Originally, this pony-dog-mouse was a placeholder when I tried my hand at programming a virtual pet in in ninth grade.
She’s the main reason why I wanted to study computer science, and a plush version of her has been accompanying me at my day job since 2016.
The Delphi Version
Back in the ninetees, virtual creatures were all the rage: Countless children were taking care of tamagotchis, computer magazines presented applications like Fin Fin, and the MOPy fish was swimming across our screen.
Around the turn of the millennium, I took my first steps in coding with PASCAL and Delphy, and after roughly two school years I knew enough to craft my own virtual pet in my spare time.
In the beginning, Reeya was just a placeholder – a quichly doodled mix of dog and pony for testing my ideas. I had been planning to replace her with cool 3D-rendered sprites of a different animal later – for example, a spider. But the more I kept looking at this doodle, the more it stole my heart. And so I kept adding new animations with this exact creature until I graduated.
The Plushie
The university started, and my time and motivation for private coding projects dwindled. I made plans to port Reeya to a different programming language, but never got around to that.
So the project went on hiatus while I was steadily heading towards a burnout. 2016 it reached tha point that I needed professional help with handling the daily grind.
One of the strategies I learned was the use of sensory input to escape spiraling thoughts and find my way back to the here and now. I decided that I would take a small plush to my office.
And who would be better suited for this job than Reeya? After all, she was one of the main reasons why had wanted to study this subject in the first place. Also, I had enjoyed making plushies in the past. So I picked up needle, thread, and gray velvet and went for it.
Soon after, a tiny, cuddly Reeya followed me around at work to remind me why I had chosen this profession to begin with.
The Unity Version
Some years ago I started recreating her in the Unity game engine. In this version, she’s frolicking through a forest landscape in 3D – while still being a gray and red stick figure.
The program is still in the early stages, and I’m still experimenting to pick a suitable approach for modeling her mind.
It’s likely that I will focus on virtual reality in the long run. It’s fascinating to stand right next to her and walk through that world together!
This video shows one of the first attempts at transferring the screen controls to virtual reality. As you can see, not everything went according to plan… but Reeya already rejoiced at the sight of all those flowers.