Machinarium
October 17, 2009 4:32 PM Subscribe
Ack! Thanks, ixohoxi! I'll fix the tag, but it'd be wonderful if a mod could fix the spelling in the post.
posted by brundlefly at 4:42 PM on October 17, 2009
posted by brundlefly at 4:42 PM on October 17, 2009
oh boy! oh boy! oh boy!
thing is going to be fun.
posted by quazichimp at 4:58 PM on October 17, 2009 [1 favorite]
thing is going to be fun.
posted by quazichimp at 4:58 PM on October 17, 2009 [1 favorite]
I have it open in another tab on my browser and am simply enchanted by the music. Can't wait to play it later this aft.
posted by seawallrunner at 5:11 PM on October 17, 2009
posted by seawallrunner at 5:11 PM on October 17, 2009
If someone can tell me how to get the robot to jump up to the horizontal pole in the mining car one I'll be their bestest friend forever.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 5:12 PM on October 17, 2009
posted by Turtles all the way down at 5:12 PM on October 17, 2009
If someone can tell me how to get the robot to jump up to the horizontal pole in the mining car one I'll be their bestest friend forever.
Did you look in the key-locked walkthrough book? The answer's in there.
posted by tybeet at 5:16 PM on October 17, 2009
Did you look in the key-locked walkthrough book? The answer's in there.
posted by tybeet at 5:16 PM on October 17, 2009
Turtles, check your MeFi Mail.
posted by brundlefly at 5:17 PM on October 17, 2009
posted by brundlefly at 5:17 PM on October 17, 2009
Excellent. Such a dreamy game, I lose track of time. Great artwork.
posted by zardoz at 5:18 PM on October 17, 2009
posted by zardoz at 5:18 PM on October 17, 2009
turtles all the way...
there is something you can click on in the upper right
that will give you the answer.
posted by quazichimp at 5:19 PM on October 17, 2009
there is something you can click on in the upper right
that will give you the answer.
posted by quazichimp at 5:19 PM on October 17, 2009
Really, really, clever. I like the puzzles quite a lot.
posted by Pseudoephedrine at 5:30 PM on October 17, 2009
posted by Pseudoephedrine at 5:30 PM on October 17, 2009
Thanks, brundlefly! Unfortunately that was just about the last step before the demo finished.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 5:40 PM on October 17, 2009
posted by Turtles all the way down at 5:40 PM on October 17, 2009
That last step had me scratching my head for a while also.
posted by nola at 6:50 PM on October 17, 2009
posted by nola at 6:50 PM on October 17, 2009
I got my pre-order copy yesterday. And it is excellent so far, and I have not even beaten it yet.
Let me warn those of you considering a purchase- don't look at the trailers and previews and all that. They spoil puzzles, and this is basically the entire point. It's a joy, and I was actually sad to find puzzles that I'd seen in trailers (i.e. the bridge puzzle near the beginning)
They pack a lot of stuff in: at least for the beginning, every room you're in is a really clever puzzle filled with little meta puzzles (think switches, tile puzzles). If you're not puzzle inclined it takes time. I have to take breaks in between cracking puzzles.
And thank god they included a walkthrough just in case, especially how they handle those complete spoilers- making you play a little side scrolling shooter to open the walkthrough. Heh, that little shooting key still makes me laugh. The only place it doesn't work is multiple room puzzles (you have to unlock the book in each room, and the game to open it isn't even very fun in the end).
And the art direction's great. Makes me feel of Soviet era drawing with steampunk. It's really brilliant. Soundtrack is also neat.
I could complain the usual adventure gripes (sticking random things together till it works, missing things that look like they're in the background), but they're not criminal offenses. My recommendation? Support these guys, buy it and play it. You won't regret it.
