''Machinarium'' is a

puzzle A puzzle is a game, Problem solving, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together (Disentanglement puzzle, or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at th ...

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 story driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based me ...

developed by

Amanita Design Amanita Design is a Czech independent video game developing company founded in 2003 by Jakub Dvorský and headquartered in Brno, Czech Republic. The company has created award-winning games including ''Machinarium'', the ''Samorost'' series and ...

. It was released on 16 October 2009 for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

, on 8 September 2011 for

iPad 2 The iPad 2 is a tablet designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc. Compared to the first iPad, as the second model in the iPad line, it gained a faster dual core A5 processor, a lighter build structure, and was the first iPad to feature ...

on the

App Store An App Store (or app marketplace) 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 include the running of the co ...

, on 21 November 2011 for

BlackBerry PlayBook The BlackBerry PlayBook is a mini tablet computer developed by BlackBerry and made by Quanta Computer, an original design manufacturer (ODM).

, on 10 May 2012 for

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

, on 6 September 2012 on

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

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, on 9 October 2012 in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and on 18 October 2012 in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, and was also released for

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territo ...

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 The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

WiiWare WiiWare was a service that allowed Wii users to download games and applications specifically designed and developed for the Wii video game console made by Nintendo. These games and applications could only be purchased and downloaded from the Wii S ...

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

and

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 family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design la ...

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 gen ...

instead of

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia Computing platform, software platform used for production of Flash animation, animations, rich web applications, application software, desktop applications, mobile apps, mo ...

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 base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

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 br ...

s. The puzzles are linked together by an

overworld An overworld (sometimes referred to as a hub world) is, in a broad sense, commonly an area within a video game that interconnects all its levels or locations. They are mostly common in role-playing games, though this does not exclude other vide ...

consisting of a traditional "

point and click Point and click are 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, usually the left button (''click''), or other pointing device. An example of point and cli ...

" 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 English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is c ...

, 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 bubble Speech balloons (also speech bubbles, dialogue balloons, or word balloons) are a graphic convention used most commonly in comic books, comics, and cartoons to allow words (and much less often, pictures) to be understood as representing a charac ...

Easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...

backstory A backstory, background story, back-story, or background is a set of events invented for a plot, presented as preceding and leading up to that plot. It is a literary device of a narrative history all chronologically earlier than the narrative of p ...

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 summary

''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 programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

called Josef (named after

Josef Čapek Josef Čapek (; 23 March 1887 – April 1945) was a Czech artist who was best known as a painter, but who was also noted as a writer and a poet. He invented the word "robot", which was introduced into literature by his brother, Karel 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 and critic. He has become best known for his science fiction, including his novel ''War with the Newts'' (1936) and play ''R.U.R.'' (''Rossum's Universal Ro ...

) 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 or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist. Etymology The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – ''antagonistēs'', "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, riv ...

s, to blow up the city's tower. He is himself then discovered and locked up. After breaking out of prison, Josef aids the citizens of the city, as he discovers the mischief which the Brotherhood has been working. Shortly after flooding the Brotherhood's room (leaving them helpless), Josef locates his girlfriend Berta, who has been locked up and forced to cook. Unable to free her, he works his way to the top of the tower. After he foils the Black Cap Brotherhood's plot by disarming the bomb taped to the tower, Josef reaches the highest room, in which the story began. A huge-headed robot, the "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 this 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' Places *Czech, ...

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 original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

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 (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent ...

, ultimately decided not to do so.

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

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 , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

, whose policies do allow for self-publishing on the

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 a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the game has an average score of 85% and 85/100, respectively. In 2008, it won the Aesthetics award at

IndieCade IndieCade is an international juried festival of independent games. IndieCade is known as "the video game industry's Sundance."Fritz, Ben"IndieCade, the video game industry's Sundance" Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2009, accessed July 21, 2011 ...

(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 ma ...

in 2009. It was nominated for an Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction award 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 ...

and a Milthon award in the 'Best

Indie Game An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically 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) games. ...

