I made the kids an RPG starring our cat. Mizzet wakes up hungry and goes looking for food, which seems like a fairly accurate starting point for a cat adventure. Things get a little more complicated from there.
This one uses RPG Maker MV, so the game runs in a browser with the engine’s JavaScript handling rendering, movement, and battles. My work is in the maps, characters, dialogue, and event logic rather than a new game engine. The data files describe everything from our house to a forest and a cursed castle town.
The events let me tie a conversation or an item to the next bit of the story: fetch a bucket, find some seeds, recruit a companion, or finally find out who has been taking the food. There are familiar people in the shops and plenty of cat priorities. I like being able to make a game where the kids already know the main character, even if she would probably rather have a nap.