Sorry for the mini review there. <_<
posted by Askiba at 6:59 PM on October 17, 2009 [2 favorites]
Let me warn those of you considering a purchase- don't look at the trailers and previews and all that. They spoil puzzles, and this is basically the entire point. It's a joy, and I was actually sad to find puzzles that I'd seen in trailers (i.e. the bridge puzzle near the beginning)
They pack a lot of stuff in: at least for the beginning, every room you're in is a really clever puzzle filled with little meta puzzles (think switches, tile puzzles). If you're not puzzle inclined it takes time. I have to take breaks in between cracking puzzles.
And thank god they included a walkthrough just in case, especially how they handle those complete spoilers- making you play a little side scrolling shooter to open the walkthrough. Heh, that little shooting key still makes me laugh. The only place it doesn't work is multiple room puzzles (you have to unlock the book in each room, and the game to open it isn't even very fun in the end).
And the art direction's great. Makes me feel of Soviet era drawing with steampunk. It's really brilliant. Soundtrack is also neat.
I could complain the usual adventure gripes (sticking random things together till it works, missing things that look like they're in the background), but they're not criminal offenses. My recommendation? Support these guys, buy it and play it. You won't regret it.
Sorry for the mini review there. <_<
posted by Askiba at 6:59 PM on October 17, 2009 [2 favorites]
I would like to do as you suggest, but the Buy Now link is strangely ineffective. Do I need to find a key or a rope or something to help it respond to clicking?
posted by jinjo at 8:10 PM on October 17, 2009
posted by jinjo at 8:10 PM on October 17, 2009
Does the purchase version work in linux? Is it just flash, or is there crappy DRM?
posted by orthogonality at 8:52 PM on October 17, 2009
posted by orthogonality at 8:52 PM on October 17, 2009
Does the purchase version work in linux? Is it just flash, or is there crappy DRM?
AFAIK, it should work in linux, as the download page does say that there is a linux version available. As far as it being flash or whatnot, no idea, can't be bothered to buy it right now.
posted by neewom at 8:59 PM on October 17, 2009
AFAIK, it should work in linux, as the download page does say that there is a linux version available. As far as it being flash or whatnot, no idea, can't be bothered to buy it right now.
posted by neewom at 8:59 PM on October 17, 2009
Gah I hate remember the music and play it back puzzles.
posted by jeblis at 10:13 PM on October 17, 2009
posted by jeblis at 10:13 PM on October 17, 2009
This is definitely one of my favorite games this year. It's incredibly creative, and I love how so many of the puzzles work just slightly counter-intuitively, thus requiring you to think outside of the box.
If anyone's still having trouble purchasing, just get it through Steam.
posted by metalheart at 5:29 AM on October 18, 2009
If anyone's still having trouble purchasing, just get it through Steam.
posted by metalheart at 5:29 AM on October 18, 2009
"If anyone's still having trouble purchasing, just get it through Steam."
While I appreciate that Steam is a good way for indie developers to get their stuff in front of a fairly wide audience, "just get it through Steam" is kind of a bad answer. Steam has a couple of disadvantages: It only works for Windows, useless to anyone looking to buy this game for the other supported platforms. Almost as bad, it actually adds DRM / copy protection to an otherwise undamaged title. As someone who actually does make Steam purchases from time to time, I don't think "just get it through Steam" is the right answer here.
I liked the humor, art, and flavor of the game and the puzzle design was pretty good, but the demo was waaaaaaay too hunt-the-pixel for me. Multiple times I knew exactly what I wanted to do, but had to spamclick my way around the screen to figure out what part of the scenery was going to respond to me. At least once I stumbled into the puzzle mechanic from random clicking, merely because I couldn't make the game do anything. It's the visual equivalent of "guess the verb" in text adventures, and it's an interface problem, not a legitimate aspect of a puzzle.
posted by majick at 8:29 AM on October 18, 2009 [1 favorite]
While I appreciate that Steam is a good way for indie developers to get their stuff in front of a fairly wide audience, "just get it through Steam" is kind of a bad answer. Steam has a couple of disadvantages: It only works for Windows, useless to anyone looking to buy this game for the other supported platforms. Almost as bad, it actually adds DRM / copy protection to an otherwise undamaged title. As someone who actually does make Steam purchases from time to time, I don't think "just get it through Steam" is the right answer here.
