Myst IV: Revelation
Encyclopedia
Myst IV: Revelation is the fourth installment in the Myst
computer game series, developed and published by Ubisoft
. Revelation was the first game in the series released exclusively on a DVD-ROM format; a multiple CD-ROM
version was not produced as it would have taken twelve compact discs to fit all the data. Like Myst III: Exile
, Revelation combines pre-rendered graphics with digital video, but also features real-time 3D effects for added realism.
The plot of Revelation ties up loose ends from the original Myst. The player is summoned by Atrus, a man who creates links to other worlds known as Ages by writing special linking books. Almost twenty years earlier, Atrus' two sons nearly destroyed all of his linking books and were imprisoned; Atrus now wishes to see if his sons' imprisonment has reformed them. The player ends up traveling to each brother's prison, in an effort to recover Atrus' daughter Yeesha from the brothers' plot.
Development of Revelation lasted more than three years; Ubisoft had as many as eighty employees working on the game. Musician Peter Gabriel
lent his voice and a song to the game's audio; the original score was written by Exiles composer Jack Wall
. Overall, reception to the game was positive; reviewers lauded the impressive visuals, sound, and puzzles. Publications such as Computer Gaming World
took issue with the control scheme of the game. Revelation is the last game in the Myst series to use both prerendered backgrounds and full-motion video; the final game in the series, End of Ages
, is rendered in real-time throughout.
The mouse cursor helps to provide visual cues for player actions and movement. The cursor appears as a hand that changes depending on what the player is hovering the cursor over. For example, to move in a direction, the cursor changes to point in the intended direction. If players can view an item in greater detail, the cursor changes to a hand holding a magnifying glass
. By clicking and dragging the cursor, the player performs actions such as pushing, pulling, and tapping items.
Revelation features several gameplay enhancements that aid puzzle solving and plot progression. Early in the game, players receive a camera, which can be used to take screenshots or pictures of clues. Players can use an on-screen journal to jot down notes instead of having to write down clues as with previous Myst games. Much of the game's story is revealed via flashbacks triggered by an amulet that has the power to relay memories attached to objects. Zip mode, the amulet, the camera, and the journal are available via a menu on the bottom of the game screen.
The Stranger sets out to find Yeesha. Traveling to the brothers' prison Ages of Spire and Haven, the Stranger discovers both have escaped their confinement. When the Stranger finds Yeesha again, Achenar appears and tells the Stranger not to free his sister. Achenar explains that his brother kidnapped Yeesha with the intent of switching minds with her, tricking Atrus and Catherine into teaching Sirrus the Art of writing Ages. Achenar insists that he has reformed and that he only escaped so that he could protect his sister. The ending to the game depends on the player's actions; in some endings, Sirrus succeeds in transferring his mind to Yeesha's body and dispenses with both the Stranger and Achenar. In the only good ending, the Stranger trusts Achenar and helps save Yeesha. Sirrus dies from the failed mind transfer, while Achenar is fatally poisoned by toxic fumes in order to save his sister. The Stranger returns Yeesha to her parents. Though pained by his sons' deaths, Atrus resolves to continue on and rectify his past mistakes by properly raising Yeesha.
When Mattel Interactive
still owned the rights to the Myst series, development of Myst IV was contracted out to DreamForge Intertainment, developers of the game Sanitarium; Dreamforge was hired before Presto Studios
was hired to develop Myst III: Exile
. Dreamforge's Myst used real-time graphics, and was two years into development and twenty percent complete when Ubisoft
, who had by this point acquired the rights to the series, cancelled the project and decided to restart development from scratch internally.
According to Geneviève Lord, Revelations producer, concluding the story of the two brothers had originally been intended as the plot for Myst III, but due to a limited amount of time to develop the game, as well as to not interfere with Dreamforge's Myst game, whose plot details were still forming, the plot was dropped and then redeveloped when Ubisoft began work on Myst IV. Cyan, Myst
and Riven
s developer, set down "a certain number of rules" that Ubisoft had to follow, according to Lord, but otherwise the team was free to develop new ideas, keeping in the spirit of Myst lore.
Ubisoft's development of Revelation took over three years and more than eighty employees. Early on, the development team made the decision to use pre-rendered
graphics for the game, to match the style of previous Myst games. This proved to be a challenge, as the studio had never developed a pre-rendered game before, and had to hire over fifty new employees who had experience in the field. Full production was started on the game before artistic direction and engine development tools were fully established, and the resulting lack of focus and communication meant that a bad working relationship existed between the game designers, programmers, and modelers for most of the production.
