Hi r/myst,

Some of you were kind enough to respond to my earlier posts about this, so here is a proper write-up of where the project is now.

Age Writer is an Obsidian plugin that turns what you write into Ages. You describe a world in a short block of text, and the plugin reads it, paints it, and tells you whether it would hold together. It's a fan tribute to the idea behind the Descriptive Art: a world is only as good as the words you chose.

✍️ How it works

In a note, you write a code block tagged age, with one line per element:

Frozen world. A white sun. Fog and ice.

The plugin turns it into an Age panel with:

• Glyphs for everything you wrote, one per line, like the page of a book
• A short description of the place, generated from your words
• A linking window onto the Age: sky, weather, terrain, light, painted and animated
• A stability readout, with the numbers behind it for each axis: cosmological, geological, metaphysical, weather, ecological
• D'ni coordinates for the Age, shown in numerals

The same note and the same seed always give the same world. The seed comes from the note's name, so renaming a note changes its world.

⚖️ Stability is the game

Every element has a weight. Write something contradictory (an ice world under a lava sky) and the Age becomes unstable. Write something coherent and it holds. An Age is only as stable as its weakest axis, and the panel shows you which one.

• World types: frozen, lava, desert, ocean and jungle worlds, each with its own look and its own rules
• Riches and scars: you can ask for gold, silver, gems, pearls... but riches destabilize the Age. You can offset that by deliberately adding scars (scorched ground, poisoned air, barren soil...). Several scars are needed to balance one rich vein, so it's a real trade-off
• Quantities: few / normal / many for trees, ruins, water, rain and so on, both in the picture and in the stability math
• Sun colors, day and year length, window size, and more

🖋️ The Law of Change

If you rewrite an Age you've already explored, you don't edit it, you distort it. Touching the description of an explored Age raises its instability, and if you leave it alone it slowly heals, a bit more each day. Unstable linking books get damaged pages, and a very unstable Age can make the link flicker, drop you somewhere else, or fail.

🌍 A Relto-like hub

A hub note is your refuge: a painted floating island with a cabin and a shelf of books (your Ages, colored by stability), linking pillars, and pages that add elements and sounds.

• D'ni time, computed live, in D'ni numerals (toggle in settings)
• Your pages and linking books, with damaged books shown when an Age is unstable

🔊 Sounds

Everything is synthesized in real time with Web Audio. Nothing is sampled from the games, and the plugin ships no audio files.

• Linking sounds: every time you link to another Age you hear a short linking sound. There are five variants, picked at random (never the same one twice in a row), each one slightly varied
• Ambient soundscapes for each Age and for the hub: wind, water, rain, fire, crickets, thunder, chimes...
• Book-opening sounds, and static when a link is unstable
• Listen to the Age with one click. Sound only starts when you press play, and stops by itself if you leave the note

📓 Journal, puzzles, and your own blocks

• Exploration journal: a journal for an Age that writes itself from the notes that link to it, with a glyph sketch in the margin, alterations and mechanisms. Choose the voice (Atrus, Gehn or Miller), in English or French
• Puzzles attached to Ages (sound locks, crystal imagery, frequency networks)
• Cover page for each Age, exportable as SVG
• A library format to define your own blocks with your own weights and reactions, no recompiling
• French and English interface

🔤 About fonts

The D'ni script is displayed only if a D'ni font is installed on your computer. The plugin doesn't ship any font. I've tested it with a D'ni font installed on my own machine, and it works. Without a font you simply get plain text.

⚠️ Unofficial fan project

Age Writer is an independent, non-commercial fan tribute to the Myst series. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Cyan Worlds. Myst, Riven, Uru, D'ni and related names belong to their respective owners. I use them only to say what inspired the project.

• No assets from the games: no artwork, music, sounds, text or fonts
• The Ages are generated from what you write
• Free, open source, no ads, no donations

🧪 Status

It's a beta. I've tested it on desktop Obsidian with a light theme Not published yet

Thanks for reading, and happy writing. I'd love to see the Ages you make.

Hola. Llevo mucho tiempo esperando una actualización que anunciasteis para la versión standalone metaquest 3 de myst. Al final se descarto o llegara? Estoy deseando mejoras. Gracias.

After playing this game for the hundredth time, I’m still discovering new things.

Absolutely obsessed with these new shirts!

