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. 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.

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. Available objects range from simple ropes and pulleys to electrical generators, bowling balls, and even cats and mice to humans, most of which have specific interactions with or reactions to other objects. The levels usually have some fixed objects that cannot be moved by the player, and so the only way to solve the puzzle is to 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 simulate 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.

Versions

The series featured the following versions:
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. 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 has new 800x600 resolution graphics. Although it has a few new levels, the majority of them are levels from The Incredible Machine 2.

''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.

Reception

Computer Gaming World Ed Dille 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." Neil Harris reported in the magazine in 1994 that showing The Incredible Machine to an engineer friend caused "a chain reaction that brought productive work to a halt at a major naval yard".
IGN described Return of the Incredible Machine: Contraptions as "a vintage blend of educational and entertainment software at their finest".
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.

Legacy

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 and published by Vivendi Games Mobile 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 was published by Playdom and released on GOG.com on October 1, 2009.
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.

iOS

The Incredible Machine for iOS was the first version in the series to be developed and released by Disney for the AppStore. This revamped version contained new art, sounds, and levels, as well as a redesigned user interface. Disney announced and released The Incredible Machine on June 8, 2011 at E3 in Los Angeles, CA. The app has been retired from the app store as a decision made by Disney.

''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.
Contraption Maker features improved "HD" graphics, and has a robust physics engine. The game features over 200 official puzzles and over 100 different parts. It also has Steam Workshop support, so users can create and share their own puzzles.
The game was first released on Steam through its Early Access program on August 28, 2013. 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 release was made, and Contraption Maker left the Steam Early Access program.