As an improvement over the prerendered technology present in Myst, Riven, and Exile, Revelation uses its "ALIVE" engine to animate nearly everything in the game. The water animations, for example, are fully rendered for each location. The trees sway in the breeze, and the sky has moving clouds. Wildlife includes creatures that walk through the environment and occasionally interact with the player. The game also features a number of effects applied in real time, such as lens flare
s, dynamic lighting, and an optional focal blur. In a trend started by the original Myst, the game uses live actors to play the game's roles in live-action
video sequences. There are more than 70 minutes of video, and the game allows players to look around and interact with the video while it is playing.
composed, conducted, and produced the music for Revelation; the game was his second game score, following the music for Myst III: Exile
. Wall was initially a sound engineer and producer, and stated composing "was kind of like a next step for me, rather than something I decided to do early on". The success and recognition of Exiles score landed Wall the job of writing Revelations music with a budget of $100,000—twice the amount he had worked with for Exile.
Wall reused, reorchestrated and expanded themes composed by previous Myst composer Robyn Miller
; for example, Wall reused Atrus' Theme from Riven and the brother's leitmotif
s from the original game. Wall credited the Myst universe and story with allowing him to write music "Western ears are somewhat less accustomed to"; Revelations score was inspired by Eastern European music that Wall enjoyed in the 1990s.
In addition to Jack Wall's score, the game features a song by Peter Gabriel
entitled "Curtains", originally a B-side from Gabriel's single "Don't Give Up
". Gabriel also performed a voiceover for the game.
and Game Rankings
, respectively; the Xbox version of the game received less favorable scores than the PC version.
As with previous Myst games, the visuals and interactivity of Revelation were singled out as the strongest features. Reviewers praised the use of subtle animations to bring the scenery to life; GameSpot
's Greg Kasavin stated that the additions "truly helps make each scene in the game seem like more than just a panoramic picture, and instead it feels like a real place". Jack Wall's score and the sound design were consistently praised. The addition of the in-game camera and notes system was also positively received. PC Zone
proclaimed that although it would have been easy for the developers to lose heart after the disappointing Uru: Ages Beyond Myst
, Ubisoft had instead produced "one of the most polished games" the reviewer, Paul Presley, had ever come across.
Certain reviewers criticized aspects of the gameplay that had not been fixed or altered from previous Myst titles. Computer Gaming World
, for example, complained about having to hunt for the small hotspots that allowed actions to occur. A reviewer for The Houston Chronicle judged the method of traveling from node to node as tiresome to navigate. Another complaint was that the slow cursor animations made searching for actions occasionally tedious. Many publications noted the rather steep computer requirements; in addition to requiring a DVD-ROM drive, the game took up more than 7 gigabyte
s when fully installed. Charles Herold
of The New York Times
, the only mainstream critic with a negative view of Revelation's music, dismissed the score as "tediously literal."
Revelation would be the last Myst game that used prerendered graphics or full motion video. Cyan Worlds
, the original developer of both Myst and Riven, used real-time rendered graphics for the next installment in the series, Myst V: End of Ages
. Myst V was announced as the final game in the series.
Myst (series)
Myst is a franchise centered on a series of adventure video games. The first game in the series, Myst, was released in 1993 by brothers Rand and Robyn Miller and their video game company Cyan, Inc...
computer game series, developed and published by Ubisoft
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....
. Revelation was the first game in the series released exclusively on a DVD-ROM format; a multiple CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
version was not produced as it would have taken twelve compact discs to fit all the data. Like Myst III: Exile
Myst III: Exile
Myst III: Exile is the third title in the Myst series of first person adventure video games. While the preceding games in the series, Myst and Riven, were produced by Cyan and published by Brøderbund, Exile was developed by Presto Studios and published by Ubisoft...
, Revelation combines pre-rendered graphics with digital video, but also features real-time 3D effects for added realism.
The plot of Revelation ties up loose ends from the original Myst. The player is summoned by Atrus, a man who creates links to other worlds known as Ages by writing special linking books. Almost twenty years earlier, Atrus' two sons nearly destroyed all of his linking books and were imprisoned; Atrus now wishes to see if his sons' imprisonment has reformed them. The player ends up traveling to each brother's prison, in an effort to recover Atrus' daughter Yeesha from the brothers' plot.
