Meet Jakub Dvorský, founder of Amanita Design

Founded as an independent studio in 2003, Amanita Design has been committed to creating captivating, humorous, and surreal experiences ever since. Samorost, Machinarium, and Pilgrims are just a few of Amanita Design’s games that stand out for their immersive environments and thought-provoking themes.

We sat down with studio founder and creative director, Jakub Dvorský, to learn more about his development journey and his team’s approach to crafting compelling games.

Jakub Dvorský: My journey as a developer began at grammar school, where I collaborated with schoolmates to create adventure games and dungeon crawlers. We were incredibly passionate and managed to complete three polished games, which led us to secure a publisher and release them here in the Czech Republic.

Later, I started experimenting with the design tool Macromedia Flash and created several free web projects, including Samorost. Its unexpected popularity inspired me to establish an indie studio with a few friends, and that’s when we began making games professionally.

When we started, we had no real knowledge of the craft– just pure passion for games. We relied heavily on intuition which, to a certain extent, worked well. Today, with much more experience, we’re able to create games that better align with our artistic vision in a smoother, more refined way. We also playtest a lot now, which has been incredibly helpful. In hindsight, it’s something we naively overlooked in the past.

Our wordless approach draws inspiration from Czech animated films. Many of the incredible films we grew up with used little to no dialogue, and that deeply influenced us. While this style presents challenges and limits the complexity of traditional storytelling, it also opens the door to more abstract, potentially deeper, and even archetypal experiences that resonate on a universal level.

We collaborate with fantastic music composers from the early stages of development, sharing our vision of the world with them so they have the freedom to enrich it with new meaning and perspectives. We’re very aware that sound can enhance immersion and complement animations, adding detail and emotion to a scene, but they also require the right stylization. We spend a great deal of time exploring and defining the correct style before we even begin recording.

Meanwhile, our art style is heavily inspired by Czech and Eastern European animation. Each game from Amanita Design has its own director who brings the initial vision and defines the tone. From there, we work collaboratively to develop an art style tailored specifically to that project. Every element must fit together and create a cohesive, logical world, even if the environments or characters are surreal in nature.

While this doesn’t apply to all of our games, these themes are definitely among our favorites. Nature is everything, and we have a deep appreciation for its wild, pure form – it represents the ultimate beauty. Human technology, on the other hand, is just another expression of nature. It’s at the edge of nature, evolving rapidly but also aging just as quickly. We find this contrast incredibly fascinating.

We’re especially drawn to the intersection of ancient nature and human technology – how they start out disconnected, and then gradually merge. A good example of this might be an old excavator abandoned in a forest, rusted and overtaken by moss, or an abandoned factory slowly being reclaimed by nature. If you pay attention, you can spot these fascinating scenes everywhere.

Finding the right balance is always a challenge for us. The first step is defining the type of game we want to create. For example, Chuchel is intentionally simpler and more accessible compared to Machinarium. We conduct a lot of playtesting to ensure the puzzles work as intended, are enjoyable, and strike the right level of difficulty. If needed, we adjust to make them easier or more challenging. There’s no shortcut to this process – it’s all about fine-tuning until it feels just right.

Perhaps it’s a bit ambitious, but I hope our games help people develop a deeper understanding of nature. I want players to realize how rich, complex, and precious it is – and to recognize that we, along with all of our creations, are just a part of it.