itch.io

hi everyone! 👋

I'm making apeFriend, a little desktop pet: a small pixel ape that lives on top of your desktop and walks around on the title bars of your actual windows. it naps, juggles, does push-ups, brings you little presents, and gets startled (or very giggly) when you poke it 🙈

I just put out version 0.7 and I would really love some honest feedback. these are the things I'm most unsure about:

1. the first few minutes. the first time you start it, a little guide opens to explain everything. is it clear what the ape does and what you can do with it? did anything confuse you, or was the guide too much?
2. bananas 🍌 the ape earns bananas while it keeps you company, and you can spend them on things to wear. does the pace feel nice, or too slow, or too fast? (right now it's one banana every 5 minutes, plus some for presents, baskets and tidying up, and most things cost 150)
3. cute or annoying? a desktop pet should make your day a little nicer, not get in your way. did it ever block a click, cover something you needed, or poop one too many times? 😅
4. your setup. if you have Windows 11, two monitors, or different scaling on each screen, does the ape walk on the right windows and stand in the right places? those setups are really hard for me to test alone.
5. poking vs picking up. a quick click is a poke now, and pressing and moving picks it up. does that feel natural to you?

a little note on privacy, because it matters a lot to me: apeFriend never connects to the internet. it only looks at where your windows are so it can stand on them, and nothing ever leaves your pc.

it's free for Windows here: https://syntheticape.itch.io/apefriend

any feedback helps, even a single line. I read everything, and I'm happy to try your projects too, just leave a link! thank you so much for your time 🍌

hi everyone! 👋

I've been making a little desktop pet called apeFriend and I wanted to share it here :)

it's a small pixel ape that lives on top of your desktop. not inside a window, really on your screen, walking around on the title bars of your actual windows. it climbs up, sits on the edges with its legs hanging, throws a rope when it wants to get somewhere higher, and if you drag its window too fast it stumbles lol

some things it does:

• wanders around, reads a book, has a drink, juggles, does push-ups, takes a nap when you're away
• dances when you play music 🎵
• brings you little gift boxes with stuff to wear (49 things now, hats, glasses, shirts, and lots of colours for them)
• has a tiny basketball game you can turn on
• and yes... it poops on your windows sometimes. click it and the ape cleans it up itself (or turn it off in the settings, I won't judge)

about privacy, this one is really important to me. apeFriend has no online stuff at all, it doesn't even connect to the internet. it only looks at where your windows are (so it can stand on them) and how loud your speakers are (so it knows when to dance). never what's inside them, never your mic, and nothing ever leaves your pc. I don't want to add online features for now, I'd rather keep it safe and simple for you.

I'm looking for testers on Windows! especially if you have Windows 11, two monitors, or different scaling on each screen. those setups are hard for me to test alone, so if anything looks weird please tell me 🙏

and I'd really love to hear from you:

• what would you want to see in a desktop pet?
• any ideas for new things to wear, new tricks or little games?

every suggestion helps, really. I read everything!

it's free here: https://syntheticape.itch.io/apefriend

thanks for reading, have a nice day 🍌

Hey Pixelsym, started building a desktop pet app off your ape. Using the idle and run animations from this pack and hand drawing everything else myself, reading, climbing, stumbling, plus accessories. Dropping one example here. 

License says commercial is fine so I think we're good, but I wanted to say thanks directly. Your sprite is the reason this thing exists.