Ghost Dusters

Ghost Dusters is a game created by a group of students at DigiPen where you play as an old woman, hired as a maid for a hotel, which is about to throw a party.

Ballroom Differences#

The image for the options that pop up before you start the game shows that the ballroom is arranged differently. The bar is at the back of the room near the door, the door is closer to the left side of the room, the piano is brown and dusty, and the room is dustier overall.

Unused Graphics#

Not An Item#

A black square with the text 'Not an item'. Likely used as an error handler.

CharacterHeadshotUnknown#

This image, named CharacterHeadshotUnknown, was likely used as an error handler if the character speaking didn't have a headshot assigned to them.

Development Text#

CHARACTER DIALOG TREES#

All of the dialogue is stored in XML files, with comments for each dialogue tree.

butler#

This first scene should introduce the butler as a kind, helpful old man. He knows he is dead and blames Izzy. 
He is the antagonist but should not clue this quite yet. Barbara recieved a cleaning ordered a work order but doesn't realize it's years out of date until arriving

butlerbanter#

Any banter is totally optional for the player. They should deliver some in depth exposition and give a clue to where the player should go next.

butlerfusebox#

Players often have a hard time finding the fusebox, or realizing where it is.

butlerfusebanter#

Hopefully perceptive players will notice the Butler's contradiction with the previous dialog

izzy#

Izzy is a gangster from a West Coast mob. He is rough and to the point. He's depressed because he thinks Scarlet not only dumped him, but killed him.
His way of dealing with it is, of course, a strong drink. He uses a liberal amount of 20's slang.

izzybanter#

This is a more concrete clue where the drink ingredients are found

izzylemon#

The name of this event suggests that at one point in development, Izzy gave the player a lemon instead of rum. In the final version, the player gets the lemon from the (dry) bar.

Players often don't pick up the ingredient. This will trigger if they leave the room without it.

butlerdrinkbanter#

This is yet another clue althouth at this point players usually understand. This is more to direct them to the bar if they still don't get it

butlerizzybanter#

This is pure exposition.

izzydrunk#

When Izzy drinks the schnapps he's willing to talk more. He thinks Scarlet poisoned him because she conspired with a rival gangster.

izzybanter2#

After giving Barbara the letter he's told his story so anything else is extra.

scarlet#

Scarlet is the only ghost who's not aware she's dead. She thinks it's still the day of and she just fainted or something.
She lives for the stage.

scarlet2#

Scarlet gives the screwdriver

scarletbanter#

Scarlet is the only death whose cause is not explored directly in the main story so players have to talk to Scarlet themselves to get it out of her.

final#

Izzy and Scarlet's final words

INTERACTABLE STUFF DIALOG TREES#

This section contains the dialogs shown when set-pieces are interacted with.

default#

BLANK

KEY DIALOG TREES#

This section contains the dialogs for key-type items. It contains an entry for a key that was not used in the final game.

scarletitem#

You got Scarlet's makeup kit.

TUTORIAL DIALOG TREES#

popup1#

This is a test of a popup window

Headshot IDs#

The headshot shown during dialogue is set based on a parameter called Picture, where the ID of the character is placed. This comment was placed at the top of the DialogTrees file:

pictures are as follows:
0 = ???
1 = Barbara
2 = Scarlett
3 = Butler
4 = Izzy