RPS Feature Amanita Design does the chat
Next up in our series of chats with (almost) all the PC/Mac-based finalists, it’s the near-legendary Jakub Dvorský from Amanita Design, creators of Machinarium, Samorost and, soon, Botanicula – which is up for the Excellence In Visual Art and Excellence In Audio awards. Here, Jakub talks indie, experimentation and his answer to the most important question of all.
Coming later today, we’ll be posting a chat with Amanita Design (Samorost, Machinarium) mastermind Jakub Dvorsky about new game Botanicula, the IGF et al, but as part of it he passed along a couple of mega-charming (I do like using the word ‘mega’; it reminds me of being young and over-excited about new issues of Look-In) and never-before-seen new trailers that entirely deserve their own post.
If anything ails you today, a glimpse of this beautiful, strange and funny point’n’click exploration game will almost certainly help.
Read the rest of this entry »
When pestering Amanita for our preview of Botanicula, they also sent over a collection of new hi-res screenshots for the game. And they are far too beautiful not to pass onto you. So below they are, clickonable for growth. Do so, because their reduced forms don’t do them justice. I apologise for the forthcoming angst over which ones should be your desktop backgrounds.
RPS Feature Gargles and mouth trumpets
I’ve had my hands on a preview build of Amanita Design’s Botanicula, a return to their origins of organic exploration, rather than Machinarium’s more rigid adventure style. And I’m pleased to say it seems to be working so far.
A broad, beaming smile is not a facial expression games frequently paint over my face. Botanicula’s endless inventiveness, delight in intricate throwaway details, and ludicrous levels of joie de vivre, make it impossible not to sit staring at the screen grinning like a loon.
Aw, basically. This is the first teaser for a ‘point and click exploration game’ due from Amanita Design (they of Samorost and Machinarium) in conjunction with animator and sometime collaborator Jára Plachý, and it’s really quite adorable. Also visually and sonically nuts, as is the Amanita modus operandi.
Read the rest of this entry »
The first of the promised three new games from Samarost and Machinarium devs Amanita Design has arrived and it’s, uh… Well, it’s not really a game. Not really. Maybe a bit. But not really. It does, however, share the familiarly wacked-out Amanita art and anti-logic, so you’ll find much to make you smile in this ‘interactive music video.’ It’s a Western. It’s not really a Western. Maybe a bit. But not really.
Read the rest of this entry »
Machinarium creator Jakub Dvorský was at this weekend’s GameCityNights event, announcing not one, not five, but three new games to come from Amanita Design. We dispatched monocled investigator Brendan Caldwell to track him down and find out everything possible. Dvorský tells us how he plans to rescue the adventure genre, his views on piracy, and what we can expect to see in the new projects. You, and anyone else you know, can read about the new games, and see their chat, below.
Non-gaming news now, gamers. Ish. You’re probably aware of Samorost and Machinarium, the gorgeous (and gorgeously strange) point and click adventures known for reducing grown men to tears. (Well, Walker. But then you can also do that by mentioning puppy dogs with itchy ears to him.) If you were holding out for Machinarium 2 or Samorost 3, you’ll need to hold out a fair bit longer, because Czech developer Jakub ‘Amanita’ Dvorský has now turned his attention to a movie instead. This is far from sad news, as he’s bringing his distinctive twisted-beauty character design ethos to the upcoming semi-stop-motion animation Kooky’s Revenge. It looks spectacular, as you’ll see below…
Read the rest of this entry »
The long awaited adventure Machinarium is finally available today. After staring in wonder at the artwork and trailers for months I was able to play through a finished version this week in order that I could tell you Wot I Think.
Oh, what a beautiful thing this is shaping up to be. You can now play the first three levels of Machinarium, and find out for yourself why Amanita Design’s latest hand drawn adventure is filling us with so much hope. The demo is available from here or here, and the full game is due to be released on the 16th October via Steam, Direct 2 Drive, Impulse and so on. Most of those places are taking pre-orders now, and while I’ve not played the finished game it’s a pre-order I feel fairly certain will be well invested. There’s also a new trailer below.
Another of 2009’s Unknown Pleasures inches ever closer. Samorost’s creator’s commercial adventure will debut on October 16th via all the digital channels you can imagine, including Steam and Impulse. If you want to pre-order you can do it from their site for a mere seventeen – count ’em! – dollars. Which saves you three whole dollars over the release price. I’m not particularly interested in the pure adventure genre any more, but this really has be intrigued. Here’s the latest short video…
Read the rest of this entry »
A new extended trailer of game footage has emerged for Jakub Dvorský and Amanita Design‘s gorgeous-looking Machinarium. The full-length adventure from the creator of astonishing-o-games Samorost 1 and 2, and the lovely edumacational Questionaut, is looking pretty fantastic. We’ve had a play of an early build, and will have a preview of it for you next week. A quick advanced preview of the preview: it’s rather good. You can pre-order it at a discounted $17 from here, should you feel the urge.
Yippee! A new trailer for Machinarium, and a garden full of snow. What more could a man ask for? Don’t forget we spoke to Amanita Design about the game just a short while back. This time we get to see some of the puzzling in action, including exciting stretchy robot techniques! Plus there’s a few new scenes that haven’t been shown before, each breathtakingly detailed and pretty. It’s below.
Amanita Design have quietly made gentle adventure games for a few years. As well as the gorgeous Samorost games, they’ve also produced equally charming Flash games for the BBC, Nike and The Polyphonic Spree. Machinarium is their first full-length project, hand drawn and meticulously animated, about a city populated by robots. We spoke to front man, Jakub Dvorský, to find out more.
I’m so very excited to see that progress on Machinarium continues apace, with the first gameplay video emerging. The utterly gorgeous screenshots that preceded this have had me slavering to play it. Now seeing the endless charm of Jakub Dvorsky’s designs can be seen in their latest motions. Tis below.
Can you remember the difference between “median” and “mode”? I really cannot think of a more beautiful way to find myself worrying about having forgotten maths aimed at 11 year olds than a new game by Samarost creators, Amanita Design. It’s called Questionaut, and it’s been created for the BBC’s Bitesize educational site.
It’s a combination of Amanita’s distinctive exploratory gaming (you search the astonishingly gorgeous backgrounds for items that give you a clickable mouse interface, and respond to the results) and Key Stage 2 questions on a broad range of subjects. Once again, the music and sound effects are created by Floex, Tomáš Dvořák, and are all simply stunning. I’ve played through the game a second time to reach stage 5, so I could listen to one of the ambient, looping tunes as I write this. I’d have actually revised at school if these means had been available.
Two of my very favourite web games would be Samorost, and Samorost 2. Created by Amanita Design, which consists of founder Jakub Dvorsky with Vaclav Blin, both games are serene, beautiful experiences. Ostensibly point-and-click games, they are more about exploring the locations and experiencing the techno-natural environments. There are puzzles, but they are gentle, and usually are solved by experimentation rather than ingenuity. The news (it’s not news, but we’re writing about it today) that they are working on a full-scale adventure is met with a happy heart.
Machinarium is due in the second half of this year, and as yet very little is known so far. So check out the two screenshots available here (and they are screenshots, not concept art).
