Tessera · Stillcraft

What's inside

Everything Tessera does.

Each question keeps its rhythm

Every day, every week, every month or every year on the birthday. A long daily list takes turns, a few a day, so it never becomes a chore. Questions that are due wait for the evening, with one quiet reminder.

A camera made for interviews

The question stays on screen while you speak, high up near the lens. Last time's frame lies faintly over the picture so you sit the same way and the years line up. A 3-2-1 countdown, and a gold ring for the time left: 15 seconds for a day, five minutes for a birthday.

A year ago…

Right after an answer, the answer to the same question from a year ago comes back, on film, in a voice or in words.

The year as a mosaic

Each person's year is a panel of two-week rows, one hand-cut stone per day. A filmed answer shows its frame through the question's glass; a day with several answers splits into smaller stones; gilded ones turn to gold leaf.

The chorus of years

One answer from each year to the same question, back to back: a dinosaur, a police officer, a vet, an artist and a cosmonaut. Answers that held for three years are marked "unchanged since", and a year of daily answers is boiled down to its words.

For every age

54 questions in English and Russian for little ones (everything filmed), children, teenagers, grown-ups and elders: the house they grew up in, how they fell in love, a song from their youth. Or write your own.

Screens

Captured in Tessera.

Tessera: The family — **The family**This day in earlier years, and who has a question waiting.

Tessera: A year's panel — **A year's panel**One stone per day; films show their frame.

Tessera: The question — **The question**On film, by voice or in words.

Tessera: Through the years — **Through the years**A dinosaur, a police officer, a vet…

Tessera: The chorus of years — **The chorus of years**One answer a year, back to back.

Tessera: A daily question — **A daily question**The words of the year.

Tessera: A day — **A day**Every stone laid that day.

Tessera: An answer — **An answer**Gild it, or see it through the years.

Tessera: The questions — **The questions**How often, and how they're answered.

Tessera: Welcome — **Welcome**Three things to know.

Who it asks

For	A few of the questions
Little ones, 3–6	What made you laugh today? What is it like to be a grown-up? What is your favourite animal?
Children	Who is your best friend? What do you want to be when you grow up? What scares you most?
Teenagers	What has changed in you this month? What do you believe in firmly?
Grown-ups	How old do you feel? What has this year taught you? Say something to yourself in ten years.
Elders	What do you remember of the house you grew up in? Sing a song from your youth. Tell a family recipe.

Get it

Get Tessera.

Install

Version: v1.0.0
File: Tessera.apk
Requires: Android 9.0 (API 28) or newer. No Google services needed.
Permissions: Camera and microphone, only while recording an answer. Notifications for the evening reminder. No internet.
License: MIT

Download the APK on your phone.
Open it and allow installs from this source when Android asks.
Add the first person and answer today's question together.

Download APK All releases

Build from source

JDK 17+ (Android Studio's bundled JBR works) and the Android SDK. The mosaic is drawn on a Compose canvas; recording uses CameraX.

git clone https://github.com/bigdevwhale/tessera.git
cd tessera
./gradlew testDebugUnitTest             # the schedule, the panel, the chorus
./gradlew assembleDebug                 # app.tessera.dev, installs next to a release
./gradlew assembleDebug -Pdemo          # app.tessera.demo, a family with years of answers
./gradlew testDebugUnitTest -Prender --tests '*RenderArtScreens*'  # every screen to app/build/art

Good to know

Questions people ask.

Isn't asking every day too much?

Each question has its own rhythm, and daily ones take turns: two a day by default, or one. "Not today" skips without guilt, and an empty day is simply bare plaster in the mosaic. No streaks.

How much space do the films take?

Films are recorded at 720p and kept short: up to 15 seconds for a daily question, five minutes for the birthday interview. A year of daily clips is a few hundred megabytes.

Where do the answers go?

Only on the phone, in the app's own folder. No account, no cloud, no analytics. Settings → Backup packs everything, films included, into one ZIP you keep yourself.

Why a mosaic?

Because a single day is one small stone and means little on its own. Laid side by side for years, the stones become a picture you can only see from a distance.