The Resident ("You-Are-A-Ghost" Game) W.I.P

Hosted Games Works In Progress
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I kept quiet on this till you released your demo. The reason being I did not want to be on the hype train and be disappointed, and you delivered in a grand story in spades, sir. I. Am. Impressed!

Your way with descriptions and the way you intertwine it in the narrative pulls me into the story painting a quite vivid picture. No everything will be peachy ending that is refreshing and a great change of pace.

If you want more untimely demises, I am assuming you do not want too macabre so:

The house is old yes, perhaps it has an old bronze chandelier (quite heavy)?

I assume we might have a pet no? They might get underfoot whilst you are carrying a huge load of laundry downstairs and off the banister you fall. To add insult to injury, the fall knocks loose the mooring of the chandelier…(What is it with things falling meh let’s see where it leads us? XD)

The MC could be rummaging around (even cleaning) the storage closet noticing an old and empty bowling ball bag; the missing ball falls from the top shelf…

I assume the kitchen has one of those old hanging cast iron pot and utensil holders…well since this is an old house, someone sure needed to check and make sure the mooring and anchors were still good after what four generations of family…

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Hi, I really enjoyed it and look forward to more.

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Well, I’d hope for a bittersweet ending along the lines of Ginban Kaleidoscope (where the female main character falls in love with a ghost) as far as romancing either of the kids goes :slight_smile:

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I like that anime and this anime that also has a ghost

Dusk maiden of amnesia

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65

Or the first season of American Horror story.

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oh no, don’t go there mate I haven’t finished watching it yet (sad but true)

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I like the idea and the whole ghost loving living person thing. Will the MC have a chance of talking or seeing his parent later on or even seeing his grave?

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I found some missing words in a sentences:

  • As you draw nearer, you swear you could “hear” his thoughts, as clear as if he were saying them out loud though he remains impassive and lost in thought.
  • Naturally, you ignored it. It was impossible for your parents to return, and you’ve resigned yourself to that.

And there’s this one sentence that’s kindda weird:
You slammed yourself against the window.

In my opinion “You slammed yourself against the window in haste to peered outside” would be clearer cos I think slamming yourself against a window doesn’t indicate you’re peering outside a window. It’s just a suggestion tho :sweat_smile:

Overall this is such a promising demo and I love it! Can’t wait to see where the story takes us and I hope we get our own happy ending. Good luck! :wink:

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Welcome to the forums! Your emphasis on the occupants of a haunted house and their stories—stories that the MC can influence—sounds like a fantastic idea. I played the demo a couple of times, and I saw a few possibilities.

The only change I think you really need to make involves the suggested names for your third gender option. When I chose not to specify my gender, I was given a list of male names. Players who want a nonbinary character will pick that gender option, and might find the names offputting. I suggest unisex names from whatever time period the MC was born in (Sam, Frances, Billie, and so on).

One major change I think you might consider is cutting a lot of the stuff about the MC’s parents. Are the parents going to come back? Are they coming back soon? If not, I would cut as much as I could, leaving the parts where the MC discovers the in-game ghostly powers. Then I would rewrite those parts so that the MC discovers those powers by interacting with the Bonaventures instead.

My reasoning is that the most important characters should be introduced in the first act. There won’t be any significant progress or character development here until the parents leave. Meanwhile the Bonaventures, the people I’m supposed to really care about, are waiting in the wings.

On the subject of death: One thing that ghost stories seem to have in common is injustice. Someone murdered the MC (my money’s on the father). Or the MC was in love, and that driver shouldn’t have been drinking. Or a mean-spirited prank went too far. A ghost is someone who lives on because accepting such a wrongful death would be too much to bear. It wasn’t apnea (but maybe everyone thought it was apnea…)

How the MC died could arguably be more important than whether it happened in the house. Another thing about ghost stories is that the death is what defines the ghost. That’s where the motivation comes from. It drives the character. This demo felt a little flat in places, and I think that might be why. I was playing a pointless ghost, and the ghost knew it too.

I’m not latching onto Lucas because I want to follow an accountant around for the next 60 years in the hope that it will somehow be less boring than being alone (oh God why can’t I die). I’m latching onto him because I cannot rest until a great wrong has been righted.

If I help yet another overerprivileged college kid solve his personal problems on the way, bully for both of us. (Oh, you’re worried that you’re only becoming an accountant because your lack of confidence is holding you back from taking risks and pursuing your dreams? That’s a tough situation. Almost as tough as when my father suffocated me and got away with it by making my slow, painful death look like sleep apnea! But too bad about your feelings. I guess that’s life for you. Jerk.)

