Development
In 2006, three French friends from Saint-Étienne, Allan Durand, (director / programmer) Romain Delambily, (graphic designer) and Paul Malburet, (musician, known as Incredible Polo) wanted to mix their skills to create an interactive experience about music. So the team worked on this idea for several months. They made the project they needed using computer programs from scratch, such as graphic design, music, game design, code, animation, etc.
After many days and nights, they finally finished the game, Incredibox, and release it online on August 16, 2009, as a Flash game for web browser. [7] The flash game has five categories; Instruments, Percussion, Effects, Voice, and Chorus. The animated bonuses appears automatically, when the player is constantly drag-and-drops symbols onto the characters. During the following year, the flash game has gotten a lot of visitors from all around the world, with really cool recognitions and very good feedback from users.
In July 2011, the team decided to set up their French company, So Far So Good, which specialized in graphic design and multimedia to continue to develop their idea and "try to transform Incredibox into a professional project" as it is explained by Allan (also director of SFSG) in a video interview. [8] They decided to work half time on creative projects for customers and half time on Incredibox. The team set up their official web page and begin going into development of a new version of Incredibox, which became more revolutionary and completely changed the design and mechanics of the game.
On March 1, 2012, They launched a second version of Incredibox, Little Miss, which was added to their web page. A third version, Sunrise, was added on October 26, 2013, and a fourth version, The Love, was added on November 12, 2014. Each version integrates with new sounds, new character designs and new features like a recording mode, allowing users to share their mix via a URL, or by adding colors on characters and unique accessories to better identify each sound. [9]
On March 28, 2016, SFSG have released a iOS mobile app of the game only for the iPad. To go along with the new mobile app's release, they created a new fifth version, Brazil. It was added on May 28, becoming the first version to be made exclusively for the mobile app. The iOS app was then later updated on September 19, so that it now runs both on the iPad and the iPhone. The game was made available to Android users and was released on Google Play on December 15, 2017. [10]
On March 5, 2018, a new exclusive sixth version, Alive, was added to the mobile apps. [11] On April 14, the game was made available to download on the Amazon Appstore. On June 26, they released a remastered first version for their website under its new name, Alpha. This new version, kept the same elements from the original, but with new improved sound and design of their characters and bonuses. It was added to the mobile apps on September 26. A desktop version of the game was published for the Mac App Store on November 15, and for the Microsoft Store on December 5.
On March 18, 2019, their official website has been updated with a new interface, revised design and fresh new gameplay. The website now features a demo section with featured the same layout just as the paid apps, but users can only play the versions: Alpha, Little Miss, Sunrise, and The Love. The Top 50 chart has can also be viewed on their website showcasing all versions, including the exclusive versions, by many app users all over the world.
On June 24, a new exclusive seventh version, Jeevan, was added to their apps. On September 20, both SFSG & Incredible Polo released a digital music album called Incredibox: 10th Anniversary. This album is a remastered collection of all the 7 versions of Incredibox, celebrating its 10th anniversary. A limited edition 12" Vinyl was released on November 25, while a physical CD was released on December 11.
On December 1, 2020, a new exclusive eighth version, Dystopia, was added to their apps. A remastered music single of Dystopia was released by SFSG & Incredible Polo on March 11, 2021. The game was made available on Steam on April 30. [13] At the same time, they created an exclusive short film of the whole Dystopia story, with a brand new soundtrack & sound FX, different than from the game, and was released on their official YouTube page. [14]
On July 2, 2021, the Incredibox app has reached 1 million sales across all stores. On September 6, Incredibox announced a new music album from SFSG & Incredible Polo called Incredibox: The Unreleased. This album of 9 tracks was made during many of the Incredibox's demo phases. The digital album was released on October 1, while the physical CD including the limited edition 12" Vinyl was released February 1, 2022.
On February 3, Incredibox announced a special new service called, Incredibox for Schools. This education version of the game is designed for schools in which students and teachers can use via directly from the internet. On January 1, 2023, the Incredibox app has reached 2 million sales across all stores. On April 29, a new exclusive ninth version, Wekiddy, was added to the apps. A remastered music single of Wekiddy was released by SFSG & Incredible Polo on September 15.
Reception
In 2009, shortly after its launch on web browser, Incredibox was featured on the FWA (Favorite Website Awards) as "Site of the Day" on September 15 [15] and later FWA's founder Rob Ford announced that "this site will give you that coolness you have always desired" in a newsletter from Adobe in December. [16]
In 2012, the updated web page with Incredibox 2.0 (later known as Little Miss) became instantly popular, that, after 600,000 visits in one day, the server crashed on April 13. [17] During this week, the word "Incredibox" was the search term with "the most significant growth worldwide", as measured by Google Insights. [18] At that time the success was partly due to the fact that several media like Vice, Jayisgames or Kotaku enjoyed the "simple" and "fun" concept of Incredibox, [19] [20] [21] while others praised the innovative and creative approach of the interface: Slate's Forrest Wickman wrote that Incredibox was "wonderfully surreal", [22] and in the meantime on Gizmodo Eliot Van Buskirk said that "as a demonstration of outside the box thinking about how to promote a song, Incredibox is impressive". [23] During the BBC technology show Click on November 17, 2012, Kate Russell described Incredibox as a "brilliant browser sequencer" and explained that users "don’t need to be a musical genius, as it’s pretty much impossible to make something that sounds bad". [24]
Since 2016 and the mobile app release, Incredibox seemed to be also appreciated by parents and teachers who found the game concept to be an educative way to promote creativity and experimentation [25] by allowing children to explore a less conventional form of music. [3] In an app selection of the HuffPost, Shira Lee Katz said that "kids are encouraged to experiment freely" [26] and Polly Conway explained on Common Sense Media that Incredibox appeared to be a "fun" app to play around with, but that it was "teaching music and composition skills at the same time". [27] In June 2018 Incredibox was awarded by AASL (American Association of School Librarians) as one of the "Best Apps for Teaching & Learning" during the ALA annual conference in New Orleans. [28]
Partnerships
On July 15, 2014, Incredibox made a partnership with AXE to promote the AXE Boat Festival in France by creating an exclusive limited version of the game entitled, Mix For Peace. [29] After this partnership ended, most of the element designs and sounds from the campaign, were later spawned into the fourth version, The Love.
On February 28, 2017, Incredibox made another partnership with M&M's by creating a version of the game entitled Bite-Size Beats. This version featured the M&M's characters (Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Orange and Brown) singing beatbox sound loops based on how users arrange them on screen, then the brand aired user-generated beats as TV commercials. [30] On August 7, they extended this partnership with the help of singer, Jessie J, to unveil her song, "Real Deal," from her fourth album, R.O.S.E.. After finding a combo, fans were able to unlock a snippet of the song as an animated bonus made like a short video clip featuring Jessie J, Red, Yellow and Incredibox's avatar. [31] The advertising campaign was later nominated for the 2018 Webby Awards in the mobile-campaigns category. [32]
