Neat game: Machinarium

[Rillion]

In 2003 a Czech guy named Jakob Dvorsky created a beautiful flash game called Samorost, in which a guy living all by himself on a planet discovered that he was on a crash course with another planet, and flew in his rocket over to that planet to try and divert its course. 

Then Dvorsky's independent gaming company Amanita came out with Samorost 2, in which our hero's dog is stolen by some aliens who have landed on his planet to poach some fruit from his trees, and decide that they should take the dog as well. 

Their new game, released October 16 of this year, is Machinarium.  It has a different protagonist-- a robot who has been ejected by other robots from his home and is trying to work his way back in and rescue his friend.  I think that's what's going on, anyway....have just started playing. 

Samorost is free, as far as I understand.  With Samorost 2 you can play the first few levels free, but after that it's $5 for the full version.  With Machinarium the first three levels are free and the full version is $20 and includes a download of the soundtrack.

That bit is important because the music is just enchanting for all three games.  I've played Samorost 1 and 2 several times and still love them, and am excited to try Machinarium now.  Check them out-- I bet you'll dig them.  If you get absolutely stuck at some point, there are walk-throughs online.  But only use that as a last resort; it's much more fun that way.

Here's a scene from Machinarium:

[anarchir]

Cool, just played the mach demo.

[hellbilly]

Beautiful artwork.. is it kid friendly?

[Rillion]

Beautiful artwork.. is it kid friendly?

I can't give you a full review of Machinarium yet, but the two Samorosts were.  A couple of robots in this one have been seen smoking something unidentified, and there have been some scenes of bullying, but I bet that's as "bad" as it's going to get. 

It might be frustrating for a kid, though, because the puzzles can get pretty tricky at times.  But like I said, there are walkthroughs if it's really necessary....there are even some video versions on youtube if things get dire.   

[fatcat]

Beautiful artwork.. is it kid friendly?

Yes and no. Theres no bloody decapitations or nudity if thats what you mean.

Point and clicks haven't really been in fashion since I was a kid, so whether a young kid would actually want to play it over some Pixar movie tie-in grot is another question.


Also, 2nded. Samrost 1 and 2 were awesome, will be getting this as soon as the price drops a bit. (£15 for a linear adventure game with negligible replayability is too much imo)

[CaL DaVe]

Cool I'll check it out. Thanks Rill.

[Rillion]

Here's a preview and review of Machinarium from Adventure Games.  The preview actually has more visual content, including a somewhat spoilery video, but the review's coverage is more extensive.  

One fun part of the game: in order to store an item in his inventory, your robot character literally swallows it.  He flips his head open, tosses it in like throwing something in a trash can, then flips his head closed again. 

[AL the Inconspicuous]

I have a very difficult relationship with games, because in the mid-to-late 1990s I was very serious about getting into professional game programming - one of the most competitive fields in the world, and I just couldn't cut the mustard.  The revolution in 3D graphics made everything a lot more difficult and art-focused, and the collapse of the dot-com bubble didn't help either... 

And why am I ranting about it here, when Rillion will obviously delete my post...

Man, I shouldn't have quit drinking...

[fatcat]

I have a very difficult relationship with games, because in the mid-to-late 1990s I was very serious about getting into professional game programming - one of the most competitive fields in the world, and I just couldn't cut the mustard.  The revolution in 3D graphics made everything a lot more difficult and art-focused, and the collapse of the dot-com bubble didn't help either... 

And why am I ranting about it here, when Rillion will obviously delete my post...

Man, I shouldn't have quit drinking...

Its a mistake to think you need complex 3D graphics to develop a good art style.

Darwinia's graphics are mostly done by algorithms, and what little work is actually done in modelling, is relatively simple geometrics, or 2d sprites.

One/few man teams are coming up with all the interesting things, precisely because they don't have the budgets to hash out the same generic EA Sports Football WW2 Space Shooter.

[BobRobertson]

Its a mistake to think you need complex 3D graphics to develop a good art style.

Bah! Graphics...

Nethack!

http://www.nethack.org/

[John Shaw]

Its a mistake to think you need complex 3D graphics to develop a good art style.

Bah! Graphics...

Nethack!

http://www.nethack.org/

Obligatory John Shaw's Absurd Nethack Tileset Post.

In before tileset haters.

[AL the Inconspicuous]