Why an unfinished indie RPG by the creator of "A Short Hike" hit me harder than I expected..
After years of development and growing uncertainty, Adam Robinson-Yu – the creator of the popular exploration game A Short Hike – officially canceled his long-running RPG project.
But because people kept asking about it – and because so much heart had gone into it – he decided to polish it up and release it to the public.
The result is a roughly two-hour demo with the working title Untitled Paper RPG that you can play for free on Itch.io.
This Wasn’t the Article I Thought I’d Write
I originally planned to write a short piece about adamgryu's project.
I thought it’d be a quick mention. One of those “hey, neat free demo” articles I write between bigger articles.
But the more I started digging into the backstory of the project, the more drawn in I felt. Not just by the game's whimsical world and vibrant charm, but because of the creative process behind it.
After the demo itself, I found an older interview with the developer. That’s when it hit me: how many passion projects in the video game industry end up unknown to the world?
To me, there’s always a story worth telling – even if a project remains unfinished.
And as someone who’s been drawing and active creatively for years, I found something about the story uncomfortably familiar.
What Makes This Demo So Wonderful
The game itself is instantly charming. If you’ve ever played Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, you’ll feel right at home.
It’s got rhythm mini-games and a party-system where you can befriend characters instead of just fighting them.
The playable main character, a crocodile, reminded me of examples like Tabaluga and Schnappi – two iconic German cartoon reptiles. Besides the obvious fact that they are all crocodiles/dragons, I felt like they had some similar way of being full of personality despite their simple style.
(Also in terms of character design: The Amazing World of Gumball came to mind for me!)
You can tell how much love went into the details of the game.
As an artist myself, I was especially drawn to the atmosphere. There’s a warmth to the visuals that’s hard to describe. It has that “long summer day” vibe (even though it sometimes literally snows... but pssst, you get what I mean).
The shadows in the game feel incredibly dynamic. According to an interview with Stugan – a non-profit accelerator program for talented game developers – Adam spent a lot of time fine-tuning them, aiming to get the lighting and atmosphere of each scene just right. And it shows.
The soft animations, little dust clouds under characters' feet, and expressive designs show just how much thought went into all of it.
About The Developer And Creation Process
The developer – Adam Robinson-Yu, known online as adamgryu – is based in Toronto. You might know him from A Short Hike, the critically acclaimed indie game that became known for its emotional depth and exploration.
According to the itch.io post, the idea for Untitled Paper RPG was sparked back in 2016, shortly after Nintendo announced Paper Mario: Color Splash.
As a fan of the classic Paper Mario series, Adam had a thought familiar to many creatives:
“Well, I make games… why not try making the game I want to see?”
The RPG prototype – born in a game jam with friends – was the project that called to him most.
In 2017, after leaving his job to go full-time indie, he began developing the RPG in earnest.
He was doing everything on his own: art, programming, level design, writing. Only the music and some character designs were outsourced.
Why The Game Got Cancelled
Because of the huge scale of the project and him doing most of the work himself, it eventually became too much.
Adam started running into creative roadblocks that are all too familiar to anyone who’s ever tried to make something “original.”
He mostly struggled with finding the right tone for the game.
The game looked cute and peaceful, but RPGs almost always demand a certain level of violence, conflict, and urgency. Adam didn’t want to tell that kind of story. He wasn’t sure it fit the world he had created.
“I thought there was some dissonance between the cute and grounded world I was trying to make and the requirement for an RPG story to justify lots of fights and violence",
he explained.
He also struggled with the combat itself.
“I started having doubts about turn-based combat. I wanted to get it to a point where combat felt strategic and puzzly. But I got the sense that battles just felt like an annoying obstacle to players interested in exploring.”
In a post-mortem of sorts, Adam mentions A Short Hike wouldn’t exist without this project. It was the lighthearted side project he created during a break from Untitled Paper RPG.
At one point in the post, he noted about the project:
"The scope felt too big! It felt like I was making two games – the battle system and the overworld each felt like a big undertaking."
Why The Story Hit Me So Hard (And What It Says About Creative Development)
As someone who also juggles creative projects that grow beyond their boundaries, I felt that last statement in my chest.
I know many artists, writers, and game devs who’ve fallen into the same trap: the dream project that eats up years and drains the creativity out of you.
What makes working on these projects so hard is that there’s no template to follow, because nothing else quite like it exists.
The chance of losing passion over “unsolvable problems” in development is high.
But these "vulnerable projects" are also where true innovation comes from. Those that drive the creative scene (may it be video games, movies or other) forward.
And that’s what makes them both thrilling and terrifying.
I’m glad adamgryu released the demo. Not just because you can see the passion in it and it’s fun to play (but let me clear: it really is), but because the creative journey he shared shows what it costs to create something original.
And how valuable that still is.
Go Play It. Thanks.
In his post, Adam admits he's been "in a rut". He misses the joy of releasing games. I get that. Sharing work – even unfinished – can be healing.
And even if this project won’t see a full release, it still adds something meaningful to the world.
I hope more people check out the demo, not just for the gameplay but for the story behind it.
Please go show his games some love :)