You've probably seen them everywhere lately. Those pixelated creatures living in a corner of your screen, demanding snacks and attention. We call them "dachi" games, a shorthand for the Tamagotchi-style virtual pet genre that has somehow survived from the 90s into the era of hyper-realistic VR. But here’s the thing: most people trying to figure out how to make dachi game projects end up failing because they focus on the art instead of the math.
It’s about the clock.
If you don’t get the background ticker right, your digital pet is either a needy nightmare or a boring rock. I’ve seen developers spend months on hand-drawn animations only to realize their hunger decay rate makes the game unplayable. You have to start with the "Heartbeat."
The Logic of Life: How to Make Dachi Game Systems That Actually Work
At its core, a dachi game is just a series of timers. You’re managing a finite set of variables—usually Hunger, Happiness, and Energy—that tick down toward zero. The magic happens when you hide those numbers behind a cute sprite. To build this, you need a State Machine. Think of it as the pet's brain.
If Hunger < 20, the pet enters the "Cranky" state. If Energy == 0, it triggers the "Sleep" state. It sounds simple, but the complexity comes in the overlapping. What if the pet is both hungry and sleepy? Which animation takes priority?
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Most successful dachi games, like the recent indie hit Melatonin or the classic Pou, use a priority stack. The "Sick" state almost always overrides "Happy." You’re essentially building a tiny, needy AI. You'll likely be working in an engine like Unity or Godot. Godot is actually gaining a ton of traction for these types of games because its node-based system feels very intuitive for "object" focused design. You have a Pet node, which has a Timer node, which has a Sprite node.
One thing people often overlook is the Real-Time Clock (RTC). If the player closes the app, the pet shouldn't just freeze in time. You need to save a timestamp when the game closes. When the player returns, the game calculates the difference between CurrentTime and LastSaveTime, then applies the decay. If they were gone for eight hours, that pet better be starving.
Mechanics That Keep People Coming Back (And Not Just Out of Guilt)
We need to talk about the "guilt loop." It’s the dark secret of the genre. People play dachi games because they feel a sense of responsibility. But if you lean too hard into that, players get stressed and delete the app.
Balance is everything.
Why Variable Reward Cycles Matter
Don't just make the pet sit there. Give it jobs. Give it a yard. In the original Tamagotchi blueprints from Bandai, the "discipline" mechanic was a way to add friction. You weren't just feeding it; you were shaping its personality.
In a modern context, you should consider:
- Evolution Branches: This is the "hook." If the player feeds the pet only candy, it turns into a different creature than if they fed it vegetables. This adds replayability. Suddenly, one playthrough isn't enough.
- Minigames: You need a way for players to earn "Coins" or "Points" to buy items. This breaks the monotony of the clicking-and-feeding loop.
- Environmental Interaction: Does the background change with the seasons? Does the pet react to the weather? These tiny details make the "dachi" feel real.
Actually, let's look at the math for a second. If you’re coding in C# for Unity, your hunger decay might look like a simple subtraction in the Update() loop, but that’s a mistake. Frame-rate dependency will ruin your game. Use Time.deltaTime. Or better yet, use a Coroutine that runs every 60 seconds. It saves CPU cycles, especially if you’re targeting mobile devices where battery life is king.
The Aesthetic Trap: Pixels vs. Vector
When people search for how to make dachi game tutorials, they usually want to know how to draw the pet. Honestly? The art style matters less than the "juice."
Juice is the term developers use for those little polish effects. The way a pet bounces when you tap it. The little heart particles that fly up when it eats. The screen shake when it's angry. You can have the most beautiful 4K 3D model, but if it doesn't react to the user, it’s a statue, not a pet.
Pixel art is the industry standard for a reason. It's nostalgic. It’s also much easier to animate for a solo dev. You only need a few frames—Idle, Eat, Sleep, Happy, Sad—and you've got a functional character. If you go the 3D route, you’re looking at rigging, weight painting, and a much heavier file size.
I’d argue that the sound design is actually more important than the graphics. Think about the high-pitched "beep" of an original Tamagotchi. It’s iconic. It’s annoying. It’s effective. It demands your attention. Use short, punchy SFX for UI interactions and a soft, looping ambient track for the background.
Technical Hurdles Nobody Mentions
Persistence is the hardest part. You aren't just saving a high score; you're saving a living history. You need to store the pet's age, weight, friendship level, and current inventory.
Most beginners use PlayerPrefs in Unity for this. Don't do that. It’s too easy for users to accidentally delete their data, or worse, for it to get corrupted. Use JSON serialization. It allows you to save complex data structures into a simple text file that can be encrypted.
Then there’s the "death" problem.
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How do you handle a pet dying? In the 90s, it was permanent. You got a tombstone and had to restart. Today’s gamers are a bit more sensitive. Many "dachi" games now use a "vacation" or "back to the planet" metaphor to soften the blow. Or, they allow a "Revive" mechanic using the in-game currency. From a design perspective, death should be a consequence, but it shouldn't be a reason for the player to quit the game forever.
Getting Your Game Out There
Once you’ve actually built the thing, how do you make sure people play it? The "dachi" community is huge on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Since these games are visually cute and involve "caring," they make for great short-form video content.
Post "DevLogs." Show the pet evolving. Ask your audience to name the new species you just coded.
If you're targeting the "cozy gamer" demographic, aesthetics are your primary marketing tool. Pastel colors, soft edges, and lofi beats. If you're going for the "retro" crowd, lean into high-contrast pixels and crunchy 8-bit sounds.
Actionable Next Steps for Aspiring Devs
If you’re ready to stop reading and start coding, here is the path forward.
- Pick your engine. If you want a 2D mobile focus, go with Godot or GameMaker. If you want 3D or cross-platform power, Unity is the choice.
- Design the "Core Loop" on paper first. Draw three circles: Hunger, Energy, Happiness. Write down exactly how many minutes it takes for each to go from 100 to 0.
- Build the "Heartbeat" script. Create a simple system that tracks time even when the app is closed. This is the foundation of the entire game.
- Create a "Finite State Machine." Map out the pet's moods. Make sure "Hungry" and "Sad" don't glitch out when triggered at the same time.
- Prototype with "Grey Boxes." Don't draw the pet yet. Use a square. If the square isn't fun to take care of, a cat won't save it.
- Integrate a Save System. Use JSON to ensure that your pet's "soul" persists through app restarts.
Building a dachi game is a lesson in empathy through code. You're creating something that people will eventually feel bad about neglecting. That’s a powerful emotional lever to pull. Use it wisely, keep your math tight, and don't forget to let the player pet the creature. That’s the most important part.