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Summary: Books and Ages and Life
Review: "From Myst to Riven" is a positively amazing book that follows the arduous journey of the Cyantists from creating two of the greatest games ever made. All the way through Inception, Preparation, Construction and Completion, Kadrey takes such an in-depth look at the inner workings of Cyan that you feel as if you helped them along in making it. Breathtaking visuals and intriguing narrative make this a book that's a must-have for any hardcore fan.
Rating:
Summary: Books and Ages and Life
Review: "From Myst to Riven" is a positively amazing book that follows the arduous journey of the Cyantists from creating two of the greatest games ever made. All the way through Inception, Preparation, Construction and Completion, Kadrey takes such an in-depth look at the inner workings of Cyan that you feel as if you helped them along in making it. Breathtaking visuals and intriguing narrative make this a book that's a must-have for any hardcore fan.
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Summary: A Wonderful Background To The Making of Riven
Review: For everyone who loved Myst, Riven was something to look forward to. Now that it's out, it's selling like crazy and introducing more and more people to the D'ni universe. This book is an incredible account of the making of Riven. It goes from those first early meetings in Chris's garage to the final renderings of the islands of Riven to the filming of the live action sequences. I recommend it to any Myst/Riven fan. My only warning is this: It contains many spoilers to the game, so unless you have already finished Riven, it may diminish the experience!
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Summary: worth the hefty price
Review: I put off buying this book for a very long time because I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the money to buy a very expensive summary of something that I could find just as easily by going online and looking at a few websites.I finally gave in and bought it one day through amazon, and I'm very glad that I did. The full page pics from riven are amazing, and there are a few new bits of info scattered around here and there that even a hard-core fan might be pressed to have known. The centerpieces of the book include a two page spread of the map of D'ni found in "The book of Tiana," and many of the full page spreads (my favorite is the blown up image of the prison island). Buy this if you are a hard-core fan. You'll really appreciate the details that have been included in this.
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Summary: The Mother of all coffee-table books
Review: If you lost a loved-one for weeks at a time to Myst or Riven; watched them mesmerized by the puzzles and gorgeous landscapes on their computer monitor, then this book is the perfect gift. In full-color, printed on heavy paper is the story behind the making of Myst and Riven with lots of fun vignettes about the creators and the development of the games from garages and living rooms to Cyan's success and their beautiful new headquarters. Well worth it if you loved the games!
Rating:
Summary: The Mother of all coffee-table books
Review: If you lost a loved-one for weeks at a time to Myst or Riven; watched them mesmerized by the puzzles and gorgeous landscapes on their computer monitor, then this book is the perfect gift. In full-color, printed on heavy paper is the story behind the making of Myst and Riven with lots of fun vignettes about the creators and the development of the games from garages and living rooms to Cyan's success and their beautiful new headquarters. Well worth it if you loved the games!
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Summary: Hey! I'm the 5th person to write a review! Gehn would aprove
Review: Let me start by saying that I havn't actually read the whole thing yet. You see, our car had broken down in front of a CHAPTERS book store one day while we were in Moncton, and those wonderfull places will not only let you buy the books, but they also let you just sit around and read them! So here we were with a lot of time on our hands, right in front of a book store that had nothing against you plopping down in a chair and reading for an hour or two without actually buying anything (In the little place where we live we just don't HAVE bookstors)! I found this book and read it none stop for all the time we were stranded there. The frustrateing part was that just as I finnised reading the first page of the last part, we got the car working and had to go! Aww! It wouldn't be so bad if I could just get it from the library where we live, but, alass, it's not even in the search computer! Oh well, What I did read of it was really cool and worth the time. Not going to buy it though, it's way too expensive and anyway I've already read most of it! The pictures are really interesting and, for the most part, colorfull and bright. I really enjoyed reading about some of the different obsticles that had to be overcome durring the creation of Riven. Really, just the whole thing was great! Still not going to buy it though.
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Summary: A gorgeous, glorious book . . .
Review: Most computer games don't much for me. I'm not into shoot-'em-ups, and I learned back in the days of the original ADVENTURE and ZORK that I wasn't that great at puzzle-solving. Oh the other hand, I've been playing MYST and RIVEN regularly for years, even though I haven't solved that many of the puzzles. I'm what this author calls a "tourist," a player who just likes to wander about the Ages of these games and gawk at the exquisite artwork and music, and marvel at the fantastic realism the design team has managed to put into their worlds. This book brings all that out in some detail, describing how Rand and Robyn Miller came up with the basic ideas, how Richard Vander Wende turned all their plans on their heads and made the game the masterpiece that it is, how even the sounds you hear are apt to be clues (I never knew that!), and -- above all -- how none of the team let themselves be hurried in their quest for something as close to perfection as they could manage. Like Tolkien, they even invented a detailed language for the D'ni. Amazing stuff.
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Summary: Must see for anyone who is interested in the making of Riven
Review: This book is a great book to own. I read it again and again. There are many pictures in this book that will knock your socks off. This book gives all the details, thoughts, and Ideas in making Myst and Riven. It's got so many pages that I always think I'm at the end, but I'm nowhere close! I love it! You would too.
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Summary: A MUST for Myst fans...
Review: This book is a great book to own. I read it again and again. There are many pictures in this book that will knock your socks off. This book gives all the details, thoughts, and Ideas in making Myst and Riven. It's got so many pages that I always think I'm at the end, but I'm nowhere close! I love it! You would too.
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