From Myst to Riven: The Creations and Inspirations

by Richard Kadrey

With full-color photographs, MYST / RIVEN: The Art of the Game gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the luminous art and fantastic creation of the worlds bestselling CD-ROM phenomenon, MYST, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 078686365X
• ISBN13: 9780786863655
• Release Date: November 1997
• Publisher: Hyperion Books
• Length: 127 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 10.4" x 14.3"

Customer Reviews

A book no Myst, gaming, or computer fan should be without!

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.

Your Linking Book to How Myst and Riven were Created

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.

The Mother of all coffee-table books

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!

Must see for anyone who is interested in the making of Riven

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.

Hey! I'm the 5th person to write a review! Gehn would aprove

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.