Over 20 years ago, I started working on a virtual pet for the Psion Series 5 called Nezumi1. Nezumi holds a special place in my heart: it’s one of the first apps I tried to create—‘the project that got away’—and I’ve written about it here a number of times over the years as I’ve ported it to different low power devices (there’s a early iOS port out there, and even one for the first Pebble). Despite those many ports, I’ve never released Nezumi in any form: the initial foundations are those of an aspiring high school software engineer and never felt complete enough to result in a fully fledged experience.

Most important of all, and the reason I’m so deeply fond of Nezumi, is that it’s the result of one of my first collaborations with Shaun Leedy, an incredibly tallented artist, and an unlikely online friend from Texas who I met in those early days of the Internet. I’ve always known Shaun as Mason Mouse, and I’ve had the pleasure to call him a friend ever since we met in a chat room in the late 90s—pushing some 30 years ago. I’ve always known Mouse to be deeply compassionate, creative, and curious, and we were able to share our love of technology, art, anime, and the intrigues of the world and its various cultures over the years. We collaborated on a number of projects in those early days, and he was always thoughtful as we shared the highs and lows of the many chapters of life. His creativity, artwork, playfulness, and willingess to collaborate was formative for me, and continues to shape how I see the world, and the kind of work I choose to put into the world, guiding the choices I make every day.

Last year, after an extended period of silence, Mouse let me know that he was batling throat cancer, and that he didn’t know how much longer he had left—he was saying goodbye.

The realization that you’re no longer able to continue sharing life’s journey with a dear firend is devastating and, unsure how to process Mouse’s news, I found myself determined to try—in my own way—to show him just a little of the meaning his friendship has had on my life: I decided to revisit an idea that had been bouncing around for a few years and turn Nezumi into a little interactive standalone art piece—a final gift. I was sadly unable to complete it in time for Mouse to enjoy it, but the message is still there, and I wanted to share the project, and my love of a dear friend with the with the wider world.

This new desktop form of a Nezumi is a combination of all the animation frames I was able to find from those early projects, combined into a small interactive touchscreen device. Something to sit on a desk and bring a smile. It uses off-the-shelf parts, some Rust, and a 3D printed case, and is available on GitHub. The artwork remains copyright Shaun Leedy, but everyting else is released under the MIT license. If you want to build one for yourself, or use it as a starting point for one of your own projects, I encourage you to do so. And contributions are extremely welcome. I would love to see the creativity that Mouse brougt into the world touch more lives.

I’m not yet ready to let go of Nezumi, just as I’m not ready to let go of Mouse. They’ll both influence how I engage with the world, and what I create in the future.

Don’t forget:

  • river illustration
  • PsiLinux
  • BreakIn
  • websites
  • Geoshell

  1. ‘Mouse’ in Japanese. ↩