New York’s Museum of Modern Art has added Cyan World’s groundbreaking game Myst to a collection of significant, artistic videogames.

The MoMA game collection, at www.moma.org, is the start of an evolving exhibit expected to grow to around 40 major games. The full list of the first 14 is found here.

The initial list includes games that became widely known, including Pac-Man, Tetris, The Sims, SimCity 2000 and EVE Online.

Myst was released in 1993, produced by Cyan Worlds, based in Mead. The MoMA listing recognizes brothers Rand and Robyn Miller as the game’s primary creators. Later versions of the Myst franchise included the games Riven, realMyst, Myst V: End of Ages, and Myst Online: Uru Live.

MoMA said it will install the 14 games for a public exhibit in March. Some of the games will be installed in interactive mode, allowing visitors to experience the games firsthand.

“Robyn and I were really excited and tickled to hear Myst was chosen by MoMA,” said Rand Miller, the CEO of Cyan Worlds.

Robyn Miller played a key role in the first Myst product. Since then he’s left the company and is an independent filmmaker.

Myst drew widespread attention because it allowed players to explore and find solutions in a world of challenges and puzzles. It drew praise for drastically breaking from the style of games where one destroys orcs, kills enemies or takes over territory.

This marks the second time this year Myst was chosen for a major collection.

Earlier this year the Smithsonian Museum compiled a traveling exhibit called The Art of Videogames. Myst was one of 80 games included.

The Smithsonian group, which included Donkey Kong and Space Invaders and other arcade favorites, resulted from people voting for their favorite games. “The MoMA collection was based on aesthetics,” Rand Miller said, “and that makes it a bit more satisfying.”

Cyan Worlds continues working on projects, employing 10 people. It’s created iPad and iPhone versions of Myst and is preparing to release an iOS version of Riven, considered the sequel to Myst.

More than a dozen years after being introduced as a CD-Rom game, Cyan Worlds’ Riven will soon be back in circulation in app form, at the iTunes store.

The north Spokane company said Apple should release the new app version of Riven any day. It will be available at the iTunes store for $5.99. Like its predecessor, Myst, Riven follows as the successor in the story about a lost island, presenting players with an assortment of challenges and puzzles.

It took Cyan four years to build the first game. The iOS app took about a year, said Cyan Worlds CEO Rand Miller.Cyan Worlds President Tony Fryman said the firm is considering developing an Android version. But it would take more work than developing for iOS, he said.

“Creating the iOS version of Riven was no easy task,” he said in a release. had to lovingly and meticulously cram almost five thousand images, three hours of video and three more hours of sound and music into my iPhone. We began without knowing if we could even pull it off. I’m still amazed I can experience Riven in the palm of my hand.”

The end result is that almost every detail of the five CDs of the original Riven was condensed into one of the largest iOS apps available.

We were directed to a recent post on Deadline.com, which mentions that Mysteria, a film company, has signed up two producers for a possible feature film based on “Myst,” the groundbreaking game developed in north Spokane by Cyan Worlds.

Back in 2008 we wrote, in an SR business story, about two Myst fans in Indiana who convinced Rand Miller, CEO of Cyan, to let them move forward with a movie based on the Myst books. Mysteria is those guys, who were admitted movie novices without a lot of Hollywood connections.

The story in 2008 noted that Cyan optioned the film rights to Mysteria and waited to see what would happen. The news update this month suggests Mysteria has gone out and moved the project forward. Its partners even rounded up two would-be producers.

Cyan Worlds President Tony Fryman said this is the deal: “The option ties up certain rights (as defined in an agreement) for a period of time while the option is shopped around Hollywood. The Option holder then cuts a deal with a selected studio whom then decides to produce a movie or not. If the Option is not “exercised” within the specified time then the rights typically revert back to the original owner.”

The original rights owner is either Cyan or Rand Miller.

Mysteria has its own blog, which serves as a somewhat limited chronicle of the project.

The Deadline item says producers Hunt Lowry and Mark Johnson have worked a deal with the two Indian Mysteriacs, Adrian Vanderbosch and Isaac Testerman. Those two have been working a few other big deals; they’re the ones producing a version of the John Grisham novel “The Testament.”

Those guys and gals in Mead, Cyan Worlds, are moving full-bore into iPhone and iPad apps. They’re soon to see their original iOS game, Stoneship, become available in the iTunes store.

Meanwhile they’ve posted a YouTube video of the trailer to their iOS version of the The Manhole, Masterpiece edition. First made in 1988, the game is a classicly simple but addictive computer game. Wikipedia’s entry offers a full and loving rundown of the game and its history.