I liked the humor, art, and flavor of the game and the puzzle design was pretty good, but the demo was waaaaaaay too hunt-the-pixel for me. Multiple times I knew exactly what I wanted to do, but had to spamclick my way around the screen to figure out what part of the scenery was going to respond to me. At least once I stumbled into the puzzle mechanic from random clicking, merely because I couldn't make the game do anything. It's the visual equivalent of "guess the verb" in text adventures, and it's an interface problem, not a legitimate aspect of a puzzle.
posted by majick at 8:29 AM on October 18, 2009 [1 favorite]
As someone who actually does make Steam purchases from time to time, I don't think "just get it through Steam" is the right answer here.
And as some would argue, it's a money grab. Or, at the very least, it reduces the return for developers in a similar way as record labels do by adding unnecessary overhead (though not nearly on the same scale).
posted by tybeet at 10:15 AM on October 18, 2009
And as some would argue, it's a money grab. Or, at the very least, it reduces the return for developers in a similar way as record labels do by adding unnecessary overhead (though not nearly on the same scale).
posted by tybeet at 10:15 AM on October 18, 2009
Yeah, it works on every "major" platform, if that's fair to say. No DRM, Flash based- 90% of people should be able to play it, if not more. And I like Steam, but don't buy it from there.
Also, for those of you who grabbed the soundtrack- "The Bottom" is probably my favorite song in the entire game, thoughts anyone?
posted by Askiba at 10:40 AM on October 18, 2009
Also, for those of you who grabbed the soundtrack- "The Bottom" is probably my favorite song in the entire game, thoughts anyone?
posted by Askiba at 10:40 AM on October 18, 2009
This is a very pretty game with lovely music and some nice puzzles. But it is really slow and pixel-hunty. There have been many times when just by exploring by clicking on things, I accidentally launch into a 20-second-long animation that I've already seen before (pushing that stupid box around was really annoying). I liked that in the demo and in the Samorost games there was no need to backtrack screens; when you left a location, you were done with it. In the full game, moving to and fro from location to location takes ages.
posted by painquale at 2:09 PM on October 18, 2009
posted by painquale at 2:09 PM on October 18, 2009
It's incredibly creative, and I love how so many of the puzzles work just slightly counter-intuitively, thus requiring you to think outside of the box.
I like the counter-intuitive aspect as well, it prevents it from seeming like a salad of puzzles you've already seen. However, I do find that there are some that are given so little context that, baring an extreme amount of trial-and-error, a solution is not forthcoming, and that defeats the purpose of "puzzle".
posted by tybeet at 2:23 PM on October 18, 2009
I like the counter-intuitive aspect as well, it prevents it from seeming like a salad of puzzles you've already seen. However, I do find that there are some that are given so little context that, baring an extreme amount of trial-and-error, a solution is not forthcoming, and that defeats the purpose of "puzzle".
posted by tybeet at 2:23 PM on October 18, 2009
Also from Amanita is Questionaut (previously) - a sweet little educational game
posted by Mchelly at 2:50 PM on October 18, 2009
posted by Mchelly at 2:50 PM on October 18, 2009
I just beat it. Very, very slow. I had to use YouTube walkthroughs on some of the puzzles and because I just didn't want to have to go back and do something over again. Very beautiful and the ending was sort of sweet. A short game though, there's not that much to do and if things were a bit quicker would definitely be something you could beat in an hour or so. If they fix the pacing and make it a bit less pixel hunting it would be a real classic.
posted by geoff. at 4:59 PM on October 18, 2009
posted by geoff. at 4:59 PM on October 18, 2009
What is the price in dollars? (I'm seeing Euros, and just curious.) Also, they're asking for a mailing address; what's that all about?
posted by taz at 10:56 AM on October 19, 2009
posted by taz at 10:56 AM on October 19, 2009
$20, taz.
posted by brundlefly at 3:32 PM on October 19, 2009
posted by brundlefly at 3:32 PM on October 19, 2009
I bought it and beat it in a couple days, but one of those was a designated "day off" of extreme slackness. Under normal circumstances, it probably would've taken a week or so. So, pretty short, but obviously a lot of care and attention went into this game, and it was pretty much pure joy to play.
