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I am SO glad you both made the game AND pushed back against that anxiety and published it anyway. I've never found much point in arguing what is or isn't worth making a game about. Everyone's taste is so personal, and that's why a multitude of games exist! I have gained so much joy and comfort in reading through all the beautiful entries for this jam, and I haven't even finished going through all the ones that caught my eye. Your game is just as important as the other games, and it's quite timely, and I'm grateful I get to be one of the folks connecting with it! 

Oh, how this hit me! 

It's concise, it's well-written, it's a very strong premise - AND - honestly my favorite thing about it is the design and layout you used. You gave each page so much space, you let the words fully consume the page. 

It reminded me of how vast and scary the ocean can be, especially in this context. It made me think about how if I were there in that raft, I might feel like that - both like there was a vastness around me, AND like the folks there in the boat with me were the whole world. 

I just wanted to share this reflection. Really lovely game! 

This game is beautifully written, eerily simple, and wow Jo's art suits it so well. 

I wanted to note specifically that I think your word choices here are so elegant. I think it takes a confidence and carefulness to, rather than go, "How do I maximize every single word of the 36 I'm allowed," instead sit in the space of, "How can I use those words to evoke a specific mood, make someone feel a certain way." It's one of my favorite things about more lyrical style games, and here you are, doing that AND nailing a simple but effective mechanic/win condition? 

Well done! 

Oh I adore this!!! As a letter-writer myself, I really appreciate the call to action, and I really enjoy that there's a win either way. It captures how I feel about writing letters: It's not necessarily about getting that reply back, or the equivalence of the reply, but instead it's a way to show someone I am thinking of them, and a way to spread a little bright moment in the distressing thing that is our world right now. 

Plus, I stan the U.S. Postal Service, and I love any excuse to use a stamp!

I'm so glad this comment made you feel so seen! I'm still thinking about this game today, to be honest, so really, again, well done on your design work and ability to catch hold of a player's mind. 

I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of mentioning your game as a beautiful parallel to FinleyJinley's game "You Persist" - I think that game frames a similar experience as (what feels to me like) the other side of the coin - that taking a step back, and allowing life to continue. I mentioned to them that these two games sit like little neighbors in my mind, in the best possible way, and I wanted to share that with you as well! 

This is such a poignant little game! I particularly love how well it speaks for itself - you've put so much narrative into the 36 words and I appreciate that you are letting that stand on its own. 

I think what I enjoy most about this is the simplicity of the prompt 'why' - because there are so many ways to answer that. I almost feel like this would make a lovely bookmark to keep in a cozy book by the bedside for reading when waking up late at night. (Which puts me in mind of your contextual note, about your chronic pain flare-up.) 

I like that even though the experience is not necessarily pleasant, nor even likely to be so, you've framed it as something that you are able to overcome. 

It reminds me of a comment I made on Deric Bindel's game "There Is A Hole In Your Chest," also made for this jam - in my comment I noted how artfully they capture the immediacy of grief/pain/dysphoria/other types of ache, and how hard it can be to take a step back. This game feels like the other side of the coin in my head; you experience that pain AND you persist. In my own little game library in my mind I think these two pieces are companions, and I hope neither of you are upset with me for drawing them together in this way, despite the fact that they're both beautifully different pieces that stand on their own! 

We persist! 

Aw thank you! I'm so glad you do!!

This comment almost made me cry! Thank you for seeing the game, and loving it, and CONGRATULATIONS for the therapy moments you've made it through. You're rad and you've got this! It's nice to be nice to yourself!!

Thank you for reading it!! I'm so, so glad you found it meaningful. 

Thank you so much for this comment, you're welcome & I'm so glad the game resonated for you. 

I really love this game; I think it's elegantly written. What a lovely stylistic choice to split "something" and "anything" into two words each, despite the constraint it puts on your word count, so that you could be so careful and deliberate with your writing. The kind of game that reads like a poem. 

Mechanically, I love it. I love this idea that there is no long-term relief for the grief in this specific situation. I think you nailed the blend of mechanic and metaphor. As someone who has dealt with grief and mental health challenges, that means a lot to me to see reflected so candidly. 

In my mind, there is a bigger-picture zoom-out to the metaphor of this game, which is that this is not the way to heal a hole in your chest. But it also makes me think about how when you're in that moment and experiencing that pain, literally or metaphorically, it can be really challenging to do anything other than try to get respite. 

