Kickstarter — Obduction by Cyan Inc

Myst and Riven are golden examples of innovation in the gaming industry. The makers of these legends: Cyan Inc has arisen once more to bring you the opportunity to kickstart a brand new title:

 

Image from Cyan Inc's Facebook

This game is a bit obscure. In the style of Myst and Riven it attempts to place you in a world of mystery. Similar to when players first tried out Myst all those years ago starting on a dock. The world this game depicts is supposed to be beautiful and fun to explore.

The idea is that they don't want to create a sequel to Myst. In their Kickstater video they state, "that would be easy" so they are focusing to make a 'spiritual successor to the experience.' Aspiring to bring people the same sense of excitement and wonder they felt while moving forward in Myst.

The technology they have today can allow for that and so much more. Limited with what their software and old fashioned computer hardware could do; Myst was still able to put the player in a situation they never imagined a game could take them. With the Unreal 4 engine, Cyan hopes to create a more immursive experience, taking full advantage of what this generation of technology has to offer.

Cyan has made it pretty clear they want transparency. By creating forums online for all the bakers to access. Explaining what is being worked on, where they are in development, what the money is being allocated towards, and interaction with the developers though the forums. Funding will be spent solely on the games production,

"We already have a team here - a few who've been here since the Myst days, and some who are more recent. We'll be adding to the team after we get funding, so we can flesh out our design and then get started on all the new art, modeling, texturing, sounds, music, lighting, characters, interface, technology, and more."

In a statement on the official Kickstarter page.

Image from Cyan Inc's Facebook

The game has some neat artwork already available on their Kickstarter page (I'm forward you there because I won't steal their traffic, I want you to go pledge after all).

As a game on Kickstarter it has some of the best types of perks I've seen. Every perk at the $25 tier and above allows you to feel like you're a real producer. One who supported this project and actually has a role to play. The $25 tier gives you a digital copy of the game, a digital manual, a high resolution concept art painted by, Stephan Martiniere, access to the forms, and you'll be listed in the backer's section of the game credits and their website. All of this for one tier! The following tiers add so much as well. From the soundtrack, to an art book, physical copies of the game, t-shirts, the ability to allow you to design an item in the game or an Easter egg, and a bunch more! One person (as of this writing this post) actually backed at the $10,000 level. This gives access to so much that it would take too long to read. Most significantly they will actually experience the development process with the team, communicate with them, and visit the Cyan studios.

 

Claiming they want the story that feels natural. One where you get a chance to experience it through interaction and exploration. Not necessarily through cinematic experience. I believe they are trying to show the power in story telling a game has apart from a movie by focusing on this part.

It's quite difficult to marry mechanics and narrative into a game. Mostly this has been to the fact that video games are still very new media. Only recently have games come to the point where you can really feel like the game play is part of the story. Most of the time games that try to have a more thought out storyline are met with a lot of dissonance. The way to interact with the game in an intuitive manner while still feeling like the story is answering all it needs to for total immersion is the greatest challenge a video game can have I think.

Here is hoping that Obduction has what we have been waiting for and helps take the industry a bit closer with a story that takes advantage of being in a game.

Back it now!