History VideoGame / TheIncredibleMachine

* HairTriggerExplosive: ''[=TIM2=]'' introduces Nitroglycerin Vials, [[CriticalResearchFailure erroneously depicted here as a low explosive, as opposed to a high explosive]]. This can be demonstrated by dropping a vial on a Blimp, which has a different "destroyed" animation depending on whether it came in contact with sharp objects or fire. Nitroglycerin, being a high explosive, should destroy the blimp with sharpness (a combination of flying glass shards and droplets moving faster than the speed of sound). Instead, nitroglycerin burns the blimp.

* FrickinLaserBeams: {{Averted}}. Introduced in ''[=TIM2=]'', Laser Guns fire one-pixel-wide beams of light. The beam travels from the gun to its destination in one frame (i.e. as close to the speed of light that the game can simulate). If the beam is cut off by an object passing through, the beam past that point disappears immediately; when the blockage is removed, it reappears just as quickly. Laser beams also have no knockback, since they are made of mass-less light. That said, real lasers still wouldn't have a beam visible from the side unless the room was ''very'' dusty, smoky, or foggy, but hey, [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality points for trying.]]
** Played straight with the Toy Phazer, though, whose projectiles travel slower-than-light and have plenty of knockback. See FamilyFriendlyFirearms above for a possible explanation why.

* GuideDangIt: Level 22 on "Hard" in ''[=TIM2=]'', "Jolly Jolly Jumpin' Jack". The same level is also level 30 on "Difficult" in ''Return of the Incredible Machine: Contraptions.'' The mechanic the game uses in this level makes absolutely ''no'' physical sense, has ''never'' been taught and ''never'' appears anywhere else in the game. [[TakeAThirdOption Thank God for alternative solutions.]]

* MadeOfIron: The small human character can withstand just about anything aside from being eaten.
** Falling too far will knock him out, though. (Either that or trigger the character's latent narcolepsy, since it's represented as "[[StealthPun falling asleep]]".)

*** Medium #19: [[Literature/OfMiceAndMen Of Mice And Mel]]

* GameBreakingBug: in Expert 10, "Sky Skipper" in ''The Incredible Machine: Even More Contraptions'' you have to fulfill several goals, one of which is to bonk Mandrill on the head. This has to be the absolute last goal you fulfill, or at least close to that. The game only checks for the Mandrill's current state, so if by the end of your solution he's back in his "sitting" state, you're out of luck - the game will never acknowledge your solution. This has caused many players to consult walkthroughs on this one level, never understanding why their solution refuses to work.

A Puzzle Game developed by Creator/{{Dynamix}} and published by [[{{Creator/Sierra}} Sierra Online]] in 1992, ''The Incredible Machine'' (AKA "[[FunWithAcronyms TIM]]") centers around the construction of [[RubeGoldbergDevice Rube Goldberg Devices]]. The player is provided with a predetermined set of parts to use in order to achieve the given objective. There are over 100 puzzles to complete, each of varying difficulty, but custom puzzles and machines can also be made (with full access to all the parts in the game). Many parts are available, ranging from the simple (gears and ropes) to the downright bizarre (alligators and blimps).

The game's family-friendly quality and subtle moments of humor and satisfaction led to widespread popularity. Over the course of nine years, seven more titles were released, and the series has since been a recipient of several awards.

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--> "Wipe that [[IncrediblyLamePun puzzled]] look off your face. It's just a game, mon!"

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Despite being a physics game, fundamental laws are broken right and left.

** The anti-gravity device, which normally makes objects float, acts like a magnet for the balloons. In reality, the balloons would still be floating away like every other object because gravity still affect helium, just not as much as other gases. Maybe it's supposed to be RuleOfFunny.
*** Actually, air is also affected by anti-gravity pad. Because of Archimedes principle, balloon will "float" upside down in air until it collides with anti-gravity pad. Because surrounding air will fill up space, that is empty, as air will float up, balloon will continue to fall, instead of floating up as other objects.

* RubeGoldbergDevice: the entire idea behind the game.

** You can ''shoot the cat with a pistol''. Admittedly, the cat doesn't die or get injured, but ''still'''.

** Heck, on some levels you can ''shoot the cat with a pistol''. Admittedly, the cat doesn't die or get injured, but still.

* FrickinLaserBeams: {{Averted}}. Introduced in ''[=TIM2=]'', Laser Guns fire one-pixel-wide beams of light. The beam travels from the gun to its destination in one frame (i.e. as close to the speed of light that the game can simulate). If the beam is cut off by an object passing through, the beam past that point disappears immediately; when the blockage is removed, it reappears just as quickly. Laser beams also have no knockback, since they are made of mass-less light. Real lasers still wouldn't have a beam visible from the side unless the room was ''very'' dusty, smoky, or foggy, but hey, [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality points for trying.]]

->''[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill "Blow up the fish tank with the missile."]]''

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Feeding Mel to the Alligator, feeding the cat the mouse, breaking the fish tank.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first game has a vastly different art style from all the others. Later on, the Contraptions games did have an ArtShift in comparison to ''TIM2'' but it wasn't nearly as huge.

** The creatures were named differently. Do you recognize Pokey, Mort, and Kelly? If you've only played the sequels, you know them as Curie, Newton and Pavlov Mandrill. The fish also had a name, Bob. The later games didn't have a name.

* FrickinLaserBeams: {{Averted}}. Introduced in ''[=TIM2=]'', Laser Guns fire one-pixel-wide beams of light. The beam travels from the gun to its destination in one frame (i.e. as close to the speed of light that the game can simulate). If the beam is cut off by an object passing through, the beam past that point disappears immediately; when the blockage is removed, it reappears just as quickly. Laser beams also have no knockback, since they are made of light. Real lasers still wouldn't have a beam visible from the side unless the room was ''very'' dusty or foggy, but [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality points for trying.]]

* FrickinLaserBeams: {{Averted}}. Introduced in ''[=TIM2=]'', Laser Guns fire one-pixel-wide beams of light. The beam travels from the gun to its destination in one frame (i.e. as close to the speed of light that the game can simulate). If the beam is cut off by an object passing through, the beam past that point disappears immediately; when the blockage is removed, it reappears just as quickly. Laser beams also have no knockback, since they are made of light.

** Played straight with the Toy Phazer, though, whose projectiles travel slower-than-light and have plenty of knockback.

** The Super Ball of ''[=TIM2=]'' and ''3'' somehow ''gains'' momentum with each bounce, in blatant defiance of real-world physics. In fact, it's so bouncy that the ball will take to the air, even if you set it precisely on top of a flat surface. It can't even be {{Hand Wave}}d as being made of some sort of {{Unobtanium}}; if you take a customizable ball and simply set its Elasticity to maximum, leaving all other properties alone, it too will gain momentum with each bounce. Needless to say, nothing can generate momentum on its own simply by being super-elastic. Well, unless it's [[TheAbsentMindedProfessor flubber]].

For the more modern variant, see ''VideoGame/CrazyMachines''or the SpiritualSuccessor from the team that worked on the original game, called ''[[http://contraptionmaker.com/ Contraption Maker]]''.