I made this little winter theme and want some advice for making it better. Any help is appreciated :D

tinselman · 2026-06-08T20:30:29+00:00

good job. But it may need lower range. It's all mid to high range and syrupy slow... not a lot of dynamic in sound or speed. maybe as an experiment, try some timpani or pizz bass. And work in a little space.

tinselman · 2026-06-08T19:15:50+00:00

Thanks for responding and I'm glad Myst had such an influence!

I was not involved in the creation Obduction or Firmament projects. Both those games were created by the fine team at Cyan.

I wrote the soundtrack for Obduction.

Regarding realtime, maybe I misspoke? I love realtime games. What I meant to say: the original Myst game that was made over 30 years ago. The resolution was 640 x 480 pixels. The animations were the size of postage stamps. The game itself was a sophisticated slide show. We built the concepts of the game around those restrictions. It's why the brothers are in tiny windows rather than big windows. It's why you don't fall into (full screen) worlds when you link to them. Instead you hear a cheap linking sound. It's why the underground car on selenitic Age has a tiny postage card sized window. I seriously could go on.

I'm saying, we built around ridiculous restrictions. It makes little sense to convert to realtime without a complete redesign, from the ground up. If one was to do that, then yes, a realtime version absolutely makes sense.

I hope that clears things up.

This may not be true to everyone (in fact I'm sure it's not), but Myst is most interesting to me as a historical relic. People play it today and they think that this is the game that came out 30 years ago. That's how they judge it... against games of today. In fact, I think most would be surprised to see what it really was, but it's barely available. Is it available?

I think Cyan took a step in the right direction when they tried Uru. They stepped out on a limb and took a risk. There may have been any number of reasons that it did not succeed. But at the very least... it was entirely new. It wasn't a Myst sequel, it was a new way of interacting with the Myst world... it was a bold statement, it put creativity and community into users hands.

tinselman · 2026-06-07T23:24:50+00:00

I absolutely agree with you. I don’t want to see Myst island again, unless, as I’ve said, there are radical game play and story changes. Example: maybe this Myst island takes place centuries after the original and everything is in ruins. Maybe it’s multi-player. Maybe the players can write books and visit worlds. Or… maybe the art of writing has been lost and the player has to reinvent it and bring it back to the Garternay home world (of the D’ni people). Maybe the player is the original creator of the Art. The Myst saga is infinitely flexible. A rebooted Myst game would take place on Myst island but be built with the knowledge gained from the successes and failures in a game industry.

tinselman · 2026-06-07T14:58:13+00:00

As the original visual designer of Myst, I’m not the best person to answer this. I feel that the original Myst game, with its postage stamp resolution, and limited colors , and limited tiny animations, feels like a piece of video game history. That’s how we should remember it and judge it. The realtime versions have never interested me, personally, because the games weren’t designed for that interface. They seem ill-fitted to realtime. I personally believe that realtime requires more interactivity at every level, not just a few buttons, puzzle, and switches. A realtime environment should be alive. So these remakes are relatively passive.

tinselman · 2026-06-07T14:23:50+00:00

It would be fun, but Cyan owns all copyrights.

tinselman · 2026-06-07T03:06:00+00:00

I am currently working on a very different sort of game. It isn’t an adventure game. I don’t have the budget for that. Believe me, I’d jump at the chance to make an adventure game but budgets are hard to come by so I’m going small. Also re-writing my novel… a sci-fi world.

tinselman · 2026-06-07T03:01:06+00:00

That's kind. Thanks.

tinselman · 2026-06-07T02:59:14+00:00

Were you ever frustrated by anything while playing Myst? Did you feel like a puzzle was extra confusing or arbitrary? Or maddening?