Apologies for the ramble. Really love this game. Thanks for making it! 

I really love this game! Punch cards are such a fun little format, and I think this is a clever way to engage with the surroundings.

I'm so glad the extension worked out for you!!!! Also your game looks so fun I can't wait to read it properly! I LOVE train maps and I am obsessed with the idea of playing on an actual train; really excited to take this out onto the public transit in my area! 

Completely get it. Deadline is extended by two weeks!!! I love the idea - very much looking forward to seeing how you adapt the premise into game inspiration. 

It makes me so excited that you were so excited!!!! Can't wait to take a look at your first submission - I did extend the deadline if you find yourself with time to pull together the second, but no worries. I hope your IT department had fun!!

Ooh excited to see your submission! And I have extended the deadline. I went ahead and gave everyone two more weeks - one week didn't feel like enough purely because all the winter holidays fall right during that week, so I hope that this actually means folks get more of a chance to wrap up their submissions! :)

Hello, Train Jammers!

This jam has been chugging along and it's hard for me to believe we only have ONE WEEK until it pulls into the station. I have enjoyed taking a look at the two games posted so far, and I can't wait to look at those in more depth and also read the rest of the submissions that y'all are working so hard on right now. On that note - does anyone need me to extend the deadline? I'd be happy to add more time; I know this is a particularly busy time of year for a lot of people. 

In addition to that, I'd love to hear more about how your projects are going! Feel free to answer any or all of the following questions: 

1. What are you working on? What's your core premise, what type of game is it, what makes you excited to get a working game together for the Tabletop Train Jam? 
2. What type of train, train mechanic, or moment in train history (or future!) inspired your train game? 
3. What's one thing that has surprised and delighted you about working on your train game?
4. What's one challenge you've run into? 
5. Have you taken any cool train trips recently? 

Please feel free to let me know if a little more time would make your life easier. 

We're jumping in soon because I'm too excited! Let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns! I'm here to help. 

If you're looking to discuss this jam and your entry in more depth, you might want to join the TTRPG Collective discord server, where there is a whole thread dedicated to the jam and some folks already brainstorming their ideas. It's an awesome community of folks who uplift and celebrate each other. 

Just released a new cozy tabletop role playing game, and have put it on sale alongside another similar game of mine! Get either game for 50% off, or an extra fifty cents off on top of that when you buy them as a bundle! Just Passing Through celebrates friendship over time (and over a cup of tea), and Together & Ever celebrates queer community. I hope they capture the cozy feeling of autumn-moving-into-winter for you!

Just Passing Through is a cozy fantasy inspired, gm-less duet armchair role playing game. It tells the story of two childhood friends coming back together after one has gone off on grand quests with an adventuring party, and one has stayed at home, living a life that may be more ordinary, but is no less beautiful as a result. As the Voyager passes through town, they stop to visit the Villager. As the old friends share a cup of tea, they pick up where they left off.

You Will Need...

• A deck of playing cards with jokers
• Two players with enough time for a conversation
• A comfortable space to sit together
• An easy way for both players to access the game book
• A warm beverage for each player
• The safety tool(s) of your choice

Some sample questions from the deck's prompts are below: 

Together & Ever is a gm-less, cozy storytelling game for 2-4 players about the intertwined lives of woodland animals, inspired by Frog and Toad. It celebrates queer community, found family, and the simple joys of a quiet life. In this game, you both play as, and advocate for, a specific character, but you are also the co-writer of a grand, charming story. You can return to this world over and over again and play as many sessions as you’d like, collecting volumes over time. 

You Will Need...

• 2-4 players
• A method to write down your stories
• Safety tools of your choice
• Optional Extras
  • A d20 and/or d100 to roll from the tables
  • A handful of dice if you decide to make a drop map
  • A queer or nature themed tarot or oracle deck to pull cards for story inspiration

Thank you so much! It really was a fun and special one to write. And it was also a great exercise in genuinely thinking about the safety tools that would suit the format. I’ve never felt the need to break into LARP safety tools before, but realized it was an important intersection for a game formatted as a conversation.  

Thank you so much! I really enjoyed writing the question list, and thought a lot about what might be a meaningful topic, so that feedback is much appreciated!

