Cyan Worlds

Background
Cyan Worlds, formerly Cyan, is a computer game company most famous for creating the Myst series of computer games. After the release of Riven: The Sequel to Myst in 1997, the company's founder Rand Miller changed the name from "Cyan" to "Cyan Worlds", to clarify that the company was headed in a new direction. Due to the financial failure of Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, the company found itself in dire financial straits, and after the online component, Myst Online: Uru Live, failed twice (once in beta testing and once again after a year of being sponsored by Gametap), the company had to lay off almost all of its employees. However, the company was not gone long, and after a few weeks Cyan Worlds found its head back above water, had re-hired its employees, and began work on a new game, Cosmic Osmo's Hex Isle. The company attempted to relaunch Myst Online: Uru Liveagain, but this failed and the company has since re-released Myst Online: Uru Live to the fans as an open-source project. The company still makes games, their latest being 2016's Obduction.

1st Logo (June 21, 1990)
Logo: On a black background, a white ring draws in, which upon completion, black particles form below the start point, and it spins until the darkened part is positioned at the top right. This forms a stylized "C", and the text "CYAN" and "PRODUCTION" fade in, at the top and bottom of the "C" respectively, in a particle fashion.

FX/SFX: The "C" drawing in and spinning.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on Cosmic Osmo and The Worlds Beyond the Mackerel.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1991)
Logo: On a black background, a blue bar with the stylized "C" from before, but with the black replaced with blue, and "CYAN" at the top of it drops down. Then, the text "A CYAN PRODUCTION" fades in underneath via a particle effect.

FX/SFX: The bar dropping and the text fading in.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on Spelunx.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (September 24, 1993-November 15, 2000)
Nicknames: "Grayscale Island", "Stylized C", "Catchy Jingle C", "Cyan C", "Catchy C", "C is for Catchy"

Logo: On a black background, we see a small circle in which grey waves are seen at first. The camera pans over to a small island, in which there are several trees and a few houses as well, all represented by grey geometric shapes (even the land is made of shapes). As we get to the edge, several larger cones posing as mountains are seen in view, and the camera goes up to the highest peak, revealing a dark blue sky, grey land, and a white band of light representing the horizon and separating the 2. A yellow sphere then drops down behind the mountain as the entire scene fades to white, with the cone forming a black streak in the ring. The text "CYAN" fades in below in grey, as the sphere rotates to forming a black circle, and the streak rotates about 135 degrees to the top right portion, forming the Cyan logo. As this happens, the text below fades to blue.

Variants:
 * A still version exists on the PlayStation version of Myst.
 * On the original release of realMYST, the black dot in the center fades to a yellow sun, which leads into the intro of the titular game.

FX/SFX: The panning, the sphere flipping, the rotating, the fading.

Music/Sounds: A very calm electric piano/guitar tune, ending with a drum roll and an echoing orchestral hit.

Music/Sounds Variant: On the Mac and most recent GOG.com versions of Myst: Masterpiece Edition, a remix of the tune is used. The tune now uses just a piano during the beginning, and the orchestral hit sounds more powerful.

Availability: Common; it's easily found on all copies of Myst, realMYST, and Myst: Masterpiece Edition.

Editor's Note: While the graphics are obviously dated by today's standards, they (alongside Myst itself) were very groundbreaking when the logo debuted. Even then, this logo has a very nice and soothing charm to it, and it's a favorite among many.

4th Logo (October 31, 1997-1999)
Nicknames: "Stone Sphere", "The Planet", "C in the Sky", "Pac-Man C", "Cyan C II"

Logo: On a starfield, we pan over the stony surface of a spinning planet, a nearby sun shining on it from the right for light. Eventually, we pan out to realize that the planet is no more than a sphere sitting on a table. The word "C Y A N" flies in from the right, coming to rest on the still spinning sphere. The background shifts to a blue sky with clouds, the text turning black as it does so, and the sphere zooms out as the text turns gray, compresses, and slides below the sphere. A black cutout of a stylized "C" zooms and rotates in to engulf the sphere, creating the new logo.