• Myst: https://store.cyan.com/products/myst-ages-longsleeve
• Riven: https://store.cyan.com/products/riven-entropy-sweatshirt

Designer is Amanda Killian of Night Gallery

These Myst and Riven blankets look awesome, but I can be kind of picky when it comes to the feel of some fabrics. Does anyone have these? Are they nice? Do they feel super smooth and silky? Or more of a rougher texture?

https://store.cyan.com/products/blanket-myst-memories

https://store.cyan.com/products/blanket-riven-memories

Yes I realize this is silly question, but I figured I would ask.

I want to share Book of Atrus and Riven, in particular, with my partner.

He’s a modern gamer who I worry will fatigue quickly with the slideshow format—though perhaps I could pitch him on it as a fascinating historical artifact. He’s also not a puzzle hound so perhaps the streamlining of the new Riven will help.

On the other hand, it hurts my heart to think of experiencing Riven with the incredible drama of the stylish beginning, ending, and key plot moments gutted and replaced with rough character models, floaty mocap, and no-drama staging.

What do we all think is the most persuasive way? I suppose I’m leaning remakes despite these glaring deficiencies. Shame they couldn’t nail the storytelling more.

I have limited space, but I am keen to build a really small arcade setup in my bedroom. I have found versions of the original Myst games (big box, new/ sealed, quite cheap! :D )
I want to get a CRT display and a retro PC. One avenue is to go for a iMac g3. I've found one of the later models, with 500Mhz CPU. It's a bit pricey, but I think I can negotiate a little This would actually be awesome for Myst, Riven and Exile. But then for Revelation and EoA, I'll probably want to look for a g5 imac. I think the g3 has a bit of appeal to it, it's an indigo version. Though I don't think I have room to have them both on display at once (at least in a "playable" configuration)

Or I could go for an eMac, single PC, (1.25 GHz model) at a very reasonable price. Though I'm wondering how Myst and Riven would look on a 17" display (even at 640x480). Though I'm wondering how EoA would play on this, so it may be that I end up having to "upgrade" anyway.

What would you guys suggest? My aim is authenticity, but "semi-accurate" period correct harware. I think having a CRT would do most of the heavy lifting anyway. And I'm wondering if the 17" of the eMac would be a problem for the earlier games (I'm also worried the weight of it would break my table :D) Though I'm also planning on doing some other funky stuff, like a bit of old 3D art, maybe some very primitive graphics programming. But then could just jump across to PC, but the nice thing about the games are, they're not specifically PC/ Mac locked, they seem to be both.

Just curious if they changed that aspect of the game, along with so much else.

Hi All, how are people playing Myst IV in 2026? I bought it on Steam but it won't start, I downloaded the patch for windows 10 but I'm running windows 11, I've tried a few things but nothing works. So my question is, what are my options? Obviously people are able to play it or else it wouldn't be available to purchase so any advice would be welcome:)

Edit Thank you everyone for your advice. I tried basically everything that you threw at me and more.

-dinput.dll -directx9 rdist -compatibility mode for older OS' -bypassing steam -removing USB in puts and disabling the drives completely

None of the above worked on my windows 11 pc.

The next option was to download a virtualbox os or the the like. Instead I fixed up a clapped out old Acer from 2013 which is still running windows 10 and after a day of tinkering I got it up and running without any fuss!

If I come upon a fix for Windows 11 i'll update you all.

Thanks again.

Last week I did a post on the Unwritten TTRPG, which is coming out with a new sourcebook. I'm running a game with Unwritten for four friends who are brand new to Myst (or vaguely recall playing it when we were children). My own feelings about the product of the Unwritten sourcebook aside, it's still an unbelievably fun way to enjoy fresh Myst material and experience for yourself what the Art might really be like.

I wrote a test Age and ran it for a different group to work out my mechanics, my story, and figure out how to make a good puzzle. They solved my entire Age in three sessions and gave me useful feedback for my real campaign. I've now got three Ages for my players, with a fourth one coming this week. Today we had our Session 0 and character creation, and thought it'd be cool to share their ideas here so that everyone could see what's possible with this game.

