Myst Online: Uru Live | |
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Logo of Myst Online
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Developer(s) | Cyan Worlds |
Publisher(s) |
Ubisoft (2003-2004) Cyan Worlds (2004-2007: Until Uru) GameTap (2007-2008) Cyan Worlds (2010-present) |
Series | Myst |
Engine | CyanWorlds.com Engine (CWE) (based on Plasma 2.0) PhysX |
Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X |
Release |
GameTap February 15, 2007 (Discontinued February 4, 2008) (Service ended April 10, 2008) Cyan Worlds February 8, 2010 |
Genre(s) | First-person adventure/third-person adventure, puzzle |
Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Myst Online: Uru Live is an open source massively multiplayer online adventure game developed by Cyan Worlds. The game is the multiplayer component to the 2003 video game Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. Like Uru, Myst Online takes place in 2000's New Mexico, where an ancient civilization known as the D'ni once thrived. The D'ni had the ability to create portals to other worlds or Ages by writing descriptive books of the Age. Players uncover clues and solve puzzles together; plot developments were added via episodic content updates.
Uru's multiplayer segment was delayed and did not ship with the single-player component as planned; in February 2004 the multiplayer was scrapped entirely. Dedicated fans kept an unsupported version of the game alive through Cyan-maintained servers. Online game distributor GameTap resurrected the game as Myst Online in 2007, but this version was canceled due to a lack of subscribers despite generally positive reviews. Cyan received the rights to Myst Online from GameTap and announced its intention to bring the game back.
In 2010, Cyan Worlds released the game free of charge, under the name MO:ULagain. It is currently hosted on Cyan-maintained servers.
In 2011, Cyan Worlds and OpenUru.org announced the release of Myst Online's client and 3ds Max plugin under the GNU GPL v3 license.
Myst Online's gameplay is a massively multiplayer online game, where players interact with others to solve puzzles and advance the story. Players communicate with others using a "Ki", an artifact which provides a special interface. Each player has their own personal Age, called Relto; unlike in public areas, each player's Relto is different depending on the player's tastes. In public areas, any action a player takes is persistent and remains part of that world — kick a stone in one player's game, for instance, and the stone will be moved when any other player enters the area.