According to MYST lore, linking books are a product of the D'ni ("dunny") civilization. The D'ni people developed a method of preparing special books and ink and then using a particular style of writing to create links to different worlds. There are different kinds of books (Linking Books, Descriptive Books, Trap Books, etc.), and, since the fall of D'ni, The Art has been mostly forgotten.
In order to make the linking panel for my book, I needed a full color LCD screen and enough computing power behind it to play a short video loop. The obvious choice was one of 4D Systems' display modules. I figured it would be as easy as working something up in the ViSi Genie and plugging in a battery, and it nearly was. The only problem is that there doesn't seem to be any method for looping a video object in ViSi Genie. No big deal, let's take a look under the hood...
Myst Linking Book Sound Download
Download File: https://vittuv.com/2vCDg7
Here you can see my handywork from the back. I attached the PowerCell to the back cover of the book with foam tape, so I could run a USB cable to it easily. I left a few pages in the front of the book and cut a screen sized hole in two of them. I glued the first one directly down to the cardboard assembly and the underlying pages. For the second, I only glued in spots so that it would look natural. Finally there's one undisturbed page in the very front just because some linking books seem to have a page covering the panel.
I used some sandpaper to rough up the edges of the sketchbook. It actually weathered quite well, much to my surprise. If you're feeling ambitious, you could tea-dye the paper. Most of the linking books in the game are in rough shape. After all, unlike Descriptive Books, Linking Books are meant to be portable and are often carried around and taken on adventures.
So there you have it! It may not link you to a mystical age, but it will surprise anyone who takes a peek. There is a lot of functionality to the 4D Systems display modules that this project doesn't explore. They're touchscreen for instance, so there's no reason you couldn't have the book do something when you touch the panel, whether it just plays a sound or unlocks a door.
I'm definitely not the first or last to do this project and there have been some very impressive linking book builds before this, so I've included a few links below. The MYST fandom is a great place to find crafters and prop-makers doing really gorgeous work.
You'll receive all of the digital downloads and physical DVD copies and the Myst Book box in the Bookmaker award above, with an animated LCD linking panel! It displays the iconic Myst Island flyby, and flybys from all the other Myst games and Ages.
Myst is a graphic adventure/puzzle video game designed by the Miller brothers, Robyn and Rand. It was developed by Cyan, Inc., published by Broderbund, and initially released in 1993 for the Macintosh. In the game, the player's character travels via a special book to a mysterious island called Myst. From there, solving puzzles allows the player to travel to four other worlds (Ages) which reveal the backstory of the game's characters and help the player make the choice of whom to aid. The player interacts with objects and walks to different locations by clicking on mostly pre-rendered imagery.
As the player continues to explore the island, books linking to more Ages are discovered hidden behind complex mechanisms and puzzles. The player must visit each Age, find the red and blue pages hidden there, and return to Myst Island. These pages can then be placed in the corresponding books. As the player adds more pages to these books, the brothers can be seen and heard more clearly. After collecting four pages, the brothers can talk clearly enough to tell the player where the fifth and final missing page for their book is hidden; if the player can complete either book, that brother will be set free. The clearer dialog also allows the player to more accurately judge each brother's personality. The player is left with a choice to help Sirrus, Achenar, or neither.[5]
Development of Myst began in 1991.[4] The game's creative team consisted of brothers Rand and Robyn, with help from sound designer Chris Brandkamp, 3D artist and animator Chuck Carter, Richard Watson, Bonnie McDowall, and Ryan Miller, who together made up Cyan, Inc. Myst was the largest and most time-consuming collaboration Cyan had attempted at that point.[13] Cyan took inspiration from games like Zork, Star Wars' mythic universe, portals to other worlds like in C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia, and the mysterious islands of old literature like the works of Jules Verne.[9] The game's name, as well as the overall solitary and mysterious atmosphere of the island, was inspired by the book The Mysterious Island by Verne.[2]
Myst's story concerns an explorer named Atrus who has the ability to write books that serve as links to other worlds, known as Ages. This practice of creating linking books was developed by an ancient civilization known as the D'ni, whose society crumbled after being ravaged by disease. The player takes the role of an unnamed person referred to as the Stranger and assists Atrus by traveling to other Ages and solving puzzles. Over the course of the series, Atrus writes a new Age for the D'ni survivors to live on, and players of the games set the course the civilization will follow.
