Myst Creators Announce Obduction

vivIsel writes "Cyan, the company behind Myst, is taking another shot at an game in that vein — this time in a new game universe, with the Unreal 4 engine. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they haven't gotten a lot of traction with traditional game publishers, so they are turning to Kickstarter with a $1.1M total ask. The Kickstarter video also has some neat shots of the Cyan headquarters — which looks a bit like one of the buildings on Myst island itself."

Comments

It's called Solitaire

[Gothmolly]

and comes free with Windows. What other game has you endlessly clicking on things, hoping that something will do... anything.

Re:It's called Solitaire

[girlintraining]

and comes free with Windows. What other game has you endlessly clicking on things, hoping that something will do... anything.

You must have been one of those people who were very bad at reasoning out word puzzles. Random clicking was reserved for when you got stuck because the puzzle made no sense... and back when Myst came out, googling "walk through" wasn't much help... possibly because neither Google nor walk-throughs existed back then. That is not how the game is supposed to be played. And considering that this new game would be using the Unreal 4 engine, one can assume that instead of loading up a pile of CDs worth of bitmaps (because 3D rendering was in it's utter infancy back then) with clickable regions to string together a narrative, we'll now have an interactive polygon-based world where the triggers are a bit more obvious and intuitive.

Don't crap on a game because it hasn't aged well... it was a marvel of narrative and immersive gaming when it debuted, and some would argue games today still lack the substance and storytelling that Myst enjoyed, preferring instead to focus on polygon count and realistic explosions over plot.

Re:For PC?

[lgw]

Yep - it's the Unreal 4 engine.

I just finished playing through RealMyst (the version with a 3D engine and modern movement). Gaming has come such a long way, but as a small puzzle game it still stands up. Just a tiny amount of "hunt the pixel", mostly solvable without clicking everywhere to see what moves. These guys knew their stuff - here's hoping they still do.

Off to check out the kickstarter - I love that method of funding games.

As a Linux user I want to support them, but...

[wjcofkc]

I use Linux exclusively. According to their kickstarter page, Linux support is currently up in the air with no promises. This makes me weary as in the end that usually equates to no. I suppose I could dust of my MacBook, but all the same, I would rather be able to play it on my main OS of choice. If they could commit 100% to Linux support, they would already have my money. As long as they are not sure, then neither I am I.

Re:As a Linux user I want to support them, but...

[westlake]

This is quite typical for kickstarter. "Maybe we'll do Linux, you know, if the Windows users give us a lot of money." It's awkward.

But honest.

You only have to glance at the pie sales charts posted with every Humble Bundle to see that much.

Re:What a bunch of Ossholes

[Anaerin]

Sorry, but as Webster's dictionary notes:

Obduct
Ob*duct"\, v. t. [See Obduce.] To draw over; to cover. [Obs.]

So this isn't made up (At least, not by Cyan) at all. Perhaps you should endeavour to expand your vocabulary somewhat. Or, to put it in terms you might more easily understand: "Use dictionary, learn words, speak better."

Re:For PC?

[Enderandrew]

Licensing the Unreal engine means Linux ports are less likely, and the game is much more expensive.

For what they're trying to do, why not go Unity like so many other Kickstarter games?

Re:Oculus Rift support??

[cplusplus]

Buried deep in the Kickstarter info: "We are excited about Oculus Rift (we have a dev kit) and VR in general, and we'd love to have a stretch goal that heads that direction." Woot!

Re:Why not an actual Sequel

[Zobeid]

I feel just the opposite. I loved Myst but never really got into the sequels, and all their accumulated lore is just confusing to me. I'm sure it would be confusing and daunting to new players too, who haven't done any of the old games -- and many, many of today's gamers weren't even born back in the Myst days. It's sort of like going into the comic shop and seeing Fooble's Adventures #50 and thinking, "Neat cover... But do I even have a hope in Hell of understanding what's going on, if I haven't read the first 49 of them?"

A new world means no baggage, no preconceptions, a fresh start. Anybody can dive into it without misgivings.

Re:Should read

[Gilmoure]

Exactly! The hoops you had to jump through to get the BFG sucked!