of Oz" did the same.

I also think it isn't hard to think of future products that might give the same, if not a much better, 'wow' effect. For example, imagine wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling 300 DPI displays showing a physically realistic world, showing Tranquility Base on July 20, 1969. Now, imagine that in interactive form.

On the other hand, the internet has made it harder to be wowed by new technologies because chances are you will read about a product far before seeing it for the first time. Because of that, I think it takes a much larger jump in quality to be wowed.

mbell• 13 years ago

The illustrations weren't _that_ brilliant on their own

The impressive part is that they weren't illustrations, they were individual renders of from 3D models of the worlds, designed, built and rendered on computers with a small fraction the processing power of my cell phone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94pzx_9LkVI

Alex3917• 13 years ago

you can only pull the rabbit out of the hat once.

What about Avatar? It's a movie, but it's the same basic trick -- forgettable plot, but amazingly photorealistic and beautiful world.

contingencies• 13 years ago

the illusion that your computer could show you more "real" worlds than you ever thought possible

This still happens to me regularly... for example last week when viewing some of the GTA V screenshots. http://www.gtav.net/screenshots/

jared3142• 13 years ago

The article doesn't mention Openuru [1]. Cyan Worlds released the source and content creation tools to build custom shards.

[1] http://openuru.org/

6thSigma3• 13 years ago

Some of my most vivid memories regarding video games is playing Myst and Riven with my friends. We took turns controlling the player. We would take notes of things that might be useful in later puzzles with actual pencils and paper. We stayed up all night playing it trying to get as deep into the world as possible.

I still have a copy of the game and play it every once in awhile for nostalgia's sake.

Zimahl• 13 years ago

Without Myst there's no Grand Theft Auto V or Assassin's Creed

Really? That's a bold statement. I don't agree with it, but it's bold nonetheless.

There's going to be some big publishers out there who will want to do this [too]. There's big money here for them. And I don't think they went after it.

Off the top of my head I can think of 'The 7th Guest'. There were plenty of rendered CD-ROM games just none as successful as 'Myst'.

seany• 13 years ago

I actually preferred The 7th Guest to Myst. It was a much darker game though, which probably hindered it's popularity with some people. The music/sfx in it were fantastic imho.

Dove• 13 years ago

If you liked Myst and 7th Guest, you should take a look at The Room, a game that I would say is somewhere between the two both in tone and in puzzle style and intensity.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.FireproofS...

jevinskie• 13 years ago

The 7th Guest also had a story where you interacted with the multitude of other people in Stauf's mansion. In Myst, your brief interactions were with two dudes in books. You were very alone in Myst, not as much in the 7th Guest.

devindotcom2• 13 years ago

In a certain abstract sense, blockbuster games of previously unacclaimed genres all enable one another. Without Super Mario Bros 3, there would be no Myst, if you look at it from that angle. Yet without D&D, there would be no Super Mario Bros. And without Tolkien, there would be no D&D! So Without Tolkien, there is no GTA V.

Apocryphon• 13 years ago

Much was said when Bioshock Infinite came out that such a well-crafted world (though admittedly, a bit more like a theme park than a believable city) deserved to be the setting for an adventure/exploration game, not merely an FPS.

GrantS3• 13 years ago

Interesting. Myst was a defining part of my childhood and I reluctantly put up with the shooting and fighting elements of BioShock, Assassin's Creed, Red Dead Redemption, and Mass Effect just so that I can experience and explore the worlds in which they take place. Loved this article.

ynniv• 13 years ago

And yet no one seems to do this in games built around this idea like Second Life. Does it take a AAA shoot-em-up title to commission a virtual world worth exploring?

idProQuo• 13 years ago

I felt exactly the same way. I "tolerated" the gun fights in Infinite, but the story and world-building were what I was really there for.

I was talking with a friend today about how interesting it would've been if Elizabeth's "quantum powers" had been explored as a puzzle solving device rather than a "summon furniture" mechanic. I feel like that could've been a Portal-esque revolution in gameplay.

elangoc• 13 years ago

I love discovery- & puzzle-based exploratory story games. Grim Fandango was another one, which I adore. It came out a few years after Myst, and I really wished that they would make another Grim Fandango (or at least make it playable on today's computers)!

6thSigma3• 13 years ago

ScummVM works very well for Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle, Maniac Mansion, and other Scumm-based games.

