''Machinarium'' is a

puzzle A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are differe ...

point-and-click adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an Interactive storytelling, interactive story, driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus ...

developed by Amanita Design. It was released on 16 October 2009 for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

, on 8 September 2011 for

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on the

App Store An app store, also called an app marketplace or app catalog, is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not i ...

, on 21 November 2011 for

BlackBerry PlayBook The BlackBerry PlayBook is a mini tablet computer that was developed by BlackBerry. It was manufactured by Quanta Computer, an original design manufacturer (ODM).

, on 10 May 2012 for Android, on 6 September 2012 on

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

's PlayStation Network in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, on 9 October 2012 in

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and on 18 October 2012 in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, and was also released for

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, then in other international territories on February 22, 2012, and was produced ...

on 26 March 2013 in North America, on 1 May 2013 in Europe and on 7 May 2013 in Asia. Demos for Windows, Mac and Linux were made available on 30 September 2009. A future release for the Wii's

WiiWare WiiWare was a digital media entertainment service operated by Nintendo that allowed the download of games and applications developed for the Wii video game console. These games and applications could only be purchased and downloaded from the W ...

service was cancelled due to WiiWare's 40MB limit.

and Android versions of this game were released along with Humble Indie Bundle for Android 4 on 8 November 2012, to customers who paid over the average price. The

Windows Phone Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Microsoft Mobile for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design languag ...

version was released on 22 March 2014. In 2017, the developer released a ''Definitive Version'' of the game that is based on a

DirectX Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with "Direct" ...

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

instead of

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and can be played in full-screen mode. The

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

version of the game was released on 16 April 2020.

Gameplay

The goal of ''Machinarium'' is to solve a series of

s and

brain teaser A brain teaser is a form of puzzle that requires thought to solve. It often requires thinking in unconventional ways with given constraints in mind; sometimes it also involves lateral thinking. Logic puzzles and riddles are specific types of ...

s. The puzzles are linked together by an overworld consisting of a traditional "

point and click Point and click are one of the actions of a computer user moving a pointer to a certain location on a screen (''pointing'') and then pressing a button on a mouse or other pointing device (''click''). An example of point and click is in hypermed ...

" adventure story. The overworld's most radical departure is that only objects within the player character's reach can be clicked on. ''Machinarium'' is notable in that it contains no

dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American and British English spelling differences, American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literature, literary and theatrical form that depicts suc ...

, spoken or written, and apart from a few tutorial prompts on the first screen, is devoid of understandable language entirely. The game instead uses a system of animated thought bubbles.

Easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian holiday of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are commonly used during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The ...

backstory A backstory, background story, background, or legend is a set of events invented for a plot, preceding and leading up to that plot. In acting, it is the history of the character before the drama begins, and is created during the actor's prepara ...

scenes in the same format can only be revealed by idling in certain areas. The game employs a two-tier hint system. Once per level, the player can receive a hint, which becomes increasingly vague as the game progresses. ''Machinarium'' also comes with a walkthrough, that can be accessed at any time by playing a

minigame A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements and is often smaller or more simplistic than th ...

. As with dialogue, the walkthrough is not in written or spoken form, but instead a series of sketches describing the puzzle at hand and its solution. However, the walkthrough only reveals what must be done in that area, and not how that puzzle relates to the game chronology.

Plot

''Machinarium'' opens with an overview of the eponymous city as a disposal flier launches from the pinnacle of its highest tower. The player character, a

robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...

called Josef (named after Josef Čapek, the creator of the word "robot" and brother to

Karel Čapek Karel Čapek (; 9 January 1890 – 25 December 1938) was a Czech writer, playwright, critic and journalist. He has become best known for his science fiction, including his novel '' War with the Newts'' (1936) and play '' R.U.R.'' (''Rossum' ...

) is dumped on a scrapheap, where he re-assembles himself and sets off for the city. Entering the city, he discovers a plot by the Black Cap Brotherhood, the three

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain."head" of the city, sits in the middle of the room, incapacitated and gibbering. Josef recalls how the three of them lived happily until the Black Cap Brotherhood zapped his friend, leaving him disabled, and kidnapped Berta. When a garbage sucker arrived to dispose of the Black Cap thug, it apprehended Josef instead. After this revelation, Josef restores his friend to sanity, dumps the Brotherhood down a drain, and frees Berta. The two of them climb back to the tower, wave goodbye to their friend, and fly off into the sunset. In the final closing scene, their vehicle suffers a collision and falls, and they are seen being carried away separately by two fliers.

