Typically it’s “wheels-up” for our team to make the annual trek down to San Francisco for GDC, but this year, we are riding the rails. Or at least, I am riding the rails.

I will be joining 300 other developers from across the globe for Train Jam, a 52 hour game jam. We will depart from Chicago’s Union Station on February 23 and arrive, hopefully with a handful of completed games, in San Francisco on the 25. Just in time for a little bit of sight-seeing before GDC kicks off.

My last public game jam was Ludum Dare 21 back in 2011. Our game Run Run Robot made it to the Jam Top 5. I’m excited to dust off my game jam skills again, especially after hearing my colleague Abdullah Hamed’s unique experience.

“I crossed two continents and an ocean to be on the train. No regrets - this is the most creative time I ever spent working, relaxing, nerding out, and developing video games. This is the best video game development filled piece of America you will ever experience!”

This is Amazon Appstore’s first year participating officially in Train Jam, and we are proud to be able to sponsor their diversity initiatives, focused on giving developers from under-represented territories and genders assistance to travel to Chicago, participate in Train Jam, attend GDC, and return home.

Thanks for reading! If you want to catch up on the rest of the series, you can read my day one recap here and the day two recap here.