“It was our Japanese publisher, Sunsoft, who approached us out of the blue asking us if we’d do a game for an older audience. “We had proposed a Myst-like game to Activision early on, but they rejected it and told us to stick to children’s games,” laments Robyn. With two successful children’s games under their belts the Miller brothers started to consider broadening their horizons a little – a move which surprisingly wasn't met with encouragement from all quarters. “That’s when we took advantage of all that space not just with the music, but with the size of the world.”
“We didn't have fun with CD-ROM until Cosmic Osmo,” says Robyn. However, the CD-ROM medium was merely used as a convenient way to store the multiple floppy discs that housed The Manhole’s code, and it wasn't until Cyan released the quirky Sci-Fi adventure Cosmic Osmo and the Worlds Beyond the Mackerel that the Miller brothers truly exploited the vast potential of the technology. The Manhole was released on CD-ROM in 1989 and enjoys the distinction of being the first computer (but not console) game to be distributed on the format. We met a lot of companies interested in the product, but we ended up going with Activision.” “People seemed to really enjoy walking around a little world which, at that time, was unique. “We printed up a few hundred copies and brought them to an industry show,” says Robyn. He made the thing run smoother, faster, and smaller, and then he’d finish it off with sounds and voices.” When the pair were satisfied they had a product worth selling, they distributed The Manhole via a mail order system whilst actively courting other publishers in order to secure a more financially lucrative deal. I’d mail floppy disk after floppy disk to Rand, who was living on the opposite side of the country. “I had very little idea what I was doing in terms of programming,” admits Robyn. It offered the pair of game-design rookies an opportunity to find their footing in an exciting new industry. This nugget of an idea became Cyan’s first game, fittingly entitled The Manhole. "It was very exciting I began moving my way through that world, making it all up as I went along." It was very exciting I began moving my way through that world, making it all up as I went along.” The idea of the book altogether went out the window, or at least it quickly evolved into this idea of a more non-linear world. So I began to draw it and piece it together. But what became immediately obvious was that an entire world existed below that manhole, and I wanted to visit it. “The first drawing I did was of a manhole against a solid white background. “Rand sent me a copy of HyperCard, which was like a predecessor to the web,” he recalls. Intrigued by the notion of interactive storytelling, Robyn added his own spin on the concept and proceeded to augment his brother’s idea. “A child would turn the page, click on items on each page, and those items would react in certain ways.” The intuitive interface that would grace Myst can trace its origin to this moment. “Rand had an idea for a children’s book on a computer,” explains Robyn Miller when asked how the duo got into creating video games. However, in the beginning the pair didn't intend to produce games for adults. The brainchild of brothers Rand and Robyn Miller, Myst is undoubtedly the most famous project to emerge from the sibling’s Cyan studio (now known as Cyan Worlds) and famously encouraged hordes of non-gamers to shut down their boring old spreadsheets and use their PCs for something more pleasurable.
#Myst soundtracks Pc#
Myst captured the imagination of millions of gamers and for almost a decade was officially the best selling PC title of all time – clearly, as a slice of entertainment it did something right, regardless of the harsh critical reception it received from some sectors of the specialist press. However, the general public clearly didn't share the same viewpoint. When it hit shop shelves back in 1993 many critics scoffed at the sedate gameplay and predicted that few people would want to sit through a game that was little more than an ‘interactive picture-postcard’.
Few video games have the ability to polarise opinion quite as sharply as Myst.
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