The Incredible Machine video game series
Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.
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.
Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.
Splashscreen for the original DOS version. Note the wordmark that’s based on modified ITC Machine.
Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.
The splashscreen for The Incredible Machine 2 is a much more straightforward LTypI.
Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.
Front cover of the manual for The Incredible Machine 2, using ITC Machine.
Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.
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.
This post was originally published at Fonts In Use