Sraëka Lillian's one-a-week RPG "sketches" are a lovely series of experiments with hoary old conventions from Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest
There's a running joke in the world of THEA-TAH that Shakespeare's Hamlet is a play made up entirely of quotations. I often get the same feeling when I play a fantasy RPG, and especially a fantasy RPG created with toolkits such as EasyRPG or RPG Maker that come with their own freely reusable assets, resulting in a slew of homebrew RPGs that can seem interchangeable, on the surface. Read more
Sraëka Lillian's weekly RPG sketches on Itch.io present a delightful series of experiments with time-honored conventions from Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. These miniature RPGs, each completed within a week, often showcase design notes that are engaging to read. Some sketches are lighthearted, such as Mencollector, where the player collects individuals across a map, while others focus on specific conventions like healing springs or heist levels.
Lillian's work often explores themes such as religion or racism, and while many sketches may be rough due to limited development time, they are exercises in refining her skills rather than showcasing polished execution. The heist sketch, Keep Wishing, exemplifies this, offering a whimsical stealth puzzle set in the tradition of the castle in Dragon Quest.
One sketch, Shortest Path, leverages high encounter difficulty to encourage players to seek shortcuts, highlighting how random battles can teach players to navigate through a space efficiently. Another example is Butterfly's Big Knife Fight, which serves as a manifesto for the concept of "sketchiness," emphasizing Lillian's desire for fearless creativity despite her anxieties about the quality of her work.
Lillian, known for developing the game Cataphract OI, invites fans to explore these sketches and consider giving Cataphract OI a try.
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