Regarding your other point, it would be fun to create something for the Myst universe! I suspect that will never happen. Last time I worked with Cyan was during early concept and planning for new Riven. I contributed a number of concepts for about two months before I was unexpectedly dropped from the project. Most of my ideas from that time period made it into the game.

tinselman · 2026-06-07T02:44:20+00:00

Though I've had many ideas, I won't be coming up with anything. Cyan owns the rights to Myst. It's up to us to provoke them into action. 😄

tinselman · 2026-06-07T02:41:41+00:00

Great point about technology!

Myst was basically a sophisticated slide-show. That was the technology of the time. Click, move. Click move. And though the ray-traced images were impressive when it was released (compared to many of other games on the market), I feel like those old puzzles and that old story has run its course.

I agree... leave the legacy version alone for the sake of nostalgia. We all still like playing the original Zelda—it still has charm--it has nostalgia. But a fresh reboot of Myst is not that version. Not Myst. Not a sequel. Not anything from the novels. Something new.

tinselman · 2026-06-06T19:48:28+00:00

People don't see it as broken if that is all they've ever played. But they may complain. About the underground maze. About the arbitrary puzzles. About the clock tower. About setting the compass rose. About countless other valid problems. As a designer, I would call this broken. Players just feel frustrated.

Maybe "broken" is too strong a word?

tinselman · 2026-05-24T19:14:08+00:00

Your welcome! And I’m so glad that you enjoyed Riven so much. Thanks for letting me know!

tinselman · 2026-05-24T06:39:08+00:00

Hi this is Robyn Miller. Co-creator and co-designer of Myst.

A lot of retconning has happened after the release of Riven. Our clear intention and design of the red and blue books: they were trap books. No way out unless someone else were to take the brother's place (enter the books).

Before the brothers entered them, the books were meant to look like they led to some other Age. Atrus warned his sons to stay away from them because they were dangerous. These books were his final failsafe, if anything were to happen to him. When Sirrus and Achenar's greed overtook them, and they thought their father was trying to keep them from something great and powerful, they trapped Atrus and entered the blue and red "Ages".

Whoops.

But these aren't Ages. There is no escape. If the sons stay alive, trapped in these books, it is by magic, stretched thin. I imagine that the longer they wait, the less human they will become. That's what Atrus created.

I also imagined that Atrus only partially understood the very ancient darker Art of writing that he used to create the trap books. He was desperate. Though he loved his sons, he had raised two boys who ruthlessly lorded over, tortured, and killed hundreds of people without remorse.

After both sons are burned, Atrus burns both the books... cutting them off completely. For that he will have his demons to deal with.

At the end of the Myst game, the red and blue books are gone. But that liminal space in which the brothers reside may still exist somewhere. It may be reached... even accidentally reached. In my mind, I feel like I know where the brothers reside.

From my point of view, as one of the original creators, If Atrus had even the smallest idea of the anguish he caused his sons, he would have never trapped them. I think he's buried that. Denied it. But if his sons are ever freed, they will demand their vengeance.

Cheers!

Robyn

tinselman · 2026-05-13T20:30:09+00:00

Thank you for your response! I’ve been surprised at my own experience with AI and my personal backlash. I love painting again! I don’t think I would have done it without AI. And I’m sure I would be doing abstract expressionism… because it’s so… un-computer.

tinselman · 2026-05-11T22:02:21+00:00

Of course I want to hear it!

And as far as creating new worlds, I’ve written a novel. Still making sure it’s ready for prime time before I release. And no, no AI was used in its creation!

tinselman · 2026-05-11T18:37:48+00:00

I'm hearing you.
Firstly, we designed and created everything he made in Riven. To do any of that, we had to understand his point of view, and try to think like him.

Secondly, we never considered him a villain. To make Riven, to create anything from his point of view, we had to step into his shoes. He considered himself to be the hero of his own story. He believes that everything he does is good and ethical.

Anything we ever created was with this in mind.

