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Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of Final Fantasy, recently uncovered a piece of gaming history while cleaning out his belongings. The game designer shared three pages from a hand-written proposal he created around 1984 for the very first game he ever worked on.
The 40-year-old document includes concept sketches for the main screen, a story summary, a world map, and part of a storyboard showing how the game would change based on player choices. While Sakaguchi didn’t confirm which game the proposal was for, the timing and content suggest it was likely for Death Trap, a text-based adventure game that Square released in 1984.
断捨離こんなのでてきたシリーズ
１９８４年
はじめて書いたゲーム企画書#スクウェア開発室 #sakaGUCCI pic.twitter.com/FDnkrRBu3d— 坂口博信 (@auuo) December 1, 2025
Death Trap follows a spy traveling to East Africa to find a scientist kidnapped by guerillas during the Cold War. The game itself is fairly simple, but it holds an important place in gaming history as the first title ever released by Square, the company that would later create Final Fantasy.
At the time, Sakaguchi was just 21 years old and working as a part-timer when he was given the chance to design Death Trap. According to reports, he had been programming a different project in March 1984, but it was cancelled partway through, putting his income at risk. He began writing a new script in April, development started in June, and the game was finished by September of that year.
断捨離こんなのでてきたシリーズ
FF7つくってたとき#FF14 #スクウェア開発室 #sakaGUCCI pic.twitter.com/G3nskiYJNA
— 坂口博信 (@auuo) November 28, 2025
Though Death Trap didn’t generate much attention when it launched, it was successful enough for Square to release a sequel, Will: Death Trap 2, the following year. Ten years later, the same core team that made Square’s first game was working on the Final Fantasy series. Sakaguchi also shared old photos from the development period of Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VII.
