and video games founded 1987 ; 29 years ago 1987 founder rand miller robyn miller headquarters mead washington united states key people rand miller ceo and co founder products list of cyan worlds video games number of employees 40 2005 website official website cyan inc. also known as cyan worlds inc. is an american video game developer founded as cyan productions by brothers rand and robyn miller in 1987 and best known as the creators of the myst series . after myst and its sequel riven sold several million copies each cyan went on to create the massively multiplayer online adventure uru which was cancelled and re opened several times . after the departure of brother robyn miller from cyan inc. a second company cyan worlds inc. was started . both companies are located in mead washington just outside spokane . contents 1 history 1.1 pre myst 1.2 myst franchise 1.3 post myst 1.3.1 other properties 1.3.2 obduction 2 games developed 3 list of people related to cyan 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit cyan worlds front entrance pre myst edit cyan was founded in 1987 by brothers rand and robyn miller operating out of their parents basement in their spokane washington home . rand had been programming games since a junior high school student in the 1980s while robyn studied music and arts in high school . the two found a common ground through the macintosh hypercard development program which allowed them to mix their talents together . 1 cyan originally produced adventure games for children . the company s early titles the manhole 1988 cosmic osmo and the worlds beyond the mackerel 1989 and spelunx 1991 were whimsical fantasy adventures for a young audience . the games offered numerous graphical screens with puzzles mini games and activities . some of these titles were early forays of cyan into both construction of interactive worlds using hypercard and the cd rom medium both of which would later be used for myst . myst franchise edit in 1993 cyan shot to worldwide fame with the release of myst a steampunk 3d pre rendered adventure game aimed at an older audience unlike their previous games . myst was one of the earliest cd rom games in a time when cd rom drives were beginning to become mainstream . the title sold more than six million copies 2 and was the best selling pc game ever until the sims exceeded its sales in 2002 . 3 with the revenue from myst cyan quickly moved to a new headquarters to accommodate a bigger staff where they remain today . during this time three novels set in the myst universe were co authored by the millers and david wingrove . the sequel to myst riven was released in 1997 . after its release robyn opted to leave cyan to pursue other interests primarily working on independent film production . 1 in a 1999 interview robyn stated that the reason for his departure was two people can t pilot a ship someone must be in charge ... the parting gave us each a ship . 4 the next eight years saw a huge amount of expansion in the myst franchise both from within and outside of cyan . while the publishing rights were transferred from br derbund to mattel and then to ubisoft cyan prepared for the next game in the myst universe which was to be a massively multiplayer online game and not a direct sequel to myst . during this time a second company cyan worlds inc. was started . partly as a test of their new real time 3d engine cyan released realmyst in 2000 a complete recreation of the original myst game . at the same time the next myst game myst iii exile was developed by presto studios and published by ubisoft and released in 2001 . in 2003 cyan announced that their multiplayer adventure uru formerly known under the working titles dirt d ni in real time mudpie multi user dirt persistent interactive environment parable and myst online would be split into separate single player and multiplayer components at the request of the publisher ubisoft . 5 the single player component uru ages beyond myst was released later that year . the multiplayer component uru live had a short beta test but was cancelled before being officially released . in 2004 cyan released two uru expansion packs to d ni and the path of the shell that included content originally intended for the online component . the same year ubisoft independently developed and released myst iv revelation the second game in the series not developed by cyan . in the following year cyan 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 6 but shortly after rehired almost everyone after negotiating a deal with turner broadcasting . prior to this the company was working on an as yet unannounced project reportedly named latus by richard a. watson and negotiating with an undisclosed publisher but its status is now unclear though rand miller made mention of it in august 2011 and confirmed its name as latus . 7 post myst edit cyan worlds logo 2003 june 2013 after uru live closed fans began developing their own server software . in response to this demand cyan worlds released unt l uru in late 2004 a modified version of the client and server software of live . this version of the game was unsupported servers were owned and operated by fans and no new content was provided . later through funding by gametap cyan managed to offer the d mala shard an official game server . fans also began developing new content for the game in an unofficial context . in 2006 rand miller announced that uru live would return in full capacity using gametap hosted servers and funding . cyan staff were re hired and production of new uru content began . 