One particularly frustrating example of this was on a screen where you have a choice between pushing a crate or climbing on top of it. That context-sensitive interface is almost entirely gone from the iPad version of Machinarium, meaning that at some points the only way to progress is by tapping blindly on the screen and hoping something happens.Īdditionally, the game can sometimes be confused about which action you're trying to take. Controls in the desktop version of Machinarium were largely context-based hovering the mouse pointer over certain areas of the screen would give users clues about what elements they could interact with and how they could interact with them. Perhaps more frustrating is some interface elements for Machinarium's desktop version have been lost in translation on the touchpad interface - another common caveat about porting Flash games to iOS. However, the game is still very demanding on battery life my iPad lost over a third of its charge after two hours of play, about the same amount of battery charge a turbo-3D game like Infinity Blade would consume.
Porting the game into a more iOS-friendly format made it so Machinarium could run (and run well, without a hint of lag) on the iPad 2. Machinarium's Flash-based desktop iteration consumes around 70 percent of CPU resources on my MacBook Pro, a device with approximately 4.5 times the overall computing power of my iPad 2, so it's no surprise that only Apple's most powerful mobile hardware can handle the game even after porting it. However, while Machinarium on the iPad 2 runs very well and delivers an experience that's definitely worth the price tag, the app does demonstrate a few of the perils associated with porting Flash-based games onto a touchscreen device. The game's art style is a perfect fit for the iPad, and you'll almost certainly find yourself entirely absorbed into the game as you hold it in your hands. Apart from minor differences in some UI elements and a lack of multi-layer, faux-3D "foreground" elements on the iPad version (something I didn't even notice on the Mac version until comparing them), Machinarium on iPad 2 is in nearly every respect identical to the desktop version. I compared screens from the iPad version and Mac version side by side. Having played all the way through Machinarium on both the Mac and iPad 2, I'll say that the iPad version does come fairly close to the developer's "no compromises" claim. The game is now made with 'no compromises' compared to the desktop version and that keeps it unique." When you start creating tablet apps from scratch it's a whole different story. The app was originally made for PC and upgraded for tablet devices. "You have to have it running around 80-90 to keep it stable and the app has tons of timeline animations, the sources are 1 GB, all compiled into one single SWF file + some assets. "The memory limitations of iPad 1 (which are somewhere around 115 MB RAM per app) are just quite challenging," the developers said in response to complaints about the app not being available for the original iPad.
This enabled the developers to deliver mostly the same experience as the desktop version, but it also meant that the iPad 2 was the only device able to run the game to their satisfaction. As it turns out, Machinarium was originally built entirely in Flash for desktop platforms, and it's been ported to the iPad 2 via Adobe AIR. Playing through Machinarium on the iPad 2, you might wonder why a 2D adventure game like this will only run on Apple's most powerful iOS device while heavy-duty 3D games like Infinity Blade or Rage will run on the original iPad and iPhone 4 just fine.
I specifically mention the iPad 2 for a reason that's the only iOS device that has enough horsepower to run Machinarium. Fortunately, Amanita Design thought the same thing, and Machinarium is now available for the iPad 2. Machinarium was incredibly fun (and challenging) when I played it on the Mac last year, and at the time I thought to myself that the game would be a perfect fit for the iPad. The art style and music, both of which are among the best I've seen in any game from any genre, combine with an eccentric storytelling method (told entirely without words) to deliver a unique and unforgettable experience. You must guide a robot character through a rusted, run-down cityscape populated entirely with robotic characters and cybernetic animal life, solving puzzles along the way in order to advance the story. It's very similar to the point-and-click adventure games that saw much popularity in the late 80s to early 90s. Machinarium is a charming game with an arresting and engaging art style it debuted on the Mac and PC platforms a couple years ago.