Incredibox

Part game, part tool, part toy, Incredibox is a music-making app in which the user can create a mix by managing a group of 7 animated beatboxers. Once one of the available 7 versions (or styles) has been chosen, the player finds himself or herself in front of an interface made up of seven blank characters and twenty sound icons. These icons are divided into the following categories (four for each of them): beats, effects, melodies and voices. Each icon is a unique a cappella sound loop to drag-and-drop onto the characters from a range of hats, sunglasses, masks, headphones or other items that dress them as they are used and let them sing in rhythm with each other. At this point to fine-tune his mix, the player can also swap out new sounds, mute sounds, do a solo on one of them, find combos to unlock animated bonuses and record all those interactions to share it on social media via an URL. Then contributors can listen and vote their favorite tracks all the way to the Top 50 chart of Incredibox. And for those who just want to listen to an endless mix, an automatic mode can play the loops of each version at random.[1]

In 2009, Allan Durand (director / programmer), Romain Delambily (graphic designer) and Paul Malburet (musician composer, known as Incredible Polo) wanted to mix their skills to create an interactive experience about music. They released the game online on August 16, 2009 as a Flash game for web browser.[3] During the year 2010, Incredibox got a lot of visitors from all around the world, 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.[4] They decided to work halftime on creative projects for customers and halftime on Incredibox. During the next three years, the Incredibox web page was updated three times by SFSG with three new redesigned versions of the game, Little Miss (March 2012), Sunrise (October 2013), and The Love (November 2014), each time integrating new sounds, new character designs and new features like a recording mode allowing users to share their mix via an URL, or by adding colors on characters and unique accessories to better identify each sound.[5]

In 2016, the game was finally developed into a mobile app. It was first released for iOS users on March 27 for the iPad, and soon was made available for the iPhone on September 19. To go along with the new mobile app's release, SFSG decided to create an exclusive 5th version entitled, Brazil on May 26. In December 15, 2017, the game was made available to Android users and released on Google Play.[6] In March 5, 2018, a new exclusive 6th version known as Alive was added to the apps.[7] In June 26, a remastered version of the original flash game was released on the Incredibox website under the new name, Alpha. It was then later added to the apps on September 26. A desktop version of the game was published on the Mac App Store on November 15, and on the Microsoft Store on December 5. In March 18, 2019, the Incredibox website has been updated with a new interface, revised design and fresh new gameplay. The new web version has the same design layout as the apps, but the concept of it was shown as a demo, which let users play only the first four versions, while the remaining versions cannot be played on the new website. The Top 50 chart can also be viewed on the website with all versions, including the exclusive versions, by many app users all over the world.

On June 24, a new exclusive 7th version called Jeevan was added to the 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 January 15, 2020, the official Incredibox Youtube page released videos of all the Incredibox bonuses from V1 to V7, each one complete with lyrics in their descriptions. On April 28, they added Dark mode & parental controls in their settings panel section for the apps.

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[8] 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.[9]

In 2012, the updated web page with Incredibox 2.0 (later known as Little Miss) became instantly so popular, that, after 600,000 visits in one day, the server crashed on April 13.[10] During this week, the word "Incredibox" was the search term with "the most significant growth worldwide", as measured by Google Insights.[11] 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,[12][13][14] while others praised the innovative and creative approach of the interface: Slate's Forrest Wickman wrote that Incredibox was "wonderfully surreal",[15] 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".[16] 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".[17]

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[18] by allowing children to explore a less conventional form of music.[1] In an app selection of the HuffPost, Shira Lee Katz said that "kids are encouraged to experiment freely"[19] 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".[20] 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.[21]

In July 2014, Incredibox made a partnership with AXE to promote the AXE Boat Festival in France by creating an exclusive version of the game entitled Mix For Peace.[22] Some of the element designs from the campaign were later reused in the fourth version, The Love.

In March 2017, Incredibox made another partnership with M&M's by creating a version of the game entitled Bite-Size Beats, featuring 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.[23] In August, they extended the partnership with the singer Jessie J to unveil the 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.[24] The advertising campaign was later nominated for the 2018 Webby Awards in the mobile-campaigns category.[25]

• AASL (American Association of School Librarians) - 2018 Best Apps for Teaching & Learning - June 2018.[21]
• The FWA (Favorite Website Awards) - Mobile of the day - May 2016.[26]
• The Shenzen Design Awards for Young Talents - Merit Award - September 2013.[27]
• The Lovie Awards - Bronze Award (Weird/Experimental) and People's Lovie Award - November 2010.[28]
• The Dope Awards - Web Award - September 2009.
• The Design Licks - Website of the day - September 2009.
• The FWA (Favorite Website Awards) - Website of the day - September 2009.

• Official website
• So Far So Good company website