Thanks flotsam and Jenny!

Thanks so much for the great review, flotsam!

Thanks, Jenny!

Ana

Thanks flotsam ans Jenny.

Thank you for the informative review, flotsam. Much appreciated.

And thank you too, Jenny.

Thanks everyone for your comments, I hope you're well and safe!
Thank you Jenny!! And thank you Ana of course for warning me of the publication of this thread.

Many thanks to flotsam for the review, which is a good surprise. I'm glad he liked the game!
Indeed it makes a difference to team up with another creator and to get funds (even if quite few) to work on a project.
I take this opportunity to remind that both Denis and me have created our previous games RoonSehv and ASA/Catyph at home, without money (on our own funds), for the fun of learning and sharing our passion for Myst and adventure games with other players all around the world. I don't know what will happen after Myha, if we will ever work together again. Nothing is planned at the moment, Denis works on a sequel of RoonSehv, and I work on the next Black Cube game Boïnihi (in a slightly different style, you'll see soon). But Denis and me like to collaborate with various artists/creators from here and there, so I'm sure that in the future we will see other interesting projects.

@flotsam In 2018 I have released Catyph: Light Edition (Catyph was originally released in 2016), which is a modified version of the game where there is no need to gather Blue Matter points (the story and puzzles are the same, except for a few improvements). I'm not asking you to do a review again of course, as there aren't enough changes between the 2 versions, but it would seem that you have been traumatized by the Blue Matter Just so you know, in the Light Edition it's not a big issue anymore (I think, but I've not received any feedback from players about the Light Edition in 2 years)...
But what you say in the review is absolutely true, we did our best to take the best of our projects, without the bads. I'm very happy that you seem to agree with this and found the game interesting, even if still not perfect. It remains difficult to reach "perfection" for individuals /small teams of developers, particularly when we want to make games with exploration and good puzzles.
Well I just wanted to try to explain some of the problems with had to deal with.

By the way everyone, I hope you got ASA and Catyph while they were free, if you didn't have them already! (Catyph is still free until Sunday)
However I also wanted to say that unfortunately we can't yet give Myha for free. It would be unfair for the people who supported us financially because the game is still quite new. I was already hesitating to give ASA and Catyph and I hope that some of you who paid for them have not been frustrated. You have all my gratitude and honestly without your help I wouldn't be able to continue making these games. It's very difficult, we don't have the envergure of a studio like Cyan for example...
I would like to add that in a few days/weeks it will be the 1st anniversary of the release of Myha (I have to check the exact date with Denis but we will probably not respect it exactly), and we are discussing of making a small sale/discount for the occasion (-20% for example) so if you're looking to get the game after reading the review of flotsam, maybe it is better to wait a little bit? Of course if you buy at full price we really apreciate it, as it will help us a lot.

Thanks again, please have fun with the Black Cube series (there is also the short game Kitrinos which is totally free if you want to go through all the episodes released so far), and I hope to read more from you soon!

Thank you flotsam (and Jenny100). Your reviews are much appreciated

I can't imagine Simon how difficult it must be to pull stuff like this together essentially by yourself/yourselves. You have my admiration.
And well done on the Lite version. Notwithstanding there were options in the original which meant you didn't have to deal with Blue Matter, I do indeed remain traumatised at the thought
I look forward to your next venture

Thanks again flotsam! It's always very apreciated to read reviews (good or not) of our games, they help us improve ourselves to try to do better next time Sometimes it doesn't work (I tried to do Catyph better than ASA but both are different in the end, and hard to compare). Myha is different too. Well I like it like that ! We don't want all the games to be copies of Myst!
See you soon with the next venture then!

@everyone Please don't hesitate to share your thoughts about Myha or the Black Cube series in general, it will be very interesting for me! Have fun and stay safe!

Hello! As promised, Myha is on sale for its 1st year anniversary. Save 33% on Steam here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/890280/Myha_Return_to_the_Lost_Island/

Thanks Simon! I do believe it is time to remove the game from my Wishlist to my Cart!

Ahah, thanks oldbroad! It would seem that you liked ASA and Catyph (both?), so I hope you'll have fun with Myha too!

