Get your Machinarium now

Machinarium, the highly anticipated new game by Amanita Design (creators of Samorost), is due out in October 2009, and is available for pre-order now. Pre-ordering will get you $3 off the regular price of $20, as well as a "pre-order pack" containing a selection of hi-res images and mp3s from the game.

Art games and not-games

Echogenesis is an interactive flash artwork in which you are encouraged to explore and engage with a series of natural environments, moving tableaux inhabited by various creatures and suffused with smooth ambient soundtracks. There's no game, no goal, just the experience, like a pleasant jaunt through a virtual biodome.





Tale of Tales is a progressive development studio that fosters a gaming experience that goes beyond traditional mainstream genres. Emphasizing "innovative forms of interaction, engaging poetic narratives and simple controls," their projects tend to eschew competitive goal-oriented formats to focus on folkloric storytelling and the artistic experience.

The Endless Forest is a shared multi-user online 3d environment (it can be run as a game, and doubles as a screensaver) that exemplifies the Tale of Tales aesthetic. The world is an infinitely tiling forest which players are free to roam in the form of strangely eerie human-faced deer. Various items and locations in the environment produce various magical effects, such as changing the pelt or horns of your or another's avatar, and during special events the environment itself might become mutable, and experience transformations such as falling snow or a field of flowers coming into bloom.

Interaction with other players, who are identified by unique glowing glyphs in lieu of names, is entirely nonverbal, conducted in the cervine manner of head shakes, foot stomps, bellows, and nuzzles. Not only are you thus insulated from the possibility of encountering foul-mouthed trolls shouting "PwNeD, N00b" and the like, but people have tried and failed to disturb the tranquility of the environment: "it's impossible to grief the other damn deers!" lament a gang of Age of Conan PvPers, after all their hostile gestures are interpreted as friendly overtures. When there is no wealth or status to accumulate, nothing but the experience itself, there is nothing to threaten.





The Graveyard is not properly a game, but a kind of interactive visual poem using a game-like interface. You "play" an old woman hobbling slowly through a graveyard towards a bench. (Don't try to go off exploring on the side-paths -- as soon as I started my adventurer spirit got the better of me, and I soon got my avatar trapped in a corner off-screen. Stick to the path, lady.) Once you sit on the bench, you are treated to a song. Then you leave. That's the so-called "trial" version -- the full version, available for $5, is identical except that it includes the possibility of death.

With its painfully unheroic protagonist, strictly linear path, and moody, black-and-white visuals reminiscent of an old, distressed film, The Graveyard uses the gaming format to challenge the very idea of what a game is, and explores the possibilities of the medium as an avenue for artistic expression. The Graveyard is uninterested in setting you a challenge; it's telling you a story.





The Path and 8 are two more traditional games both in development by Tale of Tales. Based respectively on the folkloric roots of the Red Riding Hood and Sleeping Beauty stories, they are conceived as story-driven adventures incorporating unusual gameplay features, such as 8's semi-autonomous main character who must be coaxed and guided rather than directly controlled.






Thatgamecompany specializes in games with innovative, offbeat mechanics that offer challenging gameplay in tranquil, pleasant environments.

Their breakout hit, flOw (featured here previously), the game where you play a simple sea creature continuously growing as you consume other creatures, folded a deceptively simple concept into an immensely satisfying experience. It was developed into a download for PS3, and has won numerous awards.





Their second offering, Cloud, which also garnered a couple of awards, was inspired by Katamari Damacy among other things, and features a unique game mechanic in which you fly around the skies controlling masses of clouds, in order to form particular shapes or make rain. It's a dreamy, exciting experience, offering a kind of wish-fulfillment for the longing to fly and a joyful, no-pressure challenge to complete.





Thatgamecompany recently announced their latest project for the PS3, Flower, which from the looks of the trailer will embody a the same sense of beauty and freedom as celebrated in Cloud -- perhaps this time with flower petals standing in for water vapor.





