Almost Time!

Mysterium is just a few days away! We have a few more items to cover before the convention starts.

Special Guests

We have even more guests to announce:
  • Adrian “Okaydrian” F.E. is a Twitch streamer and gaming host, having interviewed several famous names online as well as at Comic Con, PAX, E3, and the White House.
  • Eleri Hamilton is a curator for Cyan’s lore archival project, and a leader at Inkworks Productions and the game Unwritten.
  • Veronica Hamilton is the primary developer for Unwritten and part of the leadership at Inkworks Productions, now partnered with Cyan Ventures.
  • Claire “Shoom’lah” Hummel’s artwork has been a part of the Myst community for years, including concept art for Obduction and one of the two designs for this year’s convention t-shirt.
  • Karl Johnson started with Cyan in 2003. Having served several roles since then, he is currently a developer, paying particular attention to comfort and motion sickness in VR.
  • Eva “laughingpineapple” Jucci has contributed a variety of artwork, writings, and cosplays over the years.
  • Blake Lewin is a thirty year veteran in the games industry. He helped to revive Uru on Gametap, and wrangled the rights to Myst III and IV back to Cyan from Ubisoft.
  • Nate Lewin has handled sound design for numerous games, films, and TV commercials, as well as recording several of his own experimental projects.
  • Keith “Tweek” Lord has been contributing artwork to the Myst community for the past 20 years. He also really likes waffles.
  • Jamey Scott was the audio director for Myst III with Presto Studios. He is currently the sound designer for the HBO series Raised by Wolves.

See their full bios and the rest of the list on our special guests page.

Streaming & Zoom

There has been some confusion as to the use of Twitch, YouTube, and Zoom. The events on the schedule page are color-coded according to where you’ll find them. Events shown in blue are streamed to both Twitch and YouTube. Events shown in red are streamed exclusively to YouTube. Links can be found on the schedule below each event’s description. None of these items require Zoom to view them.

The third category, green, is for discussion rooms, which will be held on Zoom (think of the un-conferences and casual discussions that typically pop up during an in-person Mysterium). While the Twitch and YouTube streams will be available for public viewing, you will need to be registered for Mysterium, and must download Zoom, to participate in any of those discussion rooms. We will be sending an email to registered attendees later this week with more details on how to join those rooms.

TL;DR – Other than the discussion rooms, everything on the schedule will be viewable through YouTube and Twitch. Zoom is only needed to join discussion rooms.

Also, the nature of an online convention means that we’re able to hold multiple events at the same time this year. Don’t worry, though – all events (except for discussion rooms) will be recorded and posted to YouTube for you to watch later.

Digital Activity Book

As mentioned in previous posts, the activity book we had planned for this year’s Mysterium is available for download in a digital format. Click here to download the activity book, and here for the solutions.

We will provide more information later this year about the printed book for next year’s in-person convention.

Discord Channel Updates

We are reorganizing the Mysterium Discord server with some new channels to use during the convention. To make it easier for you to know where to post, we’re putting everything in a brand new category: Mysterium 2020 Online! The full list of new channels and their descriptions can be found in the #rules channel on the Discord server.

Unwritten @ Mysterium

You might have seen on our calendar that Eleri and Vee will be running an Unwritten campaign during this year’s convention! You still have a couple more days to sign up (please do so by August 5), using this form.

Hope to see you all online this weekend!

The Mysterium Committee

Soundtracks Re-release

Greetings everyone!

We have less than a week before Mysterium begins, and we have a few reminders and a big announcement.

Reminders

If you haven’t yet, be sure to register for Mysterium. You will not be able to access the social discussion groups on Zoom unless you do. We also recommend downloading Zoom and running a test call if you plan to join the discussions.

Also, we are still accepting last-minute What Would Atrus Build? submissions through tomorrow.

And don’t forget to check out the Myst Documentary’s Kickstarter!

