I check the Myst Online community every other day or so. I found they are talking about and excited about the Alpha/Beta releases of a game called Xing (pronounced zing) The Land Beyond (more videos and pictures here). For those of us familiar with the Myst worlds the game is very similar. Several reviewers have already made the connection. Xing’s big claim to fame for Myst fans is, like Myst, its non-violent, so it is a great parent-child activity to share.

The creative team behind Xing is White Lotus Interactive. John Torkington and Koriel Kruer started the Xing project as a classroom project in early 2012. The first 4 levels became one of the top ten finalists in the IEEE GameSig competition at Chapman University. In a completion judged by industry professionals they took second place. Then in late 2012 James Steininger joined the team.

In February 2013 they opened a Kickstarter Project targeted at US$15,000. The goal was reached and exceeded with 22 days to spare. With 6 days left, they are at $18,702. The project will fund on April 1, 2013. Congrats While Lotus Interactive.

For a $15 pledge you will get a copy of the full game on release. The more one pledges the more goodies one can get.

There is a demo one can download from their blog: Xing Dev Blog. It is 490+mb, so it is not a quick download (15 min for me). They are using Dropbox and other mirrors plus a Torrent.

This game may become available via Steam. To give it your Green light visit: Xing at Steam.