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I'm Reformed, but I just don't know it yet.

here are some christian games with similar formats:
all by virtuegames.
NACAH:
http://www.virtuegames.com/nacah/
NACAH's sequel, DEREK:
http://www.virtuegames.com/derek/
work in progress, MAYABIN:
http://www.virtuegames.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11

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Soterion Studios

A friend of mine and I thought that perhaps modeling a Myst-type adventure in the "Out of the Silent Planet" setting that C.S. Lewis created could be a really intruiging adventure/puzzle game like Myst.

However, as far as a medium to conveying plot and story, I think it has amazing potential for being a positive-impact game.

In Christ,
clint

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http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

I wouldn't mind A Christian type game made that way.

The Myst game type is actually very easy to program, you could even make it with GameMaker. The most difficult part would be making the world in a 3D program. Once you have it, though, you just set up the camera and start rendering away. It may take a while to finish rendering everything, since there's a lot of frames to render.

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"The very idea of freedom presupposes some objective moral law which overarches rulers and ruled alike." -- C. S. Lewis (1898 - 1963), "The Poison of Subjectivism" (from Christian Reflections; p. 108)

Switch Mayhem now available! Get it here
Codename: Roler - hoping to get more done over the holidays . . .

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I'm Reformed, but I just don't know it yet.

Myst is a large virtual world filled with puzzles, and the player has to explore this virtual world and solve the puzzles, which are all connected and eventually lead the player to eventually win the game.

The puzzles are not arbitrary: Every puzzle has an effect on the world, which helps the player solve the game.

Myst is an unusual game compared almost everything else.

-It's not just one world: There are several worlds to explore, and they are linked by special books which magically transport the player between the worlds. Exploring each world helps the player solve the game.

-The graphics of Myst are all pre-rendered using a raytracer, which gives it a realistic look that few graphics cards can replicate. Riven and Exile, which were made later and with much larger render farms, have graphics which no 3D card today can match. (URU is 3D)

-The point of view in Myst is first-person, with the pre-rendered graphics put together in a point-and-click slideshow-like fashion.

-Myst is huge. The original Myst used 640x480 @ 256 colors (with a hand-optimized pallete to ensure almost mo color loss) and took the entire CD. Riven is even larger, taking 5 CDs or 1 DVD (Riven was full-color, though, and had more video). Half the fun is looking around, exploring and enjoying the world .

-The Mayabin demo in ArchAngel's post is a good example of a Myst-like game, except that Myst didn't have an inventory system. Myst is more a puzzle game than an adventure game.

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"The very idea of freedom presupposes some objective moral law which overarches rulers and ruled alike." -- C. S. Lewis (1898 - 1963), "The Poison of Subjectivism" (from Christian Reflections; p. 108)

Switch Mayhem now available! Get it here
Codename: Roler - hoping to get more done over the holidays . . .

[This message has been edited by CobraA1 (edited November 28, 2004).]

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"The very idea of freedom presupposes some objective moral law which overarches rulers and ruled alike." -- C. S. Lewis (1898 - 1963), "The Poison of Subjectivism" (from Christian Reflections; p. 108)

Switch Mayhem now available! Get it here
Codename: Roler - hoping to get more done over the holidays . . .

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I'm Reformed, but I just don't know it yet.

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"The very idea of freedom presupposes some objective moral law which overarches rulers and ruled alike." -- C. S. Lewis (1898 - 1963), "The Poison of Subjectivism" (from Christian Reflections; p. 108)

Switch Mayhem now available! Get it here
Codename: Roler - hoping to get more done over the holidays . . .

The story revolves around a family. The father can write linking books to different worlds. Those worlds have a purpose of some kind (in Exile the worlds were places to learn for his sons). The conflict of the characters creates a great game. Really the story is what drives Myst.

The task of recreating these games successfully would be a challenge. The game revolves around the story that is seen as well as read in the books that you find. The way you move around in the game feels like you are flipping a page. I don't know if that was their original intent but they created a world that seemed like something right out of a book (which it is).

If you are going to make a Myst style game put your own creative ideas into it. Create something that is similar but yet different. Most of the Myst clones have been flops. I hope you can take your ideas and make a game that is truly original. Good luck to you!

[This message has been edited by HeardTheWord (edited December 01, 2004).]

