4 Things You Didn't Know about MagiQuest Online

Company: Creative Kingdoms
Product: MagiQuest Online

1) MagiQuest Online's Older Brother: Myst Online: Uru

You may or may not have caught this, but MagiQuest Online, while produced by Creative Kingdoms, the makers of MagiQuest, was developed by Cyan Worlds, the makers of Myst. The most recent Myst game, Myst Online: Uru was not originally created by Cyan Worlds, but, after a few counts of being shuffled around, ended up in the hands of Cyan Worlds, after all.

A little poking and prodding (actually, while trying to determine MagiQuest Online's Minimum System Requirements) led me to the discovery that MagiQuest Online is, in fact, built on the Myst Online: Uru engine.

What does this have to do with anything? Well, the following bet-you-didn't-know items are all based on this shared lineage... things that were "already in there" when they started building MagiQuest Online on top of what had been Myst Online: Uru...

2) In-Game Commands

It's possible to chat with other players and even emote with different actions in MagiQuest, using the emotes that were built into Myst Online: Uru. These are mentioned in the in-game FAQ... near the bottom... in passing, but, for a full list, players are referred to the forums.

The commands are entered after hitting the Enter key to go into the in-game console. Here's a list of commands that I've personally tested...

Actions:

/afk - (Away From Keyboard) Causes your character to sit with head down.
/amazed
/askquestion - Causes your character to raise their hand as if to ask a question.
/beckonbig
/beckonsmall
/blowkiss
/bow
/callme - Character simulates a phone to ear with left hand, while pointing forward and then to self with right
/cheer
/clap
/cower
/crazy
/cries
/cringe
/crossarms
/cry
/dance (As seen in the preview gameplay video on the MQO website)
/doh
/dontknow
/dunno (Same as /dontknow)
/flinch
/groan
/kneel
/laugh
/leanleft
/leanright
/lol - (Same as /laugh)
/lookaround
/me {action} - Narrates a custom action; if Draziw Nogard typed "/me considers the riddle," the chat console will reflect "Draziw Nogard considers the riddle."
/no
/okay
/overhere
/peer
/point
/rotfl - (Same as /laugh)
/salute
/scratchhead
/shakefist
/shoo
/shrug
/sit
/slouchsad
/sneeze
/stop
/talkhand
/tapfoot
/taunt
/thanks
/thumbsdown
/thumbsup
/thx
/wave
/wavelow
/winded
/yawn
/yes

Easter Eggs:

/fly - No, you can't... But the game gives you a funny retort telling you so.
/get - In Myst Online: Uru, there were feathers hidden in certain areas of the game. When you found one of these feathers, you could use this command to collect it. This is active in MagiQuest Online, but it doesn't appear that any collectibles have been placed in the game, at least as of this writing.
/go - While inspired by old text-based adventures, where you would type "Go North" to move about, this command only replies with a funny retort.
/look - Also inspired by old text-based adventures, such as Zork, this provides a text-based description of the area you're in, including what exits exist.

Chat:

/buddies {message}
/clearchat - Clears the chat console
/neighbors {message}
/p {player name} {message} - Say something to a specific Player
/reply {message}
/shout {message}
/startlog - I'm not sure what this does, but a reply indicates that the chatlog has been started.
/stoplog - Gives indication that the chatlog has stopped.

3) Point of View

In addition the the third person always-from-behind view, it's possible to play in first person view. This works better in certain areas than others, is interrupted by at least some of the emotes and is something you don't want to do when you're trying to do anything elaborate with a portal, as you'll be zoomed in on the center part when "in battle," as well.

However, toggling between Third Person view and First Person view is as simple as pressing the (F1) function key.

4) Hot Keys

Some of the above actions have hot keys which offer a convenient shortcut, rather than having you hit enter (to go into the console) and then type out the emote. These are two-key combinations of the (CTRL key) and a number, as listed below:

(CTRL + 1) - Wave
(CTRL + 2) - Laugh
(CTRL + 3) - Clap
(CTRL + 4) - Dance
(CTRL + 5) - Chat
(CTRL + 6) - Sneeze
(CTRL + 7) - Sit

-Geck0, GameVortex Communications
AKA Robert Perkins