Factsheet
Developer:
max.krieger
Based in United States
Release date:
March 24 2017
Website:
indiedb.com/games/train
Description
Train is a narrative-driven, conversation-based art game about journeys, destinations, and reconciling perspectives. Touching upon difficult social topics such as socioeconomic inequality and privilege, Train seeks to help players connect to those topics by showing how they impact people's lives, told through an organic, rocky, human narrative. The game's unique Topic Bubble conversation system seeks to more organically model human conversation in the hopes of challenging player perceptions of NPCs, and a "short film compilation"-style collection of minigames features mechanics relevant to the narrative in order to create an emotional connection with the player in a way that only video games can.
History
Train began as a student project at DePaul University in 2014. Max Krieger and Alice Morrow first pitched the game in a video game production class; with encouragement from the faculty, they decided to pursue full production. The game would not be completed until three years later, after an unpredictable development cycle that almost came to a halt several times due to team member obligations and relocations.
Over those three years, Train's greatest transformation was from a game that was more concerned with its mechanics into a game dedicated to delivering its message. Black Lives Matter, the 2016 election, and other tumultuous social events during its development resulted in significant rewrites to the script, and an eventual embrace of its socially topical themes. It was because of this that the team was able to power through development - we all believe that the story Train tells is incredibly important, particularly to a lot of people who play video games. Our sincere hope is that Train helps players connect to the concepts of socioeconomic inequality and privilege in a way that only a video game can convey, while asking important questions about how and why we interact with other people - both in video games and in our lives.
Features
- Explore the game's unique Topic Bubble conversation system, which opens up exponentially more branching conversations as the story progresses.
- Enjoy 5 contemplative minigames, each drawn in a unique way by a team of artists in a "short film compilation fashion", and discover how their mechanics are relevant to the story.
- Do you often lose your spot in narrative games? Don't worry - the Star Chart dialogue tree system will help you keep your place and track conversations.
- Accessibility options for the hearing impaired and colorblind.
Videos
Train - Release Trailer YouTube
Images
Logo & Icon
Monetization Permission
max.krieger allows for the contents of Train to be published through video broadcasting services for any commercial or non-commercial purposes. Monetization of videos created containing assets from Train is legally & explicitly allowed by max.krieger. This permission can be found in writing at https://www.moddb.com/games/train/presskit.
About max.krieger
Boilerplate
Independent game developer in the Cleveland area. DePaul game development program graduate (2015). Advocate for Games As Media and new exploration in game narrative.
More information
More information on max.krieger, our logo & relevant media are available here.
Train Credits
Max Krieger
Director, Writer, Systems Programmer, Minigame Programmer, Artist (UI, Minigames 2 and 3), Voiceover
Alice Morrow
Character Designer, Lead Artist, Background Artist
Zac Gross
Systems Programmer
Ivan Davydov
Systems Programmer
Thomas Bauers
Systems Programmer
Rachele Jackson
UI Artist, Minigame Artist (Minigames 2 and 4)
Emily Yates
UI Artist, Minigame Artist (Minigame 1)
Mary L'abatte
Scenery Artist and Animator
Shammah McVay
Cutscene Illustrator
Michael Massey
Background Artist
presskit() by Rami Ismail (Vlambeer) - also thanks to these fine folks