The Incredible Machine (series)

The Incredible Machine is a series of video games that were originally designed and coded by Kevin Ryan and produced by Jeff Tunnell, the now-defunct Jeff Tunnell Productions, and published by Dynamix; the 1993 through 1995 versions had the same development team, but the later 2000–2001 titles had different designers. All versions were published by Sierra Entertainment. The entire series and intellectual property were acquired by Jeff Tunnell-founded PushButton Labs in October 2009.^[1] Pushbutton Labs was later acquired by Playdom, itself a division of Disney Interactive, so as of now the rights are held by The Walt Disney Company.

In 2013, Jeff Tunnell announced a new game, called Contraption Maker, that would be the spiritual successor to the Incredible Machine series. Contraption Maker was produced by Spotkin Games, a company founded by Jeff Tunnell, and featured the same developers of the original Incredible Machine. It was released through Steam for Windows and OS X on July 7, 2014.^[2]

Gameplay

The general goal of the games is to create a series of Rube Goldberg devices: arrange a given collection of objects in a needlessly complex fashion so as to perform some simple task (e.g., "put the ball into a box" or "start a mixer & turn on a fan"). Available objects ranged from simple ropes and pulleys to electrical generators, bowling balls, and even cats and mice to humans, most of which had specific interactions with or reactions to other objects (for example, mice will run towards nearby cheese). The levels usually have some fixed objects that cannot be moved by the player, and so the only way to solve the puzzle is carefully arrange the given objects around the fixed items. There is also a "freeform" option that allows the user to "play" with all the objects with no set goal or to also build their own puzzles with goals for other players to attempt to solve.

Notably, the games simulated not only the physical interactions between objects, but also ambient effects like varying air pressure and gravity. The engine does not use a random number generator in its physics simulation, ensuring that the results for any given machine are reproducible. There are also hints: for example, "Place the toaster here" or "We need to move that cat with a conveyor belt".

Versions

The series featured the following versions:

• The Incredible Machine (1993, DOS/Macintosh/3DO)
• The Even More Incredible Machine (1993, DOS/Microsoft Windows, Macintosh)
• Sid & Al's Incredible Toons (1993, DOS)
• The Incredible Toon Machine (1994, Microsoft Windows, Macintosh)
• The Incredible Machine 2 (1994, DOS/Microsoft Windows, Macintosh)
• The Incredible Machine 3 (1995, Microsoft Windows/Macintosh)
• Arthur to Astaroth no Nazomakaimura: Incredible Toons (1996, PlayStation/Sega Saturn)
• Return of the Incredible Machine: Contraptions (2000, Microsoft Windows/Macintosh)
• The Incredible Machine: Even More Contraptions (2001, Microsoft Windows/Macintosh)
• The Incredible Machine (2011, Apple iPad)

The developers of the series have been criticized by fans for recycling content, specifically all the games after The Incredible Machine 2, rather than creating new additions to the games.

With the addition of The Incredible Machine for iPad/iPhone, the game includes new art, sounds, and levels.

The Incredible Machine

The Incredible Machine, the first game in the series, was originally going to be developed by Electronic Arts for the Commodore 64 in 1984, but Dynamix worked on Arcticfox for the Amiga instead and work did not start on The Incredible Machine until the spring of 1993. Kevin Ryan programmed The Incredible Machine in nine months, on a $36,000 budget.^[3] The Even More Incredible Machine was an extended version of the original The Incredible Machine and had 160 levels, about twice the number of levels in the original game, and also had quite a few more parts.

The Incredible Machine 2

The Incredible Machine 2 introduced new levels, an extended assortment of parts, a new interface, significantly improved graphics, sounds, and music, and two player hotseat play. It also improved on the "freeform" mode, allowing players to create completely playable puzzles by defining not only the participating parts, but also the set of circumstances under which the puzzle will be considered "solved". In terms of gameplay, this version provided the biggest addition to the series, while subsequent updates were basically only ports of the game to newer operating systems with updated graphics/sounds and sometimes new puzzles, but no new parts.

