Hi. The care-taking feature is meant to be the central aspect of the game. Like in the spirit of old Tamagotchi games. A pokemon game would have a focus more on combat and exploration, so it would not really be suitable in this jam. 

Hi!

Well, if it works to create a TTRPG that revolves around virtual pets, then feel free to go ahead. 

Are there any content creators / youtubers who have a focus on virtual pet games, or simply are open for virtual pet games?

I'd like them to check out Krepagotchi, a virtual pet game where you take care of a minecraft creeper.

If anyone of you is a content creator or knows someone who would be willing to play-test and record it, feel free to let me know. :3

Link to game (Play in Browser): 

https://danielbrendel.itch.io/krepagotchi-virtual-pet 

Support appreciation

As you know I'm a very passionate software developer and have been active on itch since over 7 years now. That's why I've decided to change some project's pricings from "No payments" to "Free or donate". This will help me staying motivated to work on a vast amount of great projects as well as run various beneficial game jams.

Here are the projects you can support via a donation:

Casual Desktop Game

The beloved fan remake of the ancient Desktop Destroyer with vast modding possibilities and an integrated workshop.

https://danielbrendel.itch.io/casual-desktop-game

Casual Pixel Warrior

The 2D top-down wave shooter with RGP elements and pets.

https://danielbrendel.itch.io/casual-pixel-warrior

Hyper Frenzy

A casual 2D arena-styled space shooter game with a vast amount of weapons, maps and the possibility for custom content such as maps, gametypes and scripts.

https://danielbrendel.itch.io/hyper-frenzy

Krepagotchi

A virtual pet game where you take care of a Krepa (depicting a minecraft creeper). Very adorable, cozy and cute.

https://danielbrendel.itch.io/krepagotchi-virtual-pet

AquaShell related games and apps

https://danielbrendel.itch.io/aquaboard-csrb

https://danielbrendel.itch.io/aquaspace-game

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Your support will also benefit the following upcoming jams:

NPD Awareness jam A game jam to promote inclusivity and fight discrimination against people who suffer from Narcissistic Personality Disorder: https://itch.io/jam/npd-awareness-jam

Virtual Pet jam A game jam to create or update a virtual pet of your choice: https://itch.io/jam/virtual-pet-jam-2025

Winter Wonderland A game jam during winter time for cozy and comfy gamedev sessions: https://itch.io/jam/winter-wonderland-jam

Thank you for reading and have a great and productive day! 💚💙💛🧡❤️

Only one month left for World Mental Health Day! Celebrate with us and help raising awareness for Narcissistic Personality Disorder by joining our game jam! 💚

Graphics artist for Tamagotchi-like Virtual Pet game

Hey, I'm looking for a graphics artist to join me expanding my Krepagotchi game.

Krepagotchi is a 2D virtual pet game where you take care of your Krepa (depicting a minecraft creeper). The game is already playable and I'm now looking to expand it more for player retention.

In particular, I want to offer players purchasing cosmetic items for their Krepa, like hats, dresses or fancy environment decor. The coins would be earned just by interacting with your pet (petting, feeding, treatment, etc).

This way they can have a more personal experience with their pet.

Unfortunately, I cannot offer payment, so this is something we'd do in our free time. The project is also open-sourced under the MIT license on GitHub, so if you want to join in, keep that in mind. Plus, we can participate at the Virtual Pet Jam 2025 during development.

Here is a YT short to give you an impression:

Here is the link to the game:

https://danielbrendel.itch.io/krepagotchi-virtual-pet

Have a great day! ^_^

Aww, thank you for your kind words! =) I really appreciate it!

As for what you've noticed, do you remember which of the meters? And to what value? Normally it should be reduced until zero, which can then influence the health meter (e.g. zero fullness and zero affection inflict on health).

As for your question, currently the ball shows up randomly. My intention was that the creeper basically decides when it wants to be just cuddled or when it wants to play with the ball. I made it like this because sometimes I don't want to use the ball because petting is quicker, but that feels like not really caring, so I *MUST* play with my creeper. Haha, sorry hard to explain, but I hope you get what I mean. xD

Virtual Pet Jam 2025

This game jam is dedicated to the genre of virtual pets / tamagotchi-like games. Create such a game or update an existing one during this jam! See what others are making and get inspired. Join today!

It's an "all are welcome" game jam. Whether you're a beginner or a professional developer, all are welcome to join and make their virtual pet game. You can create a new one or update an existing one.

> JOIN THE GAME JAM <

I've also made a Counter-Strike 1.6 Retroboard that is very interactive. You can play iconic sounds, view nostalgic configuration insights, take a nostalgic look at screenshots of community maps and check out a view very iconic easter eggs (plant/defuse bomb, shoot weapons, spray lambda logo, etc). There is also a link to the official AquaShell homepage that you can click to directly navigate there.

