Myst videos being remastered/redone?

[NyteRazor]

Are they just going to copy the original Myst videos or are they being remastered or completely redone?

[mystman12]

I'd assume, based off of the trailer, that they're being redone with 3D models, but there's been no confirmation.

[mystman12]

Unless Cyan can come up with a way to record actors in 3D (Not stereoscopic 3D, but as a fully 3D model, which I've heard *has* been done before so it's not impossible) there's really no convincing way to use live actors in VR, at least for when you see Atrus at the end. If they used a 3D model for Atrus but actors for everything else, that would be a pretty jarring change, so they have to stay consistent. You also have to keep in mind that Atrus would have to look at the player no matter where their head is and stuff like that, otherwise the conversation would feel extremely awkward.

The fact is, despite how much I like the real actors in the original Myst games, those were made possible by the pre-rendered nature of the games. When you have full control of the camera you can superimpose a recording of an actor over the scene pretty easily and convincingly. When you enter the realm of real time 3D though that becomes significantly more difficult to pull off without looking jarring. Especially in VR, where you can't just lock the player's head in place and where the recording would need to have some depth to it.

Ultimately I don't think it's worth keeping the tradition of using recordings of actors in exchange for what would likely be a pretty jarring experience. Despite how strange it might seem, with today's technology having characters portrayed through 3D models in a world portrayed through 3D models is far more natural and immersive than a world portrayed through 3D models with characters portrayed thorough recordings. In a game like Half-Life: Alyx I don't think "Gee, this experience would be a lot more immersive if these characters were recordings of real actors!" I think... Nothing, because the characters fit within the world and there's nothing jarring about them.

Compare that to Obduction. The holograms were fine, but the moment I saw CW I couldn't help but laugh a little bit because it looked so jarring (Also didn't help that the accent was bad, haha). That wasn't even in VR. It would have been far more natural had he just been a good 3D model.

Sorry for the essay, but I keep seeing a *lot* of people say stuff like "3D models would completely ruin the experience!" and so I've had these thoughts brewing for a while now. I doubt complaining one way or the other will change Cyan's current plans, but I firmly believe the best way to do this in VR is with 3D models.

[[MM] WMan22]

Originally posted by tℨopc:

Originally posted by mystman12:

I'd assume, based off of the trailer, that they're being redone with 3D models, but there's been no confirmation.

I would hope not. That would destroy the game.

Will probably be the same as it was in Obduction, who knows. Wouldn't mind the odd blend of facial capture and 3D modeling Myst V had either, even if it was a bit uncanny valley at times. Just trust me when I say 2D assets like FMVs look weird in VR, so you do want 3D models.

[[MM] WMan22]

Originally posted by tℨopc:

Originally posted by MM WMan22:

Will probably be the same as it was in Obduction, who knows. Wouldn't mind the odd blend of facial capture and 3D modeling Myst V had either, even if it was a bit uncanny valley at times. Just trust me when I say 2D assets like FMVs look weird in VR, so you do want 3D models.

If Atrus was a crappy 3D character Myst would suck. In no way can it hold the same feeling of seeing an actual human. Actually, seeing Atrus there and Atrus being a true live human is on a whole other level.

You can have some poorly detailed non-live 3D model lol. It would destroy the feeling completely :-)

Myst was one of the first games I ever played in my life and yet I'm not blinded by so much nostalgia that I'm not open to any change in technology to improve the experience, I'm just saying that 3D models tend to look better in VR. I'm not wholly opposed to 3D FMV either, I'm merely stating that in obduction they were kind of blurry and warped a bit and that makes me think it'd be better in Myst V style where it looked like a blend of FMV facial capture and 3D mocap.

https://youtu.be/c5RAJKZuyk8?t=164

Granted, if done in this game, I would hope they would have a higher framerate and resolution for the facial capture so that it didn't lead to that uncanny valley effect.

[Korovev]

I can live with the modern standard for 3D characters:

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vs6X1B-5tsmGdJMuPpKv5W72dxE=/0x0:2548x1428/1200x800/filters:focal(1067x67:1473x473)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66942271/dragon.0.0.jpg

[mystman12]

So I finished the Quest version and while my initial impressions of the models weren't great, I did get used to them pretty quickly and the animations honestly seemed to improve as I progressed through the game, almost as if the artists started from the beginning and improved they're abilities as they worked towards the final animations.

Perhaps what was most interesting though was that the models looked very good to me in the bad endings, at which point real-time models are used instead of pre-rendered animations. Since they're real-time they aren't as high quality looking as in the pre-rendered animations, but for whatever reason they felt less jarring like that and even seemed to be animated a *lot* better. There's also the benefit of there being a stererscopic 3D effect when looking out of the linking panel at this point, which looks really cool and is something that wouldn't have been possible with filmed actors.

There's still room for improvements, but I feel pretty satisfied with how it turned out and can safely say going with 3D models was the right decision.

[danknugz]

eww

[Yistaan]

If they have the budget they could go full blown AI upscaling of the Sirrus, Achenar, and Atrus videos. The Tex Murphy game is being upscaled in this manner: https://bigfinishgames.com/upscale-progress-music-remastering-and-a-new-update-from-adrian-carr/ and I think Myst is way more well known than that game.

[FuzzyPuffin]

If you watch the Myst 2021 state of the union on YouTube they describe why they couldn’t use video for a VR game.

They’re using MetaHuman for Firmament, which is brand new and still in beta. I wouldn’t be surprised if that work will result in better Myst characters one day.

[Yistaan]

Originally posted by FuzzyPuffin:

If you watch the Myst 2021 state of the union on YouTube they describe why they couldn’t use video for a VR game.

They’re using MetaHuman for Firmament, which is brand new and still in beta. I wouldn’t be surprised if that work will result in better Myst characters one day.

Maybe it's for the best. There wasn't visual continuity between the Sirrus and Achenar portrayals between the original Myst and Myst 4 anyway (completely different actors). And it is kind of distracting once you realize Rand is both Achenar and Atrus in the original.