I'm sure that if there were any current projects in development at Cyan the good folks at Cyan Worlds couldn't speak of them in any great detail, but I'm quite honestly anxious to know, out of concern, if Cyan has any projects on the table?

It seems as though it has been a while since their work on the iOS apps wrapped up, more efforts have gone towards open source URU as of late, and I know Mr. Miller has mentioned, briefly explained, and/or alluded to various projects at least a couple of times in the past.

I'm not sure if I should inquire or even if it'll even help to inquire as there are only a select few who would be able to say even if they could. A simple yes or no answer would suffice, but of course details are always welcomed if they can be spared.

I'd love to get some info, but really, Cyan like most devs are silent about anything they have in the works. That way if it doesn't pan out, no one ever knows.. and if it does seem like it'll go somewhere, they can release the news when and how they see fit. Plus, well, projects often change shape and scope once they start, so just because they've announced it doesn't mean much until it's near completion, and moreso not until it's actually released.

Think of it this way, which would you prefer, Valve remaining mum about any Half-Life related development that they keep putting off as they run out of inspiration and work on other projects (like their "something with 3 in the name" which is pretty much any of their products getting a sequel at this point).. or 3d Realms going on with their content-less trailers for Duke Nukem Forever saying "It'll come, just wait! Really!" and then turning out by the point they went bankrupt it was a bunch of half-designed levels, and very little assets? (and a bunch of lame dated jokes if Gearbox isn't lying that it was all the previous stuff and they didn't just add them to make it "duke")?

Really, the best we'd get would be "there's some projects in planning, but nothing we can give details on until we're ready to announce them if at all" which would really say no more than we knew anyways

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You know, I wish we would learn Atrus loved the 1812 overture, and in turn we had a copy for our relto.
That's right, a canon canen cannon!

MOULa KI: #00027582
Welcome back all!

I think that further exploration of handhelds is a good path to follow.
I use an iPad and spend very little time on a regular PC since I bought it.
I downloaded stoneship the other day, great little game to pick up now and then. The trick is to figure out how to get Gold on each map.
And I also pricked up TinTin. That game shows that the iPad can be used for 'real' games. Tintin was great fun. To easy but good use of the interface and grafix
.

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--- in our hearts our dreams are still the same ---

I know how it works, Gondar, which is why I wondered how helpful it would be to inquire. Game devs are understandably tight lipped about their projects (unless you're Peter Molyneux and enjoy the taste of your own feet). I'm sure they're working on something, but what that something is I'm sure will come out in due time. When it does I'm also sure we'll all be very excited.

I'd prefer it be a new IP (even non-myst related) and a major working project well beyond the scope of an iOS application.
Serious business will be good for our fine folks at Cyan Worlds.

If anything, I'm more concerned as to the scope of whatever their next slated project(s) may be, moreso than any other particular detail.

Ok, the part about Peter Molyneux got a snicker from me


Anyways, yeah, I know.. they probably are working on something and don't want to talk.. but I sympathize fully with your wish to know the scope (or is it empathize? always mix the two up..) It's likely just another iOS game, those things are by comparison far far easier and cheaper in manhours to develop than a full blown PC game, and I have the impression Cyan isn't exactly on the best footing financially even still.

I agree with your wish for a new IP on the computer.. what I want to see is them go back to what made them famous, world-building. While the adventure game is claimed to be dead, I think only the pure adventure game is near-dead, and even then it's probably closer to sleeping.. as evidenced by some studios out there both indies and larger names like Telltale working on it. It could be the time for one of the old big-names to step back in. The catch would be what to do, but at the same time Cyan made Myst on a handful of people in a garage, and they had to develop a lot of the stuff from scratch.


Wonder if it could almost be the time for the small semi-indie game to make an appearance.. where it's an actual development company though a small one like Cyan as opposed to the triple-A Generic Shooter 3000 production studios who have publisher refusing to give them leeway. It's at the point that Steam is dramatically reducing the production costs.. we might start to see games that are cheap because they focus on gameplay and writing and setting over the newest version of the crytek engine and perfectly modelled faces (don't get me wrong, lifelike graphics are great from a game design standpoint, if you want that, but it takes a lot of work to make for mappers and modellers and such!)


That's my hope at least. Cyan was big because of Myst and Riven, but their non-D'niverse games weren't photo-realistic so it's not like they can't do it...

_________________
You know, I wish we would learn Atrus loved the 1812 overture, and in turn we had a copy for our relto.
That's right, a canon canen cannon!

MOULa KI: #00027582
Welcome back all!

I'm not the only one who would love to see Cyan return to the manpower and production capabilities they ran during development of Riven and URU. They employed top notch talent and cutting edge technology.

Whatever projects Cyan has in store for the future I hope it's something big. But short of someone at Cyan answering this inquiry I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

They need to start building a new game with gameplay that was never seen before, like how Myst introduced the concept of Linking Books. It might cost a bit, it might be a risk, but there are tons of indie games on Steam making a good profit thanks to their gameplay (see Trine, Braid, Bastion, the Humble Indie Bundles...). You can't just rehash Myst over and over again and hope people will be more excited this time around. Bug Chucker is a good start, but that's still not out on PCs