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Eight months of HibiTomo: the story so far

· 3 min read
Raúl (netraular)
Raúl (netraular)
Creator of HibiTomo

Eight months ago I made the very first commit on HibiTomo. Today feels like a good moment to pause, breathe, and look back at how a tiny idea grew into a pocket-sized little world.

Concept art of the HibiTomo egg selection

It started small: a cozy device you carry in your pocket, a creature that's uniquely yours, and a promise that daily care would shape who it becomes. Bit by bit, that promise turned into something you can actually pick up and play.

The journey so far​

Here's the arc in a nutshell — each step building on the last:

  • Foundations & the first room — the earliest days: getting a warm little home on screen, the very first space for a pet to live in.
  • A little world to explore — the room grew a door, and beyond it appeared an outside to wander.
  • The pet arrives — the star of the show showed up, complete with feelings it shares through emoji speech bubbles.
  • Species, food tastes & tidying — different creatures, dishes they love (or don't), and the daily job of keeping things clean.
  • The heart of the game — eggs, branching evolution, coins and the overworld all came together into a real loop.
  • Deeper caretaking & the shop — richer care with real consequences, plus a rotating furniture catalog to spend coins on.
  • A faster art workflow — behind the scenes, a smoother way to make new pets and objects, so the world can keep growing.

Where HibiTomo stands today​

If you picked up the device right now, here's what you'd find:

  • Choose and hatch an egg, then raise your creature through a 7-day branching evolution — Egg to Baby to Young to Adult. How well you care for it decides the adult form it becomes, so every playthrough can end differently.
  • A cozy, customizable room with day/night, weather and seasons giving the little world a gentle pulse. Decorate it and make it yours.
  • The Farm → Cook → Feed loop: grow crops on your plot, combine ingredients in a quick cooking minigame, then serve the dish to your pet.
  • Minigames to fill your days: relaxed fishing, stealthy bug catching, treasure excavation, an auto-battling Pet Arena, and bite-sized care games (bath, medicine, bubble-pop and more).
  • A shop and coins — earn from activities, spend on furniture that rotates a few times a day.
  • An overworld to explore with NPCs to chat with, signs, activity stands and small daily events.
  • Collection & Field Diary — every pet you raise is recorded, with an encyclopedia tracking what you've discovered and how each creature evolves.

There's also a companion website where you can flash the firmware onto a new device straight from your browser, connect and update it, pick exactly which new pets and objects to download, and keep up with friends and who's online.

What's next​

A few big things are in the works — all planned, not shipping just yet:

  • Custom Pets (and custom furniture) — the headline feature: design your very own creatures, then hatch, raise, evolve and collect them exactly like the built-in ones.
  • Daily-rotating biomes — an overworld that changes its scenery as the days turn.
  • Activities with friends online — fishing together, visiting each other's rooms, warm low-pressure companionship rather than competition.

Thank you for following along​

Eight months in, HibiTomo has gone from an empty screen to a small world with a heartbeat. Thank you to everyone who's been reading these devlogs and cheering it on — it genuinely keeps me going. There's plenty more ahead, and I can't wait to show you. See you in the next post.