February saw the debut of our game club over in our Discord server. With the community having the chance to not only submit game suggestions but also vote on them to land on a single game, it has been a great time playing and discussing the featured game.
For this month we chose Short Trip, which is described by the developer as ‘A hand-drawn, interactive illustration about a scenic tramway, windswept mountains and cats with places to be.’
Participants of the game club also have the opportunity to write up their thoughts, which will be included in a monthly article, just like this one.
Community member knokelmaat summed up the start of the game perfectly when they said:
‘When you launch Short Trip, you’re greeted by a fullscreen recycled paper texture, upon which the following words are displayed:
This game was hand-drawn over 5 years.
With a pencil (or two).
I hope you enjoy it.
This is followed by a stunning menu screen showing the result of those years of labour: a delicately drawn tram station, surrounded by a small cabin in the middle of nature, accompanied by a soothing mix of bird sounds and wind blowing by.”
It’s these hand-drawn visuals that really wowed not just me but everyone who played. The level of detail in every screen is just incredible, and you can really see where every minute of those five years went. There was a worry that the movement of these visuals would be jarring and shuddery, but everything moves so smoothly and naturally that it was never a concern.
Dovetail also felt similarly:
“I definitely agree that the pencil art and sound design were the highlights of the experience. Along those lines, I also liked the option in the menu to read a bit more about how the game was made.”
What these visuals aid in is creating such an authentic world. All I wanted to do was explore every corner and to find out what I could about this cat civilisation. All these thoughts were swimming around in my head as I played, and even weeks after finishing, they are still there wanting an answer.
That answer doesn’t come, though; the game is designed to not have them, as the main purpose of the gameplay is to control a tram from one end of the line to the other, picking up and dropping off cat passengers as they go about their day. That’s it, but it’s the experience that you have along the way that really embeds in your head and never leaves.
Knokelmaat expands on this:
“It’s been a long time since I have felt this welcome and grounded only seconds after launching a game. It’s as if you’re immediately on the same page (no pun intended), and this feeling remained during the 20 minutes I played around with this wonderful experience. There are no clear goals, just you controlling a tram and enjoying the peacefulness of this delightfully simple occupation.”
It’s not only the visuals that create this unique ambience, as the sound design also has a big part to play. The tram’s wheels on the track, the doors opening and closing and that sweet bell that you can ring (which I had to do every time I left a station!) all combined for a wonderful audio feast.
Soccr agrees with his thoughts on the game:
“A no-stakes tram trek across a carefully hand-drawn countryside. No objectives, very little interactivity. The real star of the show is the sound design: the subtle peaceful outdoor noises and the gentle clacking of the tram.”
To gamify the game slightly, the developer, Alexander Perrin, also included a schedule mode, where you have to arrive at a station by a given time. You are scored on your ability to reach the station in time as well as your positioning at each station. A few of us tried to beat each other’s scores, and we appreciated the friendly combativeness it brought to the club.
Dovetail brings up a great point on the schedule mode, as he said:
“I liked playing the scheduled variant of the game, as it felt like a better fit to the job responsibilities of our cat conductor.”
And knokelmaat chimes in on the schedule mode by saying:
“Even the more gamified scheduled mode remains very calming, focusing on precision and patience rather than pure speed and efficiency.”
There was one sticky point in our tram adventure, as the normal mode doesn’t really end. There are no credits, and you could just loop the journey for as long as you wanted. I would have liked a little closure, or for it to be renamed as ‘endless mode’ just to save any confusion.
Dovetail felt the same way;
“When I played the standard version of the game, I didn’t really know when I hit the ‘end’ of the experience, since the credits did not roll, so that was just a tiny bit awkward. Otherwise, I enjoyed it!”
Short Trip was an experience that I will always remember for its serene and calming gameplay, its fantastic visuals and the way it builds this world with so little. I’ll leave you with some more comments from the community.
knokelmaat:
“Short Trip is a delightful practice in slowing down, taking the time to experience the view and sounds and enjoying the tranquillity. I somehow feel that working on it for those 5 years must have been a similar feeling of slowly making progress, one drawing at a time.”
Dovetail:
“Serene, kind, reminds me of the best part of my commute to work on the local rail.”
Cerysnetics:
“It’s really, really nice; I daydream A LOT imagining my little pencil-drawn cat village. The sounds are just perfect too. I could listen to the little tram going up and down for ages!”
Hoppel:
“Those cats are driving me crazy! Running around while the car is moving – no sense for safety!
Short Trip is available now on Steam for £1.69, and it can also be played on your web browser for free through itch.io. If you would like to be a part of this month’s Game Club, then come and join our Discord server; we would love for you to be a part of the community.
