Incredible game and atmosphere to this day. I would love to see the original models and maybe even try to render them in real time on today’s technology. Or maybe that would ruin the magic.
My understanding is that it would, to some level - I remember reading about how they put effort into every pixel, which child-me took to mean that after the rendering, they went in and modified it to exactly match what they wanted. That can only work with a fixed perspective, which I think was proven out in the later full 3D Myst games.
I've got all three books but only got the hardcover of the Book of Atrus (and a recent anniversary edition reprint of it, just for fun). Wish I got hardcovers of Ti'ana and D'ni!
I thought the books matched the atmosphere and quality of the games very well. They didn't read to me at all like merchandising, but rather as an expression of the same artistic vision in another medium. I remember reading one as a teenager, and was deeply taken with the message that as an artist and an engineer (and those are deeply related), a commitment to beauty and proper function, indeed the integrity of honoring what you are and what your creations properly ought to be, demands doing things right, which in turn demands deep study and doing the homework. It is a philosophy that was formative for me, and which still heavily influences me today. I hadn't thought about that in years...!
There were three books in total, and I loved the first two. Particularly if you can get hold of the hard-covers, as they are beautiful.
As for the stories themselves, the world building and atmosphere are fantastic. As a teenager/young adult, they captivated me in a way that very few books could. I continued to read them about once a year up into my early thirties. And I never played the game!
The paperback also had a texture to them as well. It was hard to find them a decade ago and I don't regret the hunt. I'd agree that the first two books are great, the third is nice in rounding out the world but the story doesn't captivate as much.
I keep seeing comments like this on this thread: people who like the game or what it produced (it whatever) without even playing. It’s like me liking all things Alice in Wonderland without ever reading the books. Even though I have them in hot pink hardcover.
I loved reading then when I was a teenager. I remember enjoying how the books were used as portals to be worlds. The world building in general was great and I remember the story as quite clever. However, this just have been 25 years ago at least. So it might have been terrible lol
The author is David Wingrove, whose incredible world building is on display in his Chung Kuo series. Also highly recommended: a future where China has dominated all the continents. Originally 8 books, now 20 due to books splits and additional writing.
Only complaint is he could have used an editor. Sometimes his writing could have used some corrections or better wording.
I think you're confusing Riven with the original Myst. There have been full 3D versions of Myst since way back in 2000, but a real-time 3D remake of Riven has been a long-awaited pipe dream.
There was a long-running fan project called "Starry Expanse", aiming to recreate Riven in 3D. They got acquired(?) by Cyan a couple years back and their work got incorporated into the official Riven remake, which is supposed to come out sometime later this year.
It’s a few members at this point. I was on the SE team, very proud of my teammates (artists, musicians) who have gone on to join efforts with Cyan. The new Riven is going to be amazing.
Sorry, yeah, they didn't "acquire" the whole team in a business or employment sense, but my understanding is they got access to all the code and art assets they had created over the years.
