The Incredible Machine is a unique game for DOS where you need to solve a series of puzzles consisting of incomplete Rube Goldberg machines. By placing the available pieces (or a subset thereof) in the correct place, the machine can run and accomplish the goal posed by the puzzle.

Here I solve every single of the 87 puzzles in the fastest way possible. For some, there is no other solution than the one imagined by the puzzle maker. In others, however, some hacking and lateral thinking allows for quicker solution with a minimal set of changes to the initial state.

I base many of the inputs on the solutions by the current RTA WR holder, Baldnate. His solutions, perhaps also inspired by others, are many times very ingenious. However, I was able to improve on many of them by finding faster alternatives or simply by not adding safe strats that he adds to not get stuck on optimizing a particular level.

In terms of execution, I try to be as efficient as possible with the mouse, but I did not obsess with it. A few frames here and there could be saved by better mousing, but for me that would have made the process very tedious. I prioritized optimizing the solutions themselves. Besides that, the CPU requires some time between actions (you cannot simply grab and place an object immediately), so that contributes to waiting time.

This was a very fun game to TAS and hope you enjoy the puzzles!

https://www.goodolddays.net/en/diskimages/?id=821

DrD2k9: Claiming for judging.

DrD2k9: Delaying pending improvements.

DrD2k9: Cancelling. We realized that the game will run more smoothly with the 1993 preset in the DOS settings (eien86 thought he had tested this, but had tested the 1994 preset where the game didn't work). The 1993 preset will be smoother, faster, and more accurate to when this game was released than the 1991 preset which was used in this submission. We also anticipate improvements in mouse movements and some possible solution improvements as well. We will re-submit once everything is updated, but aren't sure when that will be.

Also, since all the stages from this game are included in The Even More Incredible Machine, we are going to consider the two releases as different versions of the same game. Thus we will only have one new submission forthcoming. Since there is nothing unique about this game, we don't see a reason it needs a stand alone publication (though if site consensus would disagree, we would submit an updated version of this game, too).