FX/SFX: The panning, the text sliding in, the zooming out, the background shifting, the text moving, the C entering and enclosing the sphere.

Music/Sounds: A mysterious-sounding tribal theme.

Availability: Rare. Seen on all releases and re-releases of Riven.

Editor's Note: Although some of the effects are wonky (namely the company name flying in and the sudden cut to the blue sky), this logo still possesses some very nice effects for the time.

5th Logo (November 11, 2003-June 2013)
Nicknames: "Grayscale Island II", "Grayscale Island Revisited", "The Medallion C", "Cyan Worlds C", "The Catchy C Returns"

Logo: The logo starts off like the 1st logo, but the island is now colored in a light turquoise color, and when nearing the mountain, several notable objects from the Myst games can be seen (like the rocket ship, the clock tower, what appears to be the entrance to their headquarters but completed, and even the Moiety Dagger) before the camera zooms up the mountain. When we get to the mountain, the sky is now more realistic, and the sphere is now green, but instead the camera then rotates towards the sphere. The sky disappears from view, the mountain becomes thicker and more like a wedge shape, and the sphere is much larger, as a smaller sphere, being the same color as the mountain and briefly seen when the camera rotates, flies in, forming a "C" out of the green sphere. The entire circle rotates 90 degrees to the right, drawing a grid on the entire thing, and remains unchanged for a second. The entire scene turns into a metallic gold version of the image, with the "C" being defined by a lighter shade of gold, and a blue sphere orbits in from behind and places itself onto the spot designed for it on the grid. It then shifts up to make room for the text "CYAN WORLDS", in blue with a embossed effect, and arranged like this:

CYAN -- W O R L D S

The entire logo then fades-out.

Variants: There are two other existing variants:
 * A still version of the finished logo, used on later Cyan Worlds games.
 * A special logo seen only on the Evolving The Vision featurette. A metal circle fade-transforms in, a la a Transformers robot transforming. A metal wedge slides out of it, sliding out two arms to connect and form the new logo. A golden plate slides out to fill the C-shaped gap, and the blue sphere flies behind the logo in an orbit pattern to fill its place between the arms of the "C". The text "CYAN WORLDS" fades-in below at the logo shifts up to make room for it. The logo fades to black.

FX/SFX: Very nice CGI!

Music/Sounds: A higher-quality version of the first logo's tune, but with a more dramatic version of the hit that ends with some dreamy synthesized effects as the sphere flies in. For the second variant, we hear metallic sliding sounds and a soft whoosh-hiss as the sphere flies in.

Availability: Common for the still and moving variants. Rare for the Evolving The Vision variant, as it's only seen on that featurette.

Editor's Note: A very nicely-animated rendition of a classic logo.

6th Logo (October 17, 2013-)
Nicknames: "Grayscale Island III", "Grayscale Island Revisited II", "The Grey C", "Cyan C III", "The Catchy C Returns II"

Logo: On a black background, a circle blurs into view, showing the same animation as the previous logo, but with effects that make it look like its being viewed out of a lens. When it reaches the mountain, the lens seems to be cleaned up a bit, and a cyan sphere, being smaller then the green sphere before, quickly drops down. The logo then continues like the previous logo, sharpening its color, but then just rotates and blurs into the final product, which is a grey "C" and a cyan dot right beside it, not unlike the Cyan Worlds logo. Below, "C Y A N" can be seen in white. The logo then fades out via a blurring effect.

FX/SFX: More great CGI overall.

Music/Sounds: A vibraphone-esque rendition of the Cyan theme, ending in the same manner as the last logo but without the dreamy sound effects.

Availability: Current. Was first seen on RealMYST: Anniversary Version, and then later appears on Obduction.

Editor's Note: Another nice rendition of the 1993/2001 logo.