The Making of Choo Choo Charles

We talk to Gavin Eisenbeisz about how he turned ten years of childhood game design experience into a an overnight viral hit.

Noclip's work is 100% crowdfunded.

Edited by Jeremy Jayne
Colored by Jeremy Jayne
Filmed by Danny O'Dwyer
Additional Editing by Danny O'Dwyer
Gameplay Capture by Frank Howley

0:00 - Intro
2:32 - Meet Gavin
7:35 - Trying to go Viral
12:50 - The Design of Choo Choo Charles
24:32 - Launch
31:00 - Working Towards Success
33:20 - CREDITS

[TheCanipaEffect]

I think it should become a NoClip standard to interview developers' parents and ask them if they're proud. Didn't expect a doc about a spider train to be so wholesome.

[pancho]

Very happy to see the parents being so supportive but also realistic.

[TwoStarGames]

CHARLES IS THE NAME, SPIDER TRAIN IS THE GAME

[TheGamingBadger]

Awesome to see Gavin find success as a young self-taught dev. These kinds of stories should be absolutely encouraged. Not everything needs to be some AAA masterpiece with an auteur director and a team of 1000 people. Sometimes a game can just be a fun idea made in a year as a way to prove yourself, and I think that's amazing. Looking forward to seeing how Gavin's career progresses from here!

[MetalGearTrav]

A while back I bought one of his UE5 courses and he taught it so well I just understood everything I was doing so I wrote a really positive review and he actually reached out to me and asked if I would do a testimonial/interview for his course, so I agreed and we did a 10 minute kinda Q & A about what I liked etc. I was so surprised how down to earth and nice he was/is. So a few days pass by and Choo Choo Charlie went viral hahah I was so happy for him. Thanks Gavin for teaching me UE5!

[Scarecrwn]

Wow. Hearing dad just saying that games are art, not something you hear often. Really cool that parents were supportive. And good luck to Gavin, excited for what comes next from him.

[bross]

This was just a really satisfying doc ; 1 dev, 1 year cycle, interesting but also relatively straightforward narrative, unique viewpoint (super young creator)

Overall a tight and fun doc, you guys nailed it

[Pointy_Things]

Getting a 4 from IGN is exactly like that scene in Pirates of the Caribbean where Jack Sparrow is told that he is the worst pirate Norrington has ever heard of, and all he has to say is "But you have heard of me!". Gavin is wearing the 4 those IGN turds gave him like a badge of honor.

[miasmi]

It's so interesting that he found it surprising that there were so many "formal" reviews of his game. It's honestly because at a first look it LOOKS like a really polished game

[aristocrat]

I appreciate this guy's ambition and dedication to his passions.

[_gamma.]

IGN gave this game the same score as Gollum 💀

[MusicaX]

It was a breath of fresh air when he stated he knew from the begining what the gmaeplay loop was going to be. So many indie devs start out and just keep adding and then have to remove at the end making and "Oh well ship it" scenario. Mr. Eisenbeisz is a proper developer.

[kodakkevin]

I can't understate how nice it is to hear someone with passion talk about making games. When Gavin mentions he knew he would eventually succeed, or just die, that is quite inspiring. That level of self-belief and commitment to an art form isn't always showcased in the gaming industry

[siddharth-gandhi]

My god that is one mammoth task to build such a big game this young and live up to expectations. Bravo to this guy for managing everything so well!

[CushionSapp]

These kinds of vids are always inspiring and help me to stay motivated on my own personal projects

[potterinhe]

You know that this is indeed the Thomas and Friends universe because nobody moves their mouth when they speak.

[lotny]

It's nice hearing the dad talk about the art aspect of making video games.

[saphirone]

Throughout the entire communication process around the game, I think what people found the most refreshing was how honest the man behind it was. Programming the cult, he did not hid how painful it was, or even how flawed they were along the way. He just showed it.
By tempering people's expectations, they knew what they were getting into, and it definitly helped gather support online.

[halfbroPS]

The most interesting part of this to me is that Gavin was able to leverage skills that weren't programming in order to make a successful game. He was able to find/grow his own following that wanted to see the game succeed. I don't know how I feel knowing that a lot of the success came from "trying to go viral" vs. making the game as good as can be, then selling it as an afterthought. Sorta like the "games as an artform" vs. "games as a business" dichotomy.

This definitely isn't the game for me (too janky/unpolished), but it's really cool to see the success that can be had from great community management. Certainly something to keep in mind for my own future projects! I think Gavin has a great future ahead of him in community management.

[Sicaine]

I'm a Software engineere and have also studied Game Development (Programming).

This is super impressive how much he did with Blueprints and 'just spending a shit load of time end energy' by himself and deliverying such high quality results.