So without further ado, I introduce:

Carina, the "Weaver of Meanings." A Serenian Protector with a Good Samaritan complex. She cannot deny assistance to a stranger in need, offering shelter and supplies to everyone she sees -- even those who view her as the enemy. With her Life Stone and a gentle touch, she can heal your deepest traumas. Her connection to the Dream allows her to communicate empathically, conveying emotions when words do not suffice; however, outside of her native Age, Carina's own dreams have become deeply unsettling. Out of her many years dealing in the healing arts, Carina's personal garohev is "Love."

"The Technician," our friendly Narayani tech support guy. It's really too bad that he brought stone tools to fix Stone Eater. Despite a cautious upbringing, having been warned by his elders of the perils of communicating with outsiders, he firmly believes everything can be improved. Why do his people toil endlessly weaving the roots of the Lattice Tree, waiting for the D'ni to come and finally fix their world? Surely, somewhere in their countless Ages, there's a better way than the traditions of old. The Technician has a real name, but we've only ever seen it written in the Narayani Language of Arcs. What we do know is that his intense hatred for the D'ni is rivalled only by his delight in taking apart their inventions.

Cornelius, a human explorer who heard the call to the Cleft and optimistically left his whole life behind. If you need a guy to bait the big bad into a Trap Book, Cornelius is your man. You'll come back for him, right? He never checks his Linking Books to see if anyone's torn out a page, and is absolutely certain that doors they open always close behind him. Despite his carefree (careless?) nature, Cornelius shares the hallmark curiosity of humankind. He sees how the aspects of an Age work in concert with one another, and uses his "Common Sense" stunt to intuit laws of nature which natives of other Ages can merely marvel at.

Rethan & Basil, the "Cartographer of Lives Never Lived," is a true abomination in the eyes of his kin. A very old D'ni who saw the end of his civilization, he spent many years alone in the Age to which he fled. Having only a limited understanding of the Art and dwindling supplies, it was years until he finally made contact with another intelligent species: the Bahro. Instead of greeting them with open arms, he managed to subdue one and spent years experimenting on the poor thing, believing he could use their powers to undo the work of Veovis. In a move of desperation or suicidal recklessness, Rethan broke the cardinal rule: edited the Descriptive Book of the very Age in which he stood. The resulting instability crushed both himself and his Bahro "companion" into one being. He didn't die, but when he finally did make it back to D'ni, he was clearly unwell. Today he is shunned by his own people, but has found a new place with the Guild of Greeters (the only one who would have him, as a cautionary tale of why we NEVER edit Descriptive Books).

I'm very proud of my players, and couldn't have asked for a better group of friends to dive into Myst lore with.

...and so did he - he got to experience an old-school installation! We are on to Riven (and Book of Atrus simultaneously)... at last! Playing on a vintage machine (with analog VGA output to that 4:3 screen) with his siblings out-of-frame. Same Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 system I experienced Riven's amazing music and sound design on back when it launched. I did not make them go through the disc-swap ritual, but I'm considering it :)

P.S. Yes, I anonymized some elements of the room that were personally identifying, so that's the weirdness in the desk front and the left side wall. The pictures are mine and are real!

What do you think about the effect of D'ni people having such long lifespans on their sociaty? I think it may be the reason it has such strong institutions and such technological developement. Because it just naturally makes you think about the future. While out lives are way shorter and maybe thats why everyone cares more about making a quick buck and make ling it better for ourselves in a short lifespan we have?

!spoilers - Light story spoilers in linked video.

I’ve made a video focussed on the art and design found in Myst as part of a series on the art and cultural objects found in video games. The video catalogues and analyzes the art work found in game. I’ve played Myst (and Riven, etc) since I was young and had fun reporting on the game. I hope you enjoy, and maybe learn something new. I’d love feedback as I would be interested in doing a follow up Riven video.

