Last update: 3/19/95
For the convenience of those having to revisit this page several times in working through the hierarchy, more details and background on the development of this set of links is included at the end of this page.
I need help with (link to the appropriate world):
It might occur to you to ask "Why am I bothering to write this?" As you may know, there is another Myst page out there, put together by Roger Carasso, and it is a little more elaborate than a simple walkthrough. Also, there is a bare bones walkthrough available at another site. I guess I have two reasons...first, access to the Carasso Myst site was very patchy (read: non-existant) when I first put all this together (this has since changed, but oh well...) It must be frustrating to have a big question in Myst, knowing help is out there, but then the network is messed up or something. Since this is a reliable site, I thought another Myst help page would be welcome. Secondly, the other sites really are just walkthroughs rather than hint guides. I really hate walkthroughs, and I really like hint guides (so much so that I wrote one myself for Myst)! This set of pages is the kind of resource I wish I had had when I was solving the game.
If you're not looking for spoilers but would rather have some general advice on getting through the game, I suggest you read the linked document written by Marcella Zaragoza. On the other hand, if you're at wits' end and you need spoilers, read on...
The format of this hierarchy of help files works like this: I'll separate the help files into pages for each of the separate worlds in the game. Within each world, then, I will try to pose all of the potential questions anyone might have in a way that doesn't "spoil" the game or give away any other clues.
In order to find an answer to a question, simply click on the question (or, in lynx, follow the link to which the question is a label). This will take you to a page that contains a vague hint as to what you need to do. If that doesn't prove to be enough or if you just don't want to try to figure it out, successive links to other pages will offer more and more obvious answers. I STRONGLY encourage you to rely on this as little as possible. Don't be tempted to spoil the experience for yourself by revealing answers to questions you haven't really encountered or thought about yet!
This set of pages is currently text-only. I could, of course, easily include sounds and images from the game itself, but I won't do this without first getting the go-ahead from Cyan. I certainly don't want to step on any copyrighted toes if I can help it.
Some frequently asked questions about this page:
Back to the University of Washington Astronomy Department home page.
Doug Ingram -- ingram@u.washington.edu -- "Carpe Datum."