The Truth is What You Believe is an interactive flash work that invites you to "Participate in the world of Tom and Daisey", and promises "total consciousness on your death bed" if you complete it. It resembles a Samorost-style game in that you must hunt pixels to trigger events that will get you to the next stage, but the imagery is oneiric, poetic rather than narrative. It is essentially the abstracted world of a dream collage, where such basic logic as "keys open doors" applies, but otherwise all bets are off. More flash curiosity is to be found on the main site.





Tiny Grow is a charming and diverting little toy where you use a spinner to randomly grow alien plants and plantlike-devices, which you can then manipulate in various ways. There's no goal and no point, just some neat and strange things to play with.





Describing itself as a "digital poem/game/net artwork hybrid of sorts," game, game, game and again game is a kind of anti-game manifesto in an interactive, game-like form, in which the stated object is "move around, think." Executed in scribbles of pen and crayon, spattered with words and fragments of text, this game is a parody of a game, its pointlessness a shouted challenge.

Update from the Samorost world

No, Machinarium isn't finished yet. But it's coming along, and while we wait, there are a couple new Amanita side projects to explore, plus some other Samorost-style games from new talent (and some older talent I've never gotten around to linking).

First up is Questionaut, a game Amanita created for the BBC. Designed for 11-year-olds, it's an academic quiz game with questions on math, grammar, science, and so on, wrapped up in a whimsical adventure quest through one of Amanita's signature enchanted worlds. The groovy, chill music you hear is by Floex, the musical project of Tomas Dvorak, who did the soundtrack for Samorost 2. It's pretty and sweet and fun and maybe, if you've forgotten everything from school, just challenging enough, too.





The other project Amanita has going on on the side is Podvedomim, a flash art/local installation project that you can unfortunately only experience half of unless you happen to be near Brno, Czech Republic. If you are, then you can take up the challenge and go discover a series of interesting objects and secret spots in and around the city, like an Aeolian harp or a bit of sylvan sculpture; the rest of us will have to settle for interacting with them through the site's lovely flash app, which is a pretty good consolation prize.





Choice is a beautiful experimental flash art game by a student from Taiwan's Ting Lung University. The combination of strange, fantastical imagery and photography of abandoned and distressed places, with a moody soundtrack to match, creates an eerie, evocative aesthetic reminiscent of games like Gwen and 99 Rooms (for more on which, see previous posts here and here). It's a wonderful journey and not to be missed.

The text is all in Chinese, though it is not necessary to read it to complete the game. Should you desire, here is a translation and walkthrough. If you get stuck, before resorting to the walkthrough, you might want to first try clicking on the book in the corner of the screen -- one click will provide hints (in Chinese), and the second will reveal any clickable hotspots. One more tip: remember the number you are shown at the beginning of the game. Really. I wish someone had told me that. I didn't even recognize that it was a number.





Pricilla Gone Missing is a nicely executed game by Swedish designer Johan Törnkvist, the first of a planned multi-part series. A basic Samorost-style flash adventure with inventory puzzles and some very nice scenery.
Walkthrough at Jay Is Games.





Lenses is a short Japanese game in which you must craft and manipulate lenses for various purposes. Due to the language barrier, your task is not always clear; I found some help in a walkthrough, but I'm not sure if there's a more organic way to the solution. Gameplay issues aside, there are a few nice moments and elements in this quickie offering.

The latest in Samorost-style games

Things are looking good. First of all, there is a new project from Samorost creator Amanita Design: it's not Samorost 3, but a new game, called Machinarium. And boy, does it look good.

It's due in late 2008, and you can hang out at the new Machinarium forum for a dose of hype to hold you over until then.





I realize I haven't actually presented any of Amanita's non-Samorost games here before, so in case you've missed them, you'll want to check these out:

The Quest for the Rest is a promotional game created for the band The Polyphonic Spree, in which members of the band go questing for their missing fellows. It's a lovely little game, with all the ethereal beauty and whimsy of the Samorost series.





Rocketman VC is a very short game promotional game made for Nike, in which pair of scientists work to power up a pair of basketball shoes. Despite the un-magical premise, Amanita's signature style and flair make it worthwhile.





The Pantry is not a game, but an interactive toy. Play with the things on the shelves to trigger strange effects.





