Thank You, Reddit!
Our AMA on Reddit went over spectacularly! Not only did we get over 4000 upvotes and make the default front page (a feat in and of itself), but we also drew in over 13,000 unique visitors to this site, and received nearly $200 in donations. Best of all, we got more than 20 new volunteers! Don’t worry if you haven’t heard back from us yet, we’re just a bit snowed under with these emails. If you sent us an e-mail, we’re working on it, and we should get a reply back to you shortly.
Thank you so much to everybody who participated! And if you didn’t get a chance to ask your question, just leave it as a comment here, on an older post, or send us an email!
August 23rd, 2012 at 12:44 am
Wooooooo! Good job, guys! You deserve it. 😀
August 23rd, 2012 at 6:36 am
Well done Chaps (and Chapesses)…
August 23rd, 2012 at 6:45 pm
My suggestion for the camera system is have it so you see still images, where you can click the top of the screen to look up and click right side of the screen to look right etc. exactly like original riven, but have it so you can right click to look around 360 and have the wasd keys to walk freely, this way you can play any way you want without having to change control options. If you want to play like original then you just dont use wasd and dont right click, if you want to play like exile or revalation then right click but dont use wasd, if you want to play advanced mode like uru then use wasd
August 24th, 2012 at 1:11 pm
The Starry Expanse team has said before that they “don’t currently intend on having a Riven-style navigation mode”, but I think it would not be a bad idea. I can imagine playing with static camera nodes just for the higher resolution and weather effects.
August 25th, 2012 at 3:41 pm
I hope they change their mind, it would be the best way to compare it to the original, im skeptikal about weather and day night cycles, cyan took day night cycles out of realmyst for ipad and it allowed them to improve the lighting and make it more faithful to the original myst, but the control scheme Trapez77 mentioned seems like the perfect solution for all myst fans, im also hoping for stereoscopic 3d
August 27th, 2012 at 1:32 pm
this sounds like a very good idea
August 23rd, 2012 at 11:20 pm
Congrats on a great AMA! I felt that it brought a lot of awareness and curiosity to this project and a lot of positive vibes all around
After reading the AMA all the way through I am that much more exited towards the game coming to fruition!
August 25th, 2012 at 1:11 pm
Thanks for the update! I had emailed about volunteering and was afraid it got lost in the pile. I’m looking forward to helping out!
August 26th, 2012 at 6:43 am
What is with a new forum ?
September 1st, 2012 at 5:22 pm
No new forum yet, we’re thinking about setting one up.
August 28th, 2012 at 10:43 am
Is it gonna be on steam? 😀
September 1st, 2012 at 5:21 pm
We would very much like it to be on Steam.
September 6th, 2012 at 5:25 am
Offtopic:
Black Mesa: A Half-Life 2 Modification
______________________________________
After many years of patient and development i am happy 🙂 to announce that the Black Mesa Game is ready. It is a Half-Life 2 modification. In a few days you can download the game over steam. It is total free, but one thing you need is a source game from steam after 2007.
Good luck and happy gaming !
http://www.blackmesamod.com
September 6th, 2012 at 2:25 pm
My heart just skipped a beat. Thank you for letting us know!
September 6th, 2012 at 2:32 pm
Wait, it’s not complete yet:
“8-10 Hours of single-player gameplay, up to the Lambda Core chapter….
“Future Plans: Future additions of Xen and BMDM! (Black Mesa Death Match)”
Still, I’m glad they’re finally releasing SOMETHING.
September 9th, 2012 at 4:31 pm
It’s been a few weeks since I emailed to help volunteer and I haven’t heard back. Should I email again?
September 9th, 2012 at 4:48 pm
Hey, sorry about taking so long – this is the busiest time of the year for most of the team, and there are a lot of e-mails to reply to! Don’t worry, we will eventually reply to all of them! 🙂
September 15th, 2012 at 8:53 pm
Well I’d be happy to help wade through emails and other project management type stuff! I’m just eager to get started with helping since I have so much free time right now.
September 15th, 2012 at 12:20 am
Black Mesa is complete yet.!
http://www.blackmesasource.com
September 23rd, 2012 at 11:12 am
What’s the progress of boiler island. Has it textures yet ?
October 16th, 2012 at 1:22 pm
Are you planning to support additional control peripherals, such as Microsoft’s Xbox-style controller? I think that would be a great way to maneuver through the world, especially if hooking the game up to a TV – and using the left and right triggers seems like an obvious way to control page-turning!
October 16th, 2012 at 3:36 pm
Yeah, we’d love to support other kinds of peripherals. Just need to look into what’s involved in making that happen. It’s not a definite feature, though – probably wouldn’t be supported until after the main release.
October 19th, 2012 at 9:36 am
What platforms will Riven be released on?? Just pc or will Mac, or game console downloads be available ??
October 22nd, 2012 at 2:18 pm
The plan is currently to start out on pc and mac, and maybe some day progress to consoles.
October 24th, 2012 at 3:45 pm
A question not directly related to the current current work…
On Jungle Island, at the prison cell above the Wahrk gallows, on the wheel which unlocks the cell, there is some D’ni writing. Any chance I could get a high-resolution look at it?
November 30th, 2012 at 12:40 pm
Do you guys have anything new to tell us about? Any progress? We’d love to hear some news.
Also, whenever I want to show off your project to other people, I’m resigned to showing them the video from your previous build without improved clouds, dome, day/night cycles, etc. It would be really great if we could get a high-quality copy of the same general demonstration you provided at Mysterium. Something to show just how impressive your work is.
On an unrelated note, I thought of an idea when I was watching (and listening to) your Mysterium demonstration, about how some areas where lights are impractical would be lit by the moon, but that the moon would have phases which would negate that. What about adding a fire marble to the player’s inventory? Just put it next to the book(s); when it’s too dark, you could just click on it to “shake” it and the area around you would glow softly as if you were carrying a torch or lantern. I think that would be immensely helpful and make complete sense in the context of the game. The only area where I think this would cause puzzle-related issue is in the Moiety cave, and that unfortunately is a big conflict.
December 1st, 2012 at 2:42 am
Hey Jack, thanks for your comment.
The lack of updates from the team bothers us as well, but unfortunately this is a tricky time of year. Most of the team is very busy with exams and/or other study commitments. I hope we’ll be able to make a new development blog or an update soon, but it’s not my decision in the end.
Your firemarble idea is an elegant solution, although a personal light source would ruin the Moiety caves puzzle as you say, and might also harm the ambience in other areas that depend on mood lighting for atmosphere. We’ll have to think about it.
December 4th, 2012 at 2:02 am
Are there any age restrictions as far as beta testers?
December 4th, 2012 at 3:00 am
We aren’t sure yet, but probably if you’re under 13 you’ll need a form signed by a parent or guardian. You can enter your email address now, though; the form-signing would happen after we’ve sent out invitations to the beta test.
December 4th, 2012 at 3:09 am
Okay, thanks! I just wanted to make sure I was eligible to become a beta tester.
December 7th, 2012 at 3:06 pm
Can we expect a christmas gift ?
December 8th, 2012 at 6:43 am
Here’s to hoping they release a public Prison Island beta on the 25th.
December 8th, 2012 at 3:31 pm
Yeah, can we expect a christmas gift?
Also, I’m just going to go ahead and spoil the opportunity to make a joke about the world ending. Ha ha ha! Now nobody can do it!
January 30th, 2013 at 1:16 pm
Any thoughts on Oculus Rift integration?