Although the original Myst was hugely popular with the mainstream audience, most hardcore gamers were frustrated by two main sticking points: puzzles which bore little connection to the story, and an overall sentiment that the look and feel were given preference over the gameplay, emphasizing style over substance. Does Myst III do anything to bring back that dedicated audience?
We made a very conscious effort to integrate the puzzles and gameplay into the story and character development. The obstacles that the player has to overcome in the game relate directly to the environments, to the actions or reactions of characters and to the story itself. For example, again without getting too specific, some devices in some of the worlds may have been affected or altered by other characters in the story. If those devices had not been altered in the way that they were, the puzzle would have been much easier, possibly even trivial to solve. However, because the characters in the story have certain motivations, they interact with their environment in specific ways, which in turn affects the way in which you are able to interact with your environment.

What level of control does Cyan maintain over the final game and what you end up doing with their characters? Do they approve each portion of the game as it progresses, or do you have free reign?
One of our goals is to design Exile to be as true as possible to the universe that Cyan created. We met with Cyan a number of times during the initial story development phase to make sure that what we came up with would fit seamlessly into the Myst universe, and continue to consult with them and with Richard Watson in particular during production, especially when specific D'ni related questions arise. Cyan has been very cooperative and responsive in helping us remain true to the vision.