Image credit: Google+

Apparently at this week's big I/O conference, Google didn't show off all the fun features of the company's new multiplatform text and video chat service: Hangouts. If you've been thinking your chats have been a little too text-heavy, you can now decorate them with some animated animals.

In the chat window, you can now punch in codes to add some fun animations. For instance, typing "/ponystream" into the chat window in the web interface and hitting "enter" will prompt dancing ponies to appear.

"Some of you may [have] already figured out the hidden Easter Eggs in the new Hangouts… Keep in mind that those codes only work with Hangouts on Google+ and the Chrome Extension. Not in video calls or mobile," Google employee Moritz Tolxdorff wrote on his Google+ page.

Tolxdorff posted a cheat sheet (below) listing all the codes and commands to pull up the different animations and chat window tweaks. In addition to the stampeding ponies, there's a shy dinosaur (/shydino), an angry, charging pitchfork mob (/pitchforks), and you can even change the chat background by inputting a variation of the Konami "Contra Code" with your keyboard.

Maybe these bits of fun will make happy those users who are disappointed in the current lack of SMS, or text messaging, support in the new Hangouts service. Though another Google employee recently mentioned on her Google+ page that SMS was "coming soon" to Hangouts, she later made an edit to the same post, saying, "Oops! We actually have nothing to announce at this time. My apologies."

Regardless, enjoy the Easter eggs and Happy Hangouts, all.

Image credit: Google+