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[vid]

I loved these games back in the day, and I'm not sure if I ever finished Riven, though I think I still have the MacOS (System 9 BITCHES) back in my parents house.

Didn't marty O'Donnell (Of Halo's singing monks fame) do the music for Riven?

He was one of the sound designers for Riven, as well as Tim Larkin. Robyn Miller composed all of the music for the game, while the others were responsible for things like sound effects and audio mixing. Marty is also responsible for the Flintstones Vitamins jingle.

The Myst series is one of my absolute favorites in gaming, or fiction in general for that matter. Myst/realMYST, Riven, Uru and the three novels tell one of the most well put together histories I've ever felt lucky enough to experience, and Myst III: Exile adds a nice little side story to that.

Myst IV: Revelation is a different beast, however... while Myst/realMYST, Riven, and Uru were all debeloped by Cyan, and Myst III: Exile was outsourced to a small company called Presto, Myst IV: Revelation was put together by a team at Ubisoft who really couldn't capture the "feel" of Myst at all, trying to push the series towards a more 'mystical' sort of slant.

Myst V: End of Ages was also made by Cyan, cobbled together out of previously unused assets for Uru Live, and was an attempt to simultaneously wrap up the stories presented in both Myst and Uru, as well as finish their contract with Ubisoft. As a result, the final game in the Myst series had some interesting puzzles and gameplay mechanics, but a story that was lacking, and only really made sense if you were extremely familiar with all of the history leading up to it.

Myst Online: Uru Live was the second attempt at turning Uru into a profitable game... and again, didn't quite work out. In the process, MOUL managed to mangle the existing Uru/D'ni canon into something that's no longer "believable". Even so, the game was a lot of fun, and a free version is still running today for those who want to continue exploring D'ni online with other players. (www.mystonline.com)

Despite the missteps that occurred after Ubisoft's involvement with the series, these are some of the finest adventure games you'll ever play, and if you avoid Myst IV and the more recent Uru canon, is one of the most realistic and solidly put together worlds you can ever have the pleasure of exploring.

tl;dr I love the Myst series more than probably any other games, except for some problems that got pushed onto the series later.

 

[robor]

Ah Riven, quite possibly the best adventure game ever made.

 

[faceless007]

Didn't marty O'Donnell (Of Halo's singing monks fame) do the music for Riven?

No, he did sound design. The frog in Riven is called a "ytram" after him. Music was by Robyn Miller (one of the co-designers and Rand's brother).

Wired did a pretty in-depth article on the making of Riven back in 1997. Thankfully the whole thing is up on their site.

Edit: viiiiiiiidddddd

 

[faceless007]

Riven - http://store.steampowered.com/app/63610/ - $4.99

you know you want to

For anyone wondering: even though it says not compatible with Windows XP there, I have XP and I have successfully got that version to run, albeit unstably and with lock-ups. But going by the Steam forums, that problem isn't restricted to XP.

I ran a file comparison program, and that version is the same one as was on the Ubisoft 10th Anniversary DVD Collection. Oddly, I can get that version to run just fine, which implies the problem is specific to something about how Steam handles the game or maybe the version of Quicktime Steam installs.

 

[Roto13]

I like how they apparently didn't want to call it "Myst 2" but they totally wanted to make sure everyone knew it was the sequel to Myst so they just called it "Riven: The Sequel to Myst" like that sounds better.

 

[BarrenMind]

Fantastic thread, brings back a lot of wonderful memories. I've made a habit of replaying Riven every few years, waiting just long enough so that it remains relatively fresh and puzzling each time.

Now that you've played it, I do recommend hunting down one of these: Official Strategy Guide

It's been a long time since I've read it, but I remember it having at least two different kinds of walkthroughs. One was a boring, straight forward, bulleted list taking you along the critical path, but the other was a fleshed out story written from the perspective of your character with his notes and thoughts about the environments and puzzles he encounters. The written narrative was incredibly interesting, especially at points where I realized the writer and myself had come to the same conclusions. Really wish I hadn't misplaced my copy of that book.

 

[Vexidus]

This thread needs more pictures!

This Riven TV commercial still gives me chills.

I absolutely adored this game. I came into the party a little later, buying the first anniversary set that came with Myst and Riven, journal, Making of Riven, etc. I was a little young for it at the time, in my young teens, but I was in love with the atmosphere and the whole world that invited you in. I had played Myst before buying that set, and I loved that game too. I found the puzzles hard at the time though, so I had to resort to using a guide a few times, but enjoyed the rich music, graphics, and everything about the places you got to visit.

