Do you think that there is room for a Myst-like in the current game industry ? There were couple of pale copies (I will not name any), the Cyan guys are working on the online version, and many more to come. Do you think that with a team of very good graphists, a good programer, one or two hundred good puzzles, a good story, a huge computing power, 1000 liters of strong coffee, a Myst-like game could be issued on the market and meet a public ? Also, is there any risk for Cyan/Ubi to sue a team, just because they re-use their game concept (pre-calc ray-tracing, solve puzzle to open door to solve puzzle to open to solve to open, solve, open ...) ? Of course the story would not have anything in common with Myst universe, no book, no parallel universe. I am kind of halfway through the design and I do not want to spend more time on it if there is no change of getting the game on the market one day. Add: Thanks a lot to those who sent back comments. As per a new gameplay, my idea of an upgrade of the Myst concept is that the player will control 5 caracters (robots ?) and that some of the puzzle will need 1, 2, 3 or 5 of the robots (caracters) to act in a coordinated way. I also have in mind to push up the interaction between the various puzzle. The basic is idea is that a given amount of energy has to be spread among the various puzzle for them to operate. As for the level of difficult that one of you raised, I personally believe that the people kin to buy such a game will be looking forward to more difficult puzzle, with less clue. I am also looking into a false ending, as I always find ending a game frustrating (I always want more). So just when the player thinks he reached the end of the game, there is still 1/3 to be played. I am just wondering if the end of the last third should not have a false ending as well with another 1/9. And so on. [edited by - stfmnsl on August 5, 2003 10:01:51 AM]

quote: Original post by stfmnsl
Do you think that there is room for a Myst-like in the current game industry ? There were couple of pale copies (I will not name any), the Cyan guys are working on the online version, and many more to come.
Do you think that with a team of very good graphists, a good programer, one or two hundred good puzzles, a good story, a huge computing power, 1000 liters of strong coffee, a Myst-like game could be issued on the market and meet a public ?

Also, is there any risk for Cyan/Ubi to sue a team, just because they re-use their game concept (pre-calc ray-tracing, solve puzzle to open door to solve puzzle to open to solve to open, solve, open ...) ? Of course the story would not have anything in common with Myst universe, no book, no parallel universe.

I am kind of halfway through the design and I do not want to spend more time on it if there is no change of getting the game on the market one day.

I'm pretty sure Ubi/Myst wasn't the first game to have this concept of doing one thing to open another. I can think of games back in the Atari 2600 days that had similar concepts (although graphics were obviously different). As long as you don't reverse engineer their code, I don't beleive there's much they can do if the story line and stuff is different. Pre-rendered scenes was nothing new, and have been around since way before myst also.


--- Edit ---
On a side note, I didn't really care for Myst, so probably wouldn't be interested in anything similar . The graphics were cheesy, the game was HUGE in size, and the game play was just way to slow paced for me. I'd rather a real-time game that is similar, where you aren't constrained to the path-way, with a bit more action involved.


[edited by - Ready4Dis on August 4, 2003 9:31:55 AM]

I wouldn''t mind atleast trying a Myst-like game.

And yeah, the first game to work like that was, I THINK, The 7th Guest.

Myst , like The 7th Guest , was not a "great game" but it was the right game, in the right place, at the right time. The product was released just as SVGA graphics cards were appearing/becoming popular. Although the puzzles were not always very good the game was one of the first products to really show off the abilities of these new cards and as such it was purchased by people who wanted to show off their new technology.

As one of the first it was able to sell on technology (graphics) alone to a mass market that wasn''t overly worried about "game play". Along with The 7th Guest it became a measure by which all similar titles were tested; but those that followed also needed to provide a better game play experience. Few did and few emulated Mysts success. The Myst franchise still has value but I can''t think of any similar games that have any success. There just isn''t anything special about that type of product and the restrictions of the game engine really show through.

Dan Marchant
Obscure Productions
Game Development & Design consultant

These things probably have a good chance in the pocketPC market. Tunr-based games should also do well. The virtue being that they don''t require the solid concentration that other genres do, so you can play them on the train etc.

The is room in the market for a Myst like game ... but not room for a blockbuster.

Myst only became the success and franchise it is due to the immense word of mouth about how "impressive" it looked, and the "success", as success nearly always does, snowballed.

There are many "adventure" games released every year ... just look at the EB store shelves ... there is an ongoing market for these types of games, in the same way that people still buy westerns and mysteries (books i mean), because it suits their particular interest / style.

When thinking about making games, and the market, you have to realize that the "buzz" is not a good guiding factor for all markets .. it is really only acurate for the hardcore gamer and emerging markets ...

just as film critics never really understand the "b" market, nor even bother to watch and review the many clones of movie stereotypes ... game reviews all want to push 3GHz machines with GeForceFX''s to their limit, to be impressed ... which is not really the same inspiration that leads a real gamer to purchase Bard''s tale 1-3, Dragon Wars, Wastland, and the hundreds of other similar titles ... (a genre that was immensly popular in the 80s, even without much innovation beyond the first few games ... because people LIKED the style).

I do however agree that the limited game engine of most of the Myst like games (hell I had a game called "The Dark Eye" as well as the Queensryche game "The Promised Land") does prevent it from crossing over or keeping the interest of many people, but there are still many who like not having to wade through a million meaningless interactions to advance the plot ...

In fact, the popularity of cheat codes, and hint books, should clue you in on the fact that most people find games too hard and don''t really want to spend the time figuring them out by themselves ... they partially just want the story elements to be revealed to them, and interest them ...

There are several new myst-like adventure games release each year. They are all low cost titles, and mainly historic simulations. But people still make and sell them, they will never be highly succful games but there is still a small market for them. Maybe if you found a way to give players a new style and type of gameplay you might have a hit. But it would have to be the kind of leap that went from lucasarts and sierra type adventure games to the 7th guest.

-----------------------------------------------------
Writer, Programer, Cook, I''m a Jack of all Trades
Current Design project
Chaos Factor Design Document

Well, im not sure about Myst like games (pre-rendered first person camera), but the adventure genre in certainly not dead. if ur a lucasarts fan, u''ll kno what i mean.

they still make monkey island games (which surprize, surprize, sell better in europe than they do in the states), full throttle 2 and sam&max2 are coming out later this year or next year. plus, Grim Fandango (released a few years ago) actually won a few game of the year awards (as i recall it beat Half-Life in gamespot.com''s end of the year awards).

so, no ... the adventure genre is not dead. but if ur gonna make an adventure game, make it logical, make it humourous, make it creative ... that makes a great adventure game

SiN

Actually a rather large title has recently been released and a sequel is soon to be released. The game is Siberia (the sequal being Siberia 2, go figure). I haven''t played it but the artwork and atmosphere are very stunning. I despise puzzle games so it''s not for me, but I think it did pretty well. I agree with the comment that there''s room for one but not as a blockbuster.

When you find yourself in the company of a halfling and an ill-tempered Dragon, remember, you do not have to outrun the Dragon...

You can't sue someone for having similar gameplay. If you could, we might have 2 or 3 new games per year...but they'd have interesting gameplay.

Also, you can certainly reverse engineer anything without fear of litigation. As long as you don't use any copyrighted stuff like music and sounds, you're fine.

New Myst-like game: Darkfall.

[edited by - Lysander on August 6, 2003 11:56:33 AM]