8 myst online uru live launched officially on gametap on february 15 2007 after being available through gametap as an open beta for a few months . this was the most successful incarnation of uru finally achieving the original goal of supported online play with ongoing content releases . despite this success gametap announced on february 4 2008 that it would be closing uru live . game servers remained online for 60 days following and were finally shut down on april 10 2008 . on june 30 2008 it was announced that cyan worlds had regained the rights to uru and had plans to relaunch it under the name myst online restoration experiment . cyan no longer has funds available for further development on the game and instead intends to release the code for the servers client and tools as open source software 9 and rely on user generated content for expansion . in november 2008 cyan test a third cyan company created to provide testing services laid off about 50 game testers . the layoffs came as a result of the acquisition of their primary customer gamecock media . 10 in february 2010 cyan took steps towards opening up uru with the launch of a new myst online uru live server dubbed moulagain by fans with access to all of the ages of uru . they made the client software available free of charge and began accepting donations . 11 as of april 2014 over 128 000 accounts had been created . 12 on april 6 2011 cyan released the source code to the uru client as well its development tools . 13 other properties edit on november 30 2007 cyan released cosmic osmo s hex isle via the online service fanista . this marked the return of the cosmic osmo character after 15 years . in august 2009 it was announced that cyan worlds would be working with creative kingdoms to create an online version of their magiquest virtual reality game . 14 magiquest online makes use of the plasma engine used in myst online uru live . obduction edit main article obduction video game on october 17 2013 rand miller announced a new video game designed as a spiritual successor to myst and riven called obduction . 15 the game received 1.3 million in funding from kickstarter support . 16 obduction takes place on an alien planet where humans and portions of their environment have been transported and features puzzles that involve the combination of human technology with alien ones . obduction s world is fully rendered within the unreal engine and explorable from the first person view though uses full motion video for some non player characters . 17 rand was able to obtain robyn s help to create the soundtrack as well as act as one of the non player characters in the game . 1 the game was officially released on august 24 2016 for microsoft windows and os x along with planned support for oculus rift . 18 obduction received favorable reviews from critics comparing as a worthy successor to cyan s myst games . 19 20 games developed edit most of cyan s titles those in the myst and uru series 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 the book of atrus the book of ti ana and the book of d ni . game name release year publisher the manhole 1988 br derbund cosmic osmo and the worlds beyond the mackerel 1989 br derbund spelunx and the caves of mr. seudo 1991 br derbund myst 1993 br derbund riven 1997 red orb entertainment realmyst 2000 mattel uru ages beyond myst 2003 ubisoft uru to d ni 2004 ubisoft uru the path of the shell 2004 ubisoft unt l uru 2004 self published myst v end of ages 2005 ubisoft myst online uru live 2007 gametap cosmic osmo s hex isle 2007 fanista myst for iphone and ipod touch 2009 self published magiquest online 2010 creative kingdoms the manhole masterpiece edition for ios 2010 self published riven for iphone and ipod touch 2010 self published stoneship for iphone ipod touch and ipad 2010 self published bug chucker for iphone ipod touch ipad and android 2011 self published realmyst for ios 2012 self published riven for ipad 2013 self published realmyst masterpiece edition 2014 self published obduction 2016 self published list of people related to cyan edit rand miller co founder and ceo robyn miller co founder and former designer director richard vander wende former designer director ryan miller martin o donnell see also edit myst novels references edit a b c newman heather july 7 2016 . how brothers behind myst reunited to create mysterious new vr world . rolling stone . retrieved july 19 2016 . guilofil michael may 22 2001 . beyond the myst . the spokesman review . walker trey march 22 2002 . the sims overtakes myst . gamespot . retrieved march 17 2008 . silberman steve october 1 1999 . mystery man . wired . retrieved july 19 2016 . herold charles march 4 2004 . tackling the mystery of the missing game . new york times . p. g5 . myst creator cyan worlds folds mysterium 2011 video stream chat txt cyan worlds trying to reach the last age or myst the final offer cyan makes it official myst now in the hands of its fans