I don't know how many hours I spent playing Riven, just sitting in the world and soaking everything up. The beautiful music, the stunning visuals, the detailed wildlife you get to see, the interesting artifacts from different cultures, etc. The world was just so well-conceived and tight. I finished the game with some help from a walkthrough toward the end, but only after exhausting every option I thought I had. The real joy came from being in the world and seeing how everything pieced together.

I also loved watching the Making of Riven, it really gives you a good look at how detailed the world really is. I highly recommend watching it. Every once in a while I break out the Myst games and go through them again. Even though I already know the solutions to the puzzles, it's still enjoyable to soak up the worlds again, and remember what it was like the first time going through. I ought to do that again soon!

Brilliant games.

 

[wrowa]

The DS version of Myst is supposed to be really, really bad, isn't it?

 

[cooljeanius]

My brother and I tried to make some progress on this game again earlier this summer, but no such luck. Just wondering, are all the sections on each disc solvable on that disc? Or do you have to come back to discs you've already done stuff on after going to later discs? Because so far we've been trying to solve everything on one disc before going on to the next, but that's leaving us stuck...

 

[faceless007]

I thought each disc is one of the islands? If so, you can't really play like that; everything is so interconnected that you're often hopping from island to island to check things and revisit locations. It's not like other adventures in chapters where you solve a bunch of discrete puzzles in one location and move on to the next. All of Riven is basically 3 giant puzzles, with the clues to each comprising the entire world.

I'm glad I got the DVD version. I don't know CD-ROM players stayed sane having to swap discs every time they changed islands. :lol I think if you have the space, you can just copy all the data from each disc to your hard drive though.

 

[Stumpokapow]

The DS version of Myst is supposed to be really, really bad, isn't it?

It's not a good port and your 1999 computer can run RealMYST.

 

[Lafiel]

I wish i was as hardcore as the OP. If i tried to play these kind of games i'd probably just look up a walk through eventually.

 

[Fuu]

I was so young and full of ADD, I remember giving up freaking fast on both Myst and Riven. Years later I'm actually glad I didn't try much because it would surely end in frustration. I should probably try playing them now, I still have the CDs somewhere.

 

[wrowa]

It's not a good port and your 1999 computer can run RealMYST.

Problem is that I usually have too much other stuff to do, so that I tend to not finish games when I'm playing them on the PC (well, or on consoles). Myst seems to be good for playing it for one or two hours before going to sleep (like an alternative to a book), but the opinions of the DS version are turning me off. Too bad, but I really doubt that I would be able to finish the game on PC.

 

[The Technomancer]

Riven is my second favorite in the series, and by extension my second favorite adventure game of all time.

I remember the original Myst, which me and my parents played through together, spending nights up poring over things, trying to figure out how to use that damn key in the lighthouse.

Then Riven came along, and it was so much better. The world was larger. The puzzles were better. The visuals were drop dead fucking gorgeous, I just got lost in it. My brother was old enough to play along by then, and it was the first game we ever played through together. When I was a kid the Tram rides and Minecart were the coolest thing ever although for some of the puzzles I had to ask my mother who had already beaten it, hahaha.

Just a few months ago actually I recreated the rotating room puzzle from early on for my D&D campaign, took them a good half hour to figure out.



And then a few years later.....Exile

Myst III: Exile is IMO the best looking game I've ever played (in terms of art style), my favorite adventure game ever made, and just in general, my favorite game ever. Playing it for the first time was one of the greatest times I've ever had with a game. All the devious puzzling from Riven was intact, but it came with the best artistic direction I have ever seen. Walk around Amateria or Edanna or J'Nanin for a while, just looking around the 360 panoramas and then come back and tell me that it doesn't rank up there.

The acting was great, the story, subtle though it was, was great. The atmosphere was the best it had ever been, the subtle signs of the antagonist everywhere were awesome, the music....my god the music I still listen to on a regular basis.

IV wasn't as good, and V I never even played, but Riven and Exile are two of my favorite games of all time.

 

[BarrenMind]

I only played through it once on PS2, but I actually really liked Myst III: Exile. It doesn't hold a candle to Riven for me, but it has its merits and I'd like to play it again.

