Virtual assistants are a great idea poorly executed. Few people feel any affection for Clippy, Word’s virtual assistant, and there are some good reasons for that. Intrusive, unhelpful, and giving users a sense of condescension, we really don’t want it there. The alternative, AI virtual assistants that have only a voice, are so impersonal that we don’t even count them as assistants. Because their real value lies in something that has been discarded too quickly: a little friend that actively accompanies us.
This is the idea under which Weyrdworks Studio decided to operate. It’s a small indie studio that decided to create a game that would be a small life simulator that combines Animal Crossing, Tamagotchi, and virtual assistants like Clippy. The result is a game that is positively sweet and charming, and also surprising that no one has ever thought of something like it before.
Named Weyrdlets, the game has two modes. In the game, we can customize our pet, take care of it, and train it in the style of Tamagotchi. We can interact with other pets and decorate their houses, which is the Animal Crossing factor. And what makes it similar to Clippy is that it, too, acts as our virtual assistant. Now our pet will be on our desktop all the time, playing and doing its thing, allowing us to set up to-do lists, timers, and other productivity resources for work or study.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Weyrdlets is that it never imposes itself on us; we decide the attention we give it. If we want to use it as a productivity tool, we can, but if we simply want to have our pet running around our desktop, we can leave it at that. It’s never intrusive or annoying, like Clippy was, thus making it very useful; it’s impossible to feel like the pet is looking over your shoulder.
If Weyrdlets sounds good, hold tight, because you’ll still have to wait a little longer to have your own virtual pet/assistant. The game will be released on July 23rd, although there’s already a demo available so that you can decide whether this is the kind of assistance you need in your daily life. Who knows, maybe you just need a little dinosaur, an odd alien, or a chubby robot to take your productivity to unexpected heights.
