DECEMBER 17, 2007
The Cavern Today, an fan organization with membership in the Guild of Messengers, interviewed Cyanist Ryan Miller in their "Our Gift" Holiday Podcast 2007,” their latest audio feature.
Miller was asked to look back and assess how Cyan did the past year. “Overall Season One went well. As a company we learned a lot on how to better produce upcoming seasons.” Miller also emphasized repeatedly that they cannot make everyone happy, given current resource constraints and pending discussions with GameTap, the publisher of MO:UL over the level of funding for Season Two. “We do the best with what we have.” He also spoke of challenges in intertwining the story with the Ages released because much of Season One content used borrowed content from the single-player expansion packs of Uru Live. “We had to mix and match and doing so made it harder.” And given the short development time frames, a limited budget, and only a skeleton crew of developers, resources were the ultimate factor that limited the potential of MO:UL. Currently “MO:UL is a smaller scale of what we envisioned Uru Live to be,” he concluded.
On the recent additions of staff at Cyan, Miller reported that it is ”good news” for the company but “not necessarily good news for Season Two,” because the new staff were recruited to conduct testing for a third party. “In fact its not tied into Season Two at all.”
Miller describes Cyan’s relationship with GameTap as “great,” and both communicate with each other frequently. As to GameTap’s backing of Season Two, “I think they are still making that decision.” He disagreed with those who made “doom and gloom” forecasts, stating his belief that GameTap will continue to invest based on the financial returns they receive.
Miller held lofty dreams and goals for Season Two. He envisioned an elected guilds council, running large and strong guilds that run the Cavern affairs, “with Cyan at the top” communicating with the guild leadership, and where big Ages are made that weave story and game play together. “But I don’t know how we’re going to get there.” He also wishes to give players all the “tools” they need to create Ages and other related content of their own, such as the ability to write and place their own journals in the Cavern. “We would love to take that to that level. But it takes work to create the tools for the community.” And any new content has to satisfy Cyan’s standards. “I think though there is a pretty good chance of some user content appearing in Season Two.” No promises were made though to step up efforts to reduce lag, repair the lake light meter or impose population limits in certain areas.
Miller had an understanding of player’s expectations. People want story and to interact and be involved with the characters. Also, “we learned that people still want content, to experience it and play it.” His parting words asked them for their continued support. “We are trying to do our best to give you what you want.”
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The original Myst game “changed the face of gaming” according to GameTap reporter Robert Coffey. He gives a retrospective view into the time when Myst was created, when 2x CD ROMS sold for $350 each, and when the original Doom dominated the adventure gaming genre. Against this lackluster backdrop came the product of brothers Rand and Ryan Miller leading a design team of three others to create a game that (at the time) featured cutting-edge rendering, and tiny Quicktime videos. The game broke ground for the adventure genre by affording the players to solve the game at their own pace, to pause when necessary from the game aspect and enjoy the breathtaking graphics, and allowed players to put themselves in the game, and to experience each world as if they were actually there, for instance standing on the Myst pier, or riding the caverns of Selenitic. Coffey also thinks that the Myst sequels did not live up to the original because they focused too heavily on graphics and on a New Age feel. Nevertheless, Myst influenced later adventure releases like The Longest Journey, Rhem and Syberia.
Source DECEMBER 16, 2007
 Today at 2 pm Cavern time, the Uru Cavern Choir launched the first of four stirring performances at the Gameboomer’s Bevin, Eder Delin. “Winter Holidays of Renaissance Europe” is a celebration of the period of rebirth among the arts, especially choral music. “Composers across Europe explored new expressive possibilities and created exquisite music for their patrons, for their nation, and for their faith,” declared Domahreh, choir leader and event organizer. To more effectively do crowd control and minimize lag, everyone was encouraged to reserve tickets. Space at the Gameboomer’s Eder Delin was limited to 25 attendees per concert. Those who came were asked to help reduce lag by sitting and to not using text or voice chat during the concert. Ushering services were provided by the Gameboomer’s Bevin.
The choir continues to receive rave reviews. “The choir certainly brings ‘class’ to the Cavern!” one exclaimed after the choir’s March 4, 2007 performance called “A Lover’s Complaint.” “What a wonderful performance. Beautiful!” shouted another of today’s rendition.
The Cavern Choir was broadcast on Shoutcast Radio KTDN and on Teamspeak. Those who missed the event can still listen to it on streaming audio via the CCN Soundstage. Video and MP3 files of the recordings will soon be made available by the CCN.