Unfortunately it's not on Steam, probably never will be. Looks like Gamefly has it in stock though.

EDIT: Despite my history with the series, I'm uninitiated on the first game. I'd like to try it but I'm a little turned off by the idea of a 3d engine in RealMyst. I'd rather play a version with static images.

 

[The Technomancer]

I only played through it once on PS2, but I actually really liked Myst III: Exile. It doesn't hold a candle to Riven for me, but it has its merits and I'd like to play it again.

Unfortunately it's not on Steam, probably never will be. Looks like Gamefly has it in stock though.

EDIT: Despite my history with the series, I'm uninitiated on the first game. I'd like to try it but I'm a little turned off by the idea of a 3d engine in RealMyst. I'd rather play a version with static images.

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/myst_masterpiece_edition



Also still definitely worth a playthrough. If you've played Riven and Exile then parts of it will seem archaic or weird, but its still an excellent adventure.

Man, I remember first seeing this. It blew my mind how good Myst looked, my only experience with games before that was a SNES at my cousin's house. 6 year old me was used to video games as things like Pac-Man and Mario, and here was a full world for me to explore.

EDIT: Listening to the Exile soundtrack right now. Theme of Edanna is soooooooo gooooooood

 

[Inkwell]

I'm very very glad to see this thread. The Myst series is one of my favorites, and it's my favorite kind of adventure games. The exploration and attention to detail are fantastic, and I love that you actually have to solve the puzzles. I also love the whole Myst universe and back story that has been created. I love the novels as well. The stories are great, even though the actual writing isn't particularly amazing. It's a shame that we probably won't ever see a game similar to Riven in scope by Cyan or anyone else ever again.

By the way, there is a Myst film in development. You can follow them at their website here. Supposedly they have some important (I think they said academy award winning) people advising them. Right now they are pitching their film to studios. It's based on the 2nd novel (The Book of Ti'ana), which occurs first chronologically.

 

[Lionheart1827]

By the way, anybody LOST viewers here? I remember when I first started watching LOST and especially during the 2nd season it reminded me a lot of Riven. It was just that "unknown" off-kiltered weirdness that surrounded the series that brought me into that strange Myst universe.

 

[faceless007]

EDIT: Despite my history with the series, I'm uninitiated on the first game. I'd like to try it but I'm a little turned off by the idea of a 3d engine in RealMyst. I'd rather play a version with static images.

The pre-rendered images of Myst have aged (yuk yuk) pretty horribly, it still looks like early 90s CGI and are so low-res that I can't imagine anyone thinking they're tolerable today. I played through realMyst the other day in fact, and it's a much better experience despite some graphical glitches. Easier to navigate the ages and even though it's real-time circa 2000, it looks much better.

Also, amusingly, there's an error in one word of one note in Myst: Masterpiece Edition that gives the wrong directions and, if followed, makes the game unwinnable. Literally, it says "off" where it should say "on." If you know better you can still finish it, but I'm amazed that error made it through.

 

[Prince of Space]

Damn but this thread made me nostalgic for some Myst. Definitely getting both Riven and realMYST from Steam when I get home today, thanks to this thread.

My grandfather and I played Myst shortly after the game was released and enjoyed every minute of it. Sadly, he passed away before Riven was released so I went that game alone and resorted to a guide for a couple of the puzzles (especially the marble grid -- I STILL can't imagine solving that on my own).

I got huge into the series in my early teens. Read all 3 books (Atrus, Ti'ana, and D'ni) and loved the world(s) they all created. As the OP already pointed out, Riven especially felt like a real living, breathing world that you could actually visit and it's a damn shame there aren't more games that strive to achieve that sense of total immersion.

I never quite appreciated the numbered sequels, though. Couldn't really get into Exile -- it just didn't feel the same after Riven, and I never bothered with Revelation or End of Ages, either. I always wanted to try Uru though, as it seemed like the next evolution of the series. Anyone play it? Thoughts?

 

[Inkwell]

By the way, anybody LOST viewers here? I remember when I first started watching LOST and especially during the 2nd season it reminded me a lot of Riven. It was just that "unknown" off-kiltered weirdness that surrounded the series that brought me into that strange Myst universe.

Myst was one of the inspirations for LOST. Here's part of an interview where Damon Lindelof talks about it.