Now that those are out of the way, some games that are actually new:

Haluz Games, the development studio of Tomas K., who brought us the delightful Samorost-inspired Haluz (see my original post on Haluz here), is back with a nicely redone site and a splendid sequel: Haluz2. Samorost's influence is even more apparent in this game, which is a little less cartoony and more magical than its predecessor. Fans of Samorost will feel right at home among its photorealistic mossy, mushroomy landscapes (drawn from photos of sites in the Carpathian mountains), drippy caves, growing flowers and assortment of birds, bugs, and woodland creatures. Other influences the creator has named include Shift and Wogger.

Taking another page from Samorost, Haluz Games has adopted Amanita's Samorost 2 distribution model -- the first few levels of Haluz2 are available to play online for free, with the remaining levels and soundtrack available to purchase. The full game can be downloaded for offline play with or without the soundtrack, and the soundtrack is also available for purchase as a CD. (Unfortunately, there is no game and soundtrack CD package.) I bought the full bundle, and I can wholeheartedly recommend it. Haluz is a worthy newcomer to the burgeoning Samorost-style genre, and deserves support. I'd love to see a Haluz3 someday.

Haluz2 walkthrough at Games on the Web.





Automaton is a very cool steampunk game that follows the adventures of a telekinetic automaton and his creator. Nice plot and scenery, and great steampunk atmosphere, including a nice historical montage by way of exposition. The text could have used a good editor, though. The game can either be played online or downloaded for offline play.
There is a walkthrough at Jay is Games if you don't like the one that comes with the game.
Via Brass Goggles.





Curious certainly is. It's a promotional game for the University of Salford in Manchester, and it's a nonsensical, kind of cartoonish photo collage of random events set vaguely in and around the Salford campus. Except for the pictures, it doesn't seem to have much to do with the university, except I suppose the spirit of playful discovery desirable in a prospective student ("limitless possibilities" is the tagline). Typical Samorost-style gameplay: help the character progress from one side of the screen to the other through a series of levels. It's quite cute. Just curious, is all.
The game provides its own hints, but you may want this walkthrough at Free Games News.

New in Samorost-style games

Turns out that while I haven't been paying attention, people have kept on making games. A lot of them. It seems that a lot of my old favorite designers have been cranking out new games in their series, too -- quite a few new titles I'm pretty excited to play. And I'm not even going to think about the room escaper situation. I have a lot of catching up to do.

It appears that one of my dearest and most favorite game categories -- that's right, Samorost-style -- has accumulated a more manageable number of new members since my last headcount, so let's start with those.

Haluz is a great new game by Slovak designer Tomas, made as a tribute to Samorost. Even the name is a nice hat-tip: similar to samorost, which is a Czech word meaning "a root or piece of wood resembling a creature" and also "a person who doesn't care about the rest of the world", haluz is a Slovakian word meaning both "tree branch" and "strange or dreamlike", from the same root as hallucination. Pretty nifty, eh?
You can read a brief e-mail from the author explaining the name and other things in the Haluz article at Free Games News. The game has its own walkthrough -- there's a link at the bottom of the page.




Gwen, which bills itself as "The Chinese Samorost", is a very nice addition to the genre. It was created by a team of four designers from Taiwan, and is referred to in some places by the alternate name "Hell". Sumptuous graphics, a pleasant ambient soundtrack, and lots of extra animations and non-plot-advancing things to click on and play with make this a very nice way to spend a few minutes. A journey through a series of seemingly unrelated locations decorated with Buddhist trappings leads to a brief, mystical experience of an indeterminate nature...I wonder if it means something.
There's a walkthrough at Free Games News, but you can also click the question mark in the upper-left corner of the screen to get in-game help in a nifty graphical format that avoids any language issues.




Wogger is a curious game, another of those that's clearly been heavily influenced by Samorost. The first part of the game is very abstract, and doesn't begin to make much sense until the main character shows up more than halfway through the first level. The gameplay is fairly limited and very linear -- usually there's only one hotspot at a time to click, and nothing else to play around with until you find that one little cluster of pixels. The very nice graphics compensate for this somewhat, though, and I love the surreal setting. It's pretty fun all in all.
Walkthrough at Free Games News.




