Full body apparition time maybe?
That reminds me; where does the PC get their powers from? And how do they keep their ethereal bodies from just…disappearing?
@Prof_Chaos, that’s a quick way to get rid of those annoying tenants. 
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Could also call this guy, maybe pick up a few of his tricks, amirite?
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A perfectly forgivable oversight! It is a rough draft after all. Thanks for the change. As for the other stuff, I’m just throwing ideas out there. Take anything useful. Leave the rest.
I have to say I was not thinking of Haunted Mansion when I played your game. (The only death I remember in that movie was my sense of childlike wonder.) But it did remind me of the 1993 film Heart and Souls, the classic text adventure game Scapeghost, a little bit of Beyond: Two Souls, and of course Beetlegeuse.
Heart and Souls and Beyond are stories about ghosts being latched onto a person. While their deaths are not macabre, they are still unfair and ought not to have happened. There wasn’t any crime involved but the ghosts still have—what do you call it?
Yeah, that’s it.
In Heart and Souls, the ghosts endure years of boredom before they figure out that the man they are haunting is supposed to help them resolve their unfinished business. Whether you’re stuck in a house or with a person, you’re still stuck. Naturally, as he helps these ghosts, they also help him. He comes away with a new appreciation for life and the resolve to make it worth living.
I thought of Scapeghost because it has an interesting mechanic for object manipulation, which, like your game, requires the player to build up to bigger and heaver objects. It also does a good job of allowing the player to figure things out through trial and error. Scapeghost is abandonware. You can run it on Dosbox or play it in browser here. You can probably guess what the goal of the game is.
Also, second @DarkSpeck re: possession. That power might best be introduced late in the game, but it depends on how you handle it.
True, but consider this: How did they all die in a graveyard? A freak accident during a funeral, that’s how. Only logical explanation. (hashtagheadcannon)
Yes. It’s all so clear now. I cannot be trapped in this house if I burn it to the ground.
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[quote=“BabbleYaggle, post:84, topic:17131, full:true”]
Also, second @DarkSpeck re: possession. That power might best be introduced late in the game, but it depends on how you handle it.[/quote]
Maybe the third power could appear as a result of whichever end of the Fiend-Humane scale the PC leans towards the most, with possession appearing if you lean toward the ‘fiend’ end of the scale and some other, more good-ish/positive power appearing if you lean toward the ‘humane’ end, with perhaps yet another power or at least other benefits for those who stay in the neutral…?
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Possesion does not have to be a hostile intent. Say if you were on the romatic path with with either of the siblings, they might let you go for a test drive…(Gah pardon the inuendo and pun…)
Haha, pardon granted 
. And yes, I agree that possession doesn’t have to have a hostile/malicious intent behind it, but it still have somewhat darker implications to it than mere manipulation of objects and mind-reading… One can make it a neutral-ish power yes, but then you’d have to apply the proper consequences to it’s use, such as the gaining of points in the fiend or humane direction depending on some details, such as whether the PC asks for the consent of the host, whether the situation does or doesn’t justify a more hostile takeover (like, casually taking over the host at any time or just to mess with them or others isn’t okay, but if the host is in danger and too shocked or scared to get out of it on their own, then assuming direct control to save their lives might very well be justified) and the like…
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@BabbleYaggle You continue to give me grand ideas for this project, so thank you XD
Those are really interesting movies (in the case of Beyond, game), and admittedly I haven’t seen most of them yet, but I’d like to think that the game’s foundations wasn’t mostly due to “unfinished business” kind of story, it’s more of a “haunt”. Ghost stories also feature subjects such as previous inhabitants of a house haunting the grounds or a particular important family heirloom regardless if they have something left undone or not.
Characters I can think of are those found in Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book. There had been numerous inhabitants in Bod’s graveyard, like Mr. and Mrs. Owens, who lingered for years at their graves. Another notable inhabitant, Josiah Worthington, had “almost three hundred years before” bought the graveyard, and Mr. and Mrs. Owens claims that they have seen him “in life”. Another particularly interesting resident is a “Caius Pompeius,”, who had been one of the presiding ghosts who deliberated Bod’s acceptance the night he arrived.
The only crucial point of their stay is that they “wake up” in their own graveyard.
For the hundreds of souls in Haunted Mansion (2003), I don’t think it was a freak accident XD It wasn’t explained, but I think the souls that had resided in the Gracey Graveyard had been there for years before Gracey lived, since I doubt that the relatives of those who died in a “freak accident” in the funeral wouldn’t have wanted every single one of their relatives to be interred in the same graveyard, especially a graveyard in a private property in the middle of nowhere.
