simonw/pedalican

Codex Desktop features a customization tool that allows users to create animated desktop pets. These digital companions, which function similarly to the classic Clippy assistant, provide status updates on active software development tasks. Users can generate unique characters by providing descriptive prompts to the AI, which then handles the creation of sprite assets and animation loops.

Simon Willison created a custom pet named Pedalican, a baby pelican riding a bicycle, to test this functionality. The process involved using GPT-5.6 Sol to generate a character reference image, followed by multiple rounds of image generation to produce the necessary sprite sheets and GIFs. The system uses a magenta chroma-key background to ensure the assets are clean and ready for animation.

The project demonstrates a practical application for using generative AI to produce game-ready sprites. By utilizing open-source skills like hatch-pet and imagegen, users can automate the creation of complex visual assets from simple text descriptions. This workflow highlights how modern AI models can manage multi-step creative tasks, from initial character design to the final technical implementation of animated loops.