Development

''Machinarium'' was developed over a period of three years, by seven

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

developers, who financed the project with their own savings. The marketing budget for the game was $1,000. The game was in development for the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

platform for a period of six months; however, Microsoft, whom the developers had approached to publish the title on

Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (or XBLA) was a video game Digital distribution in video games, digital distribution service that was available for the Xbox (console), Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles. It focused on smaller downloadable games from both major publisher ...

, ultimately decided not to do so.

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

does not allow games to be released on Xbox Live Arcade without a publisher attached to the title, and the developers were reluctant to approach a third party to publish the game, as this would mean that profits for the developers from sales over Xbox Live Arcade would be greatly reduced. Subsequently, Amanita Design approached

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

, whose policies do allow for self-publishing on the PlayStation Network platform, and have submitted the game to them for approval, in order to release the game on the PlayStation Network. In 2011 it was mentioned that a sequel to ''Machinarium'' "is possible" but something the team has yet to fully consider. "We don't look far through the future", said Jakub Dvorský.

Reception

Critical response

''Machinarium'' was well-received on release; on the critic aggregate sites

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

and

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the game has an average score of 85% and 85/100, respectively. In 2008, it won the Aesthetics award at IndieCade (the International Festival of Independent Games). It won the Excellence in Visual Art award at the 12th Annual

Independent Games Festival The Independent Games Festival (IGF) is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of the independent video game industry. Originally founded in 1998 to promote independent video game developers, ...

and the Best Soundtrack award from

PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games m ...

in 2009. During the 13th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, ''Machinarium'' was nominated for " Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction" by the

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is a non-profit organization of video game industry professionals. It organizes the annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain Summit, better known as D.I.C.E., which includes the presentation ...

; it was also nominated for a Milthon award in the 'Best

Indie Game An indie video game or indie game (short for independent video game) is a video game created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A ...

' category at the Paris Game Festival. Gaming site

Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...

named it a runner-up for "PC Game of the Year 2009" alongside '' Torchlight'', losing to winner '' Empire: Total War''.

Gamasutra ''Game Developer'' (known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021) is a website created in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa TechTarget and acted as the online sister publication to the print maga ...

, Gamerview and the Turkish site of

Tom's Hardware ''Tom's Hardware'' is an online publication owned by Future plc and focused on technology. It was founded in 1996 by Thomas Pabst. It provides articles, news, price comparisons, videos and reviews on computer hardware and high technology. The s ...

all selected ''Machinarium'' as the 'Best Indie Game' of 2009. AceGamez named ''Machinarium'' the 'Best Traditional Adventure Game' of 2009. In 2011,

Adventure Gamers ''Adventure Gamers'' is a computer game website created by Marek Bronstring in March 1999 dedicated to the genre of adventure games. It publishes reviews and previews of adventure games, as well as opinion articles and interviews with game de ...

named ''Machinarium'' the 17th-best adventure game ever released.

Pirate amnesty

On 5 August 2010, Amanita Design announced that according to their estimates, only 5–15% of ''Machinarium'' players had actually paid for the game. In an effort to increase sales, the game's price was lowered from the regular $20 to $5 until 12 August as an incentive for pirates to purchase the game legally. The campaign was later extended until 16 August, resulting in 20,000 game copies sold over the whole amnesty period.

Sales

''Machinarium'' has sold over 4 million units from which 49% is for PC, 44% mobile devices and 7% consoles.