Soundtracks

Jack Wall, composer of the Myst III and IV soundtracks and one of our many special guests, let us in on an exciting piece of news yesterday. Jack, in collaboration with Tim Larkin and Cyan, has re-released the soundtracks from Myst III, Myst IV, Uru, and Myst V through his record label.

They are available for purchase digitally from iTunes, Amazon, and Google, and can be streamed on various services worldwide. Search for them under the following names:

  • Myst III: Exile (Original Game Soundtrack)
  • Myst IV: Revelation (Original Game Soundtrack)
  • Uru: Ages Beyond Myst (Original Game Soundtrack)
  • Myst V: End of Ages (Original Game Soundtrack)

A fan asked about re-releasing the albums at Mysterium last year, which helped to get that ball rolling.

We’ll have more Mysterium news for you in a day or two. Until then, happy listening!

-The Mysterium Committee

Mysterium Schedule and More

We have a big announcement: the schedule for this year’s online Mysterium is now live!

Schedule

The official schedule can now be found on the schedule page of our website. Links to our streams on Twitch and/or YouTube can be found under each event. To start the weekend, Philip Shane, the creator of the Myst Documentary, has brought Rand and Robyn Miller together for a special reunion panel the evening of Friday, August 7.

Special Guests

We have quite a few more special guests to announce:

  • Eric Anderson is a veteran of Cyan’s art team. He was the Art Director on Obduction, and is currently Cyan’s Creative Director.
  • “Moiety” Jean Fioca has been making all variety of crafts for years, both inside and outside the Myst fandom.
  • Amy Green has created such Numinous Games titles as That Dragon, Cancer; Untethered; and the upcoming Cyan Ventures collaboration, Area Man Lives.
  • Ryan Green has over 18 years of experience in the industry and is currently flexing his artistic muscle with Numinous Games
  • Dan Irish has experience from across the spectrum of game development teams. While with Ubisoft, he served as a producer for Myst III.
  • Michel Kripalani was the founder and CEO of Presto Studios, bringing us titles such as Myst III and The Journeyman Project.
  • Robyn Miller co-founded Cyan with his brother Rand. He worked on Myst, Riven, and Obduction with Cyan, and now experiments with all manner of creative arts.
  • Mike Perrotto has over 20 years experience combined in healthcare and software, and specializes in creating accessible video games. He is currently working with Numinous on Area Man Lives.
  • Phil Saunders was the Creative Director for Myst III at Presto Studios. He is now known for his concept designs on many major motion pictures.
  • Bill Slease held many roles at Cyan during the Uru years. He is now a professor and an author of comedic Arthurian novels.
  • Rod Stafford spent 30 years in the film and game industries. While at Cyan, he worked on both Uru and Myst V.
  • Ryan “greydragon” Warzecha is Cyan’s resident tiki bar authority. He has worked on games from Uru up to Obduction, and is now Head of Developer Relations for Cyan Ventures.

We’re still not done announcing names! Check out the list so far on our special guests page.

Q&A With Robyn Miller

Philip Shane will host a live Q&A with Myst & Riven co-creator Robyn Miller on Facebook tomorrow afternoon, July 28. You can pre-submit questions on their post here.

Reminders

You still have a few days to send in your Praise Gehn and What Would Atrus Build submissions. We have also extended the deadline to August 2 for discussion topic ideas for our Zoom social rooms during the convention. See our submissions page for details.

-The Mysterium Committee

Praise Gehn!

Hello all! We have a few more bits of information about next month’s event.

Special Guests

We’re pleased to announce another set of guests for Mysterium:
  • Mike “RIUM+” Ando is Mysterium’s resident mad scientist. When not time traveling, he is often found building Myst-inspired creations (and presenting them at Mysterium).
  • Geneviève Lord has had a career spanning five different countries across North America, the Caribbean, and Europe. While with Ubisoft in Montreal, she was the producer for Myst IV.
  • Rand Miller co-founded Cyan over 30 years ago, bringing us the worlds of Myst and its sequels, as well as the upcoming game Firmament.
  • Philip Shane is an award winning documentary filmmaker, working on such films as Being Elmo and The Beatles Revolution. He is currently kickstarting the Myst Documentary.
Once again, we still have more names to announce, and you can see the complete list (and longer bios) on the special guests page.

