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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - What's in store for Rand Miller's Cyan? More "Myst" or "Riven" products, for one thing. Virgin will release the soundtracks to the two games in mid-March, but Rand is thinking more ambitiously about new, related games: "We've always said there's no sequel to ['Riven'] -- there will never be another product like this that you explore in the same way -- but there's other entertainment products that can be related to 'Myst' and 'Riven,' maybe not on the same scale, but done in a different way." In addition, Cyan may be involved in pushing forward the long-rumored "Myst" -- or perhaps, now, "Riven" -- film (a separate and distinct project from Robyn Miller's new movie plans). "We have more story, we have lots of information that nobody knows about, that would be nice to take advantage of somewhere -- we'll see if anybody wants pieces of that," Rand says. Is he actively talking to anyone about a film? "We're not right now, because we've just been in shutdown mode, trying to really take it easy ... We're not in a hurry." Rand says a film project could possibly reunite the team of Rand, Robyn and Richard (who has a background in film animation), but not for a film based on either "Myst" or "Riven": "For 'Myst' and 'Riven' I don't think it would happen. Only because 'Myst' and 'Riven' are done, in Richard and Robyn's minds in particular. They really are motivated by new, fresh things. In their minds they're on to other worlds. So maybe later on, when they've developed the worlds and movies that they want to do, we'll get together." In his e-mail, Robyn Miller suggested that he might work again with Cyan if any of his current film projects spun off an interactive product or game: "Actually, I can't imagine us not continually associating and consulting with each other. I kind of cringe at the ugly rumors that I know are going to be spread about the 'split' or the 'divorce.' In reality, we still get along great and have a tremendous respect for one another from a professional point of view; most importantly we are good friends and close brothers." According to Rand, the creative partnership between the brothers worked so well because their personalities were complementary. Rand, 40-ish, is tall, broad and bearded; he's voluble, quick to laugh and fills the room he's in. Robyn, in his early 30s, is tall and slender, quiet and contemplative. "It's easier when you have different personalities, because you can kind of fill each other's faults or plug the holes a little bit better," Rand says. However, as children, they weren't exactly inseparable, he says. "We weren't close brothers, really. There was a brother between us who was probably much closer to Robyn than I was and beat up on him and made him eat grass and that kind of thing," he laughs. So, no sequel to "Riven," no brotherly partnership to produce another blockbuster game? Rand grins impishly. "Ahhhh, but you never know. That became our motto at Cyan: You never know."
Karlin Lillington is a technology writer in Dublin whose work appears regularly in the Guardian, the Irish Times and other publications. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - R E L A T E D_S T O R Y .|. Read Laura Miller's article on how "Myst" and "Riven" won our hearts and minds. |
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