The Last Night Train · published
Hey there & Welcome aboard!
It’s great to have you here. For my very first devlog, I wanted to share a bit about why I created «The Last Night Train», why I’m so hell-bent on breaking genre boundaries, and why that decision—while great for the game—is a total disaster for marketing. 😊
More about the story follows later.
Vision – A big word for a simple dream
First things first: I’ve been a passionate gamer ever since I first laid hands on an NES. Like most indie devs, I just wanted to build a game that would completely captivate me as a player. The DNA of The Last Night Train is made up of my all-time favorite titles and the elements that make them great:
Heart (Story First): There is nothing quite like diving into a touching, intelligent narrative filled with emotion, humor, and genuine twists. It’s the kind of storytelling I absolutely adore in «To the Moon» or the «Zero Escape» series.
Gameplay (Innovative Puzzles): I love puzzles that I haven’t already seen a hundred times before; mechanics that require fresh ideas and surprise me with their solutions. I’ve always been a fan of spatial puzzles and using clever tools, much like those in «Zelda: Oracle of Ages».
Spice (Bosses): Boss battles, especially when they demand both skill AND wit—really get my heart racing. Finding those kinds of battles in combination with great stories and puzzles is rare, but it’s out there in games like my personal favorite «Undertale» or «Shadow of the Colossus».
Aesthetics (JRPG Nostalgia): I’m a huge pixel-art fan, specifically the 90s JRPG era. I love the visual style and the beautiful melodies of «Secret of Mana», «Chrono Trigger», «Illusion of Time», and the classic «Final Fantasy» titles—even if, gameplaywise, I’m actually making a JPAG (Japanese-style Puzzle Adventure Game 😉).
The Challenge – How do I show this?
I’ve succeeded in building the game I always wanted to play. Of course, there were design challenges, like making sure puzzle-fans don’t hit a wall with the action, and action junkies don’t get stuck with the puzzles. Those things can be fixed with difficulty settings and fine-tuning (but I’ll save that for a later post).
The real challenge—one I’m still trying to figure out—is how to present this game. The world moves fast; people judge a game in a split second and shove it into a ‘genre box.’ With my specific mix, that’s a real hurdle. Here are two examples:
Image 1 – Train: a snapshot of a quite tricky puzzle... but at a glance, most people could think: it's a JRPG.
Image 2 – Prison: Another puzzle that could easily be mistaken for a standard "stealth scene."
A Happy Ending?
Napoleon supposedly once said: “If you're going to commit a folly, at least make it a successful one.” I’ve spent over five years on this "folly" of a genre-mix, and between now and my next post, I’ll be figuring out how to give this story a happy ending.
If you like the vibe of what I’m creating, I would be incredibly grateful if you’d add the game to your Wishlist. 😉
Let me know what you think, and thanks for joining me on this ride,
Nici
(P.S. If you’d like to help me test the beta—I’m especially looking for native English speakers for feedback—please hit me up directly on my Discord-Server, or via email: [email protected]