Hi everyone! I’m Daniel — a solo dad dev from Czechia, building my very first full game from scratch. I work on this project late at night after my daughter falls asleep, trying to turn years of ideas into something real. This is the beginning of Echoes Within Games, my small indie label and a place where I’ll be documenting the entire journey.
Since becoming a father, I’ve had to face parts of myself I didn’t expect — moments of frustration, emotional overload, and sudden bursts of anger I didn’t fully understand. I’ve spent the last years learning to work with these emotions through breathing techniques, meditation, psychotherapy, and even more spiritual approaches.
This journey changed me deeply, and I believe it gives me a meaningful foundation for designing a game about emotions — especially one that doesn’t treat them as good or bad, but as parts of the same whole.
Sappy is a hand-drawn 2D top-down adventure where the world reacts to the main character’s emotional state. When Sappy feels sad, the environment becomes heavier, colder, and harder to move through. When he feels happier, the world opens up — colors shift, new details appear, and the landscape feels alive again.
It’s a game about accepting every part of ourselves, even the difficult emotions, and learning to
grow through them.
On video, you can see an idea how Sappy will shape the world. Sad ground turns into happy, grassy ground.
This is my first attempt at making a game of this scale. I’m learning in public — documenting every step, every mistake, every breakthrough. If you enjoy following personal indie projects or seeing emotional design ideas take shape, I’d be very happy to have you here.
I’ll be posting regular devlogs, progress shots, and updates here on itch.io. Your feedback, comments, or even a simple follow genuinely help keep this project moving.
Thanks for being here at the very beginning.
— Daniel / Echoes Within Games
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