You may have heard of Machinarium, a point-and-click adventure game starring an adorable robot. After being exiled to a scrapyard, The little fella must do all he can to avoid dangerous traps and solve intricate puzzles in order to ultimately save his home town (and his robot-girlfriend). With an amazing art direction, clever puzzles, and convincing atmosphere, Machinarium quickly became a hit, winning a handful of awards, including Best Indie Game of 2009 from both Gamasutra and VGChartz.com. The title performed financially as well, selling over 75,000 units to date (source). You may have already guessed (considering that they're featured on this blog) that behind this wonderful robot-magic is a small, independent development studio. What you may not know is that the team hails from the Czech Republic.
Amanita Design was founded in 2003 by Jakub Dvorský. Upon graduating from the Academy of Arts in Prague, Jakub released his thesis project to the world: a free, online flash game titled Samorost, a short adventure game about a space gnome's heroic attempt to save his home from an asteroid collision. Although it was designed to be nothing more than a thesis project, it didn't stop Samorost from being recognized. Jakub was nominated for his phenominal work in both 2003 and 2004.
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| A Scene From Samorost |
In 2005, Václav Blín joined the team as a studio animator. The team soon after released the follow up to Samorost (appropriately named Samorost 2). Amanita Design doubled their success by winning multiple awards, including IGF's best browser game and the 2007 Webby award (games category).
As of today, Amanita Design is now a family of talented, creative folks living in the Czech Republic. There latest creation is a title called Botanicula, a brilliant point-and-click exploration game following the story of five tree creatures who set out on a journey to save the last seed of their home tree.
The team's creative energy isn't limited to their own games; Jakub and his crew have also created interactive music videos, websites, animated shorts, and educational games (like this one).
Amanita Design's website can be found here. Machinarium and Botanicula are only $10 each, and both come with the soundtrack at no extra charge. Both games are plenty of fun, visually engaging, and feature very clever and unique game design. You can also buy all of Amanita Design's games on Steam, seperately or as a bundle. Check them out, and support indie developers around the world.
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