The website of Japanese designer Hanamushi provides enjoyment and frustration in pretty equal measure. The games aren't new, but every time I tried to see them the flash apps wouldn't load properly, until today. This seems to be a recurrent complaint, so you'll just have to try your luck and hope for the best. Many times you'll see just a blank white screen that doesn't seem to be loading. There are reports that something will happen if you just wait -- that it's just very slow -- but I've never seen that happen.

The site has also apparently undergone a redesign since my last attempt, and now features an attractive flash interface, in both Japanese and English (vexingly, I can only get the Japanese version to load at the moment, so I don't know how easy the English site might be to navigate). In any event, here is a direct link to the flash gallery, where you may sample the following games:

First is a short and bizarre mini-game called Wheat Straw Girl, which I might call more of an interactive artwork than a game. There are just a few moves to make, which lead to a quick, somewhat inexplicable demise. But hey, the art is pretty neat.
If you really want to see it, there's a walkthrough by Shakespeare at the game's Nordinho thread (under "Game 1").




The real item of interest is the multi-part Pokku's Friend, which is a very nicely-executed game in the true Samorost tradition. There are even some interesting puzzles along the way, like rotating puzzle pieces and spot-the-difference games.

Here is my summary of the storyline as explained by a Jay is Games reader:

Pokku was a lonely boy who spent all his time alone, doing nothing and feeling nothing, when one day there appeared a horned boy who introduced himself as Tum, and told Pokku that they would be together for a while. Pokku asked how Tum knew his name, and Tum replied that he knew because they were friends. Pokku walked away, saying he didn't want or need a friend. Startled, Tum called out "wait up!", and ran after him.

Later in the game, Pokku and Tum are separated, and Pokku is confronted by a dark image of himself, who tells him that he doesn't need any friends. The image changes into a monster whom Pokku must defeat to save Tum.

Tum and Pokku are reunited in the end. When Pokku throws his hat off, it signifies that he has come out of his shell and opened up to the world.

Hopefully some knowledge of the plot will increase your enjoyment of this very lovely game. The walkthrough is also in that same Nordinho thread (the two entries for Game 2).




The next item in the gallery is not a game but a very cool flash animation called, as near as I can tell, Fantasy Girl. It's basically an extended hallucination, possibly a fable about the power of books.




The next thing in the gallery is I don't know what, and the last one, the one without a thumbnail, just looks like a playful piece of flash art, but I'm pretty sure that's it for the games. If you're having problems accessing them, you can also try the mirrors for Wheat Straw Girl and Pokku's Friend at Jay is Games.

Bird's Way certainly isn't one of the most challenging games I've ever seen, but it is among the most darling. In this cute Japanese offering you must clear obstacles from the path so that the little bird can pass and deliver a bone to a dog friend. Short and sweet. (See, if I were really corny I might have said something like "short and tweet," but that's just not the way I work.)
You really need a walkthrough? Here you go.




Sononamo is a basic Hapland-style game in which you must perform a series of actions in a precise sequence in order to escape the house. The game has a few notable drawbacks -- there seems to be only a single sequence that works, even when the actions don't seem to have any bearing on each other, and there's essentially no feedback. Plus the game seems to be plagued by quite a few bugs. I haven't been able to complete the game because the red man never walks through the window when he's supposed to, even though it worked on the first try. Some sound would be nice, too. But if you're into this kind of game, you still might want to give it a try. If this isn't your favorite genre, it won't win you over. You'll want a walkthrough, found at lazylaces.




Blast Off! is a cute cartoon game where you have to perform actions in the correct order to launch a rocket. Short and pretty simple, and fun.
Walkthrough at Nordinho.




Alfa is a decent stick-figure game in which you must overcome a series of obstacles in order to accomplish your deepest desire to get sucked into a whirling vortex of color, your monochrome existence apparently having become no longer bearable to you. Simple but nice.
There's a walkthrough in the comments for the game.




In Escape from Alcabrass, you must help a snail escape from an evil chef by clearing a safe path for him in three different scenes: the laboratory, the kitchen, and the sink. It's a nicely-done game with shiny graphics and wacky sound effects, and it's pretty fun.