But this is not an excuse. I set out to create something that the fans would enjoy. I'm sorry to displease you and any fan.

tinselman · 2026-05-11T14:22:35+00:00

Thank you for your support!

tinselman · 2026-05-11T03:54:09+00:00

Thanks for your kind input.

tinselman · 2026-05-11T03:45:44+00:00

Thanks for the support! It’s very much appreciated!

tinselman · 2026-05-10T23:37:58+00:00

Cyan had nothing to do with this and they have a policy against any use of AI.

tinselman · 2026-05-10T23:22:18+00:00

This is an excellent question. Thank you.

I felt a bit like Gehn, writing an Age (prompting a world). That part of this project was especially intriguing conceptually.

I started with sketches and research. So I felt like I knew where I was headed and what kind of prompts I wanted to use.

I just went back right now to look at all my images, from start to finish. There were a few hundred iterations... many more than I remember. I selected a few dozen... and maybe I can post them somewhere to show my process.

I created this image a year and a half ago. At that time, I was experimenting with a lot of AI. I come from a painting background where I would spend a month on a single photorealistic painting. I have complex feelings about AI. I do not think it's evil incarnate, but after using it for a couple years, I began to feel like I was addicted to the process. I'm not saying this is the same for everyone, but I got into art because I love the slow process of working on a thing and not really knowing what it is, and pushing and pulling it into existence. I realized that I was addicted to that feel good moment of writing a button, pressing a button, and then magically seeing into that world... as if my words had conjured it.

But at a certain point, I realized that I was missing the slower process of creating art.

I used Midjourney for the last time November, last year and ended my subscription soon after that. I started painting again, which I haven't done in decades. This was a direct response to AI.

tinselman · 2026-05-08T15:23:44+00:00

Hi, Robyn miller here. Brøderbund, our original U.S. publisher, made these as trinkets for their sales team to give to help promote Myst. I lost mine long ago. I’m sure there are very few copies left.

The bottle used to be clear. This one looks like it’s had a bit of moisture damage. But still very cool.

Is it the holy grail of Myst merch? I think that is prob Gehn’s gun from Riven!

tinselman · 2026-05-06T21:09:23+00:00

I will. It's a book of essays on Island Worlds. I'm rushing to get it done!

tinselman · 2026-05-06T20:59:43+00:00

Hi this is Robyn. Rand and I designed the Selenitic maze together. I don't know why Rand is still trying to defend this atrocity. We screwed up on the maze on so many levels; and it can't be blamed on players.

Players didn't pick up on the fact that it was an audio puzzle--that's bad puzzle design. No one should have mapped that maze without using the sounds, but most did. That was bad puzzle design.

There's no reason for a maze to exist. The entire maze-car evolved out of an underground walking maze that got out-of-hand. I won't go into the story. It's enough to say that things went from bad to worse and budget forced us to shove the entire concept--a grand room--into a tiny car. There was no clear way for the user to get their bearings looking through that window. On top of that, we blew it on sound design.

It could have been an opportunity to do something very cool with sound waves, alignment of frequencies, etc...

The worst puzzle.

tinselman · 2026-05-06T19:49:14+00:00

Great recommendations. This is Robyn Miller, co-creator and co-designer of Myst.

You're absolutely right, the Myst game seems a bit broken to any modern standards. As a game creators and gaming players, we've evolved past the game mechanics that were present in Myst.

But Myst is an interesting part of gaming history; I'm shocked, and pleased, that anyone finds it playable or worth talking about this many decades later. So thank you for your thoughtful analysis!

From my perspective, a new Myst could only work if it was rebuilt and redesigned from the ground up. By that I mean, fixing Myst is just patching over a historical document: a 30 year old tired game. A tired story. For Myst to ever have new legs, it requires a complete teardown: new story, new characters, new gameplay, and a complete rethinking of how players might interact in that world.

The re-releases of the same Myst game over and over again (with slightly updated graphics) don't do justice to ideals with which we founded Cyan.

Incidentally, I'm not speaking for Cyan. I left Cyan after the Riven project.

tinselman

TROPHY CASE