I do wish they would re-release these games on Steam though.

thristian2• 13 years ago

A minor correction: Grim Fandango used the GrimE engine, not the SCUMM engine, and it doesn't work with ScummVM.

However, ScummVM's sister project, ResidualVM, was created to do for the GrimE engine what ScummVM did for the SCUMM engine, so you can still play the game on modern OSs without too much hassle.

The likelihood of Lucasarts classics ever being re-released is miniscule, since why would Disney put effort into putting out The Dig or even Monkey Island when they could make ten times as much money from Star Wars?

MartinCron• 13 years ago

You should play Gone Home if you haven't yet.

drblast• 13 years ago

I'm kind of perplexed that "adventure games" that consumed much of my childhood seem to have died as a genre.

Myst seemed like another in a long line of fantastic games where the goal was exploration and puzzle solving, like Maniac Mansion, Space Quest, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, etc.

I think Limbo was the most recent game I played that had that same feel.

Why aren't there games like this now? Is there no interest?

arfar• 13 years ago

The "Horror Adventure" or "Survival Horror" genre has spawned off this style of game. They have similar aspects like puzzle solving, no focus on killing enemies.

They are actually quite scary though and that is the focus, so there's less puzzle solving.

wolfgke3• 13 years ago

There are lots of these games (at least in Germany where they are rather successful, although in its niche). For example I can recommend most of the adventure games that Daedelic Entertainment (a studio from Hamburg/Germany) produced:

- The Whispered World

- Edna bricht aus (Edna & Harvey: The Breakout) (don't be put off by its graphics)

- Harveys neue Augen (Edna & Harvey: Harvey’s New Eyes) - The sequel to Edna & Harvey: The Breakout

The Deponia series from Daedelic is also said to be very good (haven't played it, though).

I could list you lots of other very good adventure games from the last years, also from other studios.

kal00ma• 13 years ago

Could you list a few more? I'm a big fan of this genre (ever since the King's Quest days)

nevster2• 13 years ago

Try out the Special Editions of Monkey Island 1 and 2. Also Monkey Island 5. And the Sam and Max episodes. And, well, basically anything by Telltale Games http://www.telltalegames.com/games/

zorked• 13 years ago

Beyond what other people have mentioned, check out the Syberia games and The Longest Journey which are a bit older. Frogware put out a series of Sherlock Holmes-based adventures as well. And Gemini Rue, The Raven, Resonance and the Runaway series. Also Time Gentlemen, Please! and Ben There, Dan That! are too funny.

Adventure games didn't die, they just became niche and indie. They moved to Europe, the leading character is more likely to be female these days, and the games are made by smaller companies.

rocky11383• 13 years ago

Another good one is Scratches. It's scary!

DLWormwood• 13 years ago

Telltale Games has been carrying the torch for these kinds of games for the last decade. Beside resurrecting old LucasArt staples like Monkey Island and Sam & Max, they’ve launched other franchises to the format: Bone, Homestar Runner, and The Walking Dead come to mind. They also occasionally score a big license, like Back to the Future and Jurassic Park.

GFischer2• 13 years ago

They seem like an awesome fit for tablets and smartphones, I really can't understand why no-one is making them (or I'm not hearing about them).

Edit: somewhere on the thread, "The Room" is mentioned. Looks nice, I might give it a try :)

Edit2: "this app is incompatible with your device".. oh well. I do need to upgrade my phone.

m_mueller2• 13 years ago

Ok, since you apparently haven't done this yet: Play Machinarium. You're in for a treat.

phaedryx• 13 years ago

This is worth a read: http://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/77.html

Personally, when I play a game like Scribblenauts, where I can solve a problem in a variety of ways, I can't help but wish that there were adventure games that allowed for the same amount of lateral thinking.

benihana• 13 years ago

Myst's legacy is that if something is pretty, people will buy it, play it, talk about it until the newest pretty thing comes out, then forget about it.

This article is completely delusional. Myst was not this huge, influential masterpiece the way it paints. The Sopranos changed television. Myst did not change video games. It was talked about like the Sopranos, but only for a year after it came out. And it didn't have a lasting impact on the games industry. It looked good for the time, then quickly became outdated and is clearly a relic of its time, like wide, ill-fitting jackets and pleated pants. The gameplay offered nothing new - better adventure games (like those offered by LucasArts and Sierra) were doing more for longer. But its influence was an illusion. Graphics have always been getting better and striving for more photorealism. Myst didn't have any affect on that mindset, it just had decent graphics for when it came out.

