Become your character
Photoboots, avatars, virtual fursuiting, embodiment, and character transformation.
That Hack 4 Furries
THAT HACK 4
FURRIES
A Chicago-rooted furry creative-tech community for exploring playful, useful, and surprising experiences with AI.
</> YEAR-ROUND BUILDING✦ ALL SKILL LEVELS♡ FURRY-POSITIVE◎ CHICAGO + ONLINE
THE IDEA
What becomes possible when furry creativity gets a new set of tools?
Furries have always been good at turning technology into identity, performance, community, and play. TH4F is a year-round place to explore what comes next together.
Use AI where it opens a door: embodiment, accessibility, animation, games, storytelling, convention experiences, tiny studios, or something nobody has named yet.
Make something cool. Show it off.BUILD TRACKS
Make something furries will enjoy.
These are prompts, not fences. Follow whichever idea makes you want to open the laptop.
Accessibility is a feature
Low-vision tools, captions, communication support, sensory planning, and con comfort.
Make something playful
Games, NPCs, interactive fiction, companions, toys, and weird little joy machines.
Animate the impossible
Performance, storyboards, animation, machinima, music videos, and new visual workflows.
Convention magic
Meetups, schedules, lore games, scavenger hunts, badges, and personalized experiences.
Tiny studio
Give one person the capabilities that once needed a production team.
What the hell is this?
The delightful category errors that only make sense after someone builds them.
HOW WE BUILD
Curiosity with care.
Experiment boldly. Treat people thoughtfully. Both belong in the same room.
Consent
Respect privacy, permission, and character ownership.
Transparency
Be clear about where generative AI is used.
Human creativity
Use tools to expand what people can make, express, and share.
Respect
Don’t impersonate people without permission or use living artists as shortcuts.
Generosity
Share what you learn and help other builders find their way through.
CHICAGO HOME BASE
Edgewater / Rogers Park is where we gather.
TH4F is growing into a year-round Chicago scene: small enough to know each other, open enough for remote builders to stay part of the room.
Show & Build
Bring something you made, something half-built, or one weird idea you want help making real.
Mini-jams
A few focused hours around a theme, followed by demos and a lot of delighted pointing at laptops.
Online too
Discord keeps the door open for builders outside Chicago and for anyone who cannot make an in-person night.
Help shape it
Venue and meetup details are being organized now. Join the mailing list or Discord to hear first.
COMMUNITY
Chicago at the center.
Internet at
the edges.
Mailing list
Local meetup dates, jam registration, project prompts, and important logistics. Low-volume by design.
Keep me in the loop →Discord
Team-finding, build chatter, tool help, remote participation, and the year-round community room.
Join the Discord →COME AS YOU ARE
Pseudonyms welcome.
You do not need to use a legal name to take part. Bring the name, handle, or character identity that feels right for you.
You control what you look like and how visible you are: VTubers, AI avatars, masks, fictional characters, and fake names are all welcome.
Share only what you want to share. Your privacy, boundaries, accessibility needs, and comfort matter more than a perfectly filled-in profile.
Everyone’s welcome. Show up as yourself — however you define that.THE MAILING LIST
Stay
curious.
Hear about Chicago meetups, mini-jams, and new builds.
Get meetup announcements, project prompts, demo invitations, and important logistics. Low-volume by design.
You do not need to use a legal name.