The Starry Expanse Community

Hi, I realize that it is way too early to talk about this stuff but I would like to know if you guys would be interested in doing this at some point in the future.

You may wonder why since we already have realMyst and a remake of it, well simply because:

- the original realMyst is quite outdated now, not only technologically (with many people having difficulties getting it to run smoothly or even at all on newer systems) but also graphically

- the remake of realMyst changed the aesthetics of the entire game quite a bit, sadly not for the better (mainly talking about the lighting effects in the overall game but also the texture work in some places and of course the unecessary inclusion of a flashlight)

- this last one is probably a subjective thing but both the original realMyst and the remake could use an overhaul in their movement/point&click system


I figured it would be most appropriate to ask this here because the hardest parts of doing such a remake would already be done which are

- camera mapping the 2D images to a 3D environment (assuming we can access the 3D model files of realMyst and/or realMyst: Masterpiece Edition)

- an UE4 implementation for movement and interaction in/with the environment (from realRiven)


The only things left to do would be porting over the 3D models to UE4, possibly update some of them to a higher quality and retexture everything (which is probably the hardest part in this).

A remake is not necassary. The masterpiece edition of realmyst is beautiful and in a finally version. So why do you want it in UE4 ?
Greetings

Myst has plenty of remakes already. We don't need any more.

The masterpiece edition of realmyst is beautiful and in a finally version. So why do you want it in UE4 ?

Did you read my post? I already said why I don't consider the masterpiece edition to be a "definitve" version of (real)Myst.

You may want to argue that visuals and aesthetics are a subjective thing but I think that the masterpiece edition looks very unnatural and sometimes even plain ugly in some areas, especially compared to the other version(s).

But aside from that I was just asking if the team would be interested in doing such a thing, no harm in doing that or?

Personally I find realMyst: Masterpiece Edition to be kind of a bittersweet experience. While its a lot more user friendly and graphically clean than Myst, it lacks in the aesthetics and charm of Myst which really had a sumptuous, painterly flavour.

For instance, Achenar's Cache in Myst is dark, moody, full of shadow and contrast like a baroque oil painting. The severed head when revealed is perfectly enshrouded in the shadow of the wooden box it rests in. The head is depicted with the detail and richness one might find in a memento mori with the leathery skin rotting away, revealing the stained teeth underneath.

You get none of that in rmme. Instead, this whole environment is tainted by bright lighting than ruins the shadow play of the initial game. The head looks like a greasy potato and the butcher's knife has strong glare in its reflection.

What I'm saying is, judging by what I've seen of Starry Expanse, realMyst or rather Myst needs to be given the aesthetic treatment that it deserves that preserves its splendour and mystery. rmme was cobbled together using the extremely dated realMyst (None of those models are updated from their 1999 versions) with a slew of effects and texture updates (some which look great, others not so much). Also bear in mind rmme was done BEFORE Cyan hired their current stellar art team.

I'd be down for an Unreal Myst treatment IF it stayed true to Myst's 1993 aesthetic and ambience which I find rmme sorely lacks. I use sweetfx and gmefx in rmme to try to replicate the pre-rendered look to varying degrees of success.

The question is who will do it? Cyan? Not until they have more dough, and as for SE, they're part-time volunteers who are working ultra hard on Riven right now which has NO 3d version and is in my mind a much better and richer game than Myst which could use some free publicity. Riven has affected me a lot more than Myst, and this is true for many Myst fans. Riven is a masterful classic that really hasn't been valued as much in the games industry compared to Myst. So in that sense I think Riven is a priority.

Ideally I'd like BOTH games done justice in UE4 with attention to feel, aesthetics and ambience that their pre-rendered versions excelled at because the longer we go, the more it is that younger generations will be turned off by the pre-rendered, slideshow style movement. I tried getting my ex who was born in 95 into Myst and he just couldn't navigate the slideshow interface, as he had only ever played 3d games.

Yali wrote:The question is who will do it? Cyan? Not until they have more dough, and as for SE, they're part-time volunteers who are working ultra hard on Riven right now which has NO 3d version and is in my mind a much better and richer game than Myst which could use some free publicity.

Even if Cyan had the money, I doubt they'd do it which is understandable considering the amount of Myst remakes/remasters that we already have.

As for SE, obviously I didn't mean with my original post that they should start working on a realMyst project next to Riven, if anything its best if they focus solely on Riven.

I just meant that it might be worth considering after finishing Riven (which is probably a long time from now anyway) since at that point they'd basically have all the groundwork laid out for an implementation in UE4.

We don't need another version of Myst! I mean they are allreday 4 versions if you count Myst Masterpiece Edition!