Myst Online: URU Live Forums :: View topic - Myst one of iTunes 2009 best sellers!

thesaxmaniac

Joined: 14 Apr 2009

Posts: 51

Open iTunes and check out the 2009 rewind section. Apparently Myst sold really well, placing at 16th. I think that practically guarantees that Riven will eventually show up...

chrissifniotis

Joined: 02 Feb 2009

Posts: 406

Location: Sydney, Australia

I don't know about that, according to previous threads Riven was suggested to be quite a huge file to produce and download because of its complexity compared to Myst. Still, it's very good news to hear, and if nothing else it adds to the ongoing MOULOS fund.

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Gondar

Joined: 12 Aug 2006

Posts: 1435

Location: Here, there, you know. Around.

The problem is the iPhone as nifty as it may be can't do animations in a picture (or at least the current SDK can't). That is, stuff where you would have for instance the butterflies by the generator room, they'd generally be fluttering in an animation overlaid on the backdrop. What that means is every instance of that had to be rendered as a full-screen animation, making the file size go huge.

Riven is already a gig and a half give or take. Doing fullscreen animations would REALLY make it too big. So until Apple retools the device to allow stuff like that, Riven won't happen. And no, apps can't talk to each other either so you can't just split it into 5 games, one for each island.

16th isn't bad though, considering the size of the market. Hopefully it means enough to give Cyan a shade of breathing room while they work on MQO. However, it's hardly going to keep them running, so unfortunately nice as it may be they're still too busy to throw people full at Uru. Or at least that's the idea I get.

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Beavis

Joined: 09 May 2006

Posts: 34

Gondar, I am not sure that you are entirely correct. Everything you do on an iPhone cant all be full screen video. Myst for the iPhone would be astronomically large if every single time an animation was done it was full screen video. I am not a iPhone SDK expert but I am sure there is a way to do exactly what both Myst and Riven do on the PC. As for the butterflies, that in my opinion was literally the worst rendered animation in the whole game. I think, (and I am purely speculating,) that they simply omitted it.

I fully believe that an "iRiven" is completely feasible at very near the original size of the PC version of the game. I think a 1 gig+ download is going to be the only turn off for it.

EDIT:

I want to know what you are reffering to Gondar. I cannot find specifics on what needed to be changed in Apple's SDK to allow Riven to be ported. Anyone, feel free to set me straight. I would love to know more about it.

Chogon

Cyan Employee

Joined: 02 Aug 2006

Posts: 548

Wow! It is nice to see Myst in the top selling games for 2009!

As for Riven and the iPhone SDK, the thing that is lacking in the SDK (software development kit - the tool used to make applications for the iPhone and iTouch) has to do with QuickTime videos and not animations. I know, it sounds like a small distinction to the viewer but there is big differences programming these features. Animations is generally thought of in terms of moving a graphic image around the screen, changing its appearance, rotating it, scaling it, fading it, etc. The iPhone SDK can do this quite well, as you can see in many of the games on the iPhone.
The Quicktime videos or movies are a different matter. They are more like a film, which has a static set of frames and a sound track. Movies in Myst are the opening scene where the book is falling or when the brothers talk to you in the books. Also, this is what is used when you download you favorite TV show to your iPhone/iTouch and watch it. This part of the SDK is what is limited on the iPhone/iTouch. Currently, you can only play *one* movie full screen and in the forward direction. This works great for watching your favorite TV episode. But Riven uses partial screen movies, plays them backwards and in some cases plays them at a different rates of speed. And has several on the screen at once.

However! I am working on Riven for the iPhone/iTouch (along with RAWA and Rand) as I type. And yes. There are some challenges still ahead that I am confident we can solve. And we are determine to make this the best Riven evvvv-er.

Thanks,
Chogon

Christian Walther

Joined: 15 May 2006

Posts: 517

Location: Switzerland

Great to hear! Very Happy

So, are you decoding movies in software now, ignoring the built-in hardware-assisted API, as I have wondered?

Chogon

Cyan Employee

Joined: 02 Aug 2006

Posts: 548

Christian Walther wrote:

So, are you decoding movies in software now, ignoring the built-in hardware-assisted API, as I have wondered?

Unfortunately, the CPU on the iPhone is too slow and you have to use the graphics hardware assist. We may just use it differently.

Thanks,
Chogon

Malfhok

Joined: 02 Jul 2009

Posts: 305

Location: Roscoe, Illinois

Wow! iRiven! Very Happy

That little bit of info counts as an early Christmas present, I think.

Can we have iCosmic Osmo and the Worlds Beyond the iMackerel next?

Charura

Joined: 14 Oct 2009

Posts: 196

So Packard Bell built the CPU for the I phone? I'm sorry..I was unpacking a computer my Dad bought (in the box first sub $1000 computer made for public use) and thought it funny...In the box was a quotation from Mr Gates....'No one will ever need more than 16K'...My Dad wrote, 'Had the reference been 18K, referring to gold and not RAM, I may have upgraded to 32K'....LOL...My pop was such a wag....I miss him...

greendragoon

Joined: 30 Apr 2007

Posts: 407

Location: First trailer to the right, and straight down till morning.

Sweetness, as it happens, I used my copy of iMyst to introduce my younger brother to the Myst franchise. He's beaten the game and I was hoping to move him on to Riven, but my poor old copy just won't run on these new fangled PCs.

EDIT: Wait, is Riven going to get the same kind of improvements we saw with Myst. Will we get to see de-dithered Riven? Very Happy

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Eleri

Joined: 09 May 2006

Posts: 1460

Location: Seattle, WA

We can haz Myst for Droid, plz?

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Mystdee

Uru Live Moderator

Joined: 09 May 2006

Posts: 2222

Location: Garland, TX - KI # 2281

Chogon wrote:

However! I am working on Riven for the iPhone/iTouch (along with RAWA and Rand) as I type. And yes. There are some challenges still ahead that I am confident we can solve. And we are determine to make this the best Riven evvvv-er.

Thanks,
Chogon

I have no doubt you will be up to the challenges! You guys never cease to amaze me!! Can't wait! Laughing

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Chogon

Cyan Employee

Joined: 02 Aug 2006

Posts: 548

Eleri wrote:

We can haz Myst for Droid, plz?

Not until it can handle bigger applications.
Article: Google fails to address app storage issue
And it is interesting that the article does mention Myst as one of the apps that would not fit on the Driod. Even with the update that decreased the app size of Myst to 560Meg, it still would not fit.

Thanks,
Chogon

Lord Chaos

Joined: 08 Sep 2006

Posts: 945

Riven on an Iphone? This is the first good reason to own a cellular phone I've ever run into.

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laughingpineapple

Joined: 17 Feb 2009

Posts: 503

Location: Milano

Great news! Both the original topic and iRiven. Between this and the GoG digital download, it's nice to see that game go past the PSX port. Someone finally realized that providing new fans with all sorts of platforms to play Myst on, and then, when they had just learned to love the series, leaving them stranded with no Riven, wasn't the smartest idea? :p

iRiven is so going to print money. Best of luck, guys. Cool

And if you ever get to develop a new game for the iPhone (a new IP or a sequel of any of your games, whatever), I'm getting one and buying everything you'll have released on it, that's final. è_é

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