Enter the Myst
THROUGH THE MYST – ANOTHER WORLD
A Review of Enter the Myst
by Gloria Stern
Admittedly, I was enchanted by the game of Myst, spending long
hours in the glades, groves and tunnels of the island. Rand
Miller and his brother Robyn created the megahit CD disc together
under the corporate name of Cyan, the independent software
company that they founded to develop CDs under the aegis of
Broderbund Software of Novato, California. 
Despite their
remarkable achievement, they consider themselves to be quite
ordinary. More than 1,500,000 discs are now in private
collections, which is no ordinary achievement.
The disc has a singular ambiance that is, perhaps, its most
distinguishing characteristic. Evocative would have to be the
descriptive word. Opening with an age worn book tumbling onto the
screen, the images are accompanied by ethereal, other worldly
music and chimerical landscapes. The album soon becomes the
central icon of the work. From this simple beginning the user is
called into strange yet familiar scenes; the lapping water of a
deserted dock, an abandoned building containing meters and gauges
and unexpected vistas seen through uncommonly placed windows; a
bird, half-seen, flits past a brick walled tower and all the time
we hear this windlike melody; a well which harbors a sunken
shipmodel stands in the middle of the pathway; a rocket ship is
anchored on a strange circular platform; deep below in an
underground cave sits a rocket power station. These sights and
sounds identify archetypal images which conjure up a land you may
have known.
It is that dreamlike quality of lush scenery laden with ornate
details set in a vague and almost impressionistic location that
is characteristic of the disc. Everywhere there are unexpected
levers to pull and rooms to explore, but there is no one in sight
to explain the enigma of this island.
It is this unique atmosphere that comes through. The CD has a
quality about it. It’s mood and archetypal images contribute to
its ability to lure the unwary player. In a non-insistent,
non-coercive fashion, Myst works its magic. We find ourselves in
alien yet familiar landscapes trying our hand at intriguing and
challenging puzzles.
The island, with its assortment of levers, clocks, gauges and
clickables, has a distinct character, one that is so original and
off beat that anyone who has spent time on the island of Myst
will recognize the touch of Rand and his brother, Robyn in the
earlier forms that they created, as well as the book derived from
the disc.
Thoroughly entranced with Myst, the best-selling, interactive
compact disc from Cyan/Broderbund, I was delighted to have the
opportunity to talk to Rand Miller, its creator, about the
process of developing such a project.
I asked Rand about how he and his brother, Robyn, approached the
idea of interactive storytelling for Myst, which was begun when
interactives were mostly games, he responded in terms of his
earlier work.
GS: What was the “jumping off” place that allowed you to produce
such an original concept?” His responses offered some insight
into the making of Myst.
Rand: Robyn and I started doing “worlds” long before Myst. These
were worlds for children that were kind of whimsical and wacky,
but they required very little planning and forethought. We just
designed as we went along.
GS: I explored The Manhole, billed by Cyan as a Whimsical World
for Children of All Ages. I admit, I was enthralled with the
entire adventure. The prospect of descending a manhole to find
underground vistas seemed a bit off-putting until I actually
tried it. I was able to navigate colonnaded subterranean rivers
and mysterious towers peopled by friendly guides who welcomed me
to the “worlds” they guarded. I could see the origins of the best
selling CDi in the early work but that didn’t explain the
complexity of Myst. Myst was a much more designed and purposeful
undertaking.
Rand: We started our design work and realized that we would need
to have even more story and history than would be revealed in the
game itself. It seemed having that depth was just as important as
what the explorer would actually see.
GS: Was there a paradigm? Did you have a vision before you began
designing? What were the parameters you started with? The
limitations?
Rand: The vision and feeling was all based on our previous work.
Myst evolved out of those works. Those early worlds set our basis
on which we would build more complexity and depth.
The limitations we faced were for the most part technical. The
slow speed of CD-ROM, interface issues. But we knew those
limitations when we started and strived to design the game around
those issues. 
Other than those restrictions, it really was a feeling of doing
what we wanted – of putting together something that felt like a
real world.
GS: So, you created Atrus and gave him a history, special talents
and an intriguing task to people your fantasy world?
Rand: Our interactive story design went along two paths – the
linear and the non-linear. The linear was the back story and the
history, all those elements that followed a very strict
time-line. The non-linear was the design of the worlds and was
more like architectural work. Like building a world without the
time element at all – a snapshot of an age. Now the struggle was
to try to merge the two by revealing some parts of the linear
story during the exploration of the non-linear world, while
maintaining the explorers feeling that he/she can go anywhere and
do anything they please.
GS: Did you see it (the structure) in layers? In branch and root
form?
Rand: The non-linear structure was rather complex. It had to have
a beginning and from that point branch out (tree) almost
infinitely – allowing for any possible direction the explorer
might care to go (layers). But the end had to pull things back
together for one of the several different ending scenarios.
It’s interesting to note that our game design work was never
storyboard based – because the bulk of the time spent in the game
would be controlled by the explorer. We couldn’t outline their
movements, we only could gently nudge them, using clues and other
information, toward the end. So we worked on a large part of the
design using maps and top-down diagrams, with notation indicating
what things were and where they came from and how they fit into
the story.
GS: The first of the projects was named The Manhole which was
followed closely by Cosmic Osmo. Both are still available from
Cyan. Did these “worlds” have the same configuration (an
intricate vista with no character introduced)? Did the
children’s programs feature intriguing locations? Attractive
settings? (Like Myst) Were they puzzles rather than
confrontations?
