Botanicula
 

For those of you who love Amanita’s games, here’s a rave preview of Botanicula, written by (the notorious :shifty:) John Walker. He got to play two-thirds of the game.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011...on-botanicula/

Couple of quotes:
A broad, beaming smile is not a facial expression games frequently paint over my face. Botanicula’s endless inventiveness, delight in intricate throwaway details, and ludicrous levels of joie de vivre, make it impossible not to sit staring at the screen grinning like a loon.

and

It’s a stunning game, even in its incomplete form I’d be happy to recommend everyone sell their grandmothers to play it.

:9~:9:9~

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/7213/botanicula.jpg

Not exactly my favorite adventure game reviewer (after he excoriated Myst for what were essentially his own failings). But an exciting preview nonetheless. Looking forward to it!

looks nice, though i'm hoping more of a Machinarium than Samorost in terms of a coherent story, but either way it looks stylish

:)

John Walker, meet Gonchi.

I hated Myst so much, that whenever I used to come across it or one of its clones on a store shelf, I would move them to another section or hide them behind boxes of other genres.

(Gonchi in the thread "Your BIGGEST adventure sins!")

I can't deny the freshness of their graphic and sound style aswell as the way of storytelling. I will certainly play this.

Amanita posted short clips to introduce three of the main characters: Mr. Twig, Mr. Poppy Head and Mr. Lantern. Two more to go before Botanicula's release!

http://amanita-design.net/blog/

:9~

Delicious :9 Can't wait!

Those clips have blown me away! That's exactly what I love to see in animation - pure creativity and utter poppy-headness.

Excellent. :D

Have a look at number four: Mrs. Mushroom. ;)

http://amanita-design.net/blog/

Excellent. :D

Quite an interesting music, which reminds me of The Neverhood!

This looks mighty interesting. Reminds me a bit of Machinarium but a little more whacky.

I'll add this to my list... :D

Those clips made me laugh out loud. I've always loved Amanita's zaniness, and I'm really looking forward to this one.

Cover artwork and the introduction of the fifth and last character, Mr. Feather.

http://amanita-design.net/blog/

It's on AG's front page, but I just had to post it on the forums too. Botanicula will be here the 19th!
Only 14 days away. ;)
Yoohoo! Happy dance. :9~

My most anticipated game this year :9~

Just previewed on GOG's Spring conference.

Pre-order on GOG for $8.99.

Slightly off-topic question for native English speakers. I watched part of that Spring Conference and heard the guy say "Mackinarium". Just like Tim Schafer did in his video with Ron Gilbert. I always thought the pronunciation was Mashinarium. It's Mashine, not Mackine, right? Inquiring minds want to know...:)

That's pretty cheap for a game with lots of extras. But I'll always choose Amanita's site over GOG.

It might make more sense if it was "mash" but iv been pronouncing it "mack" too. I think its maybe because mechanical is often pronounced "mack-anical"

Machine is pronounced Mashine, Fien. So this native English speaker pronounces it Mashinarium.

Who pronounces mechanical as mack-anical? :shifty:

I've always pronounced Machinarium with the "k" sound, not "sh," but now that you mention it, "sh" does make more sense. In my mind I associated it with mechanical, as Zane said, and also mechanism.

I'm really looking forward to the new game. The graphics look so delightful.

I always said Mashinarium. Like Fien said, it's mashine, not mackine. D'oh.

Machinations and machinate use the "k" sound, which may have added to the confusion in pronunciation.

ohh actualy, i see why people pronounce it "mack". It looks like the root is the latin "machina" as in "deus ex machina" and thats definitely pronounced "mack".

Hrm...interesting. I never even thought there was another way to pronounce than Mashinarium.

Botanicula looks very appealing. I love the art style of Amanita. Just look at their logo! It's brilliant in its simplicity.

It's excellent isn't it? It's so full of personality and emotion. These guys could make a great animated film ............

Score 2-2. :D

I've always pronounced it "Mashinarium" too. I get the confusion with mackinations, but I thought that both mackinations and mashinations were accepted in English? So, in analogy, maybe both are correct for Machinarium as well???

I don't get the comparison with the Latin "deus ex machina", though, because the pronounciation there is closer to ma-he-na (the 'he'-part being like the word), imo. No 'sh'-sound, no 'k'-sound.

Anyway, Botanicula looks awesome. It's one of the few titles that made my "list of games to play" before it was even released. http://users.telenet.be/TimovieMan/Images/thumbs.gif
I'll probably play it right after working through Machinarium. That's still a while off, though... :frown:

Well its latin, so in a sense we'l never know whos "right" :P
But all of the major dictionaries list it as ˈdā-əs-ˌeks-ˈmä-ki-nə
like this or this
So you should at least get the comparison;)

Believe me, English accepts a lot. It's a wonderful, screwy language that makes rules then breaks them every chance it gets.

Sounds like you're speaking church Latin maybe. (Which I know next to nothing about except it doesn't sound like what I learned in school sometime before dirt was invented.) AFAIK, Zane is right. It's a hard 'k' in machina not a soft sound like 'sh' or 'he'.

You and me. I've already got it on pre-order and I'm off to download the goodies now. :D

Botanicula is getting some early love from Kotaku today:

http://kotaku.com/5902784/the-splend...ade-joyfulness

^geez that article is over the top... but i am excited :D
Probably going to get my copy from gog this weekend.

Already a review at AG. That's very fast! Now, if only Amanita would be so kind as to release Botanicula, I'd be very very happy. Today was to be the day, I've visited their store countless times, but still nothing. In Europe the 19th of April will be over in a couple of hours. :frown:

Humble Botanicula Bundle is live.

http://www.humblebundle.com/

People are upset about this, having preordered from sites like GOG for full price.

:PWhat's up, Fien? We know you'll want the box anyway...:P

(And for that you'll have to wait :frown:)

I'm going to do the same thing as I did with Machinarium. Buy the download from the developers now, buy the nice box (pre-ordered) at amazon.de. :9~ This is Amanita, they're worth it. But I do think the Humblebundle vs. GOG situation is not good.

I knew you'd do that. You're a hardcore supporter of what's good in this niche...

(And a nice person too, I reckon...)

10k purchases and almost 90k in a few hours :)

I 'll try to play the game this weekend

:kiss:
(I don't think everybody here agrees with you on that particular aspect of my fascinating personality. :shifty:)

I'm already stuck in Botanicula. But loving it.