The new game from the Myst/Riven creators may just be the next EverQuest

"I'm just going to say that it's not a sequel to Myst or Riven," said Rand Miller, CEO of Cyan and co-creator of Myst and Riven when asked about Mudpie, the codename for the company's latest project. It may not be a sequel but it's certainly associated with the Myst/Riven universe and may just be the first chance for gamers to truly explore the environments in the game firsthand, in what may be an online version of the popular worlds.

It has recently been confirmed that the game will be in real-time 3D, care of Headspin Technologies' 3D engine. Cyan recently acquired the company's technology and are employing their entire staff to work on Mudpie and future projects. What hasn't been known is the specific importance of the Mudpie project to Cyan.

The company have been at work on Mudpie for a year now, and are still keeping the specific details under tight lock and key, even in regards to calling it an adventure game. "We want to get it out there and let it speak for itself as far as what genre it will be in," said Miller. He also hinted that the project, regardless of genre, might just be an online-only game, and the implications are massive. "We're talking about broadband. We're designing this with broadband in mind," said Miller about Mudpie's special focus. "One of the reasons that Myst was popular is because we designed it with CD-ROM in mind," he added, pointing out that Myst was one of the first games intrinsically linked from the ground up with the then cutting edge CD-ROM technology. Miller has said that project Mudpie will have the same sort of design focus, only this time around it's the Internet, and the game is being designed with broadband as its major design component.

If EverQuest can bring in nearly 200,000 users, can you imagine what an online version of the greatest-selling game of all time will do to the gaming world? Unfortunately, the Cyan team are happily working "quietly in the woods", as Miller jokes, and he doesn't want to reveal any more about the game until it's absolutely, positively ready to unveil. "We've got the luxury of being a little bit out of the loop," said Miller about the development of the game, and added that it helped the company to design in peace until they've got "all their ducks in a row".

You can expect a first peek at the game in the next six months, either at E3 or before.


Courtesy of IGN.com