{"id":23600,"date":"2024-03-13T10:39:28","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T14:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/?post_type=games&#038;p=23600"},"modified":"2025-04-03T09:36:02","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T13:36:02","slug":"myst","status":"publish","type":"games","link":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/myst\/","title":{"rendered":"Myst"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Myst Background\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lNudZbIne8U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Inducted: 2024 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most games reward action, but <em>Myst <\/em>was something altogether different. The brainchild of brothers Robyn and Rand Miller, it gave players the chance to explore a haunting world in order to decipher the mystery behind its creators. Featuring more than 2,500 beautiful, evocative screens, it boasted a level of depth and immersion never before seen in computer games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the 1990s, consoles dominated the video game market but as it turned out 1993 was an <em>annus mirabilis <\/em>(wonderful year) for computer games. Two games\u2014that in many ways were almost polar opposites\u2014appeared that year: <em>Myst <\/em>and <em>DOOM<\/em>. Whereas <em>DOOM <\/em>was a fast-paced, adrenaline-fueling shooter, <em>Myst <\/em>was a slow-paced, contemplative game that inspired wonder.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/05\/WVGHOF-inductees_MYST-042024-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Myst game boxes\" class=\"wp-image-24187\" style=\"width:521px;height:521px\" width=\"521\" height=\"521\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/05\/WVGHOF-inductees_MYST-042024-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/05\/WVGHOF-inductees_MYST-042024-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/05\/WVGHOF-inductees_MYST-042024-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/05\/WVGHOF-inductees_MYST-042024-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/05\/WVGHOF-inductees_MYST-042024-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/05\/WVGHOF-inductees_MYST-042024-2048x2048.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/05\/WVGHOF-inductees_MYST-042024-600x600.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 521px) 100vw, 521px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Robyn and Rand Miller\u2019s first games were for children, but these early games possessed many of the qualities that would characterize <em>Myst<\/em>: boundaryless exploration, nonlinear stories, and enchanting characters. In 1991 Sunsoft of Japan contracted with their company Cyan to create a game for older audiences with advanced graphics. The result was <em>Myst<\/em>, a game that challenged adults to explore the lands (\u201cAges\u201d) in the game, solve its embedded puzzles, and unravel the mystery at the heart of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 1990s were a turning point in computer technology. Millions of people were buying home computers equipped with CD-ROM players, and these consumers offered a ready market for new games. Traditionally home computer games had been sold mostly to male users, with strategy and fantasy games predominating, but <em>Myst <\/em>was something different, appealing to casual users, especially women. <em>Myst <\/em>was not the first CD-ROM game (<em>7th Guest, <\/em>for example, had shown how CD-ROMs could be used to create lush, atmospheric visuals) but it quickly became the best-selling CD-ROM computer game of 1993. <em>Myst <\/em>sold well for the next decade (ranking in the top five best-selling computer games in 1997), and it remained the best-selling PC game of all time until 2001 when it lost that title to <em>The Sims <\/em>(2000). <em>Myst <\/em>eventually sold around six million copies, not only for PCs but also for consoles, handhelds, and today\u2019s smart phones and tablets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Miller brothers wanted to appeal to non-gamers, and that showed in their lush environments and the way they incorporated puzzles in a way that felt integral to the game, rather than separate. Auditory and visual clues were consonant with the game\u2019s geography and story, rather than arbitrarily placed to slow down the player\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To build the game, Robyn and Rand Miller took advantage of new software and hardware tools to overcome numerous technical limitations. CD-ROMs offered greatly enhanced storage capacity, but single-speed CD-ROMs limited how fast content could be accessed, which helped dictate the design of discrete islands that could be called up one at a time. To achieve their beautiful imaging, the Cyan team used StrataVision 3D to render maps that were too complex to draw by hand. HyperCard allowed them to make adjustments to the game relatively easily in the course of development. Halfway through the game\u2019s development QuickTime came out, which allowed embedded video that moved the story along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In many ways, <em>Myst <\/em>was ahead of its time, and so its influence can be hard to pinpoint. Unlike <em>DOOM<\/em>, which jumpstarted the popularity of the first-person shooter, it did not really help create a new genre. It certainly marked a break from earlier adventure games such as <em>King\u2019s Quest <\/em>and <em>Gabriel Knight<\/em>, exercising an immersive power on players unequalled by earlier adventure games. And yet in the years that followed its release, few other games came out that matched <em>Myst\u2019s <\/em>ability to open imaginative worlds, though Cyan itself produced sequels such as <em>Riven <\/em>and <em>Myst III: Exile <\/em>(along with lots of books, a soundtrack, and other tie-in products).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps <em>Myst<\/em>\u2019s influence was most felt in later open-world games like <em>Skyrim <\/em>and the Grand Theft Auto series, that gave players freedom to explore, even though these games often emphasized violence that was missing from <em>Myst<\/em>. Or maybe its impact is seen in the subsequent growth of casual games, for <em>Myst <\/em>showed that creating a game that appeals to people of all ages, genders, and interest can create a hit. Or perhaps its influence is evident in indie games like <em>Quern <\/em>or <em>The Witness <\/em>that partook of the game\u2019s atmosphere and approach to game mechanics. Whatever its long-term influence, <em>Myst <\/em>was a work of artistic genius that captured the fancy of an entire generation of computer game players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Did You Know?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Myst<\/em> codeveloper Robyn Miller was in part inspired by his reading Jules Verne\u2019s 1875 novel <em>The Mysterious Island<\/em>, the sequel to Verne\u2019s <em>Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea <\/em>(1870).