The Incredible Machine video game series
Front cover of the “Big Box” CD release for the Mac
A fediverse post showing the CD cover for The Incredible Machine 3 prompted me to write this up. The Incredible Machine, often abbreviated TIM, was a 1990s series of puzzle-solving computer games where players create a Rube Goldberg device. In fact, it seems to be responsible for creating the Rube Goldberg genre. The original TIM was published in 1993, and went on to spawn quite a few sequels, spin-offs, ports, and imitators.
TIM 3 is essentially a port of the DOS game TIM 2 to the GUI operating systems, principally Windows and Mac. The box art for TIM 3 uses Lithos and Modula Sans for the title, and Modular Sans for much of the secondary text. Two very iconic 1990s designs by two very iconic 1990s designers: Carol Twombly and Zuzana Licko respectively.
Artwork for the earlier versions relies on the obvious LTypi: ITC Machine. And since this is clearly a 1990s post, I had to show the interior of the manual for TIM 2 which features another landmark of the 1990s: Remedy.
Splashscreen for the original DOS version. Note the wordmark that’s based on modified ITC Machine.
The splashscreen for The Incredible Machine 2 is a much more straightforward LTypI.
Front cover of the manual for The Incredible Machine 2, using ITC Machine.
A right-hand page from the interior of the manual for The Incredible Machine 2, showing typical typography. Remedy is used throughout the manual for titles and subtitles.
