SketchChain

SketchChain Inspiration

We wanted to recreate the classic "Telephone Game" but with drawings instead of spoken words. Inspired by games like Telestrations and the creativity of Reddit communities, we asked a simple question:

What happens when a drawing is interpreted over and over again by different people?

The answer is usually hilarious.

A simple sketch of a cat typing on a keyboard might become a tiger playing piano, then a lion operating a spaceship. SketchChain turns those unexpected transformations into a collaborative social experience that encourages creativity, humor, and community participation.

What it does

SketchChain is a multiplayer drawing-and-guessing game built for Reddit.

Players participate in a chain where:

The first player receives a secret prompt and creates a sketch. The next player only sees the drawing and guesses what it represents. The following player only sees that guess and draws it. The cycle repeats for multiple rounds. At the end, the entire chain is revealed, showing how the original idea evolved.

The result is a funny progression of sketches and guesses that often ends up completely different from where it started.

Features include:

🎨 Drawing canvas with color and brush tools ✍️ Guessing phase between drawing rounds 🔗 Multi-step chain progression 🏆 Gallery of completed chains 👥 Community-driven gameplay directly inside Reddit 📱 Mobile-friendly experience How we built it

We built SketchChain using Reddit's Devvit platform and modern web technologies.

Frontend React TypeScript HTML5 Canvas API CSS Backend & Game Logic Devvit Interactive Posts TypeScript Reddit APIs Core Flow

Each chain alternates between drawing and guessing phases.

Prompt ↓ Drawing ↓ Guess ↓ Drawing ↓ Guess ↓ Reveal

The chain stores only the information required for the next participant, ensuring that players cannot see previous steps and influence the outcome.

This creates an information-loss effect similar to the classic telephone game:

Information n+1

=Transform(Information n

)

As the number of steps increases, the probability of funny mutations also increases.

Challenges we ran into Building a smooth drawing experience

Creating a responsive canvas that works well on both desktop and mobile devices required careful handling of touch and mouse events.

Managing chain state

Each participant should only see the specific information intended for their turn. Preventing spoilers while maintaining chain integrity required careful state management.

Preventing abandoned chains

Multiplayer games often suffer when players stop participating. We had to design the experience so chains remain engaging and easy to continue.

Balancing creativity and simplicity

We wanted SketchChain to be instantly understandable while still providing enough depth to keep players coming back.

Accomplishments that we're proud of ✅ Built a complete multiplayer game concept for Reddit ✅ Created an intuitive drawing interface ✅ Designed a unique chain-based gameplay loop ✅ Successfully combined creativity, humor, and social interaction ✅ Made the game accessible to anyone regardless of artistic skill ✅ Turned simple doodles into memorable community experiences

Most importantly, SketchChain consistently creates moments where players laugh at how wildly a drawing can evolve from its original idea.

What we learned

Throughout development, we learned that:

Simplicity often creates the most engaging social experiences. Players care more about participation and fun than artistic skill. Small information changes compound dramatically over multiple iterations. Collaborative creativity can generate content that is far more entertaining than anything a single player creates alone. Building for communities requires focusing on interaction, not just mechanics.

We also gained valuable experience working with Reddit's platform and designing multiplayer systems that encourage ongoing engagement.

What's next for SketchChain

We have several ideas planned for the future:

🏆 Leaderboards

Track top contributors, funniest chains, and most active artists.

🎭 Themed Events

Special chains for holidays, memes, and subreddit-specific challenges.

🤖 AI Chain Analysis

Generate funny summaries of how a chain evolved from start to finish.

👥 Community Chains

Allow entire subreddits to participate in giant collaborative chains.

🎨 More Drawing Tools

Additional brushes, stickers, shapes, and effects.

📈 Chain Statistics

Visualize how prompts mutate over time and compare different chain outcomes.

🏅 Achievements & Rewards

Unlock badges for creativity, participation, and completing chains.

Our vision is to make SketchChain the go-to collaborative creativity game on Reddit—where every prompt becomes an unpredictable story and every chain creates a new reason to laugh together. 🚀🎨