The Train Jam 2017 was a game jam that took place on a train making the journey between Chicago to San Francisco. The theme of this jam was “Unexpected Anticipation”. I was able to play and record all of the games entered into this jam in my video compilation series. Below are a few of my favorites, in no particular order.

Eldrich Drop has you playing as a dubstep DJ who is trying to captivate the audience as much as possible in order to sacrifice them and please the gods! This game has some fantastic music, which you must mix and play to get people to stop and listen to you. These people will not be pleased by music alone however, andt must also see special effects created by you to stay entranced. You can play around with fire and lasers to keep the attention of those around you. Once you have enough people around you, listening to your music and enjoying your show, you can then do ‘The Drop’ which will sacrifice everyone to the gods! The gods may be pleased if you sacrifice enough people in this trippy game!

Ghost Heck is a tricky platformer where you must not upset the giant eye! You are a ghost stuck in purgatory. There is an all knowing but sleepy eye watching over you. You must make your way through the level, avoiding obstacles, spikes, and navigating moving platforms, all the while being aware of the watchful eye. When the eye is about to wake up, it starts counting down from 5. Once it hits 1, you must freeze. If you move, the eye will kill you where you stand. You will also die if you fall off the platforms or get hit by any of the spikes, blades, or anything else in the game. Getting to the end of the level is very tricky, especially when it comes to this all seeing eye. If you do not make it, you will be trapped in Ghost Heck forever.

Error404 is a very clever shooter that does not want to load! This retro game has you playing something that is struggling to load. Many of the graphics are missing or blank, giving you only an idea of what the environment around you is like. However… this doesn’t stop the broken enemy images from attacking you and attempting to kill you! You would be wise to shoot them back while exploring the world, and collecting batteries to help load the environment. Collecting batteries will start to show the graphics, textures, and enemies around you. As the environment starts loading up, you can really get into the gameplay. This area is not too big, so you will have no problem exploring it, however the more complete the graphics are, the more deadly the enemies become!

Octosnatch is a cute, yet strange, under the sea game where you play an octopus who is saving some babies. You must pick up these babies and put them in the bag carried by a dolphin. On each screen the dolphin passes once, so you must get all of the babies into it’s bag before it moves on. Once you have all of the babies collected, you will go deeper into the sea to interact with an octopus. The octopus will shoot at you, attempting to kill you, so you must figure out what it wants quickly. If you get hit once, the game will be over, so think fast and move carefully! Though Octosnatch is a short game, it is very mysterious and fun to play through.

Blind Shootout is a challenging 2-4 player shootout game where you must predict where your opponents are going to end up! You control a cowboy with 3 bullets in their gun. You must plan their moves during the planning stage - you can go forward, turn left or right, and reload/shoot. Your opponents are also planning their moves during this stage, so you will need to try to predict where they might end up in order to shoot them. The next stage has all of the players move according to the moves each player had selected. You can see the other moves the player has made by looking at the dots on their side of the screen. Blind Shootout is a very challenging game that is quite fun to play, especially if you are lucky enough to shoot your friend!

Sundown Showdown is a 2 player game that requires the players to share the same controller. You both are on the top of a train, looking to shoot your opponent or block their bullets. You only have one shot, so you must be careful and not let your opponent block it! If you make your shot, you will move onto the next cart - once you have shot your opponent on the top of each of the carts, the game will be over and you will win. If both of you miss, then you will stay on whatever cart you are on top of. This game is pretty simple graphically, but the little touches in the way it looks - having a curved screen and texture to the graphics, takes it to the next level. Sundown Showdown is very fun to play!

#TrainJam2017 #EldrichDrop #GhostHeck #Error404 #Octosnatch #BlindShootout #SundownShowdown