One of my hobby projects is that I contribute to a community-supported continuation of a multiplayer game set in the MYST universe, officially supported & hosted by the original creators – and the latest update is now live at https://mystonline.com. This is a very special update, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the original URU, and the culmination of some plans I’ve had in the works for basically the last year. I wanna take this opportunity to give you guys a peek into some of my own personal contributions to this update:
1. First, a big one: I wrote an original music track for the age Eder Naybree which is now included in this update!
2. Last update, I added some lore-friendly texture updates to The Messenger’s Pub (banners now use correct sigil, wall textures are now inverted so they display the guild symbol correctly) and Phil’s library (updated books with lore-accurate retconned covers & corrected Kirel), correcting issues that have been present in the game since 2007. This update, with some help from a pro on the team, I introduced some much-needed texture optimization for these previous updates – now, they look even better, and are a fraction of the previous filesize.
3. I reworked some foley audio I previously designed for the Chiso Preniv age to ensure better 3D spatialization.
4. I designed new ambient & foley audio for the ages Elonin & Tiam which are now included in this update!
5. I added a fix that makes book textures appear consistent throughout the game – now, all should appear with full detail, rather than only some appearing detailed while others appear blocky.
6. Added a fix to the skybox in D’ni neighborhoods so they will no longer display mysterious streaks. (There’s a more involved fix in the works as part of a bigger project which I won’t spoil – but this provides a workable interim fix for this graphical issue in the meantime.)
7. I recently had Myst series co-creator Rand Miller on my podcast, and asked if he would be willing to record a new intro while he was here. He VERY graciously obliged – thanks Rand! – and I edited the audio & turned this over to the video team right away.
8. I also designed the key graphic seen at the top of the post! Based on that key art, I have also created a special set of 20th Anniversary graphics you can use in Steam for your own URU client: https://www.steamgriddb.com/collection/10323
Glad to have this opportunity to give y’all a little peek into my hobbies a bit! For more info on URU, check out mystonline.com.