I am also planning an elaborate “deep magic/ritual” involved, so that it explains why you are very much connected to the house XD All in good time (and it will take a while considering this is a one-man army show).
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On the subject of the reason why the MC is a ghost, I personally don’t really want it explained in details, though perhaps some subtle hints throughout the story. A common problem for many COG stories is that the authors are so caught up in the ego of their complexity that the story lose any sence of attraction. Maybe it would be better to let the players connect the dots rather than just shave it on our faces. Plus from what I read from the premise, there don’t appear to be any real need to explore why this happened.
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The ghostlyness needs to be stressed in some fashion in order to plug up plot holes.
If a game is light and comical, it doesn’t need to have any “logic” because it’s not meant to be taken seriously. That’s why people can enjoy nonsensical shows like Family Guy.
If a game is deep and complex, it needs some logic in order to answer all the unanswered questions and feel complete. Plot holes worsen serious stories like the huge plot hole in The Kite Runner book or Indiana Jones from the Big Bang Theory .
People are naturally going to wonder why there are no other ghosts. I also assume trying to pass on to the after life is going to be a goal choice, so some MCs might want to know why they’re ghosts so they can pass on.
But, a route were the MC doesn’t care why they are ghosts could also be implemented. Having many choices and paths is great as long as each path is fully developed.
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Your WIP seem really interesting, i’m looking foward next updates ^^
If you are still taking suggestions about cause of deaths maybe an accident while you are fixing/working on something in the house can work ?
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@Marvolo i loved the Demo! 
My poor MC 
[quote=“Marvolo, post:1, topic:17131”]
You can suggest more “Causes of Death” if the current ones do not fit your fancy (and yes, I’ve considered suicide, but I’m currently avoiding it like the plague due to its issues with sensitivity). The only condition that has to be met is that your character has to die in the house.
[/quote]
I would like to suggest a good old staircase death, breaking your neck. 
xD Or accidentally setting oneself on fire x)) Or slipping on the bathroom and hitting ones head hard enough to die 
Also óne question Marvolo 
can my MC become a murder/evil ghost that kills in the end?
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My Ghost is going to be a massive troublemaker, messing with Lucas and Ashly at first and then befriend and entertain then
I love this game idea. I’m most looking forward to creating a tether to the siblings, could we somehow reveal our ghostly presence to them by displaying our powers in a harmless and friendly manner? Then they can whip out the crazy stuff like an ouija board to try and communicate with us XD better yet, for reasons unknown I imagine Ashly as this alternative kid who is into the occult and conspiracy theories (I have no idea why I think that from just a character name 
) and she has a few friends over and messes around with this ouija board, I want my Ghost to just screw around and make incoherent words on there XD
As for death suggestions, how about we try to split up a fight near our street. (either with a friend involved or just trying to be a good samaritan) and unknown to us, one of the assailants has a knife and stabs us unintentionally somewhere vital. We get home for help from our parents and they call an ambulance, they arrive too late and we bleed out.
Another suggestion (this one reminds me of a typical student mishap I’ve seen on TV) is that the MC and a few friends get drunk and play around the MC’s father’s gun. Our friend does poses and points the gun at us as a joke but presses the trigger, not knowing it is loaded. A little crazy but it could work
I will keep an eye on this one!
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Heartbreak. Our ghosties could have wasted away from a great loss, ironically enough.
You know, I don’t cry for ages as I am, in fact, part robot bearing artificially-flavored intelligence, but an hour with some choice COG WIPs and I weep like a willow tree.
& I can only imagine how carefully my MG will have to tread when romancing that depressed young man.
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Ouija board and friendly spirits don’t go along Nathan XD
Who said my Ghost was friendly? He’s a bit of an ass
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I’m glad you’re finding my depressingly short intro interesting 
Noteworthy death causes XD I’ll take them into consideration for the revision.
You can definitely bring your ghost to his/her/their full “evil” potential, but I might leave out the “killing” part XD … but then again, I might consider it (ohmygod such a violent spirit)
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I already broke a tooth in there. There’s no telling what might happen in that wet place XD
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Oh yes, please do! 
Exactly! Its such a dangerous place to be xD Who knows maybe the Mc could also slip there and hit their head on the sink and break their neck! or maybe by hitting the toilet seat 
Now that’s wat I call a pissed off ghost