Praise Gehn!

If you’ve been to Mysterium the past couple years, you may remember Taniith singing a rendition of “Praise Gehn” to the tune of “You’re Welcome” from Moana. Last year we made it a sing-along, but now is really everyone’s opportunity to participate! Send in your own recording of the song, and we’ll splice together sections of each video to make a complete song. The more submissions we receive, the more fun this will be, so don’t worry if you’re a bit off key. The lyrics are available here, and the details on how to submit your video are available on the submissions page. Please get these in by July 28 so we have time for editing.

Reminders

We’ve extended the deadline for open mic night submissions to July 26, giving almost an extra week to send your songs in. Submissions for What Would Atrus Build and social discussion topics are still open as well. See the submissions page for more information on all of these.
More to announce, including another round of guests, soon!

-The Mysterium Committee

Stephan Martiniere, Myst Doc Kickstarter, & WWAB

Greetings friends

We have just under four weeks to go until Mysterium, so it’s time we tell you about another of our special guests – Stephan Martiniere!

Stephan Martiniere

Myst fans may remember him as the Visual Art Director for the URU/Myst Online games and Myst V, but Stephan has an extensive list of credits across all types of media. From games to movies to book covers to theme parks, he’s done it all. We are enormously excited to welcome him to Mysterium this year, and we think you will all enjoy hearing from him.

You can learn more about Stephan, and all of our guests, on our Special Guests page – and if those aren’t exciting enough for you, stay tuned because we have plenty more to come.

Myst Doc Kickstarter

If you’ve attended Mysterium in recent years, you will remember seeing Philip Shane recording us all and talking about the upcoming Myst Documentary. Well, come tomorrow you will be able to back the Myst Doc on Kickstarter! Head over to the Kickstarter page to sign up for a notification when the campaign goes live.

While you wait, you can also check out an exclusive interview with Philip, Rand, and Robyn over on VentureBeat, here.

What Would Atrus Build

A long-standing favorite of Mysterium attendees, What Would Atrus Build asks participants to “finish” a project that Atrus left in pieces on his desk. We haven’t held this event for several years, but we think this year’s online format lends itself to a slightly modified version: We give you the prompt, and you present your creation in a pre-recorded video.

Make it as simple or complicated as you want. Don’t have the right junk or construction skills to actually build your idea? No problem! We welcome sketches, 3D models, or any other way you can think of to express your creativity.

You can learn all about our WWAB contest on the submissions page.

Call For Discussion Topics

Mysterium is known not just for its great panels and events, but also for its welcoming and casual social atmosphere. You’re just as likely to overhear new friends discussing the finer points of D’ni lore, as you are to hear them talking about unrelated TV shows or computer programming. Someone once described Mysterium as “the fun parts of large cons, but all weekend”. How do we translate that to the online format, though?

Our solution: Social rooms on Zoom. Everyone who is pre-registered (for free!) will receive an email in a few weeks with information about when and how to join these social rooms. Before that, though, we need some topics! We’re looking for a wide range here, so don’t limit yourself to just Myst-specific topics. We’re already planning a time for a ‘crafting circle’ hangout, and another for ‘mental health and coping skills’.

You can use this form to submit your social topic ideas. Feel free to submit as many as you want! Topics should be submitted by July 26th.

Reminders

Remember that Open Mic Night submissions are due in about a week (July 20), and there’s still time to grab a t-shirt and help a couple great causes. Also, if you originally registered for our on-site 2020 convention and have not received an email about refunds and roll-overs, please get in touch with us.

We’ll have more soon.

– The Mysterium Committee