Editions

''Machinarium'' was released in several physical and digital formats. * Physical: # Machinarium Collector's Edition (United Kingdom) – includes a DVD with the game, a soundtrack in digital format, a CD with the soundtrack, a printed walkthrough, an A3 poster and concept art. Systems: Windows, Mac (no Linux). # Mашинариум (Machinarium) (Russian Edition) – includes a DVD with the game and a CD with the soundtrack. Systems: Windows, Mac (no Linux). # Machinarium (German Edition) – includes a game disc, a CD with the soundtrack, Samorost 2 and a poster. Systems: Windows, Mac (no Linux). # Machinarium (French Edition) – includes a game disc, a CD with the soundtrack, Samorost 2 and a poster. Systems: Windows, Mac (no Linux). # Machinarium (Italian Edition) – includes a game disc. Systems: Windows (no Mac, no Linux). # Machinarium (Czech Edition) – includes a game disc and an MP3 soundtrack. Systems: Windows, Mac (no Linux). # Machinarium (Slovak Edition) – includes a game disc and an MP3 soundtrack. Systems: Windows, Mac (no Linux). # Machinarium (Polish Edition) – includes a DVD with the game, a soundtrack, an EP album in FLAC/MP3 digital formats and a poster. Systems: Windows, Mac. Packed in an "exclusive", metal box. * Digital: # Amanita Design Store – includes Win, Mac and Linux versions of the game and a soundtrack in FLAC/MP3 format. It was released on 16 October 2009. #

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

– includes Win and Mac versions of the game. It was released on 16 October 2009. # GOG.com – "Machinarium: Collector's Edition" includes Win, Mac and Linux versions of the game, a soundtrack, and various artwork and supplemental materials. # Desura – includes Win, Mac and Linux versions of the game and a soundtrack. It was released on 19 December 2010 in conjunction with Humble Indie Bundle 2. # Impulse – includes a Win version of the game. # Direct2Drive – includes a Win version of the game. # GamersGate – includes Win and Mac versions of the game. #

Mac App Store The Mac App Store (also known as the App Store) is a digital distribution platform for macOS apps, often referred to as Mac apps, created and maintained by Apple. The platform was announced on October 20, 2010, at Apple's "Back to the Mac" eve ...

– includes a Mac version of the game. It was released on 18 March 2011. # Playism (Japan) – includes Win and Mac versions of the game. It was released on 11 May 2011. * Consoles: #

( PSN) ''(as Ultimate Version)'' – released on 6 September 2012 in Europe, 9 October 2012 in

and 18 October 2012 in

. * Cancelled: #

( XBLA) – the game was in development for the

platform for a period of six months; however, Microsoft, whom the developers had approached to publish the title on

, ultimately decided not to do so. # Wii (

) – the game was being scheduled for a release for the Nintendo Wii's

service, but , it has been cancelled due to WiiWare's 40MB limit. * Handheld game consoles: #

– released on 26 March 2013 in North America, on 1 May 2013 in Europe and on 7 May 2013 in Asia. * Tablets: #

– released on 8 September 2011. #

BlackBerry PlayBook The BlackBerry PlayBook is a mini tablet computer that was developed by BlackBerry. It was manufactured by Quanta Computer, an original design manufacturer (ODM).

– released on 21 November 2011. # Android – released on 10 May 2012. # iPad 1 – released as v2.0 on 16 October 2013. * Natively runs on another platforms: #

HP TouchPad The HP TouchPad is a tablet computer that was developed and designed by Hewlett-Packard. The HP TouchPad was launched on July 1, 2011, in the United States; July 15 in Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany; and August 15 in Australia. On Aug ...

– natively runs on the Flash-based PC version.

Other media

Josef has been featured as a playable character in the platform game '' Super Meat Boy'', and makes a cameo in the puzzle game ilomilo. Josef was also included in the Video Game Character alphabet, created by Fabian Gonzalez. Josef also made a cameo in Amanita Design's second full-scale game, '' Botanicula''. ''Machinarium'' and its soundtrack inspired the poem ''The Machingeon'', written by Andrew Galan and published in Establishment Magazine Issue 1. Josef is included in the "Good Friends" Character DLC pack for '' Runner2''. Josef is featured as an assist character in the fighting game ''Fraymakers''. In 2019, Tomáš Dvořák, the soundtrack composer for ''Machinarium'' better known under his pseudonym Floex, was performing live shows with a robotic version of Josef who plays various beat instruments. The performance itself consists of reworks of the soundtrack.

References

External links

Official site with online Flash demo
{{Authority control 2009 video games Android (operating system) games Adventure games Amanita Design games TvOS games Art games BlackBerry PlayBook games Cancelled Xbox 360 games Cancelled Wii games Flash games Independent Games Festival winners Indie games IndieCade winners Linux games MacOS games PlayStation 3 games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation Network games PlayStation Vita games Point-and-click adventure games Puzzle video games Single-player video games Steampunk video games Video games developed in the Czech Republic Windows games Video games about robots Nintendo Switch games IOS games