Hapland fans, rejoice, for there is a new sequel out, and it is good. Hapland 3 is just as fiendishly clever and maddeningly complex as its predecessors, and perhaps even a bit more so. One of the great things about the Hapland series is just how entertainingly things can go wrong -- which is a good thing, because there are a LOT of ways to screw up.
Have fun, and here's a walkthrough at Jay is Games if you need it.




I've got a lot of gaming ground to cover still, so how about Grow-style games for next time?

Samorost 2, Chapter 2

The CD version of Samorost 2, containing both chapters and the soundtrack, is finally here, available at the Samorost Cafepress shop. As soon as I learned this fact I immediately bought it, along with a cute Gnome mini-button. Everyone should go out and buy the game right now -- support Amanita Design so we can have a Samorost 3!



The soundtrack was a nice surprise compared to the original -- it has twelve tracks and is a full forty minutes long. And the music, of course, is great.

I finally got to sit down today and play Chapter 2, which was wonderful but naturally far too short. And I was finally able to complete the second half of the walkthrough I started. You can view the whole thing at my original post: Samorost 2 Complete Walkthrough.

Seven new Samorost-style games

Previously: Six cool Samorost-style games and Even more Samorost-style games.

Since I've made these posts, more and more games have been appearing in this popular new genre. Here are the ones I've collected so far.

The work of designer Wada Che Nanahiro isn't all that new -- it's been among my favorites for a long time. Originally I was going to classify these as interactive eye candy, but I realized that there is more gameplay substance to them than that, and at least one of them is definitely Samorost-style. That would be TCB Museum ("Things Come up to my Brain," a great name), a whimsical house of wonders you must explore to recover five hidden stars. I love Nanahiro's sketchy nineteenth-century cartoon style, faintly reminiscent of Terry Gilliam's animations.
Walkthrough at the Nordinho forum.




There's also the Treasure Box, which is basically a giant puzzle-machine. Simply solve the puzzles to clear obstacles and allow the ball to progress through the box's Rube Goldbergesque mechanisms. Make it to the end to reveal the treasure. Both these games are simply delightful, and it's a shame I've taken so long to post them.
Walkthrough at lazylaces, btw.




There are two new games out by Kristjan Lutz (creator of Sangar Sabriina, Sabrina in North Pole, and Save the Kiddo). Cross the Cliffs is very short, and uses an unusual control system with different actions, "use" and "get". There aren't very many steps, but the interface is a little tricky, and you may have to resort, as I did, to this ten-step walkthrough (there's a link to the help forum at the top of the game page).
By the way, bonus points to anyone who can identify where the game's intro music was lifted from. I was quite surprised when I heard it.




The other is Indiana Jones and the Sacred Fortune. This one is quite nice. It's a basic, well-done Samorost-style game, with attractive graphics and reasonable puzzles. Some of them must be solved by dragging in addition to point-and-click.
There are walkthroughs for levels 1-4 and levels 5-7 in the game's help thread.




Puzzleland is an enjoyable game with low-key graphics and interesting puzzles, similar to Hapland or Industry. It's one of those where the order of your actions matters, and if you mess things up you'll have to reset.
Here's your walkthrough.




Small Forest Story by Japanese designer Watarigraphic is short, simple, sweet, and cute. There's not too much hard stuff to figure out, and some small furry animals and nicely painted speckly scenery. Play.




I suppose that Castle isn't really a game. Click on the landscape to make a castle and its surroundings grow out of the ground, and just keep searching for the hotspots to make the scene develop and evolve. It's really very charming. You can even play around with the intro while it's loading.
Via Ursi's Blog.




Up next: Text Adventures and Interactive Fiction.

Eye candy for your fingers

Or, in other words, "More interactive eye candy", as promised.

Castle Arcana isn't a game at all...it's just a delightful, whimsical, hand-drawn castle and grounds full of fun nooks and crannies to explore. Wait, I lied -- there is a hedge maze game. You can even go for a short drive or take home some souvenirs from the gift shop.