Development of Revelation lasted more than three years; Ubisoft had as many as eighty employees working on the game. Musician Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
lent his voice and a song to the game's audio; the original score was written by Exiles composer Jack Wall
Jack Wall (composer)
Jack Wall is an American video game music composer. He has worked on video game music for over 20 games including the Myst franchise, Splinter Cell, Jade Empire, and Mass Effect...
. Overall, reception to the game was positive; reviewers lauded the impressive visuals, sound, and puzzles. Publications such as Computer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World was a computer game magazine founded in 1981 by Russell Sipe as a bimonthly publication. Early issues were typically 40-50 pages in length, written in a newsletter style, including submissions by game designers such as Joel Billings , Dan Bunten , and Chris Crawford...
took issue with the control scheme of the game. Revelation is the last game in the Myst series to use both prerendered backgrounds and full-motion video; the final game in the series, End of Ages
Myst V: End of Ages
Myst V: End of Ages is a 2005 adventure video game, and the fifth and final installment in the Myst series. The game was developed by Cyan Worlds, published by Ubisoft, and released for Macintosh and Windows PC platforms on September 20, 2005...
, is rendered in real-time throughout.
Gameplay
Myst IV: Revelation is an adventure game in which the player experiences gameplay from the eyes of an unnamed protagonist referred to as the Stranger. Players explore interactive worlds known as Ages by using the mouse or keyboard, solving puzzles and uncovering the game's narrative. Players cannot move freely across each Age; instead, as in the previous games in the Myst series, they travel by clicking set locations called "nodes", where players can rotate their view in any direction. Revelation also features a "Zip" mode, which allows a method of rapidly crossing explored areas by skipping intermediate nodes; areas that can be instantly traveled to are stored as thumbnail representations for rapid movement across Ages.The mouse cursor helps to provide visual cues for player actions and movement. The cursor appears as a hand that changes depending on what the player is hovering the cursor over. For example, to move in a direction, the cursor changes to point in the intended direction. If players can view an item in greater detail, the cursor changes to a hand holding a magnifying glass
Magnifying glass
A magnifying glass is a convex lens that is used to produce a magnified image of an object. The lens is usually mounted in a frame with a handle ....
. By clicking and dragging the cursor, the player performs actions such as pushing, pulling, and tapping items.
Revelation features several gameplay enhancements that aid puzzle solving and plot progression. Early in the game, players receive a camera, which can be used to take screenshots or pictures of clues. Players can use an on-screen journal to jot down notes instead of having to write down clues as with previous Myst games. Much of the game's story is revealed via flashbacks triggered by an amulet that has the power to relay memories attached to objects. Zip mode, the amulet, the camera, and the journal are available via a menu on the bottom of the game screen.
Plot
Atrus calls the Stranger to his home to request his friend's assistance. Atrus is the writer of special books, which serve as links to worlds known as Ages. Years earlier, his two sons, Sirrus and Achenar, destroyed Atrus' linking books and imprisoned their parents in order to plunder the wealth of Atrus' Ages. The Stranger's intervention saved Atrus, who had imprisoned his sons via traps intended for thieves. As it has been twenty years since their imprisonment, Atrus' wife Catherine hopes they have finally repented for their crimes. Atrus is not as sure his sons have reformed, and so wishes the Stranger to act as an impartial judge. After an explosion knocks the Stranger unconscious, the player realizes that Yeesha, Atrus' daughter, has disappeared.The Stranger sets out to find Yeesha. Traveling to the brothers' prison Ages of Spire and Haven, the Stranger discovers both have escaped their confinement. When the Stranger finds Yeesha again, Achenar appears and tells the Stranger not to free his sister. Achenar explains that his brother kidnapped Yeesha with the intent of switching minds with her, tricking Atrus and Catherine into teaching Sirrus the Art of writing Ages. Achenar insists that he has reformed and that he only escaped so that he could protect his sister. The ending to the game depends on the player's actions; in some endings, Sirrus succeeds in transferring his mind to Yeesha's body and dispenses with both the Stranger and Achenar. In the only good ending, the Stranger trusts Achenar and helps save Yeesha. Sirrus dies from the failed mind transfer, while Achenar is fatally poisoned by toxic fumes in order to save his sister. The Stranger returns Yeesha to her parents. Though pained by his sons' deaths, Atrus resolves to continue on and rectify his past mistakes by properly raising Yeesha.
