The Incredible Machine

The Incredible Machine (Also known as TIM for short) was part of a series of computer games that was both created and coded by Kevin Ryan and produced by Jeff Tunnell.This game was created in 1993, created within 9 months on a budget of $36,000The entire series includes:

• The Incredible Machine

• The Incredible Machine 2

• The Incredible Machine 3

• The Return of The Incredible Machine (Contraptions) 

• The Incredible Machine (Even more contraptions)

• Incredible Toons

• The Incredible Machine (iPad/iPhone)

The main goal of the games is to create a series of Rube Goldberg devices ( a contraption, invention, device or apparatus that is deliberately over-engineered to perform a simple task in a complicated fashion, generally including a chain reaction) then arrange a given collection of objects  complex fashion so as to perform some simple task (turning on fan, turning off a fan, turning on a compute, etc)

The available objects to preform the tasks range from ropes, bowling balls to electrical objects, even animals and humans. These living objects have specific interactions with other objects. For example, a mouse will run towards the cheese and a cat will run towards the mouse.Some levels won't allow the user to move objects already in a set place.There is also a free level where players can add and move objects freely to create anything they want with no set goal.Not only does the game stimulate physical interactions between objects but also ambient effects relating to gravity, air pressure, weight, etc.For users struggling to guess the goal of the level, the game gives hints. Such as "We must get the toaster working"  An example of a level can be seen in this YouTube cliphttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ougLL79f85I&list=PLZOK8A4t81FPZLMU_rBXkcofq4u8R68L7

Overall, this game gave many hours of fun. A great way to fill in time before the Web2.0Although some levels did get on the nerves because they were too hard or an object was placed 1mm in the wrong spot, resulting in the  goal not achieved :( Or you couldn't figure out how to achieve the goal and had to ask for another hint or get the game to complete the level for you (If this happened to you, then you know how this felt)