Simon, although I have had both ASA and Catyph in my Steam Library for 3 years, I have to admit I still have not played them. I have faith though that I will like all 3 games!

No problem! Better late than never
I have always believed that you have to play a game when you really feel it's the good moment, and that you want to play it. I mean, not just following releases and news.

I'll be more than happy if you like them, whenever you play them!

Hello Simon... do you have any plans on making Myha: Return to the Lost Island available via non-Steam sites ? maybe GOG ??

I would go for that too. I don't do Steam.

I love GOG, but apparently they are very picky about what games they accept for their website. Many good games have reportedly been turned down by them for reasons that are unclear. Just saying it's not generally merely a matter of offering your game up to GOG and then their releasing it on their site after that.

There are also fireflowergames.com and itch.io, which are DRM-free and don't turn up their nose at adventure games the way GOG often does.

The Black Cube games will probably never be on GOG unfortunately. I really like GOG, I buy most of my adventure games there, and also old games, so I have quite a nice library on their site but they didn't accept ASA and Catyph in the past (I tried several times). Even if by chance they accepted Myha now (which I doubt), I would find it strange to have only a single episode there. So I didn't contact them for Myha, I just gave up.

In the meantime you can find Myha on GameJolt: https://gamejolt.com/games/myha/389196

I also wanted to add it on itchio where my other games are hosted, but for the moment Denis (the other developer of Myha) prefers to limit the number of stores where the game is available.
Historically Myha started on itchio (the original Myha game and the Myst Game Jam that gave birth to it were on itchio - you can still find the first version there). But the first Myha game of Denis with Unreal Engine was on GameJolt since 2016, so we prefer to continue on a site where we both have an account and that we know to use.
I will continue to discuss with Denis the possibility to add Myha to itchio. Maybe your message will help!

Also as we are a very small team we prefer to sell our games on a limited number of websites, to avoid complications. When I launched ASA in 2013 I tried to have it on as many sites as possible, but it quickly became too much to manage for me alone. From now on, by experience, I prefer to put my games on only 2 or 3 sites (usually Steam, itchio and sometimes Humble Store). The case of Myha is a bit different because it was a collaboration.

Steam alone is quite complicated to manage without a team... I continue to put our games there because it allows us to reach a vast community of players around the world (potentially). But on the other hand the fans of adventure/Myst games are not all there (on Steam), so it's a difficult balance to find.
Anyway all of our games that are on Steam are also on another Store, either itchio or gamejolt, because I'm not a big fan of Steam (everyone knows that they take 30% of the income, it's really a lot when we don't sell a lot of copies).

I hope you understand! Sorry if it's a bit complicated and not really what you would wish... We're doing our best! I'm already very happy that I can share my games with you all.

H Simon,

as you don't post on this forum very often, I would like to use the opportunity to thank you for your
effort and dedication to create puzzle adventures similar to Myst. Considering you create your
games alone or in a small team, the results are GREAT. You really have many good and sometimes even excellent puzzles in your games.
Thank you for contributing keeping the myst-genre alive. I bought Myha and will play it soon, very much looking forward to it.

I hope you stay motivated to create new games for a long time! ;-)

Thank you Simon for that information.


As an avid "Old Timer" Adventure Gamer, I am familiar with these sites and have made many purchases on them. I did try GameJolt and they do indeed have MYHA offered but I cannot find if they offer it as DRM Free where I can purchase the game and enjoy it without having to install any STEAM client. One example is Gamer's Gate, who will show that a STEAM Key is required before you purchase the game.

I would like to know - as I am curious - does the Game Site determine if they offer DRM Free or is that dictated by the developers i.e. Black Cube ??

I also checked out Jenny100's suggestion for fireflower and itch.io - MYHA does not seem to be offered and if it was - if a STEAM Key is required, that would be a deal breaker.

I wouldn't mind STEAM selling single player Adventures Games as long as they were DRM Free - I just will not install their client on my clean - very expensive PCs. I don't see the need to have a client designed for multiplayer type internet games that requires their software to get and play our type of game.

If MYHA is ever offered DRM Free, NO Steam Key -- I will most definitely purchase it without hesitation.

