Good News Folks (About Uru Live)

I'm pumped about this

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/txt/archive/?postID=6114

Me Too!

Now I just have to get rid of all the "I wanna do this" and "I wanna do that" crap going through my head, so I can get some work done today. LOL

I'm with the wait and see crowd.

I just hope their plan includes bringing back Minkata. Didn't realize that I missed that place so much. Sorry that we won't get to see their storyline continued. But happy and not surprised that we can get our own stories done.

The wait and see part is ... that this is still an experimental concept, as Cyan is noted for doing. And whether or not our friends, like Dimi, are able to join in with us.

I know they'll give it a good shot. Whether or not it works as they hope still remains to be seen. But at least they're willing to try.

Good news



Guild of Messengers

For immediate release: Cyan has sent us this letter to the community.

Shorah,

We've got some good news. GameTap and Cyan Worlds have reached an agreement that would return the rights of Myst Online to Cyan Worlds! We're very excited, but at the same time, there are some hurdles to overcome. Cyan Worlds is currently operating at a reduced capacity. We're not in a position where we have plenty of resources and people to bring MO back fast and furiously. But we've got a plan, and we'd like to run it past you - our fans and supporters.

Please realize that this roadmap is tentative and dynamic - but it's a starting point. There's no guarantee that we can accomplish all of these milestones, but they are something to discuss, adjust, and shoot for. We also need to mention that the roadmap below will most likely involve some minimal subscriber fees - something along the lines of $25 (US) for six months. (That number is subject to change.) We are not trying to make any money on this at this stage - but we do need to cover some of the costs. (Additional fees may apply for future Cyan content, front-end shard ownership, etc.)

You should know that the roadmap does not involve any new content from Cyan at this time. The plan is to start to move the content creation - the "Art" - to you. In addition the guilds themselves will start to exercise some authority in writing, monitoring, approving, communicating, etc.

For now, please watch and participate in the mystonline.com forum (http://www.mystonline.com/forum/index.php). This will be a good place to find updates - as well as through the Guild of Messengers and their affiliates (http://www.guildofmessengers.com) Also, consider joining one of the Guilds.

And because we felt like we all needed a little levity to combat the crazy whiplash of the continuing death and resurrection of Myst Online, we've decided to temporarily name the resurrection plan - Myst Online: Restoration Experiment (MORE) as in "We want MORE!"

Thanks again for so much support!

The MORE team

Cyan understands that the above letter will still leave many in the community with questions - perhaps even more questions than you've had since the announcement of the rights issue was first published in Tom Sowa's article in the Spokesman Review TXT blog. (News of that announcement is spreading throughout gaming publications quickly - just today, the story was picked up by Kotaku, Massively, and Next Generation.) The Guild of Messengers is working with Cyan on a way to answer those questions. Stay tuned for MORE news!

Message from Cyan

This is good to hear. I don't need to know that it's going to happen 'right now' - although that has been a secret fantasy of mine. But I'm a business person and understand that the business side of it has to be attended to foremost if the game is to survive long term.

I joined a few guilds awhile back while the game was still active. But I've not been active there. Guess it's time to dust off my guild uniforms and get involved.

In the meantime, I shall continue with Friends of Fissure efforts and in the storyline development of my own Age, complete with puzzles and a journey with a cool (hopefully) discovery at the end. Too bad I don't have enough time to learn blender. But I am an artist too and can make the storyboards at least.

The price doesn't scare me, since I only subscribed to Gametap for MOUL, and that's still twice as much as they are shooting for. So they have a ways to go before scaring me off.

MORE Roadmap
+ MORE servers will be restarted. These will be run by Cyan and run on machines that are either owned or leased by Cyan. The software and game assets will be as it was when Myst Online was shutdown on the GameTap servers. However, all accounts and avatars from the GameTap servers will not be available and will have to be re-created.

+ There will be some restructuring of MystOnline.com to accommodate the new direction of MORE. Including the forums and the policies running the forum.

+ Release of the 3DS Max Plasma plugins for creating MORE content. Release of the source for the plugin (only) to the Guild of Writers. This will allow for the easier creation of fan created tools as well as being able to use what Cyan used for creating Myst Online content.

+ The Guild of Maintainers (in conjunction with Guild of Writers) will act as an agent in approving fan created content creation for MORE.

+ Create methods and processes for testing fan created MORE content. How this will work has not been determined but is crucial for fan created content. Then a process will be created to bring Guild of Maintainers final approved and tested content forward to main server for all users to enjoy.