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[quote=“BabbleYaggle, post:69, topic:17131, full:true”]
On the subject of death: One thing that ghost stories seem to have in common is injustice. Someone murdered the MC (my money’s on the father). Or the MC was in love, and that driver shouldn’t have been drinking. Or a mean-spirited prank went too far. A ghost is someone who lives on because accepting such a wrongful death would be too much to bear. It wasn’t apnea.[/quote]

I don’t know; many ghost stories doens’t have the theme of an injustice or traumatic death being the cause of the ghost in question lingering isntead of moving on to the other side, but rather… Unfinished business. Though there hasn’t been much of a hint of unfinsihed busines sso far, just that… Well, the PC seems to hade died fairly young - far too young, any would probably say - but that’s about it… But then again, that might be exactly it; through Lucas and Ashly,the PC can get to experience at least some of the things he/she didn’t get to experience before dying…

Lol, it’ll only be for a year, not 60 years :stuck_out_tongue: . But I suppose I can see where you’re coming from, latching onto a spitfire like Ashly sounds more fun than latching onto a reserved guy like Lucas - but I’d like to point out that to be fair, this is only the short description of them we’ve heard at the beginning of the thread. Does that mean that’s all there is to them? Could be, but then again, maybe not, so until we actually get to meet, interact with and/or have a look at their minds, maybe we shouldn’t be judging the books by their covers? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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As a scary-spooky enthusiast, I’ll say you’ve caught my attention! I thoroughly enjoy the demo and it’s quite heart wrenching, especially with the parents. I’m curious to see where you go with it and I’ll be lurking, investigating every update you do~

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@BabbleYaggle

First off, thank you for taking interest in my demo :grin:

  1. I admit that I had been incredibly insensitive for the third gender option. There was no excuse for my huge oversight, but I promise to simply have the players who chose that option to input the name they want.

  2. I decided that the prologue will be all about the MC’s identity. It had been my intention for players to establish the MC’s backstory from the cause of their death to their relationship with their parents (and mostly to set starting stats). Furthermore, I made use of the parents to introduce Object Manipulation and Telepathy. Personally, I think introducing the MC’s abilities as the Bonventures settle in seem jarring and forced. The abilities has to be introduced beforehand for players to know how to make use of them in later parts of the game. Also, I want to demonstrate that you can leave the house temporarily by attaching yourself to one of your parents. I arranged it that way so that the MC will immediately know that they can leave the house via a parasitic latching to one of the kids. Doing so later in the story, again, will feel forced and seemingly pitched out of nowhere; the MC has to know that he/she/they can do this certain ability beforehand.

  3. The death of the MC doesn’t have to be incredibly macabre. This game includes themes of deep magic and rituals that I plan to elaborate later on. Think Disney’s Haunted Mansion (2003) film (no matter how cheesy and corny it had been). The spirits in the graveyard of Master Gracey cannot leave. Surely, young and old people of such aristocracy did not die intensely gruesome deaths? Hundreds of ghosts stuck for who-knows-how-long because of their Master’s curse. Take note that the only condition I required for “causes of death” suggestions is that the MC has to die within the house. :wink:

  4. If attaching your soul to either of the kids does not appeal to you (regardless of how different their personalities and conflicts are), then I am afraid that this game will not satisfy your interests :sweat_smile: I already have plans for both parents; both monumental and it will drive several of the story’s central conflicts.

Overall, I would like to thank you for pointing these out, especially my unforgivable oversight with the third gender option. So thank you, and cheers!

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Teehee :sweat_smile: Admittedly, I have gajillion of typos and grammar errors that I just recently noticed.

… Now that you mention it, that sentence is kind of funny :sweat_smile: I hadn’t eaten any dinner that night, so I guess hunger kicked in.

And thanks for trying it out :slight_smile: Might take several days to update since I’m doing this all on my own :grin:

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I am really, really curious about this demo. Can you become a… bad spirit or something like that? :'D and scare the family like in those horror movies :smiley: or annoy them to death! MWUHAHAHA

Not that I want to play a bad spirit… it was just a thought :slight_smile:

You can help Lucas or Ashly find “the right one” or try to romance them yourself (with a bittersweet end, obviously).

I certainly like that ^-^ I can be one of those deathly, jealous ghosts… I can try to destroy their love life and keep them for myself :smiley:

I’m sorry. I’m reall over-hyped I think

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Just started playing this demo and apparently I’m a huge baby because it made me tear up, and a few tears leaked out when I had the option to want to embrace my parents one last time and to tell my mom “her little girl would be alright” I have to go take an exam soon, damnit!

800×450 1.91 MB

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@Marvolo So, I have a question. If the house is destroyed is the MC destroyed too? It seems to be an anchor of sorts but if its gone does the MC fade from existence or do they become an unbound spirit able to wander where they please?

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@Prof_Chaos Interesting question :slight_smile: I don’t want to reveal much, but yes, the house is very important for your character :wink: How important it is, though, you will need Ashly’s or Lucas’ help to find out.

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@Marvolo, will you be planning on adding other powers as well, other than the telepathy and sorta-telekinenisis?

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@Doctor I originally wanted to input “Telekinesis”, but since the term meant “moving things around using your mind”, I think that doing that kind of ability is going to wreck the suspension of disbelief XD So I converted it to “Object Manipulation”, an ability that Poltergeists (“Noisy Ghosts”/violent spirits) are purported to do.

I’ll do more research on this, promise :slight_smile: If I find a promising power, I think I can squeeze it in :grin:

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No Possession power then? ^_-