Myst's legacy is that if you make something pretty enough, the buzz it generates will lead to huge sales until people realize it's an illusion. Which is why these guys weren't able to do anything after Myst. Meanwhile, Grand Theft Auto, Half Life, Assassin's Creed, and Zelda and Mario, these games that Myst apparently enabled, continue to move people and make huge amounts of money.

seiji• 13 years ago

Breathe. Calm down. It'll be okay.

baddox• 13 years ago

Serious question: if Myst didn't actively influence games, why is it that I have heard of Myst despite it being "before my time" (I was 6 when it was first released)? I've never played the game or seen anyone play it, and yet in my mind's eye I can see the iconic art style, the iconic "M Y S T" logo, etc. Does it just have a cult following that I've been exposed to due to my participation in online communities and other PC gaming communities?

jlgreco• 13 years ago

Does it just have a cult following that I've been exposed to due to my participation in online communities and other PC gaming communities?

I think that would be fair to say. It left an impression on people, just not necessarily on gaming.

eric_cc• 13 years ago

You've heard of it because guys who grew up in that area suffering from extreme bouts of nostalgia produce "Best Games of the 90's" lists featuring Myst or make grand statements about the game on forums/twitter/facebook/blog/etc.

I played it when it first came out and really it's not all that noteworthy these days unless you are talking about 1993 specifically.

TylerE• 13 years ago

It was a popular "pack in" title with things like CD-ROM drives, so there were a gazillion copies distributed, even though it probably didn't sell that many at full retail.

Edit since someone downvoted this:

"Released in 1993, it became the non-gamers' game. "Oh, I don't really like videogames, but I did like Myst." It sold more copies than Kinkos - well over six million. Everyone with a PC in the nineties had a copy, you'll be told. And you know why? Because it was given away with absolutely everything. If you bought a PC, you got given Myst. New printer? Myst. Upgrading your RAM, here, have a copy of Myst. Vast piles of Myst were causing terrible landslides, killing hundreds of children, all around the world."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-11-20-retrospective-m...

bobbles• 13 years ago

"Myst was generally praised by critics. Wired and The New York Times suggested that Myst was evidence that video games could in fact evolve into an art form.[36] Entertainment Weekly reported that some players considered Myst's "virtual morality" a religious experience.[37] Aarhus University professor Søren Pold pointed to Myst as an excellent example of how stories can be told using objects rather than people.[38] Laura Evenson, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, pointed to adult-oriented games like Myst as evidence the video game industry was emerging from its "adolescent" phase.[39]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myst

pjbrunet• 13 years ago

That style of art did influence me in art school back in the 90s, I was working with a free beta version of Rhino3D. Rhino3D.com only a few years ago removed my 1990s models from their galleries but here's what I'm talking about, thanks to Wayback Machine! http://web.archive.org/web/20030707154940im_/http://www.rhin...

herdrick• 13 years ago

This article is completely delusional. Myst was not this huge, influential masterpiece the way it paints.

Did you read it? The big point was that everyone at the time thought it would be influential and widely imitated, but it wasn't.

sho_hn2• 13 years ago

Myst:

* Got the mainstream to talk about games in a way that it hadn't before.

* Enabled many other games by selling the hardware it needed to run.

* Is a tentpole in a (now again growing) subgenre of games that focus on ambience. It may not do Grand Theft Auto numbers, but the medium is richer for its existence. It's a valid way to use a computer to provide an experience many people find compelling.

* Intrigued many artists enough to start viewing the computer as a credible art tool and dive into 3D computer graphics.

It didn't do all of these things all alone, no. But it was part of the times, and a significant one at that. If you ask me, that's enough of a legacy to call it interesting.

mikeash3• 13 years ago

My memory is hazy enough that I can't quite remember what sort of uncommon hardware Myst would have needed to run. Are you referring to CD-ROM drives, or VGA graphics cards, or something else?

Terretta2• 13 years ago

As an owner of every game you mentioned, and completionist of most of them, I couldn't disagree with you more.

Myst defined its own category and I'm still looking for an open other-world of curiously interwoven discovery to carry its mantle.

glenra2• 13 years ago

"The Room" on iOS is a puzzle game with a very similar feel, albeit on a much smaller scale. (with no outdoor scenes - you're just figuring out a complicated multi-part artifact inside a room, complete with an ominous backstory that gradually gets pieced together).

