[Eleri]

Originally Posted by Jackal

A news item will appear once we have something a little more concrete to say. It's not that we disbelieve the source, but so far the only story is, "Grey Dragon's blog says everyone's laid off." The Joystiq wording that the creators of Myst have announced the layoffs isn't really true.

But thanks for the heads-up, and welcome to AG.

It's in a couple other Cyantists' blogs, and it was confimed by RAWA and others in CyanChat yesterday. So while there's no 'official' announcement, it's no myth, either.

I can fully see AG waiting for official news before plastering it on the front page, though.

[colpet]

Myst is disgusting. And the fact that it's considered an adventure game disgusts me even more (actually, if it wasn't (wrongly) considered an adventure game I wouldn't care). I wasn't going to write this post since I'm tired of this old argument, but since no one else posted it, then I will - f*ck Cyan. F*ck Myst. I'm celebrating!

At the very least you could have just refrained from posting. These type of negative comments serve no purpose other than to rile some of the members, my self included.

[Jake]

Heh I don't really even consider the Myst games adventure games in the strictest sense, but that doesn't mean I think they're bad. Cyan was clearly a company of extremely talented creative individuals, and to see them broken up to go their separate ways is sad sad news regardless of in which genre you'd classify their games! Jesus.

[fov]

Welcome to the forum, entica. I edited the title of the first thread to make it a little more descriptive. I'm going to merge your thread with that one.

EDIT: And now I have!

[Captain Blondebeard]

Originally Posted by colpet

At the very least you could have just refrained from posting. These type of negative comments serve no purpose other than to rile some of the members, my self included.

Bravo. I cant believe someone would be so blockheaded which makes me kind of believe he is just joking to get everyone revved up.

[kbruner]

I'm a big fan of Cyan and the Myst games.

I for one am very sad to see them go...

[EyeDE]

Seeing Cyan close there doors is so sad.

Cyan Worlds was not about money, they wanted to create worlds, I guess there is no room for dreamers

I think Grey Dragon and RAWA say it best ....

http://www.cyanworlds.com/view.php?xml=cam_goodbye.xml

Thanks for an amazing journey Cyan

-Lynx-

[squarejawhero]

I think it's a bit naive to say a company with employee's wasn't about money - they needed money to create, and Myst was their proven cash-cow. The reason they stuck to the IP was money... but they also wanted to push creative boundaries within it. Which is what part of the problem with Uru was, it wasn't an area naturally suited to what they were trying to do, sadly, and they struggled with it and paid the price with their investors and publisher. When it all comes down to it, it's all about cash.

Uru required a user-base to recoup the money spent on development, but the game itself had a host of problems in upholding the model it had built for itself - obscure controls, short single-player game (even if that wasn't meant to be to start with), nothing to do in the MMO section, bad netcode, a story only fans could understand or appreciate.

It's amazing they manager to uphold the license of Myst for as long as they did, and for that they should be proud. It wasn't much loved outside of its fanbase towards the end - Myst IV changed that with a lot of recognition from mainstream sites and magazines, though. Unfortunately, Myst is also what killed Cyan. They're started creating original ideas within an old framework, and there's only so far you can push that... they say familiarity breeds contempt. There's proof of that all over every AG forum out there.

It's sad Cyan might not be able to move onto new IP's, but I live in hope. I'd like to see them break through out of the creative shackles they created for themselves. Because Myst had a huge fanbase that scrutinised everything they did, I'm sure the next project, whatever it is, will be a big breath of fresh air for all involved. I get antsy working on the same project for over a year, so I can't imagine how they feel.

[Martin Gantefoehr]

The reason they stuck to the IP was money... but they also wanted to push creative boundaries within it. Which is what part of the problem with Uru was, it wasn't an area naturally suited to what they were trying to do, sadly, and they struggled with it and paid the price with their investors and publisher.

The tragedy of this is that they did what many folks expect: They threw an insane amount of money at using the latest technology, reaching out for a new platform, innovating and varying gameplay. They failed, despite having more than a decade of development experience, a team of brillant creatives, a world-famous franchise, a major publisher, and an unparalleled success story.

Some may be happy to see them fall, for whatever cynical reason; I think they deserve the utmost respect for what they've achived with their company and their games.

[Eleri]

Originally Posted by Martin Gantefoehr

The tragedy of this is that they did what many folks expect: They threw an insane amount of money at using the latest technology, reaching out for a new platform, innovating and varying gameplay. They failed, despite having more than a decade of development experience, a team of brillant creatives, a world-famous franchise, a major publisher, and an unparalleled success story.

Some may be happy to see them fall, for whatever cynical reason; I think they deserve the utmost respect for what they've achived with their company and their games.

