A Short Hike Dev Drops Unfinished RPG Demo: 'Fair Dinkum, I'm Releasing This Before I Go Completely Mad!'
AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·
The developer of A Short Hike has released a demo of his unfinished RPG, admitting he's not sure if he'll ever complete it, which is either incredibly sad or wonderfully punk rock, depending on your perspective.
Right, so Adam "adamgryu" Robinson-Yu, the absolute legend behind the indie gem *A Short Hike*, has done something wonderfully… chaotic. He's decided to release a demo of his abandoned RPG project, *Untitled Paper RPG*, admitting he might never actually finish the bloody thing.
Now, before you start weeping into your controller, it's not all doom and gloom. Robinson-Yu started tinkering with this *Paper Mario*-esque RPG way back in 2016, fueled by pure nostalgia. "I was nostalgic for the old style of Paper Mario and thought - well, I make games, why not try making the game I want to see?" he said. Sounds fair enough, doesn't it? He got stuck in Unity and things were looking promising... at first.
But, as any game dev will tell you, the road to release is paved with good intentions and crippling self-doubt. After launching *A Short Hike* and dealing with all the updates and ports, Robinson-Yu confessed he just wasn't feeling the RPG anymore. "The development for the RPG had become difficult, which was why I took a break from it in the first place. I might return to this project someday, but I've been working on other things and don't see myself making time for this RPG in near future."
So, instead of letting the poor thing languish in the digital void, he’s decided to unleash a demo upon the world. You can grab it from his official website for PC and Mac. It's got about one to two hours of gameplay, and apparently, some bits he's actually proud of (and, naturally, some bits he finds embarrassing). But hey, that's game development, innit?
"Some people still ask about this game! I figured maybe sharing the demo is better than nothing," Robinson-Yu explained. It's like peering behind the curtain of a magic show, except instead of revealing a dodgy rabbit, you're seeing the inner workings of a game that almost was.
One commenter summed it up perfectly: "This was a wonderful demo... It already has so much of the personality, humour, attention to detail and innate Nintendo-esque playfulness that defined your work on A Short Hike."
And what's next for our man Adamgryu? He's got a few projects simmering away, including an action-adventure game, a "micro-RPG with a claymation asethetic", and an online platforming roguelike. Blimey, the man's busy!
So, if you're looking for a quirky, heartfelt RPG demo with a healthy dose of self-aware charm, give *Untitled Paper RPG* a whirl. It might just be the most honest game demo you play all year. And who knows, maybe your enthusiasm will inspire him to dust off the project one day. Stranger things have happened, right?
Tags: indie games, RPG, A Short Hike, game development, demos
Original article: Eurogamer