Amanita Design

Amanita Design is an independent video game developing company based in the Czech Republic. It was founded in 2003 by Jakub Dvorsky and since its inception, the company has produced award winning video games, educational and advertising mini games, websites, a short film, animations, and music videos all using Adobe Flash.

Point and Click Adventure Games

Amanita is probably best known for their classic point and click adventure games which have a distinct, whimsical feel. These games are incredibly enticing to say the least. Their lure probably has something to do with their lighthearted style, comical characters, surreal puzzles, and engaging environments. Plus the soundtrack and event sounds add just the right atmosphere without dominating the play. There is also a nice blend of organic/nature inspired elements and animations contrasted against the corroded machine-like buildings and interiors.

While studying Animated Film at the Academy of Art in Prague Dvorsky created his first game: Samorost I as his undergraduate thesis project with only one other person (a childhood friend as the sound maker). Now they have a team of seven which includes the same sound maker, a musician, two animators, an artist, and a programmer as well as Dvorsky leading the pack as Art Director.

Other games include Samorost II, published in 2005, which won best game category at the Independent Games Festival and Webby Awards. Another is Questionaut--an educational game developed for the BBC and nominated for a BAFTA. Finally Amanita released Machinarium in 2009. It took 3 years to complete and is Amanita's first full-length game. It won the visual excellence award at the Independent Games Festival along with the best art award at the Indiecade Festival.

Flash Websites

Although Amanita focuses primarily on games, they do have a few interesting websites to their credit. These websites share the same beautiful imagery, ethereal sound, and inviting interactivity as their games. Podvedomim is an online gallery of objects that are secretly placed in and around Brno (Dvorsky's hometown). Blanka Sperkova is an well-designed online gallery for a 3D wire artist with the same name.

Why Flash?

Flash is Anamita's preferred program because it integrates graphics, animations, sounds and interaction so well. Here's what Dvorsky had to say about the benefits of using Flash:

"Flash is quite a powerful tool nowadays. You can animate there very well and make almost any kind of small game you can imagine. The biggest benefit is that you can put the finished game, animation or whatever directly in a web browser and people can play it immediately without downloading or installing which makes it very accessible for anybody."

[Interview for Alternative Magazine Online]

Amanita shows the potential of what one can do with Flash. They seem to fully utilize the animation, sound, programmatic, and interactive capabilities of Flash to create something totally unique, inventive, and utterly distinct. (Have fun playing!)