Ghost Switch
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
Download NowName your own price
Story
Ghost Switch is a wordless visual novel game about a con artist and a ghost who work together to swindle money out of clients who call to have their homes "exorcised." Things have been going swimmingly so far, but the two may have gotten more than they bargained for with their next gig.
This is a visual novel told through symbols as dialogue, rather than with traditional text.
Made for 2021’s Spooktober Jam.
Features
- Word count: Zero. The VN is told through images.
- Animation: Game uses layering, hand-drawn frames, and a 3D camera to create movement.
- Voice Blips: With multiple vocal emotions for each character.
- Descriptive text mode: Self-voicing toggle that describes visuals.
- Multiple Endings: 3 different fates for the main characters.
Team
- Story, Art, Programming, & Voice Acting: Jasmine "Katy133" Osler
- Music: Orpheo Fenn & Dmitry Trofimov | trufata
- Voice Acting: Mike Young
- Voice Acting: Chintarmanya Vivian
Status | Released |
Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux |
Rating | Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars (50 total ratings) |
Author | Katy133 |
Genre | Visual Novel |
Made with | Ren'Py |
Tags | Crime, Cute, Ghosts, Halloween, Hand-drawn, Multiple Endings, Ren'Py, Spooky, Story Rich |
Average session | About a half-hour |
Languages | English |
Inputs | Keyboard, Mouse, Gamepad (any) |
Accessibility | One button, Textless |
Links | Twitter/X |
Download
Download NowName your own price
Click download now to get access to the following files:
GhostSwitch-1.1-win.zip 118 MB
GhostSwitch-1.1-mac.zip 101 MB
GhostSwitch-1.1-linux.tar.bz2 108 MB
Development log
- Interview with Joel CoutureDec 03, 2021
- PostmortemOct 28, 2021
- Behind the ScenesOct 01, 2021
- Version 1.1 UpdateSep 30, 2021
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
I don't know what to say. This is an incredible game. The idea of being able to have a dialogue using an emoji makes me feel amazed! The visual design and sound design are also enchanting. I love it! Thank you for such a masterpiece.
I named my ghost sim "Ghost Switch" as a tribute to this game. they are both amazing.
Can I ask one thing? What is the butterfly signifying?
It's left up to the player's interpretation what the butterfly signifies.
There would have been authorial intent. You wanted and wished to tell a narrative. Why dodge that now?
I think it's more meaningful to let players interpret it. Interpretation is part of the interactivity. If I told you what I personally think it meant when I was drawing it, or what I think it means now, I have a feeling I'd get an "oh" reaction. Not because I'm telling you specifically; I just think others' interpretations are better because it's theirs. They get to walk away from the game with it.
Fair enough. I note someone else has asked too, in the past
They didn't ask. They simply said that were "unsure what the butterfly emoji was supposed to convey."
ahhhhh!! so cool!! i loved it
Wonderful bite-sized treat!
The use of icons instead of text really heightens the emotional impact. Never before had I been so touched by a work of such a short form. Still, some of the lines are tricky to decipher during the first playthrough. This is fine, as the short length encourages rereading, but it would probably be frustrating otherwise.
Art is really pleasant to look at; facial expressions are adorable; and there is even some advanced camera work in one of the scenes.
I have found Shade and Maddie to be charming characters — individually, but especially as a team. In the end, I was sad to have to leave after meeting them just a while before. But I guess you just can't keep chasing ghosts forever, eh?
An adorable concept with cute characters! Unfortunately, I cannot fully enjoy the game since some camera movements give me motion sickness. (It's a me problem, I'm just incompatible with most games. Sad TwT) Though I wish I could finish it since it's soooo adorable < 3333
good story and art /music :) i enjoyed this visual novel and your unique way for dialogue is fun :) everyone can understand it too :)
Loved this VN! The art, characters, music, the use of emoji for dialogue, everything made it such a charming story :') Awesome job to the team!
The wordless dialogue niche of Ghost Switch is very creative and simple enough to work... most of the time. Unfortunately there were segments of the characters dialogue that were downright undecipherable to me. I'm still unsure what the butterfly emoji was supposed to convey.