Ti'ana raises Gehn until he runs away as a teenager, learning the D'ni Art of writing descriptive books. Ti'ana also cares for Gehn's son, Atrus, until Gehn arrives to teach Atrus the Art. Atrus realizes that his father is reckless and power-hungry, and with the help of Ti'ana and a young woman, Catherine, Atrus traps Gehn on his Age of Riven with no linking books. Atrus and Catherine marry and have two children, Sirrus and Achenar. The brothers grow greedy, and, after plundering their father's Ages, they trap Catherine on Riven. When Atrus returns to investigate, the brothers strand him in a D'ni cavern before they themselves are trapped by special "prison" books. Through the help of a Stranger, Atrus is freed and sends his benefactor to Riven to retrieve Catherine from the clutches of Gehn.[3] Sirrus and Achenar are punished for their crimes by being imprisoned in separate Ages until they reform.[4]
Atrus writes a new Age called Releeshahn for the D'ni survivors to rebuild their civilization as he and Catherine settle back on Earth, raising a daughter named Yeesha. As Atrus prepares to take the Stranger to Releeshahn, a mysterious man named Saavedro appears and steals the Releeshahn Descriptive Book. The Stranger follows Saavedro through several Ages (which were used to train Sirrus and Achenar in the art of writing Ages) before finally recovering the book. Ten years later, Atrus asks for the Stranger's help in determining if his sons have repented after their lengthy imprisonment; the Stranger saves Yeesha from Sirrus's machinations, but Sirrus and a repentant Achenar are killed. D'ni is not fully restored until the creatures the D'ni enslaved, known as the Bahro, are freed.
The brothers spent months designing the Ages comprising the game,[21] which were influenced by earlier whimsical "worlds" Cyan had made for children's games.[22] The game's name, as well as the overall solitary and mysterious atmosphere of the island, was inspired by the book The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne.[20] Robyn's unfinished novel, Dunnyhut, influenced aspects of Myst's story,[23] which was developed bit by bit as the brothers conceptualized the various worlds.[23] As development progressed, the Millers realized that they would need to have even more story and history than would be revealed in the game itself.[22] Realizing that fans would enjoy getting a deeper look at the story not in the games, the Millers produced a rough draft of what would become a novel, Myst: The Book of Atrus.[23]
Turn around and click the switch on the left wall. Pull the switch down and push the white button it was covering. The linking books in the spinning domes should now be active. (At this point, you may want to consider Alternate Endings to the game) Go back down the stairs and back through the gold room to the bridge and the first rotation button. Hit the button three times and go through the gold room back into the big dome. Follow the catwalk outside the dome but stop right before the path goes through the rock. Turn right and hit the button to be lowered. Turn around and go up the stairs and along the path to the spinning dome. Look throught the viewer and click the button on top when the gold symbol comes up. The dome will stop and open. Go up to the dome and enter the code you found in the book in the laboratory. Link to Ghen's 233rd Age.
Back away from the linking book and hit the button on the floor. Turn around from the sphere and go left up the stairs. Enter the small building and sit down. Hit the lever on the left to be taken up with a view of the village, then hit the lever on the right to close the bottom of the cone structure. Hit the left lever again and head back down the path towards the tree. Pull the lever on the right and an elevator will take you down.
When you get to the Age, turn around and head for the book in front of you. You'll get darted and taken to the large tree on the lake. Wander around your cell until a woman comes in and gives you Catherine's journal and the prison book you lost in the beginning. Look through the journal for a series of five numbers. You will need these later. The woman will return with a linking book leading back to Jungle Island on Riven.
You'll talk to Gehn again. Link into the book when he asks you to, he will take your place when he links through himself. You have just captured Gehn. Find the hole in the floor and go down. There is a silver device on Gehn's dresser. It makes five sounds in a row, either a ding, a clank, or a creak. Write these down in their order. Go back up the ladder and pull the handle on the right of the hole. Then go to the book with the least blocks and link to Prison Island on Riven. 2ff7e9595c
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