AOOA is a very interesting puzzle/game/interactive artwork. You are presented with a phone booth which you are told can take you to other places (not quite like the Matrix). Play around with the various objects in each level to reveal the number to your next destination. There's very little to figure out, so you mostly just get to sit back and look at the nice things.




TheHOUSE looks at first like another haunted house game, but in reality there's nothing to solve -- it's just a click-through spook-fest where you just find the hotspots to keep the shocks coming. With a suitably dark and grim atmosphere, and lots of jump-out-of-your-seat surprises (if you don't handle this sort of thing well, be warned!), this nicely-constructed experience should enjoyably fill a few minutes of your dark and stormy nighttime browsing.




This is a repost, but worth it. La Pâte à Son is a wonderful toy where you can put together pipes and different attachments to construct a music machine. Colorful beans are piped through the system, creating smooth, jazzy music in their various interactions. Apart from actually building the machine, there are plenty of options to play with, like bean number and frequency, and the quality of the notes produced. Great fun.




I'm not sure how to describe Opniyama. Superficially it resembles a platformer game. It's a huge, hand-drawn environment full of strange creatures and doodles, through which you must navigate by walking and jumping with the aid of a sort of grappling gun. Occasionally you will acquire seeds, which you can plant to grow into different kinds of plants. There seems to be no goal aside from the sheer pleasure of encountering odd and lovely things.




Next time: New Samorost-style games.

Samorost 2 is out! Samorost 2 is out!

I discovered this by the sudden flood of traffic from Google searches for "Samorost 2 walkthrough" and "Samorost 2 solution". As always, feeling guilty that my visitors weren't getting what they wanted, I had to go play the game and provide the relevant information right away.





The sequel, titled simply Samorost 2, is a lot like the old Samorost...but different. Aesthetically, it's a bit darker and grittier than its breezy predecessor, as you explore the bowels of a grimy planet-ship that is home to a crew of thieving blue aliens. The main character is much more active this time, taking matters into his own hands rather than sitting back and letting events resolve themselves.

There are other changes, too. There are now multiple levels with passkeys, though the game is still short enough to be played in one sitting. There are also two chapters, only the first of which is free -- the offline version, including chapter 1 and chapter 2, costs $9.90 to download. If I hadn't just been to Target yesterday and splurged on three wonderful games I'd been wanting for just $9.99 on the bargain rack (Rhem, The Longest Journey, and Syberia II, all there together -- unbelievable!), I'd probably have bought it today...but instead I think I'll wait until January for the CD version, which will also include the soundtrack.

I haven't yet found a walkthrough online for the game, so I went ahead and made my own. It's my first ever.

What I did discover was the site of the fledgling Samorost Fan Club, which includes a discussion forum and, especially exciting to me, the complete Samorost 1 soundtrack.

It's just a special day, I guess.

NOTE: I'm having trouble uploading the walkthrough, so until it's sorted out, I'm including the walkthrough in the comments to this post. If you read the comments before completing the game, be warned! Avoid the spoilers!

Interactive eye candy

None of these are exactly "games" in the traditional sense. For the most part, there are no explicit goals, no challenges, no way to win or lose. They all certainly have beginnings, and some of them have ends; others are infinite playgrounds for your enjoyment. They are all (with one exception) of the point-n-click genre, which suggests a game, even if some of these are more aptly termed "interactive flash animation." In any event, they are all engrossing, and beautiful.

Vectorpark contains no text, nothing by way of introduction or explanation. You are presented with a black screen containing three images, from which you may choose your "game". Park, the real attraction, is a broad, surreal landscape that changes and evolves with each mouseclick. Levers is a fun balancing game in which you must arrange a series of hooks and variously weighted objects to achieve equilibrium, without anything touching the water below. The unusual weights are dynamic objects; birds come out of the birdhouse to flap around and perch on the various hooks, changing the balance; the water tank can be filled and emptied; the snowman will melt if placed too close to the sun (one of the incredibly heavy objects you will receive in later stages). Finally there is Thomas, a series of non-interactive but very cool animations you may view.