That aside, the story concept has a charm to it, as does the colourful art style. The animation they were able to incorporate is unique for the medium, if not a little disorientating in certain parts. I enjoyed the Undertale-esque approach to the sound design.
I hope the devs will keep pushing the VN envelope and playing around with the medium in the future, albeit perhaps with a bit more clarity.
Oooh, I love your unusual take on the VN genre! :D
I might show this game to my mom too. Her English isn't the best, so most VNs of this jam aren't suited for her. But luckily this one can be "read" by everyone <3
Also, I really like the art style. It's super adorable!
Thank you so much! And that's awesome to hear; I hope she enjoys it if she does play it. <3 <3 <3
So cute, Katy!! Those two characters are so fun. A very creative and colorful game!! <3
Thank you so much! >///<
Super cute and creative way of showing the dialogue! An incredibly charming short game.
I always liking Katy's VN because it is very creative and inspiring. This one is easily the most distinguishable among her other work
This was cute, enjoyable and has some really good ideas! As well as the emojis which generally worked pretty well (only occasionally tricky) and makes the game very accessible, the use of parallax was really good. Some more branching would be good for future projects but you didn't have long for this. I didn't know you could do so much with Ren'Py.
I just played your game. I like the artistic choice you made and the way you utilized images in place of sentences. I'm sure alot of time was spent to figure out what images to use to convey the idea you wanted to bring to the audience. Overall it's a pretty great game. As a fellow competitor, I believe it's a strong candidate to win this jam. For some reason, I'm getting a strong influence from Mob Psycho 101 for this game.
This was so fun! I loved the cool camera work and the characters' cute little "voices" and I also found an Easter egg, and..!
I can't even pick a favorite ending, they were all fitting and gave me mixed feelings in a good way. One of them in particular made me smile at first but a few seconds later I was like "...Wait a minute! Oh no!!" I loved it.
Show post...
VERY GOOD IDEA DEV
Nice idea having the wordless dialogue. Although it wasn't always easy to quickly interpret what what being said. But maybe I'm just slow :D Great art and use of movement. Nice work!
This was super cute and really unique! I was able to follow the plot and it cracked me up that I chose the run away ending and that seemed to be the happiest one XD
I loved your use of the 3D camera here and all the textures on the images. It just gave it such a loving feel. I also really liked how all the emojis were custom drawn!
Such a cute game and really neat to see the stuff you can do with Renpy! :D Looking forward to your next game!
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed Ghost Switch. ^w^
Ahhhhh this is the first visual novel game I’ve ever played without actual text!! It was so cute! I love the style and the camera and just everything. They’re so cute.
(Spoilers)
I don’t know why I didn’t think people could turn into ghosts (or worse) in a ghost game HAHAHAH!!! I totally wasn’t expecting that ending where the ghost is alone I was SO SAD LMAOOO IMMEDIATE RELOAD!!
Such a funny game! Art style was cute and simple, music was chill and sounds went so well with the story. The idea of making visual novel without any text was very interesting and I think it was executed well. Awesome work and I would absolutely love to see more games like this ^_^
Thank you so much for playing Ghost Switch and for making a video of it! It was fun to see your reactions and interpretation of the dialogue. ^^
Very cute and unique game! All of the effects were very well done, and the characters seemed charming and fun.
Gave me strong Ghost Trick vibes, and that's definitely a good thing!
Cute game! Not having traditional text dialogue for a visual novel is a pretty interesting idea. I think it’s executed pretty well in this game thanks to the great use of visuals and effects. Music was pretty good as well! Overall, it was a good experience!
Thank you so much for playing Ghost Switch and for making a video on it. I really enjoyed watching it. ^^
This game is so cute!! The characters are charming right out of the bat and the simplicity is so effective!! Music was very nice, especially main menu one is a jam.
I like the change of the camera, the animated parts. Con artist's sneaking sprite is very good too XD. Anyway, very cute game with very charming endings.
Thank you so much! ^^