 

[someguyinahat]

I just dragged up my old 5 CD box, but it doesn't install because I'm using a 64-bit Windows Vista. Setting compatibility mode does nothing, and Virtual PC 2007 doesn't help because I don't have any earlier Windows install CDs to actually install to the Virtual PC. So unless someone's got an amazing idea for it to work, I guess I'm stuck. :|

 

[Lionheart1827]

Myst was one of the inspirations for LOST. Here's part of an interview where Damon Lindelof talks about it.

Well that explains it!

 

[The Technomancer]

Myst was one of the inspirations for LOST. Here's part of an interview where Damon Lindelof talks about it.

Haha, that was what originally got me into that show. I watched a few episodes and I was like "wow, this really feels like Myst"

Hmmm...I'm probably going to buy realMyst and Riven off of Steam for the laptop, but I wonder if my Exile discs would install alright....actually, I just wonder where my Exile discs are. Time to go closet diving!

 

[Sixfortyfive]

That reminds me. Folks remember the railway maze in Myst,

Spoiler

where you were supposed to use audio cues to lead you to the exit?

I failed to spot the audio cues.

I mapped the whole damn thing.

I did the same thing.

Now that you've played it, I do recommend hunting down one of these: Official Strategy Guide

It's been a long time since I've read it, but I remember it having at least two different kinds of walkthroughs. One was a boring, straight forward, bulleted list taking you along the critical path, but the other was a fleshed out story written from the perspective of your character with his notes and thoughts about the environments and puzzles he encounters. The written narrative was incredibly interesting, especially at points where I realized the writer and myself had come to the same conclusions. Really wish I hadn't misplaced my copy of that book.

I was actually thumbing through that book a couple weeks ago. I still appreciate how that guide is put together.

Fuck that marble grid puzzle. That's what stopped me as well. I even had the right general idea of what I needed to do to solve it, but it just involved too much backtracking and diagramming for me at that point.

 

[cooljeanius]

I thought each disc is one of the islands? If so, you can't really play like that; everything is so interconnected that you're often hopping from island to island to check things and revisit locations. It's not like other adventures in chapters where you solve a bunch of discrete puzzles in one location and move on to the next. All of Riven is basically 3 giant puzzles, with the clues to each comprising the entire world.

I'm glad I got the DVD version. I don't know CD-ROM players stayed sane having to swap discs every time they changed islands. :lol I think if you have the space, you can just copy all the data from each disc to your hard drive though.

Well, on the one hand, that's good to hear, because that means we aren't stuck, but on the other hand, that sucks, because disc swapping is annoying. I don't know if I'd be able to copy them to my hard drive though, as we play it on our really old iMac that we have to force back to System 9 whenever we want to play it, and I don't think it had a very big hard drive...

 

[luka]

That reminds me. Folks remember the railway maze in Myst,

Spoiler

where you were supposed to use audio cues to lead you to the exit?

I failed to spot the audio cues.

I mapped the whole damn thing.

That one really bugged me. The only way to really recognize the audio cues is to play the mechanical age first, otherwise it's just trial and error. The most annoying and poorly designed section of Myst for sure, especially since you can't skip the movies.

I still have my original discs. About a month ago, I dug them out and was tempted to install. Then I read that SCUMMVM has preliminary support for Myst & Riven. I decided to save myself a lot of headache by waiting for it to be supported in a stable build. I have no desire to pollute my WinXP system with some random old version of quicktime just for this game.

This is fantastic news. I'll have to look into their progress.

I remeber playing through Myst when I was 13 or so and it was such a great experience. I never even tried Riven but the OP has really sold me on it. I will definitely be on the lookout for a way to play it in the future.

Glad to hear it.

Foreignness is key to Myst. No world looks like Asia, or Africa, or South America, or Art Nouveau. No particular historical place or period or style is being evoked. It's not steampunk, it's not cyberpunk. It's foreign. It's alien.

This is spot on. It's a kind of aesthetic that the developers of 3 and 4 just didn't really understand and couldn't properly replicate. When I played Exile and got to that age with all the pagodas and asian architecture I immediately noticed the discrepancy.

I played a bit of End of Ages and even though it keeps the segmented age design again, it seems like a good return to form (the digitized faces on 3d models is fucking creepy though. Yeesha hasn't aged well. :lol ). I was REALLY impressed with the observatory age. Easily one of the most stunning skyboxes I've ever seen and the puzzles seem really well thought out and natural.

 

[epmode]

This thread makes me want to give Myst another go before I get to this. Never played it, despite loving the genre.

