There's no question that adventure gaming fans are very divided over the Myst games—many who believe it to be the pinnacle of adventures, and many who find it boring and hollow. What elements in Myst IV do you believe will appeal to those who have found the previous installments too obscure?

There are a lot of elements in Myst IV that should appeal to non-hardcore Myst fans. Among them, maybe the most obvious are the very dynamic and different environments that you can explore at your own pace. It’s a real feast for the eyes and for the ears!

In those environments, you’ll also notice rapidly that there are far more characters, animated elements and creatures than in any previous Myst games.

Another aspect is certainly the rich storyline that unfolds itself while the player is involved in the game. The inclusion of the amulet, a device that let you witness events that happened in the past, alleviates the burden to search for the clues and eases the understanding of back story elements. In addition, we also integrated a help system that should provide all the necessary information to players who just don’t want to deal with certain types of puzzles …

In Myst, you’re playing yourself, so we just wanted to make sure that most player will feel free to play the game the way they want it to be played.

Uru took the Myst legacy in a very different direction with the third-person perspective. Why the decision to return to the node-based engine?

We didn’t decide to return to a node-based engine: Uru and the Myst series are completely different projects with different targets.

In Myst, the player plays himself and experiences the Ages by his own point of view. We didn’t want to detract from this. So, we came to the conclusion that by combining the node-based engine with multilayered real-time effects, we could achieve a brand new signature for the game and bring the feeling of immersion to new heights. By doing so, we were able to keep the simplicity of the navigation, improve on graphic quality and add a real feeling of life. Thus, we were able to get the best of the two worlds! It also allows us to attain a very high quality on very low configurations. Uru was built with Uru Live in mind, the online component, and therefore a third-person perspective was a much widely accepted and standard for MMO titles.

Talk about the hand interface—how was it conceived? What was the most difficult aspect of implementing it?

This idea of changing the traditional white cursor for the player’s hand was motivated by the intention to increase the immersive feeling. This transformation helps the player to feel the surrounding by—touching—instead of clicking. They can now visualize the action when they are turning, pushing, pulling, and taking an object…

The challenge when creating the player’s hand was to have a nice-looking hand with realistic animations. Its aspect needed to be done so as to fit the Myst Revelation Ages. Then, since the player’s hand was becoming a much more important part of the interface, its animations needed to be fine tuned. We tried to find the perfect balance between realism and efficiency so as to have a quick, fluid and nice response. Feedback from the team and from play testers (our target audience) helped a lot.

Discuss the puzzles—obviously a very important element of the Myst franchise. In both type and quantity, should we expect the same as in previous installments?

We created different kind of puzzles. They were made to follow an intention of diversity, to be integral parts of the ages and also directly support the plotline. Electricity, electronics, acoustic, music, physics, communication, mathematics, writing, reading, colors, reflexes, natural sciences, and enigmas are some examples of thematic you will find in some puzzles.

We can say that you’ll find the inspiration of all three past Myst games in them, and many other new kinds. Some puzzles are following the simplicity and clue-hunting style of Apogee (Myst). One Revelation Age possess interlaced puzzles inspired from Riven (fans will love it). And because Exile is rich in puzzles diversity, Revelation has something in common with that game as well.

How long is Myst IV, in comparison to the other games in the series? With all the talk in reviews these days about games being "too short", did you feel pressure to meet a certain level of gameplay time?

One of our preoccupations is that the player who buys one of our games feels that they have enough time to play the game. On the other side, we have also to consider that many players don’t invest a large amount of time playing a single game. So, from the start we aimed for about 30+ hours of gameplay, which seemed long enough to satisfy the most hardcore fan and short enough to not discourage the casual player. Obviously, this estimation will vary according to the level of help the player will use and also to the ease that specific players will have with the puzzles we created for the game. Nevertheless, the results of our internal playtests indicate that we succeeded to reach our goal. Also, we feel by creating a great and immersive experience, time sort of becomes obsolete and players just … enjoy!

The gaming market is certainly different than when Myst and Riven were so successful. Did you feel that you had to do a lot of "adapting for the times" with this game to appeal to a new audience, or is it more a matter of just making another excellent Myst game believing that it will find its market?

Most of the time, an excellent game will find its market and the Myst series has always been recognized for its overall quality. Videogames are very technologically oriented products. In order to produce an “AAA grade” game, we had to make sure that Myst IV incorporates not only very strong gameplay aspects, beautiful graphics and music, but also cutting-edge technology that any player would perceive and recognize at a glance.

Talk about Peter Gabriel's contribution to the soundtrack. What is it about his style that appeals to you and the developers and makes him your choice for the soundtrack?

Many aspects in Peter Gabriel’s international reputation appealed to us. He is considered as a very creative artist always wanting to explore new musical avenues. He is also very interested by the electronic media as a mean of expression. His multimedia projects, “Xplora 1” and “Eve,” are vivid examples of this interest. On another side, Peter Gabriel has been working with human rights organizations for years. All of this made him the obvious choice for our collaboration.

There have been some concerns about the quality of the FMV in Myst III:Exile. Can you give us some technical detail about how you made use of the DVD-ROM capabilities to take the video and graphical quality to the next level? How much live-action footage is there compared to prior Myst games?

Myst IV Revelation holds more than 60 minutes of live action (and much more CG animations). It’s more than the combined total of live action footage contained in the 3 previous games. To ensure quality results we hired a team of experienced filmmakers, rented a professional stage of 9000 sq ft and used the most up-to-date HD digital equipment.

What is the single thing you're most proud of about this game?

Whatever part of Myst IV I am looking at is always my preferred, but for different reasons: It might be the surprise of an unexpected moment, a particular view, a funny animal, an emotional moment, a fabulous special effect, a song...the list is endless. Maybe that is what I like best about Myst titles overall - the sheer variety of them.

Are there any plans in existence for a Myst 5? What will your next project be personally after Myst IV is completed?

Like any good mystery and very much be-fitting a Myst-like conclusion to this interview...you’ll just have to wait and see!

On behalf of the Myst IV Revelation development team, thank you for taking the time to speak with me. I hope many enjoy our team’s hard work and dedication in what we’re both privileged and proud to present in Myst IV Revelation.