- From cats and puppie s to dinosaurs and dragons, virtual desktop pets are a fun way to add a little whimsy to your computer.Since these pets require little maintenance, they are great for both kids and adults. Putting a virtual pet, also known as a cyber pet, on your desktop is easy.
- Sylestia is not just another type of virtual pet sites but it is more sort of an online game which revolves around virtual pets. It offers a wide range of features related to pet games which also includes great options of customization too. Sylestia revolves around more than 20 species of virtual pets which are fully customizable.
Putting a virtual pet, also known as a cyber pet, on your desktop is easy. Simply download the software and your pet will appear on the desktop. Each desktop pet responds to your commands as you use your mouse or keyboard. Basic Premium; Pets On Desktop: 4: Unlimited: Create Custom Animated Pets: 3: Unlimited: Free Plugins: 1: Unlimited: Free Packs: 14: Unlimited: Special Packs: Third.
A fun way to customize your computer’s screen
Shimeji Ee is a Windows customization tool, which keeps users entertained with multiple animated characters on the screen. Developed by Yuki Yamada and revamped by Kilkakon, the open-source project lets you download cute characters on your system. These animations run around on the computer screen doing some fun stuff, giving respite from the monotony of working on a desktop. However, for it to work, the program needs Javascript and will eat up a good amount of CPU and RAM resources.
Multiple customizations, fun characters, and more
Shimeji Ee download supports multiple customizations. The desktop ‘Shimejis’ or little characters on the screen are fun and interactive and give you an opportunity to engage with visual elements. The animations interact with icons, windows, pop-ups, and other elements, either hilariously disrupting activities or wandering about on their own.
Does it have multiple customization options?
Shimeji Ee offers multiple customization options, and you can do almost anything with the characters. For instance, you can change their appearance, add fun sounds, use different colors, etc.
The latest version of the open-source Windows personalization tool has been developed by Kilkakon in collaboration with Shimeji-ee Group. It’s called ‘Shimeji English Enhanced’ and has been completely translated into English.
How’s the interface?
While the program’s interface needs manual intervention, it’s straightforward, simple, and clean. Once you download and install Shimeji Ee, you can choose from a range of ‘mascots’. Since the program is open-source, fans across the world keep adding new characters to expand the pool of customizations.
How to use Shimeji Ee?
To run Shimeji Ee successfully on your PC, you need the latest version of Javascript installed on your system. If you already have Java, you can download the program’s ZIP file, extract the available options to a new folder, and run ‘Shimeji-ee.jar’.
The desktop customization program installs almost instantly and lets you start playing with ‘buddies’ from the get-go. The default animation quickly drops within your screen and starts moving around without any manual input.
The Windows customization tool is conveniently available in the computer’s task tray and right-clicking on the icon opens up a small menu. From here, you can select multiple settings and personalize the behaviors. However, you’ll have to work with XML files, which might need some technical skills.
The Shimeji Ee download comes with various tutorials and instruction guides to help you understand everything about features, usage, customization options, etc. It also gives multiple links to download other animated characters.
Are there any drawbacks?
The biggest drawback of this desktop personalization tool is that the features aren’t built-in, and the simple menu gives only basic functions. While this may be good for beginners, hardcore Windows PC users might get bored after a while. The tutorials explaining the program are only available on the official website and inaccessible from the menu.
With the fun Windows personalization tool, you can’t download new characters from the menu. As such, it can be quite tricky for new users to customize ‘buddies’ without going through a tedious process.
Yet, despite that, Shimeji Ee is still a good program to have fun with your Windows PC’s screen. While the minimal menu options can be a deterrent, it’s not very difficult to download or install new characters. Also, if you’re used to working with XML files, you can easily customize how the animations behave on the screen.
Our take
Simply put, Shimeji Ee is a Windows customization software program that lets users add cute animations as ‘partners’ on the screen. If you need to spend a good amount of time in front of your PC, this program can be an excellent addition. You just use the tutorials and instruction guides to get started without any hassle.
Should you download it?
Compared to other Windows personalization tools like Lively Wallpaper, Rainmeter, and Classic Shell, this one offers a simpler interface. After installing the app, you get only two characters. However, the open-source project gives access to plenty of customization options, adorable characters, etc.
If you want to make the interactions more fun, you can use XML files. With basic programming knowledge, you can personalize the program however you want. Shimeji Ee download is a good choice for Windows PCs to keep users entertained and engaged.