Source Photograph supplied by Lial
 Marker artists once attempted the impossible…and a few Greeters accomplished just that. Today they celebrate the holidays with some memories of the seemingly impossible things they did in Christmas past…
A not-so-long time ago…
In a Cavern near you…
Before Myst Online: Uru Live ever was…
Marker art is not like it once was. Before MO:UL, there was Untìl Uru, an unofficial version that ran on select shards after the Uru Live Prologue was terminated before it had a chance to officially launch in February 2004. Untìl Uru was created based on the wishes of loyal Greeters and fans who wished to continue gathering together in the hope that one day the online version would officially be reborn. Against circumstantial hope, some expressed their hope and continued support for Cyan Worlds and the game.
Each of the marker art images shown were carefully plotted, planned and placed on the GoG shard by Greeters Rex Havoc (also a Guild Master) and Golden Wedge using an Admin KI, a tool that reportedly is currently only reserved for ResEngs. These pictures remind veteran Greeters of “the good ’ol days.” Enjoy the images of Christmas past!
Source Photographs supplied by Rex Havoc
DECEMBER 11, 2007
Today, MO:UL forum moderator and fellow Greeter Veralun announced the creation of new puzzles, each featuring scenes of different Ages, and Uru musical scores composed by Tim Larkin of Cyan Worlds. The latest musical puzzles include “Kadish Vault,” “Kadish Gallery,” “K’veer,” “Cleft,” “Cleft Wahrk Skeleton,” “Gahreesen 2,” “Minkata Cage Bottom,” “Minkata Cage Top” and the “Ahnonay Cathedral.” These free downloadable musical puzzles and much more are also available at the Guild of Greeters website.
Source DECEMBER 10, 2007
Today at 8:53am Cavern time marks the start of the 7401st anniversary of when the Lost Book of Birenni was found by a woman named Lalen. Birenni was an ancient Age which belonged to the Guild of Healers. There they discovered plants that were able to end a plague that ravaged D’ni at that time. The plague ended on 2262 DE, and thereafter an annual festival was held to commemorate the day the “Lost Ages” were found. In the D’ni calendar today is Leevobro 20, 9663 DE, the twelvth yahr of the seventh vailee, 9663 years after D’ni culture was established in the Cavern.
DECEMBER 9, 2007
The Guild of Greeters has adopted a new management system, effective January 1, 2008. The newest feature is the election of three new Guild Masters picked by the Greeter community. Elected Guild Masters will serve a term of one year.
The Grand Master of the Guild of Greeters is elected by the Guild Masters. The Grand Master may leave office either by stepping down or through impeachment by a unanimous vote of all the Guild Masters.
The Guild Masters are a small group of Greeters who decide how to run the Guild. The new system will involve two groups of Guild Masters, the Council of Elders and the elected Guild Masters. The Council of Elders is comprised of Guild Masters who are long standing Greeters, well respected in the Greeter community and have proven their dedication to the guild. Besides setting guild policy, they also manage the servers, Greeter forum and the Greeter website. The Council of Elders is also tasked with ensuring that the Guild keeps to its primary mission to help people.
The elected Guild Masters are there to give a greater voice to the Greeter community. They are responsible for the daily operation of the guild in the Cavern. They manage the Greeters and with the Council of Elders, set guild policy. The three Greeters with the most votes are thus elected as Guild Masters. Their term starts March 1, 2008 and lasts for one year. They may be re-elected without term limits. If vacancies result, the Grand Master may call for a special election if necessary.
Four different types of Guild of Greeters Staff members support and are managed by the Guild Masters. The Executive Staff own the forum and website and are consultants to the Guild Masters. The Forum Moderators look after the forum. The Website Contributors design and create new content for the website. And the Membership Committee evaluates and votes on Greeter Applications.
DECEMBER 7, 2007
 Baxana (pronounced bah-tsah-nah) means “map” while baxen [(b)bah-tsen] means “to map.” These and other D’ni words are among the latest D’ni-to-English translations approved by Dr. Richard Watson just today. The former DRC leader and Cyanist continues to work with the D’ni Linguistic Fellowship and other interested fans to expand the D’ni language. To date, sixteen new nouns and verbs were added since the project commenced on November 16, 2007.
Other words approved recently include lAsU (pronounced (b)lay-soo) or “to carry,” lAsUtan (lay-soo-tahn) which means “carrier” or “courier,” Setem (shee-tem) or “message,” and bErE ((b)bee-ree) which means “to maintain.”
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Four new word forms were confirmed by Dr. Richard Watson today as part of ongoing work done in partnership with the D’ni Linguistic Fellowship and other interested fans to expand the D’ni language. Doo'shol-tahn (pronounced DU’Soltan) means “caterer” and du (DU) means "food" while (b)doo'shol (DU'Sol) means “to cater.” To date, twenty new nouns and verbs were added since the project commenced on November 16, 2007.