View the project here:

https://danielbrendel.itch.io/aquaboard-csrb

The first ever NPD awareness game jam on itch.io, proudly presented by Daniel Brendel. This game jam is dedicated to promote inclusion and awareness for people who suffer from Narcissistic Personality Disorder, a very misunderstood and stigmatized mental health condition. With this game jam, I want to add to the global awareness of NPD, that is slowly, but steadily rising.

Unfortunately, even in progressive spaces the term Narcissism or NPD is frequently misused, often as a synonym for "toxic person" or "person I don't like". This jam advocates for education via scientific valid information, instead of consuming rage-bait content on social media.

If you are a pwNPD (= person with Narcissistic Personality Disorder), or you want to support the cause, feel free to join this game jam. Sharing this game jam is also very  much appreciated. 

This game jam starts on this years World Mental Health Day, which is 10th of October.

💛 Join the NPD Awareness Jam 💛

Casual Desktop Game: New Workshop Items

In this episode I'm showcasing the recent official workshop items for Casual Desktop Game. You can download them from the Steam Workshop or Standalone Workshop depending on the version you're using.

Which workshop items have been recently published?

• TNT Barrel
• Minecraft Creeper
• Potato Masher Grenade
• Thompson Rifle
• UFO Laser Guy

Casual Desktop Game official homepage: 

https://www.casual-desktop-game.com/

Download the game here:

https://danielbrendel.itch.io/casual-desktop-game

Thank you for your feedback! I really appreciate it. 

Haha, yeah, it's really cute how it chases after the ball, sometimes stopping and then going for food. :D Yeah, I also don't really like to read a wall of text of a game, so it's great that the screenshots provide a good impression for first players.

Ah, yeah, I guess it would be better if - when selecting the glove - you can then move it over the Krepa and then pet it. :) But I'm glad you figured it out quickly. 

Once again, thank you for your kind feedback. :)

Thank you for your feeback! I really appreciate it.

Ah, yeah, currently the ball appears randomly and you then have to use it in order to give affection instead of petting. The idea behind that was that the Krepa decides what he wants. But I see that providing both options at the same time could be more engaging. Moving the glove would definitely be a better visual representation of petting. Will add this to the to-do list.

Yeah that's actually a cool idea to provide players the opportunity to decorate their home with items. Will put this on the to-do list.

Thanks again!

I'd like to get feedback of my virtual pet game. I always found creepers to be very adorable. No wonder there are countless of plushies and fan videos available. It's also great that Mojang/Microsoft are very open to fan creations (they even gladly welcome them)!

I'm now looking feedback for the game as well as the game page.

• How does the game page look to you?
• Does the game description explain everything you'd say that one needs to know?
• Do the screenshots give you a good impression of the game?
• Is the game intuitive to use?

Please note that this game is a tamagotchi-styled game. That means that you check your personal Krepa multiple times per day.

I appreciate any constructive feedback and criticism.

By the way, the game is even open-sourced under the MIT license and available on GitHub.

Link to game: https://danielbrendel.itch.io/krepagotchi-virtual-pet

I've been considering building my own virtual pet for a while now. As a millenial myself I grew up with various 90s toys, including Tamagotchis.

I recall how much fun it was to take care for a digital pet. As a child, you could really dig into your fantasy of it being your own very pet and friend.

For certain waiting situations, such as commuting, waiting in a lobby, etc, it can be really nice to have an own app that you can check and do stuff that keeps you entertained for a moment, while also needs you to check in on a daily basis.

And as I've been playing Minecraft since 2022 and find Creepers adorable, I said to myself: "Why not create a Tamagotchi like pet that resembles a Creeper?".

Krepagotchi was born!

I implemented feeding, petting, playing and health treatment as well as many more things.

• 💭 Pay attention to its thought bubbles!
• 🤧 That cute little sneezes when sick
• 🐸 Notice the frogs appearing on rainy days?
• ⚽ See how adorably it chases after the rubber ball

But let me show you a full feature list:

• 👾 Krepa pet (resembling a Minecraft Creeper)
• 👶 Personal name
• 🥓 Feeding
• 🫂 Petting
• ⚽ Playing
• 🧹 Cleaning
• 💊 Treatment
• 🤧 Health conditions
• 💭 Thought bubbles
• 🏞️ Biome selection
• 🌦️ Weather effects
• 🐸 Dynamic environment
• 🧊 Cute pixel art
• 📱 Progressive Web App Support

If you want to play the game and experience a very pixelated and nostalgic virtual pet, then feel free to check it out:

GitHub: https://github.com/danielbrendel/krepagotchi

Progressive Web App: https://krepagotchi.danielbrendel.com/

Play on itch: https://danielbrendel.itch.io/krepagotchi-virtual-pet

You're welcome and thank you for your appreciation!