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I'm Reformed, but I just don't know it yet.

--D-SIPL

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If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that suggests you tried

quote:

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I'm kinda new to game creation. I was wondering, how would one go about creating such a game?

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GameMaker is a good place to start, as well as a raytracer. Don't expect to create games as good as Cyan does, though - creating something of the realism they have requires a lot of work by many talented artists.

quote:

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The newest Myst, Myst IV Revelation, is one of the most stunning games I have seen. They use vertex and pixel shaders to add to the overall stunning graphics.

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You should enjoy Riven and Exile also, then - they're got graphics rendered with render farms, so they look incredible also.

quote:

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The way you move around in the game feels like you are flipping a page.

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That's partially due to the pre-rendered graphics in the games created before URU. You're literally flipping through a large collection of pre-rended graphics. They're also very good storytellers. Games like this are about telling a story.

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"The very idea of freedom presupposes some objective moral law which overarches rulers and ruled alike." -- C. S. Lewis (1898 - 1963), "The Poison of Subjectivism" (from Christian Reflections; p. 108)

Switch Mayhem now available! Get it here
Codename: Roler - hoping to get more done over the holidays . . .

The Myst games were started back when the first Myst game was created by two brothers and a small team. They used mac classics, IIci's and other old technology. They used the Strata 3D software www.strata.com and created history with the game.

Rand and Robin Miller are christians. The games and especially the books show christian morals, though they are rather hidden. Which brings me to the point. I have been working on a Myst style game for the past year. Its called "Nak'Urij reflections of my minds Eye"

The game will be like myst in style, with the slideshow like game play, puzzles, and a pre-rendered graphics engine. We are working on having a 360 panorama option like in Exile and Revelation. The game will not be a "Christian" game because I want nonchristians to play the game. But the idea of the game is to show christian morals and tell about christ.

Due to the fact that this game style is incredibly story oriented it will not be to hard to build this into the game. We have a small team. You don't need a big team (take the game Alida for example made by 1 guy over the corse of 6 years www.alidagame.com). I am the story developer, graphic artist, and its my game idea. We have a couple of musicians. One is also my programer, who is creating a game engine for this project. The other will be working on story and design with me.

We use Macs mostly, my programer uses mac and linux. The game engine is being written in python and will run on Mac, PC, and Linux. If you are interested in this game check out our web site at http://games.bluegillweb.com be sure to check the forum. Also I'm inviting any and all of you to join missionster http://www.missionster.net and join the "Gaming for Christ" group.

Well good luck in all your projects. Jeff McArthur

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Jeff McArthur. Creating Nak'Urij
http://games.bluegillweb.com

I looked over your site -- the game looks fantastic! I do hope you keep us all posted here on CCN with your progress -- it looks amazing. Keep up the good work!

--clint

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http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

I have played the first two Myst games, and I created a demo in Myst form with adventure game studio, (Adventure Game Studio is not the same as Adventure game maker, Adventure game studio is more used to make the classic Sierra and LucasArts games, Adventure Game Maker is used to make Myst like games), I was going to start on full version, but I needed more horsepower, because then I wanted to have a mouse controlled camera, but I needed a 3d engine for that. So I downloaded Blitz 3d demo, and I have been using that ever since, I will post pictures of my Myst-like game, it was rendered using Strata 3D, and I will send it to anyone, because the demo is done. My main purpose also was to raise the bar, as far games made in AGS, since I haven't seen anyone use it to make a Myst like game before with it, rather than use Adventure Game maker.

[This message has been edited by lava (edited January 26, 2005).]

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Jeff McArthur. Creating Nak'Urij
BlueGill Studios Games

About the BlueGills website - "You must have the window over 960 pixels wide!" - very bad web design. My default res is 800x600, because 1024x768 is too flickery.

Game looks good so far - I'd say release it on PC, I don't own a Mac . Also, both DVD and CD formats would be good.

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"The very idea of freedom presupposes some objective moral law which overarches rulers and ruled alike." -- C. S. Lewis (1898 - 1963), "The Poison of Subjectivism" (from Christian Reflections; p. 108)

Switch Mayhem now available! Get it here
Codename: Roler - hoping to get more done over the holidays . . .

[This message has been edited by CobraA1 (edited January 26, 2005).]