Wolf - Myst and Riven: The World of the Dni

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The Landmark Video Games book series is the first in the English language in which each book addresses a specific video game or video game series in depth, examining it in the light of a variety of approaches, including game design, genre, form, content, meanings, and its context within video game history. The specific games or game series chosen are historically significant and influential games recognized not only for their quality of gameplay but also for setting new standards, introducing new ideas, incorporating new technology, or otherwise changing the course of a genre or area of video game history. The Landmark Video Games book series hopes to provide an intimate and detailed look at the history of video games through a study of exemplars that have paved the way and set the course that others would follow or emulate, and that became an important part of popular culture.

DIGITALCULTUREBOOKS is an imprint of the University of Michigan Press and the Scholarly Publishing Office of the University of Michigan Library dedicated to publishing innovative and accessible work exploring new media and their impact on society, culture, and scholarly communication.

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THE WORLD OF THE D'NI

Mark J. P. Wolf

THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PRESS AND THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LIBRARY
ANN ARBOR

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Copyright by Mark J. P. Wolf 2011
Some rights reserved

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

Published in the United States of America by The University of Michigan Press and The University of Michigan Library Manufactured in the United States of America Printed on acid-free paper

2014 2013 2012 2011 4 3 2 1

A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wolf, Mark J. P.

Myst and riven : the world of the D'ni / Mark J. P. Wolf.
p. cm. (Landmark video games)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-472-07149-4 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-472-05149-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-472-02749-1 (e-book)

1. Myst. 2. Riven. 3. Computer adventure games. I. Title. II. Series

GV1469.25.M95W35 2011

793.93'2dc22 2010047521

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First, I would like to thank the Miller brothers and Cyan Worlds (formerly Cyan); Myst (1993) and Riven (1997) are among my favorite games, and I have come to appreciate them even more during the writing of this book. I would also like to thank Warren Robinett for technical information, Tom Krenzke for reference assistance, and especially Richard RAWA Watson, Cyan Worlds programmer and D'ni historian, for graciously answering my many questions, reading the manuscript, and loaning me his copies of The Manhole (1987) and Cosmic Osmo (1989) for research purposes. Thanks should also go to Matteo Bitanti and Costa Nolan, who published an earlier version of this book in Italian in 2006, and to Thomas Dwyer and his team at the University of Michigan Press for the current version. Finally, I must thank my wife, Diane, and sons Michael, Christian, and Francis for their support and patience with me as I wrote and revised this book. And, as always, thanks be to God.

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Myst (1993) and Riven: The Sequel to Myst (1997) are landmark video games not only within the genre of adventure games but within video game history as well. Not only was Myst for almost a decade the best-selling video game of all time, but it helped to introduce CD-ROM-based gaming and encouraged the sales of CD-ROM drives so that people could play it. It raised the bar for graphics, world-building, and immersive gameplay, and these aspects would be advanced even further with Riven four years later. Myst had some of the best computer-generated imagery to be found in games of its day (which were considered to be photorealistic at the time, though the meaning of the term has changed as graphics have grown more sophisticated), and location-based ambience that gradually changed as one moved from place to place. The world of Myst was large enough to make exploration one of the game's main goals, and was the only goal until the game's embedded narrative unfolded enough to suggest other objectives for players to attempt. The rich graphics, sound, integrated detail, sense of a three-dimensional geography, and sense of place that each location was able to invoke combined to provide an immersive gameplay experience unlike any other that players had previously encountered. The unhurried, contemplative pace, and the fact you could not be killed in the game, kept players from leaving the world for hours at a time, as they sought, bit by bit, to uncover the hidden secrets and storylines in the messages left behind and the clues in the world's details that slowly came together as the solutions to puzzles and a tale of events. Often, puzzle-solving success opened up new areas of inquiry, both narratively and geographically, as new Ages became accessible for the player to travel to. And Riven continued all of these trends, as well as extending the storylines begun in Myst, expanding to five CD-ROMs, Page 2 compared to the single one on which Myst was stored. Riven's world and its design and puzzles were even more integrated with its storyline than Myst's were, and were even more difficult, and enigmatic, as a result.

In an industry known for games centered around shooting, fighting, racing, conflict, and high-speed action, Myst and Riven stood out as something new and different, games in which contemplation was valued and mood and atmosphere were important, evoking subtler emotions than most games were capable of doing. Despite this difference, both games were highly successful and proved to be crossover games, appealing to women as well as men, and audiences of a variety of ages from children to the elderly. CD-ROMs were clearly becoming the medium for games, displacing cartridges and diskettes, and game worlds would have to grow to keep up with players expectations. A few years later, massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) would begin to appear, with large, explorable worlds far more enormous than those of CD-ROM-based games. Myst and Riven had set new standards and raised expectations, and the adventure genre, and video games in general, would never be the same.

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The first time I encountered Myst was at the 1994 Digital World Expo in Los Angeles. A back room, away from the noise of the main convention halls, was lined with software booths where companies were promoting and hyping their latest products. Among them one vendor area stood out not for what it had, but for what it lacked: the lighting was minimal, almost dark, and there was no one to answer questions, not even a booth for that matter, just three white pedestals with computers on them, running the same program. The only signage was a white card that simply said MYST with no further explanation. Each computer displayed a different screen from the game, wherever the last participant had left off. Drawn by curiosity, conference attendees wandered into the quiet space and attempted to find out what exactly this low-profile piece of software was, an experience very much like the game itself, with no directions or obvious objective, just the free exploration of a contemplative landscape. And I (along with many others, no doubt) was hooked.