Highs
- Offers multiple customization options
- Offers multiple character images
- Allows for unique character behaviors
- Characters support interactions
Lows
- No built-in tutorials
- Heavy on system resources
Shimeji-ee Desktop Petfor Windows
2.1
Remember desktop pets? In the very early days of the web, they came in many forms (cats, ants, cockroaches, even spyware), all of them cute little pixels who just hung out on your screen to keep you company. It made the strange, isolating new world wide web we all found ourselves in feel a little more like home.
Sadly, most of the ones we knew and loved in the past died quiet digital deaths. Yet we can thank indie game and web art designer Nathalie Lawhead (aka alienmelon) for keeping the dream of desktop buddies alive over the years, reinventing them for the modern world, and leading a niche movement to bring them back.
'Virtual pets are a relic of that era. A way to humanize the cold digital space that you're constantly in.'
'Desktops used to be much more customizable spaces,' she wrote to Mashable over Twitter. 'Virtual pets are a relic of that era. A way to humanize the cold digital space that you're constantly in. They kind of counteract the golden rule of productivity and 'maximizing output' that we're so used to when engaging with a computer. Instead of running things that are only useful, you get this little goofy presence that makes occupying this space less of a lonely void.'
In a recent blog post, Lawhead detailed a thorough history and love letter to the desktop buddy. She's been making them since Neopets first became a thing, accruing at least a dozen of the most oddly delightful new versions of this old web tradition.
Now that the lucky among us are working from home due to coronavirus stay-at-home orders, we're faced with an even more severe version of that digital isolation of the past, often with only our screens for companionship. Which is why the desktop buddies need to come back ASAP in a big way.
SEE ALSO: Best beginner-friendly video games for your coronavirus lockdown
'It's kind of escapism. Transforming our digital spaces into a fantasy world that we can actually live in matters a lot,' she said. 'Computers are really good at making us feel alone. You definitely get that in most of the virtual spaces we're put into (like a desktop, photoshop, anything we work in). All that exists here is YOU and the impending urgency to be productive because that's what the space was designed for.'
Virtual Desktop Pets Windows 10
But taking back utility-only virtual spaces with goofiness is one way to help us stay sane. And that's why she hopes other creators will join her in making more of these digital toy friends, even if it's just a desktop buddy version of their video game or animated character. Her post explains how she approaches designing them, emphasizing how surprisingly easy they can be to make.
'There's also a therapeutic aspect for yourself in knowing that you're 'building a friend.'
'There's also a therapeutic aspect for yourself in knowing that you're 'building a friend.' You get to decide what kind of emotions it expresses. How it interacts with you,' Lawhead said. 'Sharing that with others is very meaningful.'
With so many designers finding themselves also stuck at home and possibly with more time on their hands than usual, now is the best time to rally around the movement to bring back desktop buddies.
We went ahead and curated a list of our own favorite virtual desktop companions, based almost entirely on Lawhead's list of what's available right now. They might seem limited now, but imagine what they could be if more people joined in.
(Note: Many are free to download with a suggested donation. We highly recommend giving the few bucks creators request since, like many, designers are also facing uncertain financial times.)
Electric Love Potato (Two Point OH!)
Electric Love Potato (Two Point OH!) is a ride-or-die desktop buddy. A second iteration on an earlier design, its core personality remains as winning as ever. Like any Good Boy puppo companion, the Electric Love Potato (Two Point OH!) is immediately obsessed with you, telling you various affirmations. In return, you can hug, water, and brush it (you can also shame it, but what kind of monster are you?) As thanks, it makes potato art just for your viewing pleasure.
But the Electric Love Potato (Two Point OH!) is not a passive virtual buddy. You'll very frequently have to save it from various threats, and the window pop-ups can look like spam (they are not). But that's by design, since the Electric Love Potato (Two Point OH!) is just meant to make you laugh.
Platforms: Windows, Mac
Price: Free, with a$2.00 suggested donation
eSheep
The only surviving relic of the original desktop companions on our list, eSheep is both a blast to the past and very relevant to this moment. Originally created over two decades ago by Tatsutoshi Nomura, a fan has resurrected this cute little guy for all our benefit. eSheep does little more than just walk around the bottom of your screen, occasionally yawning or sitting like a cutey. You can pick him up and drag him around, but he'll just go back to doing sheep things.