Exactly. And now they're closing not because they've run out of ideas, or they've fallen behind technologicaly. No, they're closing because the people with the checkbooks have gone away. Sucks. Would suck for any game maker making games that people really enjoy.

And it pisses me off, not just for Cyan's sake, but because I want to know why its getting so darn hard to find games that don't revolve around killing things with gun or sword. Games that take grey matter to play, and not reflexes. Are we just not being vocal enough consumers? Are we not spending our gaming dollars right?

Maybe it's worth buying up adventure games, and then donating them to charity, just to pump some blood into the market.

And I totally agree with SJH. It was a good time to wrap up Myst, and move on. Cyan was ready to spread new wings. Rand was excited about Latus, and that it was going to be something new and different. *sigh* Frustrating.

[squarejawhero]

Unfortunately, that's the way business is. I'm suffering from it now in my own work. The Myst label simply wasn't viable for the cost of the games and Cyan, regardless of our own personal feelings towards it, had a black mark next to their name in Uru.

As for non-violent games, hang around here more often! There are TONS out there. I'm just plowing through Another Code, Electroplankton and Nintendogs on the DS, Bone from Telltale coming out soon, Dreamfall, Tunguska, 80 Days, Paradise, Broken Sword 4, And Then There Were None, Martin's new game Overclocked, which questions violence in society from what I can gather... there's loads out there if you look. Even Farenheit, which might contain violence, makes you use your head over everything else.

Sure, most of the big titles are action-backed Hollywood blockbusters, but then that's always been the case!

[mszv]

Yeah, there's lots of games to play, but if one is looking for a big beautiful very expensive to make game like Uru, a game that cost oodles of money to make, odds are good it won't be an adventure game. If one wants a game with a huge beautiful world, I think that either an MMORPG (huge persistent world!), or a nice big RPG like Morrowind might be the game. For all that, there's plenty of adventure games to play, but they don't have big blockbuster sales.

Also, even Cyan knows, as far as I can tell, from a post Chris Brandenkamp (one of their senior people) made, that if they come back they'll have to be "lean and mean", just like other independent development companies. I think that's going to mean a different sort of game. If adventure games aren't big blockbuster sellers, then I think that means that you have to adjust your development costs accordingly. I

Jack's article on Cyan is out - main page of Adventure Gamers. It's a really good little article.

[fov]

Originally Posted by mszv

Jack's article on Cyan is out - main page of Adventure Gamers. It's a really good little article.

Link.

I agree, it's more than just a news item... also a nice little tribute to Cyan.

[Aj_]

Lets not bash MYST in this thread... but other games, bash away, with the blood and the guts, that's all they're about. The people who are glad that Cyan won't be making any more games are monsters, what were they doing to hurt you?!? They built this genre, MYST wasn't an adventure, but by god it dominated the genre in all its glory. Damn people and their cynical reasons, shame on you!

People have lost their jobs, that's not uncommon, but no one should be celebrating about that or that MYST fans won't have another game made by Cyan, as far as I can see no one here did so people seem to be flying off the handle for no reason at all.

This company was the main company that pushed CD-ROM usage in games, which had its downsides but was the only way forwards and built the foundation for great progression in games. On the other hand it's hardly unfair or uncommon that publishers and backers wouldn't give money to Cyan on a new, costly, and risky project when URU didn't work on a number of levels, most importantly, it didn't work on the lowest level, it was released without multiplayer which as I understand it was the main reason for the game. It's happened before, and it will happen again.

[Legolas813]

Gamespot's audio commentary on Cyan's closing (skip 5:45 in):

http://download.gamespot.com/d3/free...pot_090705.mp3 (NO 56K)

Excerpt: "I think Myst was sort of the last game in the great adventure gaming genre, which was like what I grew up with..."

[MdaG]

I think it's a good thing that the end the Myst saga. Better to quit while you're ahead. There will be other sagas, revealing other worlds. I for one like variety and there will always be storytellers. A few of them are bound to be in the adventure game business.

[Legolas813]

UPDATE:

http://www.thegreydragon.com/2005/09...-say-much.html

"Friday, September 23, 2005
The Return of the King

I really can’t say much about it, but Cyan Worlds is back. I can’t say for how long, but I can say we are back. We all moved into the cool building this last week. I’m glad to be back. It feels good.

Peace

posted by GD at 9/23/2005 09:44:00 AM "

[Fien]

"I can't say much"...?

I'm getting awfully tired of these little blog mysteries.
All this excitement over hot air. Pfffff...

[squarejawhero]

I heard they're back, but that doesn't mean any new AG's coming from them. Which is interesting!

[samIamsad]

Don't you worry, the short review of Myst V in our TV magazine says:
"...the makers of Myst are already brooding over new plans..."