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(The Manhole was originally released in black-and-white. These images
are from the updated version.)
The HyperCard game they made was called The
Manhole. It was a whimsical sunken world with Mr. Rabbit and his friends,
a dragon's castle, a winding waterway with a mystical elephant, and much
more. It was in black and white and had a simple point-and-click interface
which is common now but was groundbreaking then. Robyn talked about the
interface in InterActivity Magazine. He said, "...we were doing things
for children that had to be simple ... So we tried to make something that
was as close to the real world as possible, and that meant the absence
of any kind of computer interface, like buttons..."
The Manhole won the Software Publishers Association
award in 1988 for the best new use of a computer. (It was later revised
and released in color with new graphics, sound and music.)
After The Manhole, Rand and Robyn set up shop
in Spokane, where their father was the minister at an independent Bible
church. At his church they met Chris Brandkamp. Chris built their new offices
(a garage-shaped building next to his house) and became their business
manager and sound-effects expert.
Their next game was Cosmic Osmo and the Worlds
Beyond the Mackerel. It was a delightful exploration game in which you
could fly a spaceship called the Osmobile (below), explore seven bizarre
worlds, and meet crazy characters.
Like The Manhole, Cosmic Osmo was a
black-and-white world created with HyperCard's built-in drawing tools.
It won several awards, including MacUser Magazine's Editor's Choice Award.
The Boston Herald called it "...an imaginative land of improbabilities,
amusing characters and silly stunts." (Cyan is preparing an updated,
color version of Osmo with more rooms, animations and sounds. Much of the
work is done but it probably won't be completed until sometime in 1997
after the Myst sequel is released.)
Cyan often received requests for something
educational. They fulfilled those requests with their third HyperCard game
-- Spelunx and the Caves of Mr. Seudo. A series of underground tunnels
led players to colorful rooms where they could control the ecosystem in
a hungry lizard's terrarium, compose musical masterpieces on the Polka
Musician, look through a telescope and watch planets spin, or do dozens
of other fun and educational activities.
MacWorld Magazine said "...they've brought
us another interactive hyperworld that's packed with rich graphics, entertaining
sounds, creative learning activities and unanticipated giggles." The
Washington Post said "Kids are turned on to science ... and learning
skills ... all disguised cleverly as toys and games."
The Millers had wanted to do a more
adult project for some time. "Even when we were doing our kids' worlds
we felt a strong desire to do something a little more challenging,"
Robyn said. "It just took time for the pieces to fall into place."
They spent about six weeks developing the
basic plot and puzzles for Myst. The story they came up with was a mystery
concerning a wise father, Atrus, his wife, Catherine, and their two sons,
Sirrus and Alchenar. When Atrus writes in D'Ni books he is able to link
to existing worlds that match what was written, selecting from the infinite
possible worlds. But something has gone seriously wrong and the family
members have become trapped in other Ages. The player must explore the
deserted Myst Island and other Ages to piece together the puzzle and try
to set things right.
There would be no shooting, no dying, no points.
It would have a simple interface with no inventories or dialog boxes.