I made a virtual pet fruit fly that Twitch chat can interact with

Why a fruit fly and not a more charismatic bug, like a ladybug?

I’ve been building Pip, a virtual fruit fly living in a small 3D terrarium. Twitch viewers can leave treats, add dew, introduce toys, or sprinkle pollen that prompts Pip to groom itself.

This started as an interest in fly brains and simulated behavior. The current version uses a rule-based behavioral model: hunger, thirst, energy, and irritation influence what Pip does. It isn’t a brain emulation.

The scene runs on my Mac and streams through OBS, with the project website hosted on Vercel. Chat commands feed into the simulation, and certain moments trigger a slow-motion replay—watching a fly clean its antennae turned out to be surprisingly entertaining.

It’s still an early experiment. I’d especially appreciate ideas for interactions that give viewers something meaningful to do while letting Pip retain some autonomy.

Twitch - https://www.twitch.tv/flytwitcher

Project website - https://fork-the-fly.vercel.app

> I made

AI did.