Seltani

Launch Seltani in its own window

Seltani is an online, shared, text-based, open-source fan project based on the Myst series of games. In this environment, players can create and share explorable worlds.

You can think of Seltani as a modern take on MUDs (and MUSHes, etc). Instead of an old-style command prompt, you explore by clicking links in a hypertext world. (You still have MUD-style text chat, of course.) You build new worlds using a wiki-like markup system.

You can also think of Seltani as a massively multiplayer Twine game (although it uses a different engine based on Python). Or you could think of it as an all-text Myst Online.

Seltani is not associated with or supervised by Cyan Worlds. This is a fan project. I created it back in 2013 as an experiment. I don't accept money for Seltani. (Although if you want to support further development of the open-source engine that powers it, please contact me!)

A quick tutorial:

You can register a (free) account or explore as a guest. Guests can explore, collect linking pages, and chat, but you must register in order to build.

In the Information Booth, start by taking a booklet. (Click the link.) You can then step into the changing room to set your (text) avatar description and pronouns.

Your location is always described in the top pane. Close-up descriptions appear in a pop-up center pane. The bottom pane is a timeline of events and chat messages.

The right-hand column is your linking booklet. When you find a linking book, you can copy the link into a page of your booklet. In this way, your collection of worlds will grow. Some worlds are shared; some are private; some can be explored either way.

Start by exploring the Seltani District, which acts as a starting hub. You will find links to more worlds and collections of worlds. Some are puzzles, some are just for exploration.

To build new worlds, find the Ascheta link in the District. (Or, for a shortcut, click your name in the header and then select "build permission".)

A map of the Seltani "hub" district