What is a shimeji, and how do you get one?
A shimeji is a small animated character that walks along the bottom of your screen, climbs the sides of your windows, and sometimes sits on top of them. The name comes from a Japanese desktop program, and the word is now used for any character drawn to run in it. Most of those characters are made by fans, and there are thousands of them.
If you search for the word, you will also find a mushroom. Same name, no relation.
Where shimeji came from
The original Shimeji was a Windows program by Yuki Yamada of Group Finity, a small Japanese developer. It put a tiny character on the desktop that wandered, climbed, and multiplied if you let it. The program was written in Java and was open source, so other people could change it.
The version most people use today is Shimeji-ee, an English translation with extra features, kept going by a developer known as Kilkakon after the original and an earlier English group went quiet. (Source)
How a character works
Every shimeji is a folder of small pictures plus a set of instructions. The pictures are the poses: standing, walking, sitting, climbing, falling, being carried by the mouse. A standard set has 46 of them, and each one has a fixed name, so the program knows which picture is the walk and which is the fall. The instructions, in a folder called conf, say what the character does and how often.
This is why there are so many characters. To make a new one, an artist redraws the 46 pictures and keeps the names. The program does the rest. Fan artists have drawn characters from games, anime, bands, and their own pets, and share them on DeviantArt and on sites made for the purpose.
Where shimeji run
- Windows. The home of Shimeji-ee. You install Java, unzip the program, and run it.
- Mac. There is no official Mac version. Community projects exist, and they can be fussy on recent versions of macOS. Expect some setup.
- In a browser. The Shimeji Browser Extension brings the same idea into Chrome, on any computer, with characters that walk and climb on the pages you visit. This is the easiest way to try one.
For other kinds of pet that live on the desktop itself, see desktop pets for Mac and Windows.
How to install one on Windows
- Install Java from java.com. Shimeji-ee needs it to run.
- Download Shimeji-ee from the maintainer’s own site, not from a download mirror with its own installer.
- Unzip it anywhere, and run the program inside. A small icon appears near the clock.
- Add a character. Download the character set, unzip it, and copy its folder into the program’s img folder.
- Pick it. Right-click the small icon, open the settings, and choose your character.
Right-clicking the character itself gives you more: add another one, make them all sit, or send them away.
What to check before you download a character
Shimeji sets are zip files from fan sites, and they run inside a program that can draw over your whole screen. A little care goes a long way.
- Get the program from its maker. Download mirrors sometimes wrap free software in their own installer, which adds things you did not ask for.
- A character set should be pictures and text files only. If a zip contains a program of its own, do not run it.
- Look at the preview first. Most artists show the poses before you download.
- Credit the artist. Many sets are free for personal use and ask only that you do not sell them or claim them as your own.
Shimeji of your own pet
You can draw one. Forty-six pictures of your dog or cat, in the right poses, with the right names, and your pet walks across your screen. It is a real project, and people have done it.
If you would rather have it today, there are now apps that draw the pet from your photos. Pawsome Family is one: you add 1 to 5 photos of your dog or cat, and a few minutes later they walk, sit, and nap along the bottom of your Chrome tabs. See the example siamese cat, or the full set of ways in how to turn your own dog or cat into a desktop pet.
One pet is free for 30 days, with no card needed.