I didn't find the puzzles overly pixel-hunty -- most of the things you need to click on stand out just enough from the background to be noticed as "important" or "interesting" -- it's subtle but it's there. I only resorted to walkthrough once early on, when I somehow missed a particular object-environment combination.
Sure, the walking animations are slow, but there's so much detail in the environments and animations that I didn't really mind taking that time to soak everything in. There's a lot of superfluous stuff that's there just to be neat. Once when I left the computer for a second and came back, my little robot was daydreaming about a scenario in which he and his robot lady friend are smoking "cattails," and nearly get found out by the robot police. That totally didn't need to be there, but I'm glad it was.
SPOILERS BELOW
I liked that it felt more like a complete world than the Samorost games... there are little things that make you go "what was up with that?" and wonder about the larger context. Like, the hall of robot heads? The big head scholar type in the tower (philosopher king)? Why were the black hats planting a bomb anyway, other than just being jerks?
I really liked the moment when you get to play as the lady robot friend and wished there had been more of that -- it would have made the game a little less "save the princess"-ish (a legitimate complaint made upthread).
The only thing I didn't really enjoy were the arcade-style minigames... basically bad imitations of games that aren't super fun to begin with, and distracting from the awesome adventure-puzzle stuff. But now I'm nitpicking.
posted by speicus at 1:10 PM on October 20, 2009 [1 favorite]
I didn't find the puzzles overly pixel-hunty -- most of the things you need to click on stand out just enough from the background to be noticed as "important" or "interesting" -- it's subtle but it's there. I only resorted to walkthrough once early on, when I somehow missed a particular object-environment combination.
Sure, the walking animations are slow, but there's so much detail in the environments and animations that I didn't really mind taking that time to soak everything in. There's a lot of superfluous stuff that's there just to be neat. Once when I left the computer for a second and came back, my little robot was daydreaming about a scenario in which he and his robot lady friend are smoking "cattails," and nearly get found out by the robot police. That totally didn't need to be there, but I'm glad it was.
SPOILERS BELOW
I liked that it felt more like a complete world than the Samorost games... there are little things that make you go "what was up with that?" and wonder about the larger context. Like, the hall of robot heads? The big head scholar type in the tower (philosopher king)? Why were the black hats planting a bomb anyway, other than just being jerks?
I really liked the moment when you get to play as the lady robot friend and wished there had been more of that -- it would have made the game a little less "save the princess"-ish (a legitimate complaint made upthread).
The only thing I didn't really enjoy were the arcade-style minigames... basically bad imitations of games that aren't super fun to begin with, and distracting from the awesome adventure-puzzle stuff. But now I'm nitpicking.
posted by speicus at 1:10 PM on October 20, 2009 [1 favorite]
This is really frustrating. I got all the way to the scene where you have to make sunflower oil, and the machine won't produce a single drop! I've followed both the walkthrough guide-book in the game, and a video tutorial on YT: fetch seeds, put seeds in machine, place oil canteen underneath, and wiggle the lever up and down a whole bunch. Nothing! Ugh. I was really looking forward to finishing this, too.
posted by tybeet at 6:09 AM on October 21, 2009
posted by tybeet at 6:09 AM on October 21, 2009
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This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
It's Samorost, by the way. Does a mod care to fix the tag?
posted by ixohoxi at 4:40 PM on October 17, 2009