GarvielLoken• 13 years ago

I haven't played it, but i have read the review and Proteus is a new open world game. http://www.destructoid.com/review-proteus-244224.phtml

nilkn2• 13 years ago

Which is why these guys weren't able to do anything after Myst.

And yet many regard its sequel, Riven, as one of the best puzzle games ever made.

SwellJoe2• 13 years ago

I would love it if there were a whole category of games like Riven.

king_jester• 13 years ago

Myst's legacy is that if something is pretty, people will buy it, play it, talk about it until the newest pretty thing comes out, then forget about it.

One of the things that I enjoy most about Myst is its atmosphere, even today when its graphics are considerably outdated. As an adventure type game, interacting with the game and the story it tells is a huge part of keeping you interested in playing the game, so I don't really buy that this was just some "ooo shiny" fad game.

This article is completely delusional. Myst was not this huge, influential masterpiece the way it paints. The Sopranos changed television. Myst did not change video games. It was talked about like the Sopranos, but only for a year after it came out. And it didn't have a lasting impact on the games industry. It looked good for the time, then quickly became outdated and is clearly a relic of its time, like wide, ill-fitting jackets and pleated pants. The gameplay offered nothing new - better adventure games (like those offered by LucasArts and Sierra) were doing more for longer. But its influence was an illusion. Graphics have always been getting better and striving for more photorealism. Myst didn't have any affect on that mindset, it just had decent graphics for when it came out.

Myst has most certainly influential to a good degree. This game has been ported A LOT and is still talked about. It definitely has some influence on modern game designers (The Witness and Gone Home come to mind). It also spawned 4 official sequels over 14 years (Myst 5 came out in 2005). That the gameplay is not wholly original or that Myst isn't the absolute genre-defining title for adventure games doesn't mean it isn't influential.

Myst's legacy is that if you make something pretty enough, the buzz it generates will lead to huge sales until people realize it's an illusion. Which is why these guys weren't able to do anything after Myst.

Plenty of game devs and designers do not release many games or only have 1 or 2 hits, but that doesn't diminish anything about those games.

Meanwhile, Grand Theft Auto, Half Life, Assassin's Creed, and Zelda and Mario, these games that Myst apparently enabled, continue to move people and make huge amounts of money.

Mario and Zelda were things before Myst and all of those games series have had their own transformations and changes over sequels. But we know the adventure games, including first person types, are not dead and are having a bit of a resurgence right now, esp. in the indie scene, so I wouldn't write Myst off so easily.

SwellJoe2• 13 years ago

"Myst's legacy is that if you make something pretty enough, the buzz it generates will lead to huge sales until people realize it's an illusion. Which is why these guys weren't able to do anything after Myst."

Riven was also a pretty big success, huge even for its time (though not as big as Myst), and I found it to be a much better game. I found Riven simply enthralling, in a way that no game before or since has been.

code_duck2• 13 years ago

I agree, while Myst pulled in a lot of casual gamers, they didn't become gamers after playing the game. Personally I never played r, as I found the mechanics to e entirely unengaging. The game is essentially a raytrace slideshow. I'd rather play Zork or say, Lunar 2.

DanBC• 13 years ago

Myst's legacy is that if something is pretty, people will buy it, play it, talk about it until the newest pretty thing comes out, then forget about it.

Myst - 1993

Rise of the Robots - 1994

People not aware of RotR should do some googling. The pre-release hype was impressive. The game was shiny and looked nice. It was appalling to play.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rise_of_the_robots)

Rise of the Robots was announced early in development, and generated considerable buzz for its advanced graphics. On release it became notorious in the video gaming industry for myriad crippling gameplay problems. Today it is generally considered one of the least successful and most critically reviled fighting games of its time.

chrisgd• 13 years ago

As a video game. Not everything needs a legacy

diminoten• 13 years ago

There was another game of this genre (static user open world adventure??) that taught intro physics, and you used the learned knowledge to solve the puzzles:

Physicus!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6BC_ssnkaw

drawnalong2• 13 years ago

As a non-programmer, I'm surprised that folks aren't talking about Myst's Hypercard/Hypertalk roots: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/05/25-years-of-hypercard-t...