Development
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
still owned the rights to the Myst series, development of Myst IV was contracted out to DreamForge Intertainment, developers of the game Sanitarium; Dreamforge was hired before Presto Studios
Presto Studios
Presto Studios was a computer game development company of the 1990s, especially famous for its award-winning The Journeyman Project series and the 2001 sequel to Cyan's hit Myst series, Myst III: Exile....
was hired to develop Myst III: Exile
Myst III: Exile
Myst III: Exile is the third title in the Myst series of first person adventure video games. While the preceding games in the series, Myst and Riven, were produced by Cyan and published by Brøderbund, Exile was developed by Presto Studios and published by Ubisoft...
. Dreamforge's Myst used real-time graphics, and was two years into development and twenty percent complete when Ubisoft
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....
, who had by this point acquired the rights to the series, cancelled the project and decided to restart development from scratch internally.
According to Geneviève Lord, Revelations producer, concluding the story of the two brothers had originally been intended as the plot for Myst III, but due to a limited amount of time to develop the game, as well as to not interfere with Dreamforge's Myst game, whose plot details were still forming, the plot was dropped and then redeveloped when Ubisoft began work on Myst IV. Cyan, Myst
Myst
Myst is a graphic adventure video game designed and directed by the brothers Robyn and Rand Miller. It was developed by Cyan , a Spokane, Washington––based studio, and published and distributed by Brøderbund. The Millers began working on Myst in and released it for the Mac OS computer on September...
and Riven
Riven
Riven is a puzzle adventure game and the sequel to Myst. Developed by Cyan Worlds, it was initially published by Brøderbund. Riven was distributed on five compact discs and released on October 29, 1997, in North America; it was later released on a single DVD-ROM, with improved audio and a...
s developer, set down "a certain number of rules" that Ubisoft had to follow, according to Lord, but otherwise the team was free to develop new ideas, keeping in the spirit of Myst lore.
Ubisoft's development of Revelation took over three years and more than eighty employees. Early on, the development team made the decision to use pre-rendered
Pre-rendered
Pre-rendering is the process in which video footage is not rendered in real-time by the hardware that is outputing or playing back the video. Instead, the video is a recording of a footage that was previously rendered on a different equipment...
graphics for the game, to match the style of previous Myst games. This proved to be a challenge, as the studio had never developed a pre-rendered game before, and had to hire over fifty new employees who had experience in the field. Full production was started on the game before artistic direction and engine development tools were fully established, and the resulting lack of focus and communication meant that a bad working relationship existed between the game designers, programmers, and modelers for most of the production.
As an improvement over the prerendered technology present in Myst, Riven, and Exile, Revelation uses its "ALIVE" engine to animate nearly everything in the game. The water animations, for example, are fully rendered for each location. The trees sway in the breeze, and the sky has moving clouds. Wildlife includes creatures that walk through the environment and occasionally interact with the player. The game also features a number of effects applied in real time, such as lens flare
Lens flare
Lens flare is the light scattered in lens systems through generally unwanted image formation mechanisms, such as internal reflection and scattering from material inhomogeneities in the lens. These mechanisms differ from the intended image formation mechanism that depends on refraction of the image...
s, dynamic lighting, and an optional focal blur. In a trend started by the original Myst, the game uses live actors to play the game's roles in live-action
Live action
In filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
video sequences. There are more than 70 minutes of video, and the game allows players to look around and interact with the video while it is playing.
Audio
Jack WallJack Wall (composer)
Jack Wall is an American video game music composer. He has worked on video game music for over 20 games including the Myst franchise, Splinter Cell, Jade Empire, and Mass Effect...
composed, conducted, and produced the music for Revelation; the game was his second game score, following the music for Myst III: Exile
Myst III: Exile
Myst III: Exile is the third title in the Myst series of first person adventure video games. While the preceding games in the series, Myst and Riven, were produced by Cyan and published by Brøderbund, Exile was developed by Presto Studios and published by Ubisoft...
. Wall was initially a sound engineer and producer, and stated composing "was kind of like a next step for me, rather than something I decided to do early on". The success and recognition of Exiles score landed Wall the job of writing Revelations music with a budget of $100,000—twice the amount he had worked with for Exile.
Wall reused, reorchestrated and expanded themes composed by previous Myst composer Robyn Miller
Robyn Miller
Robyn Charles Miller co-founded Cyan Worlds with brother Rand Miller. After releasing a number of children's adventure "worlds", the brothers finally hit on a success with the computer game Myst, which remained the number one-selling game for the remainder of the 1990s...
