Customer Reviews

From Myst to Riven: The Creations & Inspirations

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This is an absolutely gorgeous book. There is no other way to describe it. Hardcore "Myst" and "Riven" fans will be holding onto this one for a long time to come. Being a fellow fan, I can guarantee that this is one book that won't be sitting out on a picnic table during a garage sale.

This book goes in-depth and behind the scenes as it pertains to the making of "Myst" and "Riven." This book came out before "Myst III: Exile," so fans looking for information on that title will not find it here. You get everything you could ever want to know from this book - early sketches of concepts you see in the games; the development of Cyan Studios; the man and machine behind the music; how real people were seamlessly integrated into computer worlds; there is so much information in this book regarding the "Myst" and "Riven" phenomenon that it's mind boggling.

The pictures in this book are, what can I say, gorgeous. There is one particular page dedicated to the Sunners in "Riven" that is stunning. It's not in the game, but it's just the most beautiful image. The whole book is presented so majestically; neither Gehn nor Atrus could have made it better themselves.

One thing to take into account that I did not know about until I had gotten it: the book size is BIG. It is not that same size as "Myst: The Book of Atrus," for example. It is probably three or four times as big. But that just makes it more beautiful to look at.

In short, this book is a must-have for all "Myst" and "Riven" enthusiasts. Anyone wanting a little background on arguably the best-selling computer games of all time would love to have this book. It gives you way more than you could ever think of.

"From Myst to Riven" will not disappoint.

Most computer games don't much for me. I'm not into shoot-'em-ups, and I learned back in the days of the original ADVENTURE and ZORK that I wasn't that great at puzzle-solving. Oh the other hand, I've been playing MYST and RIVEN regularly for years, even though I haven't solved that many of the puzzles. I'm what this author calls a "tourist," a player who just likes to wander about the Ages of these games and gawk at the exquisite artwork and music, and marvel at the fantastic realism the design team has managed to put into their worlds. This book brings all that out in some detail, describing how Rand and Robyn Miller came up with the basic ideas, how Richard Vander Wende turned all their plans on their heads and made the game the masterpiece that it is, how even the sounds you hear are apt to be clues (I never knew that!), and -- above all -- how none of the team let themselves be hurried in their quest for something as close to perfection as they could manage. Like Tolkien, they even invented a detailed language for the D'ni. Amazing stuff.

This gigantic book features stunning full page renders of key scenes from Riven, as well as various high resolution screencaptures. It also takes you through the entire process of making Riven, from the completion of Myst to the completion of Riven. It shows you how the story was developed (and additional bits to the story), how the stunning photo-realistic graphics were acheived, how the sound was done, how the design and visual look came about. In the background, it tracks Cyan's rise from a small company in a garage into one of the most profitable independent game designers in the world. Being a fan of the whole Myst universe and of computer technology in general, I absolutely love this book. I have it on my coffee table. While I have other things to attend to, my guests can flip through it until I have time to sit down. The process that went into making Riven was enormous and complex, and I salute Mr. Kadrey for getting down into words.

If you lost a loved-one for weeks at a time to Myst or Riven; watched them mesmerized by the puzzles and gorgeous landscapes on their computer monitor, then this book is the perfect gift.

In full-color, printed on heavy paper is the story behind the making of Myst and Riven with lots of fun vignettes about the creators and the development of the games from garages and living rooms to Cyan's success and their beautiful new headquarters.

Well worth it if you loved the games!

This book is a truly remarkable insight into the creating of Riven, and a goldmine of information and hints for anyone who is interested in making games themselves.

Let me start by saying that I havn't actually read the whole thing yet. You see, our car had broken down in front of a CHAPTERS book store one day while we were in Moncton, and those wonderfull places will not only let you buy the books, but they also let you just sit around and read them! So here we were with a lot of time on our hands, right in front of a book store that had nothing against you plopping down in a chair and reading for an hour or two without actually buying anything (In the little place where we live we just don't HAVE bookstors)! I found this book and read it none stop for all the time we were stranded there. The frustrateing part was that just as I finnised reading the first page of the last part, we got the car working and had to go! Aww! It wouldn't be so bad if I could just get it from the library where we live, but, alass, it's not even in the search computer! Oh well, What I did read of it was really cool and worth the time. Not going to buy it though, it's way too expensive and anyway I've already read most of it! The pictures are really interesting and, for the most part, colorfull and bright. I really enjoyed reading about some of the different obsticles that had to be overcome durring the creation of Riven. Really, just the whole thing was great! Still not going to buy it though.

I put off buying this book for a very long time because I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the money to buy a very expensive summary of something that I could find just as easily by going online and looking at a few websites.

I finally gave in and bought it one day through amazon, and I'm very glad that I did. The full page pics from riven are amazing, and there are a few new bits of info scattered around here and there that even a hard-core fan might be pressed to have known.

The centerpieces of the book include a two page spread of the map of D'ni found in "The book of Tiana," and many of the full page spreads (my favorite is the blown up image of the prison island).

Buy this if you are a hard-core fan. You'll really appreciate the details that have been included in this.

For everyone who loved Myst, Riven was something to look forward to. Now that it's out, it's selling like crazy and introducing more and more people to the D'ni universe. This book is an incredible account of the making of Riven. It goes from those first early meetings in Chris's garage to the final renderings of the islands of Riven to the filming of the live action sequences. I recommend it to any Myst/Riven fan. My only warning is this: It contains many spoilers to the game, so unless you have already finished Riven, it may diminish the experience!

Despite having read all the five star articles, about how wonderful this books is. I was still utterly blown away by it when i received mine. The book cost me about 85$ with shipping, but I live in DK so in addition I had to pay extra tax totaling a cost of over 100$, despite that this book is still well worth it. note however if you live outside the US. you might want to check shipping options since this book is very large (about 35cm in height)and it will cost a great deal to ship, thus you might get it via regular mail (witch takes forever). For anyone interested in CG, computer game history, Myst, D'ni, or Multimedia, This book is an absolute must!

"From Myst to Riven" is a positively amazing book that follows the arduous journey of the Cyantists from creating two of the greatest games ever made. All the way through Inception, Preparation, Construction and Completion, Kadrey takes such an in-depth look at the inner workings of Cyan that you feel as if you helped them along in making it. Breathtaking visuals and intriguing narrative make this a book that's a must-have for any hardcore fan.