Also, Brendan Eich was inspired by Hypercard/talk as well when he was pushing out Javascript: https://twitter.com/search?q=%40brendaneich%2C+hypercard

Add that to the fact that Tim Berners-Lee was also inspired by Hypercard, I feel like the web that we have now really is a big, beefed-up, networked remanufacture of Hypercard.

Whenever I see a Myst screengrab I always think "Look, the Web!" Again, as a non-programmer, this is probably just some useless observation, but its inspirational and evocative to me nonetheless. It gets me musing that there are some uses for what we've got now that we're not seeing, and some folks should be exploring. For me, its storytelling, and I bet we could all do some pretty damn cool storytelling with the toolkit we're sitting on.

Perhaps Myst doesn't actually demonstrate a hidden value, but I always point to Hypercard and its friendliness & useability when smarter-than-me people tell me Javascript is crap. People I know from that era that were technically inquisitive tend to point to Hypercard and go: "Yeah! Hypercard was the shit!" or some variation of that.

Terretta2• 13 years ago

I felt like the whole Flash bubble was a desperate attempt to make websites into mini Mysts.

faddotio2• 13 years ago

Hypercard/HT was just used to stitch it together, most of the presentation was done with the help of a crapload of XCMDs. I doubt the HyperTalk involved was particularly complicated, but I can't say for sure, because they managed to make the stacks resistant to introspection.

drawnalong2• 13 years ago

How much of a "market" was there in XCMDs? As in, were they commonly exchanged or reused in any sort of open-source way, or were they written in-house? I know we're talking about Myst specifically, but I wonder if there's any community parallel to what we see with libraries & APIs now.

Although I'm just flipping over rocks looking for similarities, it's a blast to see when and how certain structures have been tried-out.

Holy Smokes.. the more I read about Hypercard, the more I realize that Myst was quite a huge hack!

The XCMD part is clutch. I'm curious what that community looked like, and how that code was exchanged. Beyond disks, did anyone ever host anything that looked like a repo on the early Net?

rocky11383• 13 years ago

I once heard the upsurge in interest in comic books in the early 90s described as though they thought comic books were becoming as popular as pop music when in reality it was more like jazz: a lot of good stuff, but not widely popular. Adventure games are the same.

lvturner• 13 years ago

I think with the revival of VR tech (Oculus Rift) games like Myst might come back round.

Actually the thought of a Myst-esque game on the Rift sounds like something I could lose a lot of time playing.

ChuckMcM• 13 years ago

So I've been playing through Mass Effect 3 again on the PS3 and can see the sorts of influences Myst had on designers of more "modern" games. One of the more interesting aspects where the 'side' stories, not essential to the game but added depth to some part of it. Reading through the political infighting in the email on data pads, or some of the radio stuff on GTA. All "atmosphere" which, prior to Myst, wasn't nearly so prominent.

glenra2• 13 years ago

Marathon (released in 1994) did the same sort of thing - lots of backstory revealed in drips and drabs via computer terminals. The team that did the Marathon series (originally a Mac-only title) later went on to develop Halo.

tomlu2• 13 years ago

Remember Pathways into Darkness? AFAIK that was their very first game. Brutally hard, and revealed the story in a similar fashion.

dhughes• 13 years ago

Other than the graphics the big thing I remember about Myst is the gameplay was so different than arcade style games, it was a thinking game.

It was one of the main reasons I finally took the plunge and got a PC, nearly $4,000 (1993/94 Canadian dollars) to play a game :P well more than that but it was a good part of it.

At the time a PC in a private home wasn't really all that common, at least in my region, so this hot game on this thing called an "IBM compatible personal computer" piqued the interest of many people and drove sales.

andyjohnson0• 13 years ago

Slightly OT, but boingboing have an article [1] today about companies in Beijing that offer real-world "mystery room" scenarios that resemble Myst puzzles:

"...customers are locked into single-room funhouses where they have to solve a mystery in order to escape. Some mysteries are supernatural, others are crime-scenes, and others are "hospital-themed." They're inspired by similar video-games and cost less than a movie-ticket to play."

More at [2].

[1] http://boingboing.net/2013/09/24/beijings-mystery-rooms.html...

[2] http://kotaku.com/escape-from-chinas-mystery-rooms-136968856...

splitbrain• 13 years ago

Am I the only one who found Myst incredibly sterile and boring coming from LucasArts and Sierra Adventure games? I never played it for more than maybe 20 minutes.

Looking back on the game 'Myst' on its 20th anniversary

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