The Incredible Machine 3

The Incredible Machine 3, on some releases titled Professor Tim's Incredible Machines, contained the same levels as The Incredible Machine 2, but with an improved interface. It added extra features as well like CD music tracks.

Return of the Incredible Machine: Contraptions

Return of the Incredible Machine: Contraptions was released in 2000. As a full 32-bit Windows 95 game, it had new 800x600 resolution graphics.^[4] Although it had a few new levels, the majority of them were levels from The Incredible Machine 2.^[5]

The Incredible Machine: Even More Contraptions

Even More Contraptions started a service allowing players to share their homemade puzzles using a service called "WonSwap". Even More Contraptions also came with a Palm Pilot version of the game that contained its own unique set of parts and puzzles suited for a small screen.

Incredible Toons

Sid & Al's Incredible Toons and The Incredible Toon Machine are not an official part of the series, but are essentially a cartoon version of the same concept, created by Chris Cole.

The Incredible Machine (iPad/iPhone)

The Incredible Machine for iPad/iPhone is the first version in the series to be developed and released by Disney for the AppStore. This revamped version contains new art, sounds, and levels, as well as a redesigned user interface to make it easy to use on touch screens. Disney announced and released The Incredible Machine on June 8, 2011 at E3 in Los Angeles, CA. This version lacks the demo mode that the previous versions included. Both iPads and iPhones are supported and freeplay mode is reportedly on the way. The app has been retired from the app store as a decision made by Disney.^[6]

Reception

Critical reception

Computer Gaming World in 1993 stated that "The Even More Incredible Machine lives up to its billing, surpassing the original in terms of play value, if not presentation."^[12]

IGN described Return of the Incredible Machine: Contraptions as "a vintage blend of educational and entertainment software at their finest".^[10]

Reviewing The Incredible Machine 2, Gary Meredith of PC Gamer US wrote, "In every way, TIM2 is an improvement, keeping the best parts of the original yet giving the player more options and flexibility." He summarized it as "a game that's as rewarding as it is challenging."^[11] The Incredible Machine 2 won Computer Gaming World's Readers' Choice award for the best "Classics/Puzzles" game of 1995, although it was not among the editors' nominees.^[13]

Availability

The Incredible Machine: Even More Contraptions was included in the 2005 edition of Hoyle Puzzle Games as a bonus game.

A mobile phone version was developed by Mobile Interactions Group^[14] and published by Vivendi Games Mobile^[15] in 2006.

The original game was announced for a download release on Xbox Live Arcade, but it was later cancelled.

The Incredible Machine Mega Pack (which includes Even More Incredible Machine, The Incredible Machine 3, Return of the Incredible Machine: Contraptions, and The Incredible Machine: Even More Contraptions) was published by Playdom and released on GOG.com on October 1, 2009.^[16]

A new iPad/iPhone version was released in the Apple AppStore on June 8, 2011.^[6]

Contraption Maker

On May 13, 2013, Tunnell announced work was started on a new game, called Contraption Maker, which is billed as a "spiritual successor" to the Incredible Machine series. Kevin Ryan and Brian Hahn, the other two developers on the original game, would be working on Contraption Maker as well, along with other developers at Spotkin, a video game development company started by Tunnell.^[17][18][19]

Contraption Maker features improved "HD" graphics, and has a robust physics engine. The game features 140 official puzzles, and over 100 different parts. It also has Steam Workshop support, so users can create and share their own puzzles.^[20][21]

Beside puzzles the game has contraption mode where a player only need to press 'Start' and watch someone's machine at work.

The game was first released on Steam through its Early Access program on August 28, 2013.^[22][23] Throughout its time in the program, Contraption Maker had 6 Alpha releases, adding features such as multiplayer and copy-and-paste, new parts, and new puzzles, followed by a Beta release in May 2014. On July 7, 2014, a final (1.0) release was made, and Contraption Maker left the Steam Early Access program.^[2]

References

External links

• The Incredible Machine series at MobyGames
• The Even More Incredible Machine can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive