Cyan Worlds

Cyan Worlds, Inc.

Company type	Private
Industry	Computer and video games
Founded	1987
Founder	Rand Miller Robyn Miller
Headquarters	Mead, Washington
Key people	Rand Miller, CEO and Founder
Products	Myst and Uru series
Number of employees	40 (2005)
Website	www.cyanworlds.com

Photo of Cyan Worlds

Cyan Worlds, Inc. (formerly Cyan, Inc.) is a computer game company, founded by brothers Rand and Robyn Miller in 1987. After the release of Riven: The Sequel to Myst in 1997, Robyn left Cyan to pursue other interests. To clarify new directions for the company, CEO Rand Miller then changed the name from "Cyan" to "Cyan Worlds." The company is located in Mead, Washington (just outside Spokane).

History

• 1988: The Manhole
• 1989: Cosmic Osmo and the Worlds Beyond the Mackerel
• 1992: Spelunx
• 1993: Myst, published by Broderbund.
• 1997: Riven, The Sequel to Myst, published by Red Orb Entertainment
  • Co-founder Robyn Miller leaves Cyan, ten years after he began The Manhole
  • Cyan changes name to Cyan Worlds
• 2000: Real-time Myst 3D remake realMyst published by Mattel
• 2001: Myst sequel Myst III: Exile developed by Presto Studios and published by Ubisoft
• 2003: Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, formerly known under the working titles DIRT ("D'ni In Real Time"), Mudpie ("Multi-User DIRT —Persistent Interactive Environment"), Parable and Myst Online
• 2004: Myst IV: Revelation developed by Ubisoft, Uru expansions Uru: To D'ni and Uru: The Path of the Shell
• 2005: Myst V: End of Ages announced as the final game of the Myst series.
• 2005: September, Cyan shuts its doors and lays off all but 2 employees
  • Until Uru allows fans who had gained permission to run their own "shards" for online play of Uru.
• 2006: Rand Miller, CEO of Cyan Worlds announces an official Until URU shard called D'mala and later announces the return of full-fledged Uru Live using GameTap technology. Staff is rehired and production ramps back up with an eye towards expanding the Uru universe and developing new properties.
• 2007: Myst Online: Uru Live launches on 15 February after months of Beta testing.
• 2007: Cosmic Osmo’s: Hex Isle released on November 30^th, Cosmic Osmo returns after 15 years.
• 2008: 4 February 2008, GameTap discontinued the operation of Myst Online: Uru Live. Game servers remained online for 60 days following, and were finally shut down on 10 April 2008.
• On June 30th 2008, it was announced that Cyan Worlds had regained the rights to Uru, and are currently planning on relaunching it as Myst Online: Restoration Experiment, relying on user content for expansion. Cyan Worlds hopes to have it out by the end of the year.

With the exception of their early titles, Cyan's games tell the story of a humanoid race called the D'ni, who have the ability to write linking books. Linking books teleport the user into other worlds, limited only by the imagination of the author. These worlds are referred to as "Ages." Cyan's games are known for their intricate plots, exquisite graphics, and immersive sounds. They focus on exploration and storytelling, presented by a simple, elegant interface that appeals to gamers and non-gamers alike. Related to the storyline of the D'ni are three Myst novels Book of Atrus, Book of Ti'ana and Book of D'ni.

After Uru Live was cancelled, Cyan released two Uru expansion packs that included content originally intended for the online component of Uru. In the following year, they developed the final chapter in the Myst series, Myst V: End of Ages. After Myst V, the company laid off most of its employees due to financial difficulties, but shortly after rehired almost everyone after a save by Turner Broadcasting. Prior to this, the company was working on an as yet unannounced project (reported as the name 'Latus' by Richard A. Watson) and negotiating with an undisclosed publisher, but its status is now unclear.

After Uru Live closed fans began developing their own server software; Cyan Worlds then released Until Uru, a modified version of the server software of Uru Live. Until Uru is run on fan owned and operated servers, although through Gametap funding, Cyan has managed to offer the D'mala Shard. Fans also began developing new content for the game.

Uru Live launched officially on GameTap on February 15, 2007, after being available through GameTap as an open beta for a few months. Users who sign up for a seven-day limited trial of GameTap are given a "visitor account," with access to an area of one Age and some public neighborhoods, while paying GameTap subscribers get "explorer accounts" with full access to all Ages.[1] As of February 15, 2007, Uru Live was the most-played game among GameTap users.[2] Despite this success, GameTap announced on February 4th, 2008 that it would be closing Uru Live.

Cyan Worlds was going to release the start of a new series, a game called Latus, but this is believed to have been cancelled.

Recent

In November 2008, Cyan laid off about 50 game testers. The layoffs came as a result of the acquisition of their primary customer Gamecock Media.

In December 2008, Cyan announced that it would release as open source the code for the servers, client and tools for Myst Online.

List of people related to Cyan

• Rand Miller, co-founder and CEO
• Robyn Miller, co-founder and former designer/director
• Richard Vander Wende, former designer/director
• Richard A. Watson, lead programmer and D'ni historian
• Ryan Miller
• Martin O'Donnell

See also

• Myst games
• Myst novels

External links

• Cyan Worlds
• The Restoration of D'ni
• Uru
• Myst V: End of Ages
• Myst Obsession