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Exclusive Myst III: Exile Interview  

Exclusive Myst III: Exile Interview

Presto’s Francis Tsai talks Myst III and gives us a peek at the art of Exile

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Sacha A. Howells
CheckOut.com
Los Angeles, CA

 
 
 
 
 
 
“We tried to capture that same sense of surreal, otherworldly environments and architecture”
 

Who is the "Exile" of the game's title?
The term "Exile" can be interpreted in a number of different ways, and doesn't necessarily refer to just a person. It can also be thought of as a mood or condition, or possibly a state of mind resulting from how one perceives reality. The story incorporates these different concepts of "Exile" on a number of levels, and the decision to call the game "Exile" is meant to reflect these potential interpretations.

Although details are still hard to come by, we have learned that Exile is divided into five Ages, each of which is under the direction of an individual designer. Can you tell us what sets your Age apart from the others? How do they all fit together -- does the game progress linearly from one Age to the next, or are players given more freedom in how they approach the game?
I can't give too much away at this point in terms of how each Age differs from the others, but I can talk sort of generally about what I tried to accomplish design-wise. We were definitely trying to create a unique aesthetic and mood for each Age. In order to pull that off, we assigned each Age to an individual conceptual designer based on his particular skills, background and aesthetic sense. My background is in architecture. For this game, in terms of design I basically tried to do everything I never had the opportunity to do in my architecture career. In addition, for me a big part of playing Myst and Riven was seeing these incredible, surreal images that seemed so real and yet were things you'd never see in real life. We tried to capture that same sense of surreal, otherworldly environments and architecture. Hopefully, while each Age has a definite identity and aesthetic sense, they will each play a part in the story and contribute to the work as a whole.

The Ages are not linear in nature. The player will be able to explore the Ages in any order, to any degree and will be able to travel freely from one Age to another.

Next page: Hardcore gamers and Cyan’s guiding hand

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related websites
RivenGuild
Myst III: Exile Homepage
Myst
Cyan.com
Presto Studios


 

 
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