I believe you will enjoy the experience, even if it is somewhat dissimilar.

In the Incredible Machine, you have a limited number of devices with specific ways to influence each other, and the game teaches you these before you can go and build contraptions with them. The aim of the game is to become a master of these devices. Bascially, it's a sandbox game, and the levels are there to give you something to do.

In Rube Works, the aim is always to build a specific Rube Goldberg machine (or one of its shortcuts), and the devices you get for this are rarely the same. Well, some basic mechanisms like the see-saw, stings and belts repeat, but with each level, you'll get a lot of items that you'll need to figure out before you can use them. (There is a hint system, but testing it out until you get it right is more fun.) In that regard it's a bit more of a brain bender than the Incredible Machine is.

Rube Works is also funnier, because you build "real-life" applications, not simply "get that ball from A to Z", and the resulting contraptions are simultaneously logical and ludicrous, exactly like the original Rube Goldberg cartoons. This element of ludicrosity is mostly absent from the Incredible Machine.

Rube Works has only 18 levels, but then it' doesn't cost much, either.

Originally posted by mendel:

Rube Works is also funnier, because you build "real-life" applications, not simply "get that ball from A to Z", and the resulting contraptions are simultaneously logical and ludicrous, exactly like the original Rube Goldberg cartoons. This element of ludicrosity is mostly absent from the Incredible Machine.

I love your description! Well done! And I think you captured the essence of Rube Works. I think TIM also got its inspiration from Rube Goldberg's cartoons since it did have a couple of animals in it (cat, mouse, ??), but it's intent was primarily the chain reaction you'd build.

In Rube Works, the main intent is actually humor... the same wacky, ludicrous humor that Rube Goldberg was so famous for. We had a big advantage there since we could actually start with his cartoons and build upon them.

Note that levels 1-12 are based on Rube's actual cartoons. Levels 13-18 are original contraptions that we designed. Actually, we had two Rube Goldberg Machine experts design these. Joseph Herscher[josephherscher.com], known for his wonderful The Page Turner, and Zach Umperovitch[www.purdue.edu], who led Purdue University's team to victory at multiple Rube Goldberg Machine Contests over the past years and led up the judging at the last two contests.

Originally posted by DavidBFox:

Note that levels 1-12 are based on Rube's actual cartoons. Levels 13-18 are original contraptions that we designed.

I didn't know that, thanks for the information!

I'm actually reluctant to solve all of the levels in one go. I'm saving them to do one or two a day.

Originally posted by mendel:

I'm actually reluctant to solve all of the levels in one go. I'm saving them to do one or two a day.

Impressive self-control, there! LIke savoring your Halloween candy over several weeks.

If you're specifically interested in something that replicates the feeling of TIM, the original creators of it currently have a game in Steam Early Access called "Contraption Maker". It's the same project lead, same overall dev team, same musical artist, etc. and it's coming along very nicely (including Steam Workshop support and enormous amounts of objects and scenery allowed).

Originally posted by jeffrey:

Not really... some people find it funny and interesting, but most of my students find it dead boring. It also feels unfinished. The physics are also much more unrealistic in Rube Goldworks.
Crazy Machines, and Contraption Maker are much better for younger kids. They're much more like the Incredible Machine. While they physics aren't "realistic" in the games, they're at least cute and funny.

Sorry to hear that your students aren't enjoying Rube Works! What grade are they? We've had wonderful feedback from students and teachers from around grades 2 through 8. I don't know of any high school kids that are playing it, but guessing there's a point where they'd think they were too cool for the game.

And yes, Rube Works is more about the puzzle-solving aspects of building Rube Goldberg machines rather than "realistic physics". More like "cartoon physics" here.

I like the constantly conflicting information in this thread.

I also like how terrible you people are for thinking this game is "funny". Demonstrate that in the trailers/screenshots, then. the incredible machine had plenty of "funny" moments, and I love that bias that shows you haven't even played beyond the first few puzzles since you think it's Bad Rats.