Amanita Design

What Amanita Design does

Amanita Design is a Czech indie game developer founded in 2003 by Jakub Dvorský and headquartered in Brno, Czech Republic. The studio specializes in hand-crafted adventure and puzzle games characterized by a distinctive hand-drawn visual style, surreal worlds, light-hearted humor, and deep audiovisual integration with original music scores by recurring collaborators Floex (Tomáš Dvořák), DVA, and Hidden Orchestra. Its 12+ title portfolio spans the Samorost series, Machinarium, Botanicula, CHUCHEL, Creaks, Happy Game, Pilgrims, and Phonopolis, distributed globally across PC (Steam, GOG, Epic), mobile (iOS, Android, Apple Arcade), and console (Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PlayStation) platforms. The studio operates with 11-50 employees in small creative teams and has never raised external institutional capital.

Name

Amanita Design

Legal name

Amanita Design s.r.o.

Website

https://amanita-design.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Amanita Design is a Czech indie game developer founded in 2003 that produces hand-crafted adventure and puzzle games with distinctive visual art and original music scores, distributed globally across PC, mobile, and console platforms alongside merchandise sales.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Indie Adventure Video Games

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

akta.pro primary industry

Indie Game Studios (MPAFAAAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Digital/Hybrid Board Games & Companion-App Enabled Games Retail (CRALALAO)

Keywords

• Indie game development
• Adventure puzzle games
• Hand-crafted game art
• Cross-platform game publishing
• Original game soundtracks

Headquarters

HQ city

Brno

HQ country

Czechia

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Game Sales: Direct digital sales of complete games through company website (via Humble Bundle widgets), Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store, and mobile app stores. Games are sold as one-time purchases with no in-app purchases or advertisements.
2. Premium Editions and DLC: Collector and premium editions of games include soundtrack, art book, and additional content at higher price points. Separate soundtrack albums (digital and vinyl), art books, and merchandise are sold as add-ons.
3. Merchandise Sales: Physical merchandise including plush toys, t-shirts, vinyl soundtracks, collector's boxes, and art books sold through the company's merchandise store (merch.amanita-design.net).
4. Free-to-Play Versions: Samorost 1 is offered as a free download while Samorost 2 offers collector's edition at $5. Some games offer free demos to drive conversion to paid versions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels12 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Amanita Design develops and publishes hand-crafted indie adventure and puzzle games featuring distinctive hand-drawn art styles, original music scores, and adaptive puzzle mechanics. The studio sells its games as one-time digital purchases across PC, mobile, and console platforms, and complements its portfolio with physical merchandise including vinyl soundtracks, plush toys, art books, and collector's editions.

Product overview

Amanita Design is a Czech indie game developer offering a portfolio of distinct adventure and puzzle games with a unified artistic style emphasizing surreal worlds, hand-crafted appeal, and rich audiovisual experiences. The core product portfolio includes 12 games: the Samorost series (Samorost 1, Samorost 2, and Samorost 3) featuring cosmic adventures with a space gnome protagonist; Machinarium, a robot-themed puzzle adventure; Botanicula, a tree-creature adventure; CHUCHEL, a comedy adventure with the band DVA's music; Creaks, an immersive light-reactive puzzle game; Happy Game, a psychedelic horror experience; Pilgrims, a playful adventure with multiple solution paths; Phonopolis, a hand-crafted adventure against an oppressive regime; plus two short web games for external clients (Questionaut for BBC and The Quest For The Rest for The Polyphonic Spree). The company also offers merchandise (vinyl soundtracks, plush toys, apparel, art books) and has produced side projects including a board game adaptation (Pilgrims: Curious Adventures), interactive music videos (Little Buddy Move, Osada), and contributed to the feature film Kooky.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Samorost 1 Short cosmic adventure game featuring the space gnome in his original bite-sized quest, free to play across PC, Mac, and mobile platforms.
• Samorost 2 Cosmic adventure game where players help a space gnome rescue his dog kidnapped by mischievous aliens, available as a Collector's Edition with soundtrack.
• Machinarium The studio's first full-length adventure game where players control a robot exiled to the scrap heap, solving logic puzzles to rescue his robot-girlfriend and save the city.
• Botanicula Humor-filled tree adventure game about five tree creatures saving the last seed of their home tree from evil parasites, featuring music by band DVA.
• Samorost 3 Cosmic exploration adventure and puzzle game where a space gnome uses a magic flute to travel across nine unique alien worlds.
• CHUCHEL Comedy adventure game featuring the hairy hero Chuchel and his rival Kekel on a quest to retrieve a precious cherry, filled with situational humor and music by band DVA.
• Creaks Immersive puzzle game where players descend into a world inhabited by avian folk and deadly furniture monsters, using light-reactive puzzles to navigate.
• Happy Game Psychedelic horror game following a little boy trapped in a horrible nightmare whom players must help make happy again.
• Pilgrims Playful adventure game where players roam freely, make friends, and help travelers complete their stories through multiple solution paths.
• Phonopolis Hand-crafted adventure game where players stand up against an oppressive ruler called The Leader, featuring unique audiovisual design.
• Pilgrims: Curious Adventures (Board Game) Family-friendly board game inspired by the fairy-tale world of the Pilgrims digital game, featuring cards and gameplay mechanics adapted from the original.
• Amanita Design Merchandise Physical merchandise including plush toys, vinyl soundtracks (by Floex, DVA, Hidden Orchestra), t-shirts, collector's boxes, art books, and limited-edition items sold through merch.amanita-design.net.