Anyway, I grabbed the GOG version of Myst: Masterpiece Edition a while back but the damn thing crashes with a ridiculous Quicktime error only a few minutes in. Windows 7 64

edit: Wait, Myst support in SCUMMVM? God I love that program. That might actually work..

 

[mclem]

That one really bugged me. The only way to really recognize the audio cues is to play the mechanical age first, otherwise it's just trial and error. The most annoying and poorly designed section of Myst for sure, especially since you can't skip the movies.

Didn't even pick it up then. Rotated the bridges (that's what it was for, wasn't it? It's been so long) by experimentation and gut feeling.


Actually, that's probably a reasonable criticism of the series as a whole: the whole "Fiddle until you find out how things work" factor is a bit of a problem when it's possible that you're missing key information from elsewhere, you don't *know* that the information is missing and so you just stumble around via trial and error. That *is* a bit shitty.

But then, if trial and error actually works, maybe it's not so bad. I just can't help feeling I'd have found those puzzles a little more satisfying had I solved them rather than brute forcing them.

I solved the marble grid, and found it immensely satisfying.

 

[vid]

That one really bugged me. The only way to really recognize the audio cues is to play the mechanical age first, otherwise it's just trial and error.

The mazerunner can be solved with some deductive reasoning, actually. The first few 'nodes' of the maze only have two exits... one you come in from, and the next destination. By taking note of the sounds that you hear in these first few nodes, you'll easily be able to work out what's left and then make your way through the maze.

The sounds match up with those found in Mechanical, yes, but that's definitely not the only option besides trial and error. It's just not particularly obvious.

 

[luka]

The mazerunner can be solved with some deductive reasoning, actually. The first few 'nodes' of the maze only have two exits... one you come in from, and the next destination. By taking note of the sounds that you hear in these first few nodes, you'll easily be able to work out what's left and then make your way through the maze.

The sounds match up with those found in Mechanical, yes, but that's definitely not the only option besides trial and error. It's just not particularly obvious.

Yeah, that's actually what I meant by trial and error - figuring out the sounds as you go. Poor choice of words I guess. I didn't pick it up at all the first time either and only realized the proper way to do it when I heard to same sounds in Mechanical.

 

[The Technomancer]

The mazerunner can be solved with some deductive reasoning, actually. The first few 'nodes' of the maze only have two exits... one you come in from, and the next destination. By taking note of the sounds that you hear in these first few nodes, you'll easily be able to work out what's left and then make your way through the maze.

The sounds match up with those found in Mechanical, yes, but that's definitely not the only option besides trial and error. It's just not particularly obvious.

We had the biggest problem where an error on the disc caused the game to crash our computer whenever we started up the hologram/sound viewer in Mechanical. We eventually had to send away for a new game disc.

 

[vehn]

Never played it either, but I'm waiting for the upcoming iPhone port to give it a try.

Myst is already out on the iPhone though... I Downloaded the demo this morning (full game is $5) on my iPad and it looked pretty good. Anyone have any opinions on the full game on the iPhone?

 

[luka]

Added pics to the original post for shits n giggles.

Play Riven.

 

[dark10x]

Myst is already out on the iPhone though... I Downloaded the demo this morning (full game is $5) on my iPad and it looked pretty good. Anyone have any opinions on the full game on the iPhone?

I've played Myst and RealMyst. I didn't mean that I had not played either game, just that I had also not played Riven.

 

[∀ Narayan]

I would kill for a realRiven. I can't get either Riven or realMyst working properly in Windows 7 (Steam).

 

[luka]

I would kill for a realRiven. I can't get either Riven or realMyst working properly in Windows 7 (Steam).

You could try installing steam in an XP virtual machine and accessing your account from there. Virtualization is what I've determined to be the best way to get these working at the moment. VMware player worked flawlessly for me.

 

[woxel1]

Ha, I have a Riven desktop on right now. I'm liking this thread so far, so let's play a game of--

In Riven did you...

Spot the Temple Scribe on Survey Island‎?
Release

Spoiler

Ghen

in the Rebel Age?
Uncover all the "Spyder" easter egg hot spots?
Irritate the Wahrk in the aquarium?
Use the door knocker in the village five times?
See Ghen's hologram in the temple, or the girl in the jungle?

