PlayMaker NZ

AGW Retrospective part 2

Continuing on with the retrospectives from the Auckland Game Works meetup, we’re looking at the well known Myst, an early “indie” success story (the “indie” tag is debatable, according to some, but it’s the angle the media chose to take at the time).

Presenting the tale of Myst on the night was flash developer Jeff Nusz, responsible for the well received adventure puzzler Sprout, and other gems.

Jeff raised the point that just because something’s popular doesn’t mean its crap – and it’s a point worth making; often, we equate general popularity with quality that appeals to the lowest common denominator but those who haven’t played Myst because of its mass appeal are missing out (it was the biggest selling PC game ever until The Sims took its spot).

With its immediacy and simple, intuitive interface (you have a mouse… and you click on things…) Myst throws you straight into a world of questions that compel you to click further to find out what’s going on. This is not an easy balance to maintain – being revealing enough at the right time to keep your interest, and challenging enough to keep you engaged.

Adventure puzzlers of this type are very commonplace now but Myst still stands out as a classic of the genre thanks to its involving storyline and well constructed teaser narrative. If you haven’t already experienced Myst for yourself there are a number of rereleases and new versions available now, including a version with free-roaming, real-time 3D graphics instead of the pre-rendered stills of the original (realMyst).