Yes, I definitely succeeded in making a scripting language that fits its purpose. But yeah, at some point one wants to expand even more. :D

For performance, you cannot really avoid a VM. For games I think the so called phenomenon of amortization solves it. You trade one cost of just-in-time compilation to byte code for your VM, but gain large performance improvements for scripts that run for a longer period of time, which applies to games. The cost of compilation is amortized by the runtime performance improvements. If you want to even go further, you can use ahead-of-time compilation, however this goes with the development cost, as you would always need to recompile before testing. Or you support both ways, JIT for dev/debug and AOT for release builds. :D 

The console application is basically just a REPL, which means you can interactively execute script code or enter commands, similar to cmd.exe. It's basically just a user interface. The heavy work happens mostly behind curtains, so to speak. The host application however can also be launched with providing a path to a script to be executed. If that's the case, the REPL is hidden and the host application exits once the script has finished. So, if you want to type in some script commands, you just launch the shell. If you just want to execute a script, you launch the shell with the path to the script - and optionally arguments that can be provided to a script.

Hi, thank you for your response!

You're right, for a native running program, it's compiled and then linked together, so in the end it results in byte code that is run by the processor of the computer, where scripting languages can be interpreted by a VM via turning it into an intermediate byte code with an own designed instruction set, so execution is faster. Yes, currently my script language interprets on runtime, which is the bottleneck here. I've considered to build a VM system, but then didn't go ahead, as the original purpose of the language is the same as AutoIt or AutoHotKey: Performing administrative tasks or creating scripted applications for specific tasks. And for that it runs just fine.

But recently I thought, it would be cool to also make it way more performant speed wise, so you could also create more small games with it. I'll need to do some research tho, as creating a VM for a scripting language is not that trivial, but definitely doable.

Thanks for liking my project. :)

I've published an update to the game a few months ago. Now there are also seasonal events available. The current seasonal events are mental health month (June), Halloween, Christmas and New Years Eve. Feel free to check out during these dates and get extra rewards!

I've made a virtual pet game that resembles a creeper from Minecraft, called Krepa.

Check it out: https://danielbrendel.itch.io/krepagotchi-virtual-pet

Update: I've added the latest version of AquaShell x64 to the downloads of the PoC game.

A game in my own programming language

Yes, it was about time. I started developing my own programming language a few years ago and it's matured quite well, so that I tested further how far I could go.

I made many practical real-world scripts and applications and of course I wanted to make a small game with it.

My programming language consists of two parts:

The script interpreter

So, my programming language is actually a scripting language. I got hugely inspired by AutoIt and AutoHotKey, which was very popular when I was a teenager around 20 years ago (wow!). Thus my scripting language is very similar. 

The interpreter essentially consists of a C++ source and header file, and is designed to be used within your own C++ projects to outsource tasks in scripts. I used it in two projects so far: An own custom web server with backend scripting functionality and in my own scripting shell. The former project is lost, but the latter is progressing well! Meet AquaShell.

The scripting shell

AquaShell is a scripting and automation shell that I personally use as a substitution for PowerShell or cmd.exe. So far I've created many useful automation scripts, as well as complex scripted applications. And one of the scripted applications is a small Asteroids inspired space shooter. :D

That said, the game is laggy as hell. Imagine writing a game in PowerShell, AutoIt, AutoHotKey, Tcl or whatever. But the flaws is also that my scripting system interprets on the fly. There is no VM or any other thing that would speed up running graphical applications. But it's fine. I mean the shell is not designed for that purpose, but it's funny to see how far you can go.

If you want to see the result, here is the game page, covering a demo video, screenshots and a download. But note that AquaShell is of course required to launch the game. Also AquaShell and all associated projects are open-sourced software using the MIT license.

https://danielbrendel.itch.io/aquaspace-game
  

It's been a while since the last update of this casual space shooter game, so I have great news for all fellow retro space shooter lovers!

The latest update contains very important improvements that will improve your gameplay experience by fixing some very crucial bugs.

One of the most annoying bugs was that once you minimized or left focus on the game during fullscreen, the game would just hang infinitely, so you've had to restart the game. This is no more. I changed fullscreen mode to "windowed fullscreen". Not only does it launch faster now, it also fixes that said annoying bug. Now you can just minimize or leave game focus during gameplay whenever you want. No hangs or crashes anymore.

Also keyboard input was fixed! Now you can enter text content to input elements as well as in the console again! This bug was particularily annoying and happend after the transition to DirectInput. But now the transition is fully done and the annoying key input bugs are gone!

It's also crucial noting that - if you are using Windows 11 with the latest updates - it can happen that you can't see any bullets (regardless of local player or bot players). The issue is simply fixed by setting compatibility mode to Windows 8. You can either do that via the file properties or just by running the win8compat.bat.

Also, here is a full gameplay introduction video with all the recent changes:

Link to game: https://danielbrendel.itch.io/hyper-frenzy