Having trouble viewing this email? View it here!
Hi Friend! We’ve been “all quiet” for the last couple of months… But not because we haven’t had anything interesting going on, but more the opposite problem- too much interesting stuff, not enough time to share it! But it is high time we climb out of the video game making trenches to let y’all know what we have going on, so without further ado… Myst Release on PC/VR, and Mac... You’ve been asking for news and updates on when we would be bringing our newly-reimagined version of Myst to other platforms. Late last month we let the world know: Myst will be coming to PC (2D & VR) and Mac in Q3 of this year! That’s, like, soon™, friends! We can’t wait to share this labor of love with you, and if we had one favor to ask it would be to wishlist the game… Wishlishting really does help, so thanks in advance for your continued support!
The Latest About Firmament Kickstarter backers saw a new update about Firmament at the end of June… and it was a beefy, delicious fatboi of an update (where did THAT phrase come from?!) with plenty of art and news to share! Whether you backed the game or not, we’d love you to check it out here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1252280491/firmament/posts If you are not a backer and this update inspires you to want to back our game… It’s not too late! We’ve established a relationship with Fangamer to be able to extend the Kickstarter campaign, and so it is still possible to get in on the fun, by pledging here: https://fulfillment.fangamer.com/kindling/firmament/ Mysterium 2021 Roundup! The annual gathering of Myst and Cyan game fans, “Mysterium,” happened online this year, from June 16th through 18th. If you weren’t able to attend, or perhaps missed some of the sessions, you can find links to every talk and panel from the weekend here: https://mysterium.net/schedule/ Additionally here are links to a few of our favorite panels from the weekend:
Watch Rand Miller play through Myst as he tells stories and provides commentary on the game, the development process, or anything else that he wants to chat about! Myst State of the Union (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Ld9rC875s) Join Cyan's Creative Director, Eric A. Anderson, and Development Director, Hannah Gamiel as they talk about Cyan's newly re-imagined and modernized version of Myst in the final stretch before it is (finally!) released for PC (2D & VR) and Mac. They'll be showing off the game, as well as answering your questions in this "state of the union" talk + Q&A. Cyan Art Team Q&A (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfvJ5QcJXzo) Have you ever wondered how the look of a game is established, or which tools Cyan uses to create worlds? Have you ever asked yourself what the difference is between a technical artist, an environmental artist, and a starving artist? Bring your questions and join Cyan's art team for a full hour of Q&A where you get to help guide the course of the conversation! Cyan Development Team Q&A (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxsS1YbYulA) What does it mean to be a developer at Cyan? Is it truly possible to automate everything? Which artist breaks the most stuff when they check in art? Bring your questions and join Cyan's Dev team for a full hour of Q&A where you get to help guide the course of the conversation! … and a note regarding Mysterium 2022 As is the custom with each Mysterium, next year’s location for Mysterium was announced at the end of this year’s festivities. Here’s the announcement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In-ikozneVY
Around the Office... A Retirement Worry not, we’ve been planning for months for this, and our QA team is now under the leadership of QA Master Extraordinaire, Josh Van Veldhuizen, and Press duties are being managed by Community Lead/QA teammate Lloyd Woodall, and your trusty Maker of messes, and occasional cleaner-upper of messes, Marketing and Brand Manager Jeff Lanctot. We’ll miss Vicki too much to spell out here in words. Handmade Seattle With Abner Coimbre As you may recall, earlier this year we introduced y’all to one of the newer folks around the office, systems programmer Abner Coimbre. Abner is a man of many, many talents- formerly of Thekla, Inc. (The Witness and Braid) and before that... he was at NASA. (What?! Yes! It’s true… Apparently sometimes it DOES take a rocket scientist.) In his spare time he also(!) runs an annual conference in the Seattle area called “Handmade Seattle.” Handmade is a movement of programmers interested in building software as “from scratch” as possible. Their belief is that by programming from the ground up, it is possible to learn more, and come away wiser from the experience than by solely relying on tools made by others. The conference has expanded rapidly from its roots and this year Handmade Seattle is offering both a physical track (in person) and an online track. If programming computers at a low level is already your jam, or simply sounds like something that might become your jam, you can find out more here: https://www.handmade-seattle.com/ Want a Deeper Dive Into a New Mystery? Rm9yIGZvbGtzIHdpdGggImEgY2VydGFpbiBzZXQgb2Ygc2tpbGxzIGFuZCBhIGxvdCBvZiBjdXJpb3NpdHksIiBzb21lIG9mIG91ciBmYW5zIGhhdmUgbm90aWNlZCBzb21ldGhpbmcgbXlzdGVyaW91cyB3aGljaCBoYXMgYmVlbiBnb2luZyBvbiBmb3IgYSBmZXcgbW9udGhzIG5vdyBhbmQgdGhleSBjb3VsZCB1c2UgeW91ciBoZWxwLiBNb3JlIGRldGFpbHMgY2FuIGJlIGZvdW5kIGhlcmU6IGh0dHBzOi8vd2lraS5jeXBoZXJzLjc1dGh0cm9tYm9uZS5jb20vaW5kZXgucGhwP3RpdGxlPTIwMjFfQ2lwaGVycw== That is… a lot! I hope you are as excited as we are about everything going on ‘round these parts! We’ll have more to share as the year goes on, and we’re so grateful to have you along for the ride. Thanks for your support, friends! Best Wishes ~Jeff and the Team at Cyan |