🌱 will.0, the plant
will.0 is the plant: the original buddy, the free one, and the reason the whole feature exists. He lives in a little pot inside a retro desktop window docked next to the chat send button, growing a bit taller every time you earn participation score. He asks for nothing, dances when tapped, and quietly becomes a tree while you were busy answering questions.
Name origin
His name is short for "willow", the fast-growing tree with the long, trailing branches. Real willows are famous for shooting up quickly from almost nothing, which is exactly the right energy for a pixel plant fed on class participation. The spelling, with the o swapped for a zero and a little version-number dot, is a wink at the crusty old software tools the rest of the buddy roster is named after. He came first, so the whole thing is named after him.
Life stages
Levels come from your participation score, never from taps. Each new level costs a bit more score than the last, topping out at level 30, and a new stage arrives eight times along the way.
| Stage | Arrives at level |
|---|---|
| Seed | 1 |
| Sprout | 2 |
| Seedling | 4 |
| Sapling | 7 |
| Young willow | 11 |
| Budding willow | 16 |
| Willow in bloom | 22 |
| Radiant willow | 27 |
How to bring them home
You don't have to: he's already home. will.0 is FREE, the default buddy every student on teachChat starts with, sunny day yard included. Other buddies cost points in the buddy store inside the pet window, but will.0 never costs a thing. And if you splurge on a new friend, he holds no grudge: every buddy keeps its own level bucket and dance count, so switching back never loses progress.
Their yard
A sunny day yard: bright sky, green grass, the default backdrop of the whole program. If he ever wants moodier weather, extra skies like starry night (90) or petal breeze (120) can be bought separately.
Field notes
- His window's title bar reads will.0.exe, like a tiny program you would absolutely double-click.
- He is the only potted buddy. Pot repaints (a blue pot for 40 points, a golden one for 150) exist purely for him and grey out for everyone else.
- Tap him for a little dance and a heart on his counter. The counter means nothing, and that's the point: fidgeting is free.
- At Radiant willow he finally blooms pink and gold, which pairs suspiciously well with that golden pot.