' 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 ''Torchlight'' is an action role-playing hack and slash dungeon crawler video game developed by Runic Games and published by Perfect World, released for Windows in October 2009. The fantasy-themed game is set in the fictional town of Torchlight ...

'', losing to winner '' Empire: Total War''.

Gamasutra ''Game Developer'', known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021, is a website founded in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine '' Gam ...

, Gamerview and the

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

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 si ...

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 1998 dedicated to the genre of adventure games. It publishes reviews and previews of adventure games, as well as opinion articles and interviews with game des ...

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 ''Samorost 2'' is a puzzle point-and-click adventure game developed by Amanita Design. Released for Microsoft Windows, OS X and Linux on 8 December 2005, the game is the second video game title in the ''Samorost'' series and the sequel to ''Sa ...

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 a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

– includes Win and Mac versions of the game. It was released on 16 October 2009. #

GOG.com GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. It is operated by GOG sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt based in Warsaw, Poland. GOG.com delivers DRM-free video games through its ...

– "Machinarium: Collector's Edition" includes Win, Mac and Linux versions of the game, a soundtrack, and various artwork and supplemental materials. #

Desura Desura was a digital distribution platform for the Microsoft Windows, Linux and OS X platforms. The service distributed games and related media online, with a primary focus on small independent game developers rather than larger companies. Desur ...

– 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 Impulse or Impulsive may refer to: Science * Impulse (physics), in mechanics, the change of momentum of an object; the integral of a force with respect to time * Impulse noise (disambiguation) * Specific impulse, the change in momentum per uni ...

– includes a Win version of the game. #

Direct2Drive Direct2Drive (commonly D2D) is an online game store offering PC games via direct download. On May 25, 2011, GameFly acquired Direct2Drive from IGN Entertainment, Inc. and renamed the service to GameFly Digital.GamersGate GamersGate AB (formerly Gamer's Gate) is a Sweden-based online video game store offering electronic strategy guides and games for Windows, macOS, and Linux via direct download. It is a competitor to online video game services such as Steam, GOG ...

– includes Win and Mac versions of the game. #

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

– 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 Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independen ...

) – 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. #

(

) – 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 developed by BlackBerry and made by Quanta Computer, an original design manufacturer (ODM).

– released on 21 November 2011. #

– released on 10 May 2012. #

iPad 1 The first-generation iPad ( ) (retrospectively referred to unofficially as the iPad 1, or original iPad) is a tablet computer designed and marketed by Apple Inc. as the first device in the iPad lineup of tablet computers. The device features ...

– released as v2.0 on 16 October 2013. * Natively runs on another platforms: # HP TouchPad – 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 ''Super Meat Boy'' is a 2010 platform game designed by Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes under the collective name of "Team Meat". It was self-published as the successor to ''Meat Boy'', a 2008 flash game designed by McMillen and Jonathan McEnte ...

'', and makes a cameo in the puzzle game

ilomilo ''ilomilo'' is a puzzle video game developed by Southend Interactive and Microsoft Game Studios. It was released on Windows Phone 7 on November 8, 2010 for AT&T customers. On November 26, 2010, a "secret" website was made available where players ...

. 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 ''Botanicula'' is a point-and-click adventure game developed by Amanita Design. The game was released on April 19, 2012, for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. The game was later ported to iOS and Android. Gameplay Like the previous games ...

''. ''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 upcoming fighting game ''Fraymakers''. In 2019, Tomáš Dvořák, the soundtrack composer for ''Machinarium'' better known under his pseudonym

Floex Tomáš Dvořák, known professionally as Floex, is a contemporary Czech composer, clarinetist, producer, DJ, and multimedia artist. He is best known for his work with indie game studio Amanita Design. loex.cz Official website/ref> Dvořák relea ...

, 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 Art games BlackBerry PlayBook games Cancelled Xbox 360 games Cancelled Wii games Flash games Independent Games Festival winners Indie video games 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