In what can only be described as exceptionally timely, Nintendo released the latest installment of the Animal Crossing videogame series right at the start of the 2020 Coronavirus lockdown. In the newest installment, New Horizons, players inhabit a tropical island full of endemic wildlife, specifically bugs, fish, and anthropomorphic animal inhabitants. With the latter you build relationships (or rivalries) with, while the bugs and fish can be caught and put on display in a delightfully atmospheric little town museum.

These critters, however, are only available at certain times of the day or months of the year. I had the idea of a web app that can notify the player which critters are available at the time of playing to help them build up their museums.

I had also been wanting to learn Python for some time now, especially after Stack Overflow's 2019 Developer Survey showed Python as the fastest growing tech and among the most loved and wanted. I took the lockdown as an opportunity to dive in. I learned the basics from the excellent Python Tutorial, then set out researching a web framework. I worked with Django at first and loved all the additional features and packages that came with the software. However, I eventually went with Flask because its small footprint was perfect for a simple app like mine.