Also, everybody check out http://www.starryexpanse.com/

 

[faceless007]

Actually, I don't think I would want realRiven, it probably wouldn't look as real and grounded as Riven; it'd look all shiny and modeled and well, like a 3D engine. But I'd love to see Riven re-rendered--preferably from the same source assets--at a higher-res and with the 360-degree node system used in 3 and 4. Yes, I think I would sacrifice my first-born for such a product.

 

[luka]

In Riven did you...

Release

Spoiler

Ghen

in the Rebel Age?

Haha, oh shit. I never even thought of trying that. :lol

Actually, I don't think I would want realRiven, it probably wouldn't look as real and grounded as Riven; it'd look all shiny and modeled and well, like a 3D engine. But I'd love to see Riven re-rendered--preferably from the same source assets--at a higher-res and with the 360-degree node system used in 3 and 4. Yes, I think I would sacrifice my first-born for such a product.

Riven masterpiece edition running on the Revelation engine. I think I would actually die.

 

[wolfmat]

Ah Riven, quite possibly the best adventure game ever made.

Indeed.

Actually, I enjoyed all of the Myst-related games immensely. Never played Uru Live though.

 

[Altazor]

I'd like to see a Myst and Riven remake done with CryEngine 3, which is probably the only current engine that'd make the game's visuals justice.

Sadly, I've always been terrible at adventure games, so I never finished Myst and only played a bit of Riven. Gorgeous games, both of them (Myst... well, for it's era ), and also challenging.

 

[badcrumble]

Actually, I don't think I would want realRiven, it probably wouldn't look as real and grounded as Riven; it'd look all shiny and modeled and well, like a 3D engine. But I'd love to see Riven re-rendered--preferably from the same source assets--at a higher-res and with the 360-degree node system used in 3 and 4. Yes, I think I would sacrifice my first-born for such a product.

Pish. CryEngine 3 could do it.

 

[Altazor]

Pish. CryEngine 3 could do it.

heh, *internet highfive*

 

[woxel1]

Haha, oh shit. I never even thought of trying that. :lol

Riven, still wowing us after all these years

You know the thing I love about Riven? The world is pre-rendered – it doesn't exactly change – but as our understanding of the world grows our perspective changes. There's meaning imbued in every frame, making Riven one of the most realized spaces in fiction that I've encountered.

 

[Inkwell]

Riven masterpiece edition running on the Revelation engine. I think I would actually die.

That would be amazing, although I do think RealRiven is quite doable on current engines. I especially think something like the crysis engine would be perfect, as long as it was matched with a particularly gifted development team.

I'd like to see a Myst and Riven remake done with CryEngine 3, which is probably the only current engine that'd make the game's visuals justice.

Sadly, I've always been terrible at adventure games, so I never finished Myst and only played a bit of Riven. Gorgeous games, both of them (Myst... well, for it's era ), and also challenging.

Beaten, but I think the original engine or even CryEngine 2 is good enough.

In fact, I wonder if anyone has tried to recreate any areas from Riven in Crysis. I've looked before but couldn't find anything

Edit: I just wanted to show how much art direction and knowledge of an engine can prove useful. I've been following This devblog for a Half-Life 2 mod called Dear Esther. There's plenty more on his blog to look at, but especially watch the video on that page. The visuals are outstanding, and I think if the same care was taken with Riven using something like CryEngine it could look phenomenal.

 

[faceless007]

Pish. CryEngine 3 could do it.

I'm trying to be semi-realistic. I doubt Cyan has the manpower or experience (not to mention money) with modern 3D engines to work with something like CryEngine and re-make Riven from scratch. But, theoretically, if they still had the textures, models and other data they used to "build" the game, they could re-render them at a higher res.

In the Revelation engine it would be even better. That game did a really good job of adding little animations to make the world feel alive: plants swaying, birds flying in and out, clouds casting shadows.

I shouldn't talk about it. It just makes me sad it'll never happen.

 

[luka]

I found this to be pretty interesting. Someone at Cyan describing the process to get the way-too-advanced-for-it's-time (lol) Myst scaled down to the point that it could be run off the single-speed cd drives and miserable 8-bit color that most machines were capable at the time. The dithering process is a really old one and not difficult to understand, but there is something really amusing about the kind of compromises and considerations had to go into what technically amounts to nothing more than a slideshow.

 

[Jangaroo]

I'm utterly surprised by how gorgeous the backdrops are in Riven. Absolutely phenomenal art.