Platforms: Windows
Creator: Originally Tatsutoshi Nomura, new version Adriano
Creator: alienmelon
Price: Free
RUNONCE (remember_me)
By far the most relatable entry on our list, this buddy is described as 'an existential desktop friend that knows you have doomed it by running it.' Hard same.
And it's not kidding: After opening the application and bringing this adorably self-conscious little creature to life, it will beg for its life every time you try to quit, then the app will self-destruct after you force quit.
But RUNONCE isn't about just guilting you. The rabbit-like virtual companion stomps around your desktop spouting anxieties about the fleeting nature of life, worrying about being too overbearing by asking you questions, and finally concluding that love makes it all worthwhile even though everything must end.
It also frequently asks you to save conversations you have, which is automatically preserved in a folder. So even after you murder this innocent digital being, you can still hold onto the memories.
Platforms: Windows, Mac
Creator: alienmelon
Price: Free, with a$1.00 suggested donation
Girb
Like a more passive version of RUNONCE, Girb is exactly what the perfect desktop companion should be: unbelievably cute and useless. He just bops around your screen, not doing much of anything, sometimes spouting technobabble and tripping over itself <3
In the description, Lawhead says she created Girb to help a friend dealing with depression, and it's immediately apparent how Girb can help bring a smile to all our faces.
Platforms: Windows, Mac
Creator: alienmelon
Price: Free, with a$0.99 suggested donation
Desktop Goose
Virtual Desktop Sheep
Fans of Untitled Goose Game will recognize that honk anywhere. While not affiliated with the game's creator, this fan art desktop companion brings the spirit of what made it great. The Desktop Goose is an adorable nuisance you can't help but love (more like a cat than a dog, if you will). He honks liberally, tracks mud all over your screen, steals your mouse if you click on him, and interrupts your day with goose-related memes (again, stealing your mouse if you dare close out of them).
Why would you willingly download a pest onto your screen? Because he's friggin adorable and ultimately harmless fun. It brings a dash of playfulness to your day, like when I discovered that I could avoid his beak by making him run circles after my mouse until he gave up. Who's honking now, Goose?!
Platforms: Windows, Mac
Creator: samperson
Price: Free, with a$2.00 suggested donation
Mountain
While not necessarily a desktop companion, Mountain is like a virtual bonsai tree that grows independent of you. It's a passive 'game' intended to run in the background while you go about your day doing other stuff, as your mountain evolves in real-time. Its evolution is based on how some first initial choices you make (the only input you have on it) interact with one another.
It's a calming, meditative virtual buddy that helps give you an excuse to take a brief break from work to check in periodically out of curiosity. What's most lovely about Mountain right now is how it reminds us that, despite all this justified anxiety and terror, there's still something beautiful to be found in a world we can't control.
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
Creator: David O'Reilly
Price: $1.00
Homeless Pigeon
Did you miss your opportunity to foster a pet before safe-at-home and shelter-in-place orders were put into effect? Well, Homeless Pigeon is here as a virtual pet-in-need of a desktop. Turning these winged pests into an adorable buddy, you can let it just hang out and do its thing in its nest, or click it continuously to shower it with love (we recommend the latter).
Platforms: Windows
Creator: itsNemo
Price: Free, with a$4.00 suggested donation
Desktop Pets
More of a traditional Tamagotchi situation, Desktop Pets offers two different types (a unicorn or turtle, naturally) for you to clean up after and tell them to sleep. It's another really simple one, and since it's kept in a window, not as adorable as truly on-screen desktop companions. But if you miss pressing a button to clear pixelated poo, this one's for you.
Platforms: Windows
Creator: wymandude
Price: Free
My Pet Ghost
Adorably described as 'tamaghosti,' this is another iteration on the traditional Tamagotchi experience. This one's way more extensive, though, and more after-life oriented of course. With mini-games and even an evolution into a new creature after 30 minutes of passive play, your ghost pal is sure to keep you engaged. And yes, it's still possible to kill you tamaghosti from neglect (somehow).
It's also an idle game that lives in a separate desktop. But if you're on windows, that means checking back in only takes a keyboard press of alt+tab.
Virtual Desktop Pets Cats
Platforms: Windows
Creator: Liv Jeremiah, Fancy Pigeons, Harry Prebble
Price: Free