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related Content<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/blog\/that-point-and-click-puzzle-game-from-the-90s-myst\/\">That Point and Click Puzzle Game from the 90s: Myst<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/blog\/preserving-the-broderbund-story\/\">Preserving the Br\u00f8derbund Story<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/archives.museumofplay.org\/repositories\/3\/resources\/37\">Br\u00f8derbund Software, Inc. Collection<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Inducted: 2024 <\/strong><br \/>\nMost games reward action, but Myst was something altogether different. The brainchild of brothers Robyn and Rand Miller, it gave players the chance to explore a haunting world in order to decipher the mystery behind its creators. Featuring more than 2,500 beautiful, evocative screens, it boasted a level of depth and immersion never before seen in computer games.<br \/>\nIn the 1990s, consoles dominated the video game market but as it turned out 1993 was an annus mirabilis (wonderful year) [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":23585,"template":"","year_inducted":[512],"class_list":["post-23600","games","type-games","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","year_inducted-512","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Myst - The Strong National Museum of Play<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/myst\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Myst - The Strong National Museum of Play\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Inducted: 2024 Most games reward action, but Myst was something altogether different. The brainchild of brothers Robyn and Rand Miller, it gave players the chance to explore a haunting world in order to decipher the mystery behind its creators. Featuring more than 2,500 beautiful, evocative screens, it boasted a level of depth and immersion never before seen in computer games. In the 1990s, consoles dominated the video game market but as it turned out 1993 was an annus mirabilis (wonderful year) [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/myst\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strong National Museum of Play\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheStrongMuseum\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-03T13:36:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Myst-1024x1024.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@museumofplay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/myst\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/myst\/\",\"name\":\"Myst - The Strong National Museum of Play\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/myst\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/myst\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Myst.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-13T14:39:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-03T13:36:02+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/myst\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/myst\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/myst\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Myst.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Myst.jpg\",\"width\":2509,\"height\":2509,\"caption\":\"MYST game boxes\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/myst\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Myst\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/\",\"name\":\"The Strong National Museum of Play\",\"description\":\"Visit the Ultimate Play Destination\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Strong National Museum of Play\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2021\/05\/The-Strong-Museum-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2021\/05\/The-Strong-Museum-Logo.png\",\"width\":720,\"height\":216,\"caption\":\"The Strong National Museum of Play\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheStrongMuseum\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/museumofplay\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/museumofplayroc\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/the-strong\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MuseumofPlay\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Strong_National_Museum_of_Play\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Myst - The Strong National Museum of Play","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/myst\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Myst - The Strong National Museum of Play","og_description":"Inducted: 2024 Most games reward action, but Myst was something altogether different. The brainchild of brothers Robyn and Rand Miller, it gave players the chance to explore a haunting world in order to decipher the mystery behind its creators. Featuring more than 2,500 beautiful, evocative screens, it boasted a level of depth and immersion never before seen in computer games. In the 1990s, consoles dominated the video game market but as it turned out 1993 was an annus mirabilis (wonderful year) [...]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/myst\/","og_site_name":"The Strong National Museum of Play","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheStrongMuseum\/","article_modified_time":"2025-04-03T13:36:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":1024,"url":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Myst-1024x1024.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@museumofplay","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/myst\/","url":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/myst\/","name":"Myst - The Strong National Museum of Play","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/myst\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/myst\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Myst.jpg","datePublished":"2024-03-13T14:39:28+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-03T13:36:02+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/myst\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/myst\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/myst\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Myst.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Myst.jpg","width":2509,"height":2509,"caption":"MYST game boxes"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/games\/myst\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Myst"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/","name":"The Strong National Museum of Play","description":"Visit the Ultimate Play Destination","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/#organization","name":"The Strong National Museum of Play","url":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2021\/05\/The-Strong-Museum-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/app\/uploads\/2021\/05\/The-Strong-Museum-Logo.png","width":720,"height":216,"caption":"The Strong National Museum of Play"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheStrongMuseum\/","https:\/\/x.com\/museumofplay","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/museumofplayroc\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/the-strong\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MuseumofPlay","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Strong_National_Museum_of_Play"]}]}},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/games\/23600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/games"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/games"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"year_inducted","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/year_inducted?post=23600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}