I could go on about the ills and dangers of opening communication ports that are exploited by hackers all the time. There are many threads on GB that talk about this issue.

I would rather not buy/play games if I have to use STEAM.

I do thank you all for the info and site suggestions.

Thanks a lot mike_bn, it's really nice to read that kind of encouragement from time to time!

The last few years have been difficult financially for me (creating Myst-like at home is my only activity - it is *very* time-consuming because I do everything except music - and these games are not the easiest ones to sell nowadays, more specifically when they are in 2D).
I remain motivated thanks to my fond memories of Riven, to the fun I get out of telling stories, and most of all to the kindness coming from the players who understand my games.

With Denis, when we released Myha on Steam, we noticed that most of the players who were contacting us were doing it most often to complain about bugs or the high difficulty, or "poor graphics" compared to AAA productions, so it's a pleasure to come on forums like yours to find real enthusiasts, and it's nice then to see you talk about the puzzles or the universe we created.

I visit GameBoomers (and few other sites like Adventure Gamers...) regularly to discover new games (games that I can never play, by lack of time lol) and I often follow some of your interesting discussions, even if it's true that I don't have a lot of opportunities to write here or there... If I see a topic about my games I try to answer in the following days, and it's always a pleasure to bring more details about my activity or my creations when I feel that you are curious.

I don't know for how long I'll keep making adventure games, it's been 8 years already, but I really want to thank you: when you liked one of my games and that you say it, it is highly encouraging me. It really helps with the motivation, because sometimes I ask myself why I keep doing this! I often think that I need another job, but for the moment I try to endure the situation and I keep working hard. The most important is to try to learn from my past mistakes and continue to create different things that will give you some fun.

My next game Boïnihi: The K'i Codex is being Beta Tested since 2 days, so it should be released by the end of May or during the month of June if everything goes well. So at least 1 new Black Cube game will arrive! As for the next one, we'll have to wait and see what you think of Boïnihi ! It will be a bit different of my previous games, shorter and a little easier, and I know that not everyone will like it, but since my sales are low I think that I can take it as an opportunity to experiment new approches - while trying to please the fans at the same time. And who knows, maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised? That's what I hope!

Thanks everyone, keep sharing your love for adventure games! The genre is not popular among young people (at least in France), we need to keep it alive!

I was replying to mike at the time you were posting this, but thanks to you too



I understand that! Even though I'm still "young" I already feel that my way of playing is different from younger people!


Yes Myha is 100% DRM free on GameJolt and it's not a Steam key to download.

Just for info: all of my games are DRM-free, even on Steam: once downloaded on Steam, you don't need the Steam app anymore, you can copy the downloaded file anywhere and they will run.


The developers choose. We have the choice on Steam!


I replied above about itchio and I'm not against it, on the contrary. There's still hope, I'll see with Denis soon. Maybe the release of my new game on itchio will convince him to put Myha there too.
Regarding Fireflower it's a good store but I'm not familiar with it and as I explained I prefer to limitate the number of websites where my games are. But I could think of adding my games there.


Yeah that's the main problem, even for DRM-free games like mine, you still have to install the app/client at least once to download. Then you can get rid of it, but at some point you have no choice...


Yes it is DRM-free with no Steam key on GameJolt, and if you are not satisfied I will find a way to give you a download link after your purchase. Just ask me, when people contact me by email I do my best to help. Sometimes I don't have a lot of free time however (for example during the Beta Tests! haha)

I hope I replied to your questions!

"Yes it is DRM-free with no Steam key on GameJolt, and if you are not satisfied I will find a way to give you a download link after your purchase. Just ask me, when people contact me by email I do my best to help. Sometimes I don't have a lot of free time however (for example during the Beta Tests! haha)"

That is great news, Simon, and thank you very much !!!!

Simon - Thank you very much for your responses - I can't tell how much I appreciate it. I also want to wish you and your team much success !

Your games are exactly the type I look for. Keep up the great work !

I did play ASA when I first purchased it some time ago ! - and I have Catyph ( a little tougher though .. LOL ). Thank you for your generosity !!

I will purchase MYHA before my next cup of coffee !!