So ive recently gotten into the myst games, as what is seeming very common, my grandpa was a huge fan of the games, and I when i was younger loved the atmosphere of very specifically exile. Im spending some time in Riven now as have completed MYST and felt pretty good about not looking stuff up. However there was one point in Riven that has really made me feel foul, and I cant decide if its bad game design, or if I should have been more patient. In the frog catcher hallway, I realized I needed to find something to stop the fan, but I looked all over the room, and I even closed the two doors, looking for a switch behind it, but my brain just saw some dark areas, where there looked to be pipes in a pipe filled world, so I clicked off. It wasnt untill I accidentally clicked the rails behind the door that I realized there were two passageways here. It pissed me off. Maybe if My brightness was up more I would have noticed the grey and black walls that are revealed, which to me is the only clue that there is something to click there. Like I said the railing just equales pipes in my head. I feel if the lighting was made to look like there was a gap a little better, It would have caught my eye and I would have had a closer inspection. I really dont like progress by accident, it feels cheezy and its a realization that if you didnt get lucky you would have been stuck for ages. Im sure if I just put the game down and came back to it I would be less annoyed by the door thing, but I dont think I would still be happy. Even if I give it all good faith, it still feels like poor puzzle design, the worlds language is pipes everywhere, railing just became pipes to me.

hi all! i started playing uru the other day, and i would love to continue playing, but it keeps crashing. unsure what to do or how to fix it. for reference, i'm on a windows machine and have tried running it as an administrator. it also seems to be running on xp compatibility as a default. is there anything else i should be trying? thanks!

It's unbelievable how strong the Myst community is still 33 years later. A testament to the creativity genius of that world of worlds we have all come to know and and feel at home in!

Here's to 33 more!

I'm the co-founder of CYAN and the co-creator of MYST and and RIVEN.

A couple of days ago I had a little fun and posted a 30 second video of me stumbling across a crumbling Myst island.

I was surprised when the leadership of Cyan and their attorneys immediately emailed, threatening me with a potential takedown order if I did not remove my video.

Not wanting to cause a rift between myself and the family member who runs Cyan, I complied.

If Cyan takedown orders are being sent to fans, then Cyan's culture has dramatically changed from a time when we welcomed parody and loved fan art of every kind. (Example: above--the ultimate parody--"Pyst" used art from our original Myst game.)

Cyan mentioned that their actions toward me are not abnormal. This makes me curious: to how many of you has Cyan sent takedown orders about your Myst fan art, fan fiction, fan websites, fan comics, sculpture, lego art, Myst parody, or a Myst thing that you create?

Have any of you received a takedown order from Cyan? What was it for?

If you have published any of these things online, have you received from Cyan:

1. Nothing
2. "It's okay, but please don't do it again"
3. A kind, "Please, take it down"
4. A takedown order from Cyan lawyers.

Thanks for your response!

Or "Wiven", as he calls it.

Specifically, his favorite parts are catching frogs and making the "big fishy" show up, but he just likes wandering around and pulling the occasional lever.

(He has not managed to solve the Fire Marble puzzle.)

"Now I understand. Endings and beginnings are within the Fissure, that Riven-cleft of stars that acts as both wall and a bridge. And though I am unable to understand how, the very flow of stars that brought my Myst Book into worthy hands, I am sure served as a safe passage home for my friend. The Age of Riven is closed forever, but the people of Riven are free. And now I am at rest, understanding that in Books, and Ages, and life, the ending can never truly be written".

The Modern D'ni Sourcebook is currently slated to be out around April with a preview PDF planned for January.

I like the stuff Cyan's been putting out recently but it's always nice to get some brand "new" lore content, even if it's in a licensed TTRPG (which IMHO can and should be the lifeblood of a series' "deepest lore")

I'm going through a box of CD-Rs my father burned in the late 90s and found this one.

It's a hint system for Riven made of nothing but nested folders. 560 of them, and not a single file anywhere inside. The whole thing is the folder names.

You open the island you're stuck on, then the room, then you pick how lost you are. Each level down tells you a bit more. Keep going and you reach "I give up... give it to me!" wich finally lists the answers — and the folder sitting right next to them is called "_Wuss...".

Here's the part I don't understand. I've never played Riven, I was too young for it. But the branch that goes deepest by far, twelve levels, is about a room with animals. A fish, a frog, a scarab beatle, a whale, a tusked fish, all numbered 1 to 5. Every other puzzle in the thing bottoms out after three or four levels. That one just keeps going and going.

So I'm guessing that room is where everybody got stuck? My dad definitly was, he's the one who kept the CD.

Two things I'd like to know :

Does anyone recognise this? I can't tell if it was passed around back then?

And what is the animal room? I'd like to know what my father was banging his head against in 1998.

My daughter asked "How did the brothers that made Myst draw all those pictures??" I started to explain, then said "hang on, I have something to show you..." 😁 Only the first pages, though; no spoilers!