Koimono: ASCII Koi Fish Pond

A koi pond drawn in text characters. Name and feed your koi and watch the pond follow the time of day, the moon and the seasons. On the iPhone Duo it moves with the fold.

I love ASCII animation, and I wanted to make something fun and calming for the iPhone Duo and every other iPhone. Koimono is a koi pond drawn entirely in text characters, and it moves far more smoothly than letters and symbols have any right to.

The whole pond is redrawn up to 120 times a second on ProMotion displays. The koi bend and glide as they swim, ripples spread out wherever you touch the water, and the light on the surface changes through the day. I wanted it to show how beautiful plain ASCII can be.

Nine koi live in your pond, each with its own name. Rest a finger in the water and they come to see what it is. Hold one to see its name and age, and rename it any time. Feed them a handful, call them over, or scatter them.

A new koi arrives every five days until there are twelve. Then you can free one to make room for the next.

The pond mirrors the time of day, the phase of the moon and the seasons: blossom in spring, extra lily pads in summer, falling leaves in autumn and snow in winter. Rain comes and goes, and now and then a visitor stops by: a frog, a dragonfly, a turtle, a heron or a cat. A quiet pond song plays under it all, and the music sign turns it off.

ON THE IPHONE DUO The pond is shaped by the hinge. Fold and unfold the phone and the water and environment shift with it. Closed, the pond runs as a stream down the outer display.

A HOME SCREEN WIDGET Small and medium widgets show your own koi, the sky for the hour and tonight's moon.

ONE PURCHASE, NO ADS, NO TRACKING You pay once. There are no in-app purchases, no account and no ads. Koimono doesn't collect any data and works offline.