The Video Sport Historical past Basis (VGHF) has preserved never-before-seen footage and developer interviews detailing the historical past of Myst developer Cyan.
The Cyan assortment contains over 100 hours of video, charting the event of the unique Myst in 1993 all through to Myst V: Finish of Ages in 2005. The archive supplies a preposterously in-depth take a look at the trials and tribulations of growing video games within the ‛90s, and contains deep-cut interviews with Cyan workforce members alongside expansive behind-the-scenes manufacturing footage.
Phillip Shane, the director of an upcoming documentary concerning the Myst collection, first unearthed the forgotten recordings in 2022 after rummaging by Cyan’s storage room. VGHF clocked the invention after watching a video posted by Shane on Kickstarter and noticed a possibility to assist protect and digitize the gathering.
The method, in accordance with VGHF library director Phil Salvador, was tougher than anticipated and required extra assist. Some tapes have been in VHS format, however most have been recorded in Digital Betacam, a format used for video manufacturing within the late ‛90s and early 2000s. It meant general high quality and framerate have been increased than customary codecs, however the gear and data wanted to deal with them was tougher to return by.
“As soon as everybody converted to HD video, they removed their Digital Beta gear,” stated Salvador in a video explainer. “This was solely ever knowledgeable format, it was by no means a client format, so we will‛t simply go to the thrift retailer and discover a used Digital Beta participant.”
VGHF bought in contact with non-profit Transferring Picture Preservation of Puget Sound, which offered very important help in preserving the archive. The tapes embody B-roll footage of the workforce engaged on Riven in a storage, hours of movement seize and live-action recordings, and dozens of sit-downs with builders. Based on Salvador, solely a few minutes of these interviews have been included in a Riven documentary that launched in 1998.
Another movies of be aware embody audio recording classes, a advertising focus group assembly for Rivenand the total 16 hours of live-action filming for the sport.
“Evidently, this can be very unusual for a recreation developer to have held on to movies like this for therefore lengthy,” added Salvador. “However Cyan cares about their very own historical past, and this assortment is definitely sort of a file of the corporate itself. We get to see them beginning out in a storage, after which now we have video of them constructing their new headquarters the place they‛ve been ever since 1995.”
The Cyan Assortment is accessible on VGHF‛s digital library, which the workforce launched in early entry on January 30. 2025. In February, VGHF co-founder Frank Cifaldi informed Sport Developer that “we’d like extra inner champions” and “advocacy for entry” inside studio constructions to assist protect online game historical past.