Quantifiable outcome

• Multiple Webby Award wins and nominations
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• BBCminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2008Amanita Design created 'Questionaut' - a short web game for BBC. The game is an educational adventure combining English, Maths, and Science challenges with the company's distinctive art style.
• The Polyphonic SpreeminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2006Amanita Design created 'The Quest For The Rest' - a short web game for The Polyphonic Spree U.S. rock-pop band, featuring music from their album 'Together We're Heavy'. The game was a promotional collaboration featuring the band's music.
• DVA (band)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOngoing collaboration with Czech band DVA for original music compositions. DVA created music for Botanicula and CHUCHEL. Vinyl soundtracks by DVA are sold through the merchandise store.
• Floex (Tomáš Dvořák)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing collaboration with composer Tomáš 'Floex' Dvořák for original game soundtracks. Created music for Samorost 1 (remastered), Machinarium, and Samorost 3. Vinyl soundtracks by Floex available for Machinarium and Samorost 3.
• Hidden OrchestracoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with Hidden Orchestra for Creaks soundtrack. Also collaborated on 'Little Buddy Move' interactive music video app. Creaksbox is a self-generating soundtrack experience from Hidden Orchestra.
• Ainslie HendersonminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with BAFTA-winning animator Ainslie Henderson and programmer Jan Chlup of Amanita Design for 'Little Buddy Move' interactive music video by Hidden Orchestra.
• Under ByenminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJakub Dvorský created the music video 'Plantage' for Danish post-rock band Under Byen in 2004. The song comes from their album 'Det Er Mig Der Holder Træerne Sammen'.
• Kamil JasmínminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVáclav Blín from Amanita Design created the music video 'Na tu svatbu' for Czech band Kamil Jasmín in 2002. The video won awards at 16th World Festival of Animated Films Zagreb (Student Special Distinction) and Zlínský pes 2004 (Best Music Video).
• Jan SvěrákminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJakub Dvorský designed all puppets and props for Jan Svěrák's 2010 Czech action comedy film 'Kooky' which combines puppet animation, stop motion, and live action. Also illustrated the companion book written by Jan Svěrák.
• Humble BundlecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDigital distribution partnership for game sales through Humble Bundle widgets embedded on the Amanita Design website. Offers various game editions and downloadable content.
• Jaromír PlachýminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAuthor of Botanicula and CHUCHEL who also created 'Shy Dwarf' short web game featured on Amanita's website. Czech animator Jára Plachý is associated with the company's creative ecosystem.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Playdead: Danish indie studio behind Limbo and Inside, two critically acclaimed puzzle-platformers with distinctive visual identity. Closely comparable to Amanita in scale, single-creator-driven design, art-led aesthetic, and premium one-time-purchase pricing across PC and consoles.
• Supergiant Games: California-based indie studio behind Bastion, Transistor, Pyre, Hades, and Hades II. Comparable to Amanita in small team size, hand-crafted art style, deeply integrated original music, narrative-driven gameplay, and premium PC/console distribution without live-service monetization.
• thatgamecompany: Creator of Journey, Flower, and Sky: Children of the Light — art-driven, emotionally focused indie experiences with a strong aesthetic and audio identity. Highly comparable to Amanita's emphasis on audiovisual storytelling and surreal, hand-crafted worlds.
• Studio MDHR: Canadian indie studio behind Cuphead, a hand-animated, art-style-driven action game with a small core team. Comparable to Amanita in its dedication to a distinctive, artisanal visual aesthetic and premium pricing on multi-platform.
• Campo Santo: San Francisco indie studio behind Firewatch and In the Valley of Gods — narrative-driven, art-focused adventure games from a small team. Comparable to Amanita in scope, premium single-player experience focus, and PC/console premium distribution.
• Hello Games: UK indie studio behind No Man's Sky and Joe Danger. Comparable to Amanita as an independent studio with a distinctive creative vision that has expanded a single IP into a multi-year, multi-platform franchise with ongoing revenue.
• Simogo: Swedish two-person indie studio behind Year Walk, Device 6, and Sayonara Wild Hearts — surreal, art-driven, often mobile-first adventure experiences. Closely comparable to Amanita in small team, distinctive aesthetic, and premium mobile/PC adventure catalog.
• Lucas Pope: Independent developer of Papers, Please and Return of the Obra Dinn — two highly acclaimed, art-focused indie titles. Comparable to Amanita as a solo/small-team auteur developer with global critical recognition and premium pricing.

Emerging players

• Nyamyam: UK/Japan-based indie studio behind Tengami and other hand-crafted adventure experiences. Comparable to Amanita in paper-craft-inspired visual aesthetic, small team, and premium adventure genre focus, though with a narrower release history.
• Warp Digital Entertainment: Japanese indie developer of Dandy Dungeon and other narrative-driven mobile games. Comparable to Amanita as a small studio producing distinctive, art-forward experiences for premium mobile and PC distribution.

Market position

Strengths2 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Amanita_Design
• YouTubeyoutube.com/c/amanitadesign/featured
• Facebookfacebook.com/Amanita.Design
• Instagraminstagram.com/amanitadesign_
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/amanita-design-sro

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Amanita Design