Machinarium
Developer: Amanita Design
Nomination: Excellence in Visual Art
Platform: Windows (not yet released)
Website
Description: Navigate a self-built robot constructed of parts from a junkyard through a highly detailed steampunk world. Who says adventure games are dead?
Adam’s Thoughts:
Wow Machinarium is pretty. Adventure games have a long history of getting the best hand-drawn sprites that money can buy (after all, you need something soothing to look at while you fruitlessly bang your head against opaque puzzles), but this is uncommonly lovely. It’s rusty without being too brown, and whimsical but not silly. The style looks like how you’d envision the original concept art for WALL-E.
Based on the available movies, it looks like Machinarium won’t be making use of any language, which is an interesting departure from the typical formula. The highest profile adventure games tend to lean heavily on comedy (Monkey Island) and epic storytelling (The Longest Journey) to reward the player and offer clues. It should be interesting to see if cutting the dialog will lead to better-designed puzzles and a different kind of narrative, or if it’ll further convolute an already arcane genre.
Katie’s Thoughts:
Machinarium features an adorable robot who solves puzzles by changing the length of his body and his arm. The game trailers have a distinct Wall-E feel, while at the same time having a having a rich, hand drawn background.
Not growing up with a computer, I didn’t play a lot of adventure games while I was growing up. Instead, I’ve played a few select games that Adam’s been willing to put up with again. So I haven’t gotten fed up with adventure games yet, and am excited to see this game. It’s got a very charming feel and the art is plain gorgeous. The blog features a sketchbook, which is great to see for such a visually stunning game.
Related posts:
- Interview with Jakub Dvorský of Machinarium We didn't get a chance to talk to Jakub Dvorský...
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Tags: excellence in visual art · GDC · IGF1 Comment
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1 response so far ↓
Having grown up with adventure games and still not being fed up with them (I love my R4 for letting me install the classics on my DS), mark me interested. Love adventure games, love steampunk, love Wall-e, sold.