Just wanted to say thank you for the deadline extension so I was able to finish and submit my game! It went through so many iterations from concept to finish that the time was super helpful. 

This made me scream in frustration in the most nostalgic of ways! Great job - even though I'll be coming back to struggle through a pretty-low high score for a while. I will happily work for it!

Really enjoyed this - the fights were fun and varied, I thought that was awesome. Also the tone was very funny. I laughed out loud during the content warning portion just because I was so delighted by the presentation!

I love the aesthetic! Really sweet, with very satisfying sound effects too. I had a lot of fun playing through it! 

I've actually never played Pikmin OR Pikmin 2 but I have been told I'd like it a lot and genuinely this made me want to go play the games!

Trickier than I expected but so fun! I kept trying to jump faster than I was able to. But I couldn't stop trying to beat my own high score! Loved the music, too!

I had a lot of fun playing around with this game! I do wish I could have made the window a little bigger, it showed up really small and I couldn't make the screen larger. That said, I think you did a really impressive job making this on your own. I also think that you did a great job keeping the project manageable so you could get it to a point where you completed and submitted it. (That's always a struggle for me!) 

Also Parmesan James is an INCREDIBLE name. Can't believe I forgot to say that. 

This game broke my brain a little! (In a good way!) I really, really liked the vibes. It made me feel like I was playing a game version of some late night Cartoon Network show, or something, mixed in with some visual novel vibes from the text on the screen. I do wish that I'd been able to fit the whole window on my screen without needing to fullscreen it; I didn't FS it at the start and then it ended up being really hard to scroll around. But man the chaos was fun. 

I got so excited when I realized I had added an item to my inventory that I said "ooh" out loud. I think this is such a fun premise, and oh how pleased I was to see the Friend Cube already in my inventory. I also think you did an absolutely lovely job with the layout and the graphic design!! 

wow wow wow i've never completed a sonic game before so now i understand true joy

omg i won

I really love the idea that your downed enemies turn into allies. This was fun! 

Maybe in part because I'm not super familiar with the style of game that this was reviving, it took me a minute to figure out that the enemies were starting more transparent and I had to wait to shoot them. But once I figured that out I was able to plan moving and dodging a little more effectively!

Nice work! 

I loved the style for this! I think it really came together - I'm very impressed with how much you got done in ten days. It was hard for me to wrap my head (and finger muscle memory!) around the rfe for the shooting controls; I have trouble thinking what I'd do instead - maybe something you could easily control with the other hand? A specific note - if they were in a line left to right I think I'd have had a slightly easier time associating with their respective slug. I kept running out because I kept hitting the wrong one!

Anyway I just wanted to drop a note to say I had fun playing this one and I think you really did a great job!! 

I really got into the vibe of digging around looking for ores. It was like mining endlessly in Minecraft, which was a lot of fun! I wished after a while that I had a counter that would tell me how many ores I had collected. I'm not even sure if I'd need to be able to DO anything with my collection, but after playing for a while, that's what eventually got me out of the zone. I also think that I struggled with the sensitivity of the drill - I often accidentally drilled a block I wasn't intending to drill, or did two at once. Just made it a little hard to conserve fuel, especially in the beginning. But overall this was SO much fun and I can definitely see myself trying to rack up a lot of ores here! 

I was blown away by this one at the Show and Play, and have enjoyed playing further since then. I know y’all mentioned a couple of the text box issues that you’re working on already but oh man I’m just so entranced by this one! I particularly love the sound design, and how cohesively atmospheric the vibes are between art, writing, style, etc. Special shoutout to the resources y’all compiled and provided. Amazing work, everyone!!

Aww! <3 I'm so glad! Please let me know how it goes!! I feel inspired to make a BBQuests version at some point in honor of several SoP people talking about how it'd be perfect for BBQs. So. Time to attend some BBQs.... "for research"...

This is so, so fun! I'm such a fan. Firstly, aesthetically it was an absolute delight. Secondly, the tone/voice of the way it's written is so specific and I love when games are able to capture a tone like that. Thirdly, that ending! Amazing! Great work y'all!! 

Aww thank you!! The certificate is definitely my favorite part of the game so I am so glad to know you loved it. Thanks for checking out my little zine!