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Jakub Dvorský video interview: 20 Years of Amanita Design – Machinarium, Samorost and Phonopolis

Jakub Dvorský video interview: 20 Years of Amanita Design – Machinarium, Samorost and Phonopolis
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It's somehow been 20 years since indie Czech developer Jakub Dvorský started his game company Amanita Design and its first project, Samorost. To celebrate the double decade, YouTuber Cressup caught up with Jakub to learn more about the development process and art style of fan favourites like Machinarium, and also get more details about Amanita's latest hand-crafted adventure eight years in the making, Phonopolis. (They're also making two or three other games at the same time, Jakub added, but they're staying tight-lipped on those!)

On Phonopolis, Jakub said it's a "game which looks like it's made from paper – because it is!  All the textures are made from real paper, and we create paper models. And the paper is painted and decorated with sandpaper. Then we make that flat and scan that and use these pictures for 3D models. But to make it even more complicated, the game looks 2D because the camera is only from one angle... The result is really unique and super complicated!"

The game's art is inspired by "Russian avant-garde modernism and constructivism in the inter war period," which is "very tied to the story of a dictator who manipulates the citizens with sounds through loudspeakers" – a dictator you as the protagonist must work to overthrow. Despite the story sounding dark, Jakub assures us there's still plenty of lightheartedness and playful puzzles to enjoy.

There's no set release date for Phonopolis yet, with Jakub revealing in Cressup's chat that a single simple scene in the game can take several MONTHS to create. So plenty of time to watch the full interview then!

 

 

To watch more of Cressup's video interviews, playthroughs and more streamed live, be sure to follow her Twitch channel.

 



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