Fly Guy is an incredibly cute little game from talented pixel-artist Trevor Van Meter. You are a bored suburban businessman, waiting at the bus stop, when suddenly you decide to take to the skies. There you will have a number of fascinating and whimsical encounters. Occasionally you will come up against something that will remind you of your mundane life -- like a copier -- and back down to earth you will go. But don't avoid anything in this game. Try it all out and see what happens.





Skyfish is another dreamy, flying-through-the-air game by Syougo Maruyama, creator of the excellent Samorost-style Kao Fu-Sen. You are a flying fish-person, a sort of reverse mermaid, swimming through the skies along with a number of odd creatures/things. When you touch them, the scene changes, and you are suddenly stroking through water, or space, or a nighttime cityscape. I haven't yet discerned if there is some goal, or if this is merely exploratory. Possibly you are meant to progress through a series of scenes without touching one of the creatures that will send you back to an earlier stage. In any case, the rhythmic swimming and wandering music provide a gentle, soothing experience, regardless of your destination.





Moxomoxo is the work of designer Matthieu Gueritte (visit his portfolio for more wonderful art and animation). It is a surreal, Bosch-inspired triptych of interactive animated scenes portraying the Garden of Eden, the Last Judgement, and Hell. With robots. The style reminds me somewhat of the robot subculture of Futurama -- this is what their robots-only version of religious artwork might look like. It's something you simply must see.





Happy Seed is a curious Japanese animated story. Like many Japanese links, it's hard with no context to tell where it came from or why it exists, but it tells the story of a strange square seed that comes down from outer space, and proceeds to transform the world of the little people who have all gathered around in curiosity. It does this by making everything square -- the little round houses become giant skyscrapers, their spherical vehicles are turned into big, modern blocky things, and in the end, the planet itself becomes one big cube. Flight of fancy, cautionary tale, or paean to the relentless forward march of modernization? You be the judge. It's awful cute, though.





I have a number of other links in this category to share, but I'll save it for another post. Up next: Arcade games.

Even more Samorost-style games

(Previously on Blue Tea: Six cool Samorost-style games.)

Vestibular Unisinos is a strange little Brazilian flash game in which you must reunite a stray school desk with a group of its fellows in a series of unlikely settings. Like other games of this type, you must click on different elements on the screen to make things happen. I'm not really sure why this game exists -- I think it's something about promoting university admissions tests. It's quite a nice game, really.
Portugese only, so get your help and hints at Nordinho.




Save the Kiddo is another classic Samorost-style game from the creator of Sangar Sabriina and Sabrina in North Pole. There's only one level, but it's nicely done.
There's a link at the top of the page to the site's own forum, with hints.




Under One's Wing, also referred to as Shanabea (I think that's actually the creator's name), is a very lovely game. It is reminiscent of Shift in the way you must progress by making a forest grow and move bit by bit. The game has several levels, all of them gorgeous, and there's more to it than just random clicking. There are hidden spots which you must unlock for a different ending, and if you just move along to the next level as fast as possible, you'll miss them. The game is in Japanese only, so the plot is a mystery -- but it's so nice to look at.
Get help at the game's post at lazylaces.




The Foonbox Arcade at Foon.co.uk boasts a couple of excellent games, Hapland and its sequel Hapland 2. Both are single-level games, but they are quite complex, and have the interesting feature that a single wrong move will doom you, requiring you to reset and try again. There is also Escape from Rhetundo Island, which is a slightly different kind of game requiring quick reflexes and precise timing rather than reflection and puzzle-solving. Frustratingly, a mistake at any level in this game will require you to replay all levels, and many trials are usually required to solve a level. But I throw it out there for the sake of completeness.
Here are some links to help you along: Hapland walkthrough; Hapland 2 walkthrough; Milkandcookies thread on Escape from Rhetundo Island.




Industry is a cute game inspired by Hapland. A very fun, nicely done game with the same cleverness and sense of humor as the Hapland series. Originally only four levels, a bonus fifth level was added later -- unfortunately, I've only been able to locate walkthroughs for the first four (here). And I'm stuck.
UPDATE 07/15/06: That link is no good. Here is a complete Industry walkthrough with all five levels, located at Flashtrofe, the creator's website.




Up next: Interactive eye candy.

