After the release of Machinarium in 2009, Czech developer Amanita Design have been pretty quiet. Sure, they’re bringing Machinarium to the PlayStation Network after adding it and Samorost 2 to Wolfire Games’ Humble Indie Bundles, but we still don’t know much about their new work.
In a recent interview with PC Gamer, though, Amanita founder and lead designer Jakub Dvorsky revealed that he and his team are currently working on three different projects.
The first project is called Osada, an interactive music video featuring what Dvorksy calls “Czech psychedelic country music,” a collaboration between animator Vaclav Blin and composer Simon Ornest. Dvorsky is keeping the details close to his chest, saying that players won’t really understand the project until they’ve played it all the way through. It’ll be a free download from Amanita’s website in a few short weeks.
The second, more traditional game is called Botanicula, a “simple but quite large” point-and-click adventure game, says Dvorsky. You’ll be tasked with helping five arboreal critters protect their seeds from a pack of roving parasites. Animator Jara Placy is leading the project, which is halfway through development and scheduled for release later this year.
Amanita’s newest and biggest project is Samorost 3, a game so early in development that they haven’t released any screenshots. Samorost 3 is being developed for PC, consoles, and tablets, but there’s no release date to speak of yet.
Of the three, Botanicula (pictured above) is my favorite — it’s got a great visual style and my gut says that having five playable characters will open the door for a lot of neat mechanics.
For a gallery of Osada and Botanicula screens, be sure to check out the full PC Gamer interview.
Amanita Design: Beyond Samorost Interview [PC Gamer via Joystiq]
Published: Mar 27, 2011 7:00 PM UTC