[SandmanNet]

Hello guys, I'm a new member here and this will be my first thread. I just wanted to show off my Myst Book project which I've been working on off and on since 2006. It's supposed to be a note book that the Stranger writes as he is solving the puzzles of his mission in these worlds. The first book (Myst) is done (as in, the story is all there, but I'll probably continue to work on the maps and illustrations when I feel like I can improve them) and I am currently working on the Riven book.

There is a ton of illustrations and sketches in the books, but the main thing is the maps of course. I've always felt that there aren't any good Myst maps out there so I set out to make some. I'm not saying mine are a whole lot better but I am constantly trying to improve my "style" and make them better.

Talking about Riven, I just recently finished the Temple Island map for Riven and you can see the result in the Riven book in the link below. I am currently hard at work (when there is time) to finish the Jungle Island map. I'll attach an image of what it looks like right now, but it's a work in progress so don't judge it just yet

If it's ok by you guys, I could continue posting about the progress of this project in this forum. I'm also posting about my progress in a cartography forum for pointers and help but they aren't as entrenched into the Myst world as I'm assuming you guys are so I'd expect any feedback I'd might get here would be useful from a Myst perspective.

And don't be afraid of giving critique, I can take it.

Well, enough talking, here is the link to the current state of the Myst Book Project: http://sandman.net/myst - and you can use the links in my signature to follow the progress more directly if you'd like.

Anyway, cheers guys and I hope I'm not making any newbie mistakes in this forum

 JungleMap_3.jpg (173.92K)
Number of downloads: 23

[Kaelri]

First, welcome to MYSTcommunity.

Second, these are fantastic. Until now, the best maps I'd seen were Calyxa's, but yours are on another level - honestly, I think I like them even more than the official maps (better colors, better emphasis on salient details). I'm also happy that you've posted the Age and island maps as standalone images - I hope you keep doing so.

And yes, please do continue to update us on your progress. When you're finished, these would be wonderful to have as downloadable/printable PDFs.

[Allatwan]

Oh my goodness! That is brilliant!
How many Ages do you intend to mention and "illustrate" (so to speak) in your Stranger's journal?
Oh, which reminds me- would you mind being featured in the Cavern's newspaper? I think tons of other Myst fans who don't belong to this forum ought to know there is such awesomeness out there
On another note- welcome to Mystcommunity! You'll see, we may sound weird at first, but we're a friendly bunch! ^^

[Lostthyme]

I'd love to be able to follow your progress here! I've taken a few looks through your site before and found the project really cool.

[SandmanNet]

Kaelri, on Jan 10 2011, 04:00 PM, said:

First, welcome to MYSTcommunity.

Second, these are fantastic. Until now, the best maps I'd seen were Calyxa's, but yours are on another level - honestly, I think I like them even more than the official maps (better colors, better emphasis on salient details). I'm also happy that you've posted the Age and island maps as standalone images - I hope you keep doing so.

And yes, please do continue to update us on your progress. When you're finished, these would be wonderful to have as downloadable/printable PDFs.

Thank you for your kind words! Yes, I've seen Calyxas maps of the Riven islands, but they aren't correct in the overall layout of the islands. What most map-makers get wrong is the location of the round room that contains the linking book to Tay (along with tons of other details). My maps are as good as 100% correct with the 3D models from the games. While some errors surely have and will sneak in I hope to be able to create the most correct version of the maps. And hopefully maps that are nice to look at as well

I will most certainly offer the maps for download, albeit in a smaller size then the originals. When I started the project I felt that the one thing I could give back to the community were the maps since I felt that good maps were a bit short out there

Allatwan, on Jan 10 2011, 05:26 PM, said:

Oh my goodness! That is brilliant!
How many Ages do you intend to mention and "illustrate" (so to speak) in your Stranger's journal?
Oh, which reminds me- would you mind being featured in the Cavern's newspaper? I think tons of other Myst fans who don't belong to this forum ought to know there is such awesomeness out there
On another note- welcome to Mystcommunity! You'll see, we may sound weird at first, but we're a friendly bunch! ^^

Thank you! My intentions are to document at least all five games that centers around the Stranger and try to make them as complete as possible. I would be interested in a discussion about how to best document a journey in Uru. I would obviously want to try to keep it in a "single player" fashion still though.

I'm afraid that I have no idea what the cavern newspaper is (I should probably be ashamed by now:) but I've noticed that I work best when I get feedback (both positive and negative) so any kind of exposure is most helpful to keep up my motivation. And I am doing this to share it with the community, so...

Thanks for the welcome!! I'm a forum newbie. Or rather, I'm used to the forum I've coded myself so I feel a bit lost using these "standard" forums or what you'd call it, but I'm a quick learner

Lostthyme, on Jan 10 2011, 05:53 PM, said:

I'd love to be able to follow your progress here! I've taken a few looks through your site before and found the project really cool.

Thank you!

[SandmanNet]

Just wanted to post an update. I just finished the Jungle Island map and I'll soon include it in the book. So here it is, and I'm particularly satisfied with the village myself. Other than that, I think it's fairly complete as far as accuracy goes, but if you see something strange, let me know of course

Let me know what you think!