+ Release binaries for a few front end servers to be run on fan run servers (front end shards). These fan run servers will have to be registered with the Cyan server and will help alleviate bandwidth issues. These front end processes will be limited to game servers and file servers. All authentication and avatar databases would still be handled by Cyan servers. This way a user needs only one account with all their avatars, no matter what front end shard they connect to. As a matter of fact, accessing the front end shards will be seamless for the user, and they may never know (or care) which one they are running on.

+ Create processes and release binary updates to the front end shards so that shard owners can host specific age game instances (such as a particular Neighborhood) and be able to control the states of that instance. End users will not have to do anything special other than link to that age and they will be routed to the shard that is hosting it. This will allow the front end shard owners to provide unique experiences on the age instance that they host. (By the way, the states the front end shard owner's change will only affect the instance of the age they are hosting and will not affect other age's states, even if it is the same age.)

+ (Pie in the sky milestone!) Cyan Worlds will create new content and storyline. This may be done solely by Cyan or in conjunction with the Guilds.






I think I'll be applying to join the Guild of Maintainers sounds like they'll need all the help they can get.

I'm so glad were getting MOUL back. I never knew how much I'd miss it and my bevin mates!! I am looking forward to going through all the ages with everyone. Ms Isis I really miss Minkata too! I found it to be a a wonderful place to meditate. I live in the city and never get to see the stars. Meanwhile I'll be working with the Guild of Writers and supporting the front on that end. I just received my shells and will be rendering the museum this month . If Ahra Prahts ever goes public I'll have a private suite built just for our bevin...wet bar included. ~Atheni

I can't wait to dance around the fountain again. I think when the tools for user created content are available we should make a permanent firemarble pit near the fountain, one with immobile firemarbles so we never have to move those Damm things again

This is great news, I've missed everything URU live had to offer. Hi SeanMc good to hear from you. Immobile firemarbles hummmm Seems like all the guilds will need help, guess I need to find a place to fit

I've missed URU as well. I kept an eye on the MOUL forums to see what if anything would become of MOUL and I find out that Cyan got the rights back and we might be back in the cavern.

Right now I'm enthusiastic about the possibility of the return that I want to help out anyway I can.

I have missed my Cavern time, but have kept busy with La Casa. If we get back down below I suppose I will let the long term dreams for La Casa slide, but it is still a great site with good characters and story along with a library that will remain as a resource no matter what happens.

I think that we have to keep in mind that it costs Cyan -- or whatever company -- a packet to keep MOUL online and functioning. Its survival depends on us, the URU community, to support it both financially and artistically. Some of us may be able to contribute story, art and ages. Others -- I am thinking of our bevin's core mission -- will be involved in keeping URU vital by helping the new people find their way and have good time. We all know people who were ready to give up and quit the game, until they met one of us with an open friendly hand. And they stayed and they grew and they blossomed and became guides themselves.

I know that many explorers -- even other bevins -- have similar mission statements, but Myss Terrie's Bevin held to that principle from the start and never wavered. And it wasn't just me -- not about me nor from me. Every one of you made a difference for at least one other explorer. We keep that going, and once we are back in the Cavern we can make it work so that the rest of the community knows that they can count on us. If that takes pressure off of the DRC ResEngs, if that makes MOUL a little easier for Cyan to support, then we can be proud of ourselves and the work we do. It will not be so much a matter of "when are they going to give us a new age" -- but how can we help.

(Damn, I shouldn't never write posts while watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- makes me go all special feeling and preachy )

I miss the cavern as well, for some odd reason dancing around a fountain and getting weird looks from my wife was fun for me.

I remember when I first came to the cavern, I wondered around from Bevin to Bevin not finding a group to fit in with. I’m not much of an extrovert and I just sat quietly listening in on the chatting going on in the hoods. Then I found Myss Terries Bevin, a friendly place where I was welcomed.

I would have quit if I hadn’t found a group that made it worth coming into the cavern every night. The only way MORE will work is if we can bring in MORE people. Friendly places like our Bevin will make new players want to stay.

Stay AND pay?...I've never given up on the whole concept of URU live....GameTap and otherwise....I see people come and go all the time...Forums and the like....I find it nice that people can just touch base every now and again in the forum....the URU experience is great....I love the game....the people is what makes it work...

SWEET! D'ni, here we come again! This is GREAT news indeed! Especially with user-based content? That's what I've been hoping for! I just hope they make an engine that makes Age writing simple and fun, even for us non-programmers!