The Incredible Machine
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The Incredible Machine is a series of computer games originally designed by Jeff Tunnell, developed by now-defunct Jeff Tunnell Productions and published by Dynamix; later titles had different designers and were published by Sierra Entertainment. The general objective 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 (for example, "put the ball into a box" or "light a candle"). Available objects ranged from simple ropes and pulleys to electrical generators, bowling balls and even cats and mice. 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.
The series featured the following games:
- The Incredible Machine (1993)
- The Even More Incredible Machine (1993)
- The Incredible Machine 2 (1994)
- The Incredible Machine 3 (1995)
- Return of The Incredible Machine: Contraptions (2000)
- The Incredible Machine: Even More Contraptions (2001)
Sid and Al's Incredible Toons was not an official part of the series, but is essentially a cartoon version of the same concept.
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 a use random number generator in its simulation of physics, assuring that the results for any given "machine" are reproducible.
The Incredible Machine was the winner of several prizes due to its innovative style and simulation abilities. It was innovative enough, in fact, that it earned Jeff Tunnell a patent [1] (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?TERM1=5577185&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&r=0&l=50&f=S&d=PALL) for the game concepts.
Games from The Incredible Machine series are now very difficult to find. The original publisher, Dynamix, was closed in 2001 by parent company Sierra, who was in turn scrapped in 2004 by its parent, Vivendi Universal.
See also
External links
- Chain Reaction (http://www.garagegames.com/pg/product/view.php?id=7) — A modernization of The Incredible Machine
- The Incredible Machine series in the MobyGames archive (http://www.mobygames.com/game_group/sheet/gameGroupId,311/)
- Download The Incredible Machines 1 (http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=537)
- Download The Incredible Machines 2 (http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=538)
- Download The Incredible Toon Machine (http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=2568)fr:The Incredible Machine