There seems to be something not working with the file upload function of the forum, so I'll hotlink it here:

[Lostthyme]

Wow, those underwater rails are a lot less convoluted than I always thought they were.

[SandmanNet]

Lostthyme, on 16 January 2011 - 12:27 PM, said:

Wow, those underwater rails are a lot less convoluted than I always thought they were.

Yeah, looking out from a small window they seem more complicated than they really are.

[Allatwan]

Incredible... And so much simpler to understand! Now you really will help future players visualize the whole thing at a single glance!

[SandmanNet]

Allatwan, on 17 January 2011 - 11:19 AM, said:

Incredible... And so much simpler to understand! Now you really will help future players visualize the whole thing at a single glance!

Well, I hope so!

[Johnraka]

Simply astonishing!!!

The books are superb - wish they could be downloaded and printed, what an achievement.
The maps - what can I say?

You are supremely talented my friend, supremely talented...

[SandmanNet]

Johnraka, on 18 January 2011 - 08:28 AM, said:

Simply astonishing!!!

The books are superb - wish they could be downloaded and printed, what an achievement.
The maps - what can I say?

You are supremely talented my friend, supremely talented...

Wow, thanks a lot!

[SandmanNet]

Might as well plug the fact that you can now buy these maps as prints on my DeviantAT page:

http://SandmanNet.de...tart.com/store/

[SandmanNet]

Just a small update. This is the very first stage of Boiler island! So, basically, it's just the outline and some sketches on the basic feature, plus I've started the rock shading (which will be a loooong process). Upon request I made a small video recording of the first step where I made some quick comments of the process, and my plan is to keep doing that throughout the entire map and then stitch them together as a video of the entire progress of the map. Is there anyone here that would be interested in seeing this? It's more of a video of the progress of making a map, and less about Myst/Riven, but still.

Plus, I will be interviewed by the Myst Fan Club on DeviantART, apparently. Nice

Apparently, file upload is broken here, so I'll link to the image here instead:

[Lostthyme]

I'd love to see a video!

[SandmanNet]

So, progress is SLOW. Partly because it's all rock shading now and that is booooring, but also because my inspiration about the Myst Book has its ups and down and currently it is not so high. But I took the time to continue with the Boiler Island map today and here is how it looks now. Not much have happened, but still

[Johnraka]

Looking so good, got to ask...

When the whole Myst / Riven book projects are finished will you be selling them in hardcopy?

I would imagine that people here would be falling over themselves to get their hands on them, I know I would...

[SandmanNet]

Johnraka, on 19 February 2011 - 05:28 PM, said:

Looking so good, got to ask...

When the whole Myst / Riven book projects are finished will you be selling them in hardcopy?

I would imagine that people here would be falling over themselves to get their hands on them, I know I would...

You really think so? I have never thought about it, actually. Interest for these books are pretty modest as it is, so i never thought about anything else. I've offered two of the maps for sale on deviant art, but no buyers as of yet

[Johnraka]

SandmanNet, on 20 February 2011 - 02:41 AM, said:

Johnraka, on 19 February 2011 - 05:28 PM, said:

Looking so good, got to ask...

When the whole Myst / Riven book projects are finished will you be selling them in hardcopy?

I would imagine that people here would be falling over themselves to get their hands on them, I know I would...

You really think so? I have never thought about it, actually. Interest for these books are pretty modest as it is, so i never thought about anything else. I've offered two of the maps for sale on deviant art, but no buyers as of yet

For books (E-Books or Hard Copy) you could try Lulu.com - I have both of my E-books on there at the moment, they will do hard copy for you as well and you don't need to order shedloads of stock.
Worth a look...

[033031056]

Hi there,

Just a quick note to say that these books look amazing !

I looked at your maps that are for sale...but I really wouldn't have any where to put them.

But if these books were for sale as hard copies...how cool would that be !

How much would something like that cost to you think ?

There are plenty of Myst collectors out there and a chance for something new and of high quality would attract a bit of attention I think.

Keep up the good work !!!!!!

Regards

David G

[SandmanNet]

033031056, on 22 February 2011 - 05:34 AM, said:

Hi there,

Just a quick note to say that these books look amazing !

I looked at your maps that are for sale...but I really wouldn't have any where to put them.

But if these books were for sale as hard copies...how cool would that be !

How much would something like that cost to you think ?

Thank you for the kind words! I have no idea what it would cost, I have to chek up on the possibilities. Plus, I'd think it would be best to wait for at least both Myst and Riven to be complete

[SandmanNet]

Long time since an update. Here's Boiler Island shading done. Took a while :-D

Attached File(s)

•  Book-Assembly-Map_shadingdone.jpg (285.46K)
  Number of downloads: 18

[Johnraka]

SandmanNet, on 03 July 2012 - 07:20 AM, said:

Long time since an update. Here's Boiler Island shading done. Took a while :-D

As always, superb work - looking forward to seeing a hard copy that is every bit as good as the digital one.

[rivenwanderer]

So glad to see that this project is still going on, it's amazing!