samorost

okay...

i am not technologically inclined.
it took me YEARS to finally get a computer and even then it was at the constant urging of my spider-man compatriots, howard mackie and tom defalco, who then assigned larry hama to be my computer guru. (larry, of course, a comics legend, writer of g.i. joe, bucky o'hare, and all of the very best issues of wolverine! i haven't seen or talked to larry in years--such is the way things go in this business--but one thing i always loved about larry was his laugh; big and loud. and he is the only person i've ever met who, if he happens to be standing up when he laughs, will actually slap his upper thighs! also, he appeared on two different episodes of mash as a lousy north korean!)



so anyway, larry helped me get this great computer back about ten years ago and i've been hobbling along ever since. i've learned to navigate the internet without too much problem--finally got high-speed connection last summer!--and craig has taught me many of the things i've had to learn for work; graphics and lettering and such.

now that i do have the high-speed--and the commercial is right! how did i ever live without it?--i've been researching all sortsa reports on the paranormal and the unexplained, as well as finding all kindsa treasures among the websites and blogs.

anyway, to make a long story even longer, one of my favorite discoveries back when i first got all hooked up to the internet, was a myst-like game that my friend mike west sent to me; a weird, meditative, transendental, om-inducing flash-animation called samorost.
only i didn't know that at the time.

mike just sent me a link and being a novice on the computer (read; simple-minded) i just clicked it and was happily transported away to the peaceful tranquility of samorost, with it's driftwood-laced, roger dean-inspired landscapes and a hookah-smoking dude on a ski-lift.
i say tranquility but that's not really true.

like myst, it's a game of deduction and processes, of induction and cause and effect, and i'm not gonna deny that i got hung up on one or two of the "you-can't-do-this-until-you-do-this-and-this-and-this"s. but it was a lot of fun and, like trivia, a challenge to both your memory and your wits.

a short game really, samorost consisted of six separate screens. i finished four of them before i had to go and re-join life once again. when i finally got a chance to return, the link no longer worked. i asked my friend, mike, and he told me that the site that hosted the game was no longer valid. (this meant pretty much zero to me. i just knew that the game was gone.)



i searched for it for years, off and on, hoping that one day, someone would have hooked it up again.

and the other day i found it!
and what's more, learned all about who created it--aminita design, an independent game development studio in eastern europe! PLUS, there's a sequel!!

okay, so maybe this won't be everybody's bag, but i really dig it and i urge you to go and check it out!

http://amanita-design.net/samorost-1/

you can play samorost 1 for absolutely free, as well as a selection from samorost 2! i loved it so much that i went and ordered the complete samorost 2 (via paypal!) and can't wait to sit down and figure the whole thing out!



that's your challenge for the weekend--in lieu of trivia questions, i give you samorost. see if you can navigate your way 'round this trippy world.

and we can talk about it on monday!

have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd