Don't forget to pick up the passengers
September 24, 2017 6:00 AM   Subscribe

A Short Trip is an interactive illustration by Alexander Perrin. Use left and right arrows to move. Requires WebGL so may not work in all browsers.
posted by gwint (30 comments total) 34 users marked this as a favorite
 
Beautiful
posted by inflatablekiwi at 6:20 AM on September 24, 2017 [2 favorites]


I liked that.
posted by dazed_one at 7:13 AM on September 24, 2017


Absolutely lovely. All the waiting riders were so polite waiting for the passengers disembarking. Those who disembarked did quietly vanish so seems to be a ghost line which is spooky.
posted by sammyo at 7:29 AM on September 24, 2017 [2 favorites]


That was super nice, even if I often missed the stations and had to back up a bit.

I was worried about the webgl thing but it worked fine on my ancient iPad.
posted by moonmilk at 7:54 AM on September 24, 2017


I don't know what it says about me that even though the title of the article says to pick up passengers, I didn't notice them and cruised on past everyone to the end.

Then I came back here, saw my mistake, and went back to run it again, and take everyone where they needed to go. They were very kind and didn't even mention my error.
posted by greermahoney at 7:59 AM on September 24, 2017 [7 favorites]


Charming, thank you!
posted by carter at 8:10 AM on September 24, 2017


I want to get off the trolly and go on the boat or look in the lighthouse. It seems really unfair that I can't.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:32 AM on September 24, 2017 [3 favorites]


That imperative in the post title to pick up the passengers made me suspect that this was actually some web implementation of a board game I had once heard of but couldn't remember the title of, so I kept expecting the worst, but it turns out this is just something simple and wonderful, and not Brenda Romero's Train after all. Phew!

(Had I remembered more clearly, the group play and ambiguous rules of the board game were an integral part of the experience, which is something that would have been harder to implement in such a simple interface.)
posted by radwolf76 at 9:06 AM on September 24, 2017


>I don't know what it says about me that even though the title of the article says to pick up passengers, I didn't notice them and cruised on past everyone to the end.

I stopped at the first station--but not in quite the right spot, I guess, 'cause the one lady didn't get on. I blew past the next couple stations full of people figuring that that part wasn't interactive. SO LONG SUCKERS

Also, as far as what it says about us, when I got to the end I was vaguely disappointed that I was not able to cast myself into the sea...
posted by Sing Or Swim at 9:12 AM on September 24, 2017 [2 favorites]


Sadly, Perrin's site is too popular right now "resource limit exceeded."
posted by Jesse the K at 9:49 AM on September 24, 2017


I am suspicious of the grade built into that tram line.
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:53 AM on September 24, 2017 [7 favorites]


It took a few tries but I finally got under 3 minutes (2:54) without losing any passengers.
posted by Flashman at 9:53 AM on September 24, 2017 [2 favorites]


Fantastic stuff. Like others, I shot past the first station before realising and had to go back.

As an aside, I kept thinking about James May's recent video explaining why trains cannot go up hills - at least no greater than a gradient of 2.65%. The grades that this little train had to pull off were extreme!
posted by greenhornet at 1:44 PM on September 24, 2017 [2 favorites]


Alexander is my brother. I've seen this thing come together one hand-drawn piece at a time and it's good to see the well-deserved attention it's getting.

I was pondering whether posting it would fall afoul of self-linking but I needn't have worried.
posted by solarion at 1:56 PM on September 24, 2017 [18 favorites]


Very meditative, reminded me of the old Vector Park. (Especially would do if more stuff happened when you went past.)
posted by thefool at 2:12 PM on September 24, 2017


The bell (with the space bar) is the best!
posted by javanlight at 3:03 PM on September 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


I like to pretend this is a branch of the MBTA, so stations are just randomly closed in either direction.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:09 PM on September 24, 2017 [3 favorites]


That's some really lovely art. I made some stops along the way to appreciate some of the trees, and so I hope the passengers enjoyed that, too.
posted by mixedmetaphors at 7:01 PM on September 24, 2017


Mmm. Feels (wonderfully) like Spirited Away.
posted by suedehead at 7:31 PM on September 24, 2017 [3 favorites]


That was marvelous.
posted by suelac at 7:32 PM on September 24, 2017


Also, as far as what it says about us, when I got to the end I was vaguely disappointed that I was not able to cast myself into the sea...
posted by Sing Or Swim at 9:12 AM on September 24


Same!!
(Also, eponysterical? Did you sing instead, then?)
posted by greermahoney at 11:00 PM on September 24, 2017


The bell (with the space bar) is the best!

I missed that, too, I guess! Course, I was paying on my phone, so I don't know if it would have worked.
posted by greermahoney at 11:03 PM on September 24, 2017


Wonderful!!

And my gosh I would love to go there and ride that very train.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 11:26 PM on September 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


I enjoyed this. I was afraid that the guy was going to throw himself off the cliff at the end, and I was relieved that it wouldn't let him.
posted by tallmiddleagedgeek at 5:14 AM on September 25, 2017 [1 favorite]


I discovered that you can click on the bell in the tower at the end and get it to ring....
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:42 AM on September 25, 2017


Wait, at the first stop 4 got on, but two got off and then at the second three go---

Oh, wait.
I'm the conductor.
Very nice. I want to see more things in this world and in this style.
posted by exparrot at 7:16 AM on September 25, 2017 [1 favorite]


I left the tab I was playing it in open and came over here to see if it had been posted (yes) and then went back and my train was stuck and everyone was hustling on and off my tram and I could do nothing! It was actually pretty cool to watch.

I think clicking any time just makes a bell ring, maybe?
posted by jessamyn at 7:04 PM on September 27, 2017 [2 favorites]


It felt like Edward Gorey's cats taking a ride on the Trolley to The Land of Make Believe, using some sort of Harold's-Crayon magic.
posted by not_on_display at 8:34 PM on September 27, 2017 [2 favorites]


This is lovely!
posted by paduasoy at 12:41 PM on October 3, 2017


Just what I needed after a somewhat stressful day at work -- trains (that don't run in traffic), nature, pretty architecture. And it's so well drawn! I can't begin to imagine how long that must have taken.

The brakes squealing is maybe my favorite part.
posted by en forme de poire at 5:11 PM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]


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