Rand: These original worlds didn’t have any puzzles. They were
simply whimsical environments to wander around in.
(Your reporter has since encountered Manhole and found it a
delightful pastime.)
GS. So that Myst was quite a departure, actually, in that the
linear story was the spine and the non-linear became “nodes” that
were interactive? I found Myst to be quite intuitive (meaning: It
took a lot of attempts for me to make any progress through the
worlds and ages of Myst.)
Rand: The linear would be more like the trunk of the tree – no
branching from the ground up until the first branches. Those
first branches are the non-linear part – where the user can start
defining where the story goes. So the history in the recently
released novel is the trunk, and the game Myst is where the
branching is.
GS: In the program, the sequence into the various worlds (for the
player) is specific and thus linear, so in that respect there is
not much leeway. Each clue must be picked up in sequence, is that
right?
Rand: We tried to make the puzzles non-linear for the player. In
fact, most of the clues can be picked up in any order, and the
puzzles solved in any order. Those early worlds set our basis on
which we would build more complexity and depth.
GS: How was that done?
Rand: To put it simply – we learned the tools. It’s a little more
than that, we learned the tools and the techniques for using them
within the confines of the technology. We were able to practice!
GS: Did you use any system of notation? Is there a hard copy of
Myst? Not the book, I mean a hard copy of the manuscript used for
constructing the program? Or did you build it as you went along?
Rand: We have maps. That’s basically it. Pages of maps.
GS: Sounds like you had a large desk top!!!
Rand: EXACTLY!
GS: How did you get the idea to create a prequel for Myst in hard
copy?
Rand: The story was all there. All of the details came to light
as we designed the original CD.
The disc of Myst is the story of Atrus, the principal characterin the book, as well. Having experienced the mystery depicted in
the fabulous graphics and having played the game, the vistas of
“Atrus, the Book”, seemed appropriate and familiar to me.
Atrus, as a young boy, on the brink of manhood, is visited by his
father, Gehn, who has come to take him back to the ruins of D’ni.
His purpose is to teach Atrus his heritage and the magic of
creating “worlds” in the same manner as Atrus creates ages in the
Myst.
Caves and subterranean rivers are the setting for what remains of
the civilization of D’ni having been destroyed in a conflict with
a power hungry rebel. Though Atrus is not aware of it at first,
Ghen tutors the boy in the techniques needed to create various
worlds. The boy soon surpasses his father’s ability and in an
altruistic attempt at saving a civilization, Atrus defies his
father and assumes the stewardship of the mystical knowledge.
It is then that he escapes the the destruction of the world
taking with him the fabled Catherine.
Immersed in the book, I felt the same ethereal quality of being
on the edge of a mystery not quite understood. Placing myself in
the psyche of Atrus as he became the hero of the saga was a
pleasant task, familiar, and yet, unrecognizable. 
As Rand and
Robyn Miller with the help of David Wingrove have produced an
entity that replicates all the attributes that have made the CD
one of the most popular on the market? Its broad acceptance has
made a real contribution to the expanding world of the CD by
means of an intelligent and beautifully executed story.
As the technology of the personal computer becomes more
accessible, we are beginning to see the spilling over of one form
to that of another. Simon and Schuster, the publishing giant, has
allocated $10,000,000 to formulate a CD division for the
publication of their books. While the industry is rushing to put
anything and everything on CD, this superbly innovative team at
Cyan is putting their CD world people, places and things into a
book reversing the industry direction.
When I opened Myst – the book of Atrus , I found the same
archetypal images and half remembered vistas characteristic of
the Miller brothers’ work. Atrus was taken, as a child, from the
bleak, sterile desert where he lived under the protection of his
beloved grandmother, Anna, until his father, Gehn, comes to take
him back to the land of D’ni. It is there that he is tutored in
mysterious tasks in which he gains no understanding. Throughout,
he is aware of no purpose or continuity in the lessons his father
provides. The library of the ancients holds the magic books, from
which his assignments are drawn and as he is instructed to
carefully pen the contents, he ponders the meaning of his
practice.
Atrus comes to realize that with his pen, the enigmatic
principles he has been copying, and the rituals his father
performs, he is able to create utopias of worldly proportions.
These fascinating islands of psuedo reality experience cataclysms
and catastophies as the patriarch seeks to replicate the glorious
civilizations of former days. Are these worlds just waiting to be
discovered? Or are they truly an act of creation? It is at this
point, that Atrus supermands his father in a daring attempt to
save a dying world with the rites of his scholarship.
With all of the elements of a classic story, the Miller brothers
have done it again. The first game novel transformed to hard
cover is theirs. They have provided a challenge for those who
would emulate their success.
Gamer’s Zone Scorecard
| Product: | Enter the Myst |
| Company: | Cyan/Broderbund |
| Cost: | n/a |
System Requirements:
Windows 3.1 – MS/PC-DOS 5.0
386DX 33Mhz (486 recommended)
4MB RAM (8 Recommended) Super VGA (640 x 480, 256 colors)
with compatible drivers
CD Rom drive (double-speed drive or higher recomended)
Mouse and Hard drive
Macintosh:
System 7.0 or better
68030 processor or better
8MB RAM
CD Rom Drive (2X recommended)
Mouse
Hard Drive
Breakdown:
Entertainment Value 5
Educational Value 2
Concept 5
Sound and Graphics 5
Interface 5
Overall Score:
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