Myst developer Kickstarting new steampunk VR puzzle adventure Firmament
Heavens!
Cyan Worlds, the developer behind seminal puzzle adventure Myst, has launched a Kickstarter to fund development of its new VR game Firmament.
Those with decently honed memory skills might recall that Firmament was initially unveiled in March last year, whereupon it was referred to as a "new steampunk adventure". That early reveal was accompanied by a surprisingly lengthy "teaser" trailer, suggesting that development was reasonably well underway.
Twelve months on, and Firmament has re-emerged on Kickstarter for a bout of crowdfunding, with an estimated release of July 2020 - assuming it meets its goal. And while there's not a huge amount of new information to be gleaned beyond what was teased last year, Cyan has clarified a few points and shared some snippets of new gameplay footage to woo potential backers.
Firmament is described as an all-new narrative adventure that's "deeply rooted in the spirit of Myst, Riven, and Obduction". It's being built from the ground-up to support VR on PC (unlike Obduction, which gained VR support post-launch, resulting in some sadly less-than-ideal performance issues), although Cyan says that it will also be playable without a VR headset.
One key area in which VR tech will be utilised is in your interactions with your clockwork companion, with communication possible through hand gestures. "What starts as rudimentary communication," says Cyan, "evolves into a complex symphony of actions as you solve challenges together and begin to understand the epic nature of what lies ahead."
Cyan is hoping to raise £973,385 to complete development of Firmament. At the time of writing, it's secured £179,941, with 30 days of the campaign still to go. You can check out the full pitch (and peruse the usual swathe of backer tiers) on Kickstarter.