; for example, Wall reused Atrus' Theme from Riven and the brother's leitmotif
Leitmotif
A leitmotif , sometimes written leit-motif, is a musical term , referring to a recurring theme, associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical idea of idée fixe...
s from the original game. Wall credited the Myst universe and story with allowing him to write music "Western ears are somewhat less accustomed to"; Revelations score was inspired by Eastern European music that Wall enjoyed in the 1990s.
In addition to Jack Wall's score, the game features a song by Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
entitled "Curtains", originally a B-side from Gabriel's single "Don't Give Up
Don't Give Up (Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush song)
"Don't Give Up" is song written by Peter Gabriel and recorded as a duet with Kate Bush for Gabriel's album So. The single version spent eleven weeks in the UK Top 75 chart in 1986, peaking at number nine. It describes the despair of a man who feels isolated and defeated by the economic system, and...
". Gabriel also performed a voiceover for the game.
Reception
Overall, Revelation was received positively by critics; the game garnered 82% and 81% averages on aggregate sites MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
and Game Rankings
Game Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
, respectively; the Xbox version of the game received less favorable scores than the PC version.
As with previous Myst games, the visuals and interactivity of Revelation were singled out as the strongest features. Reviewers praised the use of subtle animations to bring the scenery to life; GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
's Greg Kasavin stated that the additions "truly helps make each scene in the game seem like more than just a panoramic picture, and instead it feels like a real place". Jack Wall's score and the sound design were consistently praised. The addition of the in-game camera and notes system was also positively received. PC Zone
PC Zone
PC Zone was the first magazine dedicated to games for IBM-compatible personal computers to be published in the United Kingdom. Earlier PC magazines such as PC Leisure, PC Format and PC Plus had covered games but only as part of a wider remit. PC Zone was founded in 1993.The magazine was published...
proclaimed that although it would have been easy for the developers to lose heart after the disappointing Uru: Ages Beyond Myst
Uru: Ages Beyond Myst
Uru: Ages Beyond Myst is an adventure video game developed by Cyan Worlds and published by Ubisoft. Released in 2003, the title is the fourth game in the Myst canon. Departing from previous games of the franchise, Uru takes place in the modern era and allows players to customize their onscreen...
, Ubisoft had instead produced "one of the most polished games" the reviewer, Paul Presley, had ever come across.
Certain reviewers criticized aspects of the gameplay that had not been fixed or altered from previous Myst titles. Computer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World was a computer game magazine founded in 1981 by Russell Sipe as a bimonthly publication. Early issues were typically 40-50 pages in length, written in a newsletter style, including submissions by game designers such as Joel Billings , Dan Bunten , and Chris Crawford...
, for example, complained about having to hunt for the small hotspots that allowed actions to occur. A reviewer for The Houston Chronicle judged the method of traveling from node to node as tiresome to navigate. Another complaint was that the slow cursor animations made searching for actions occasionally tedious. Many publications noted the rather steep computer requirements; in addition to requiring a DVD-ROM drive, the game took up more than 7 gigabyte
Gigabyte
The gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is...
s when fully installed. Charles Herold
Charles Herold
Charles Herold is a video game critic. He wrote the "Game Theory" video game review column for the New York Times from 2000 to 2008, when he left the Times to become the Wii Games Guide at About.com...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, the only mainstream critic with a negative view of Revelation's music, dismissed the score as "tediously literal."
Revelation would be the last Myst game that used prerendered graphics or full motion video. Cyan Worlds
Cyan Worlds
Cyan Worlds, Inc. is a video game development company, founded by brothers Rand and Robyn Miller in 1987, and best known as the creators of the Myst series. After Myst and its sequel Riven sold several million copies each, Cyan went on to create the massively multiplayer online adventure, Uru,...
, the original developer of both Myst and Riven, used real-time rendered graphics for the next installment in the series, Myst V: End of Ages
Myst V: End of Ages
Myst V: End of Ages is a 2005 adventure video game, and the fifth and final installment in the Myst series. The game was developed by Cyan Worlds, published by Ubisoft, and released for Macintosh and Windows PC platforms on September 20, 2005...
. Myst V was announced as the final game in the series.
External links
- Myst IV: Revelation at UbisoftUbisoftUbisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....