Cyan Worlds

Background

Cyan Worlds (formerly Cyan) is a computer game company most famous for creating the Myst series of best-seller computer games, founded by Rand and Robyn Miller. After the release of Riven in 1997, 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 in 2003, the company found itself in dire financial straits, and after the online component, Myst Online: Uru Live, was scrapped in beta testing, Cyan Worlds had to lay off almost all of its employees. However, after negotiating a lucrative deal with Turner Broadcasting, the company had re-hired its employees, and began work on a new game, Cosmic Osmo's Hex Isle, which was released in November 2007.

Afterwards, Cyan Worlds attempted to relaunch Myst Online: Uru Live with funding from GameTap, but this failed and the company later re-released the game to the fans as an open-source project. The company still makes games and remasters of their older titles, their latest projects being 2016's Obduction and 2023's Firmament, as well as Unreal Engine remakes of Myst and Riven in 2020 and 2024 respectively.

Cyan

Contents

1st Logo (June 21, 1990)	2nd Logo (1991)	3rd Logo (September 24, 1993-November 15, 2000)	4th Logo (October 31, 1997-June 5, 1998; June 25, 2024)

Cyan Worlds

Contents

1st Logo (November 11, 2003-June 2013)	2nd Logo (October 17, 2013-)

Cyan

1st Logo (June 21, 1990)

Visuals: On a black background, a white ring draws in. Upon completion of the ring's drawing, 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 texts "C Y A N" and "PRODUCTION" fade in at the top and bottom of the "C" respectively in a particle fashion.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: None.

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

2nd Logo (1991)

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

Variant: On the demo of Spelunx, the logo is positioned right below the Brøderbund "presents" logo, with the "A CYAN PRODUCTION" text sandwiched in-between that and the Cyan "C" in a blue box.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen on Spelunx and the Caves of Mr. Seudo.

3rd Logo (September 24, 1993-November 15, 2000)

Visuals: On a black background, a small circle fades in, with gray waves inside. The camera pans over to a small island. and it is shown that there are several trees and a few houses as well, all represented by gray geometric shapes (even the land is made of shapes). As the camera gets to the edge, several larger cones representing mountains begin to appear, and the camera goes up to the highest peak, revealing a dark blue sky, gray land, and a white band of light representing the horizon and separating the two. 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 "C Y A N" fades in below, as the sphere rotates to form 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 "C Y A N" text is a brighter blue color, and the black dot in the center fades to a yellow sun, which leads into the intro of the game.
On the GOG.com version of Myst: Masterpiece Edition, the text fades in via a motion effect and the font is similar to the 4th logo.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A calm electric piano/guitar tune, ending with a drum roll and an echoing orchestral hit. Composed by Cyan co-founder Robyn Miller.

Audio Variant:

On realMYST, the drum roll and orchestral hit are more dramatic, and a dreamy synth is heard upon the transition to the game's intro.
On the Mac and GOG.com versions of Myst: Masterpiece Edition, a remix of the tune is used. The tune uses just a piano during the beginning, and the orchestral hit sounds more powerful.

Availability: Seen on all releases of Myst, realMYST, and Myst: Masterpiece Edition.

4th Logo (October 31, 1997-June 5, 1998; June 25, 2024)

Visuals: On a starfield, the camera pans over the stony surface of a spinning planet, a nearby sun shining on it from the right for light. Eventually, the camera pans out to reveal 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 cuts 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 then-new Cyan logo.

Variant: A reanimated version is used on the 2024 remake of Riven, which is entirely remade using Unreal Engine 5 as a pre-rendered video in 4K at 60fps. The crack is now visible within the starfield, which doesn't transition to the table, unlike in the original. The sphere appears grey when the light is reflected on it, then turns brown when it is in view, then turns grey again when the cuts to the sky. The text is in a different font and now zooms out instead of flying in from the right. Both the sphere and text can now be visibly seen within the volumetric clouds. At the end, the stylized "C" then turns to white, while the sphere zooms out and moves to the right, turning into a cyan dot and thus creating the current Cyan Worlds logo. The video shown above doesn't have light shafts, as the lens flares are visibly shown when the sun is shown, as it was different than the final version.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A mysterious-sounding tribal theme, also composed by Robyn Miller.

Availability: Seen on Riven for PC, PS1 and Sega Saturn.

Cyan Worlds

1st Logo (November 11, 2003-June 2013)

Visuals: The logo starts off like the 3rd logo, but the island is now colored in a light turquoise color, and when the camera is 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 the camera gets to the mountain, the sky is more realistic, and the sphere is now green. Then, the camera 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", with an embossed effect, and arranged like this:

C Y A N
--------------
W O R L D S

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 as the logo shifts up to make room for it. The logo fades to black.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A higher-quality version of the third logo's tune, specifically the realMYST variant.

Audio Variant: On the Evolving The Vision featurette, metallic sliding sounds are heard and a soft whoosh-hiss as the sphere flies in.

Availability: Seen on Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. Myst V: End of Ages, Cosmic Osmo's Hex Isle, and Myst Online: Uru Live. The Evolving The Vision variant is only seen on said featurette.

2nd Logo (October 17, 2013-)

Visuals: 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 it's 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 than the green sphere from 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 gray "C" and a cyan dot right beside it. Below, "C Y A N" can be seen in white. The logo then fades out via a blurring effect.

Variants:

On the Kickstarter featurette for Obduction, the logo disappears, leaving a cyan dot, which transitions into the moon in a night sky, which then starts the featurette.
On realMYST Masterpiece Edition, the cyan dot turns into a white sun, which leads into the intro of the game.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A vibraphone-esque rendition of the Cyan theme, ending in the same manner as the last logo but without the dreamy synth.

Availability: It was first seen on the Kickstarter featurette for Obduction, and later made its game debut on realMYST: Masterpiece Edition. It has since appeared on Obduction, the 2020 remake of Myst and Firmament.