01 / Ambient dock
Visible at a glance
The compact timer and water drop sit above the desktop, remain draggable across displays, and preserve normal input outside their interactive regions.
Gulp-Glub / Windows utility / ambient interaction
Gulp-Glub
A local-first hydration companion that keeps a small reminder visible on the desktop while turning overdue time into a living aquarium.
Formerly presented as DRANK Hydration Overlay, Gulp-Glub now combines a click-through water dock, configurable reminders, local hydration history, and a collectible fish system. The current build is v2.5.2.
Design problem
Make the cue present, not demanding
A conventional reminder window asks for attention at the worst possible moment. This project instead starts with a click-through overlay, then gives the user one clear place to configure, log, snooze, pause, or dismiss the system.
02 / Reminder state
Escalation with a reason
When a timer expires, water gradually rises. Fish arrive after one minute and seaweed after three, turning overdue time into a readable aquarium scene rather than an abrupt interruption.
03 / Personal record
Local history, useful feedback
The expanded panel supports drink amounts, daily targets, rolling summaries, and charts for recent intake and reminder response time without accounts or analytics.
System loop
Notice, respond, reset
Timer stays visible
Overlay signals a due drink
Log, snooze, or dismiss
History informs the next day
The system gives a reminder a clear lifecycle, with safety controls at every stage.
Build details
Designed for the Windows desktop
Interaction constraints
The overlay supports multiple monitors, high-DPI layouts, a tray menu, global emergency dismissal, optional sound, reduced motion, and a persistent dock position. A reminder can be acknowledged, snoozed, paused, or dismissed.
Implementation frame
The application is a .NET 8 WPF desktop utility. Its hydration targets use the beverage portion of an embedded National Academies reference dataset, while the interface keeps the distinction between a user-facing goal and medical advice clear.
Current build v2.5.2
A desktop utility with a living collection
04 / Aquarium progression
Collect while you hydrate
The app begins with twelve Blue residents. Every 30 minutes, one themed fish unlocks, including catch-up progress after the app is closed. Wine, Reactor Coolant, and Bubble Tea water styles unlock through collection progress.
05 / Fish collection
Four water styles, one bestiary
The Inventory tab keeps persistent species records, quantities, and collection timestamps. The bestiary supports a saved detailed-list or mini-block layout, with independent paging for each water-style section.
06 / Release polish
Made to stay readable
Gulp-Glub includes eight-frame swimmers, hand-painted boba effects, animated limb-bearing fish, custom timer entry, UI scaling, reduced motion, clickable creator credits, and a portable Windows x64 release.
Playable release
Meet Gulp-Glub on itch.io
The current public project page is embedded below.