9 Things You Didn't Know About Myst

Twenty years ago, brothers Robyn and Rand Miller released their seminal adventure game. Six million copies later, here are the secrets of how it was made.

1. Robyn Miller had played a grand total of one video game before he made Myst.

2. The budget of the original game was $256,000.

3. Each static shot in the game took between two and 14 hours to render.

4. The Miller brothers came up with the name "Myst" during a 30-second phone call.

5. The Miller brothers originally planned to hand draw the game.

6. The creators were highly opposed to a soundtrack.

7. The single speed CD-Rom drives the game was designed for were really, really slow.

So slow, according to Miller, that they had to plan very specifically where to put related data on the game disc. Otherwise, says Miller, "we wouldn't have been able to pull from the drive fast enough to play this game."

8. When the Miller brothers started Myst, they had no way to display video.

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Those famous static-heavy videos of the trapped brothers only became possible halfway through development, with the release of Quicktime.

9. Original playtesting of the game was done without playing the game.

The Miller brothers asked testers to imagine certain scenarios, like being washed up on a dock with a door to the left and a staircase straight ahead, and respond by asking questions about the environment. Says Robyn Miller, "It worked incredibly well."

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