Six cool Samorost-style games

I feel bad.

A visitor came here today after a Google search for "samorost style games" turned up a link to my post "Nine great room-escapers", in which I mentioned that the next installment would be Samorost-style games. Alas, I have been putting that post off for a rainy day and never completed it, and my hopeful visitor left in what was surely deep disappointment.

I shall rectify the situation immediately. (You see the good that Site Meter is working already? Righting wrongs, correcting injustices...)

SO.

The essential characteristic of these games is a single, large screen for each stage through which the small main character moves. The character does not act directly, but rather, you as the player must click on various objects and locations on the board in order to make them do something, and somehow clear a path for your character to progress to the next screen.

The original, of course, the pioneer that initiated and set the standard for the genre, is the fantastic Samorost by Amanita Design, which set my heart a-flutter from the moment I saw it. In my opinion, everyone with a computer should play this game at some point in their lives, the sooner the better. Gorgeous backdrops, charming animations, whimsical characters, and smart, jazzy music make this game a real treat.
Should you need it, there is a walkthrough in a thread at the 4Games forum.




Samorost inspired a number of imitators, notably the two-game series that includes Sangar Sabriina and its sequel, Sabrina in North Pole. While not as graphically or technically accomplished as Samorost, these short games are quite cute and fun to play.
There are hints for Sangar Sabriina at The Geek Forums, and a walkthrough for Sabrina in North Pole at the Nordinho forums.





Rivalling the beauty of Samorost is the lush world of Shift, in which you play a small blue fairy-like creature and must manipulate various mushrooms, flowers, bugs, and leaves to travel around your miniature realm. The atmosphere formed by the detailed artwork and the gentle music is dreamy and magical.
There are some hints to be found in the Nordinho forums.




Cavedude's Adventure is a rough, playful take-off on the Samarost style. Short and simple with clip-art graphics, but with its own charm.
There is a walkthrough at The Geek Forums.




Kao Fu-Sen is a lovely, surreal little gem of a game in which you play a young girl who must go off in search of her own head, which has detached and floated away like a balloon. You must guide the creepy-cute headless child through strange landscapes and cityscapes to recover it. My only regret with this game is that it is so short.
You can get hints in the comments on the game at lazylaces.




Those are all the Samorost-style games I've discovered out there so far. The Amanita Design page also promises a sequel to Samorost in the works, for which I am all a-quiver, as you can imagine. I hope this list may prove useful to future seekers (sorry, guy who came today)!

Tune in next time for: horror games.

Abandoned places

Today I bring you three incredibly beautiful, haunting, point-n-click explorations of surreal, abandoned places. They're not quite games -- they're interactive, but there aren't really puzzles to solve. I have them filed under the "eye candy" section of my games directory. They are all amazing, and you really must treat yourself and visit.

The Hospital. With the captivating tagline of "Stay a while, stay forever," this is a mélange of doctored and manipulated photos of a crumbling, abandoned hospital, with surreal twists and surprises. There is a bit of a challenge if you try to find the links to the original photos which are hidden in each room. I haven't done it yet, but I think there's a reward for finding them all. Spooky and awesome. In both French and (good) English.




The 99 Rooms. There really are 99 of these single-screen rooms, also manipulated photos of the abandoned factories and warehouses of East Berlin's industrial sector. Painted figures and animations fill the decaying spaces. The goal is simply to find the way to click through each of the 99 rooms to the end. Also very beautiful -- "morbidly-beautiful," as the designers describe it -- with great sound and music.
Update: You can hit SPACE to move through the rooms if your get stuck, or, if you really want one, someone has kindly taken the time to make a walkthrough for all 99 rooms. I didn't think anyone ever would; kudos.




NFH Propaganda. Features a Labyrinth of dark, run-down industrial ruins very similar to The 99 Rooms in term of concept, design, and execution. This one is quite a bit darker and grimmer, a horror version of 99 rooms with ghosts, corpses, torture, murder, body parts, screams...it's creepy and very well-done.




That's just a sample of the latest game links I've found that I'm bursting to share. I think I'll keep posting in categories like this. Up next: Room-escapers.