Everything Must Ghost

Everything Must Ghost!

This was our entry to the 2025 Out of Office Game Jam!  We were given a them and 1 week to come up with a game.

The Theme: Everything Must Go!

For a lot of the team this was their first game jam, myself included. The team consisted of new developers and people who have been in the industry for some time creating a very unique team of all skills and experiences. We are excited to share what we accomplished in a short amount of time. We ran into many issues from SSD failures, repo breakage, power outages, loss of internet, not having worked in Unreal since UE4, to life getting in the way of development, you name it;  but we pulled through and still managed to accomplish what we did!

Our scope was a tad larger than we initially thought so we weren't able to get everything we wanted into our submission, crowbar, upper level, story wrap up, multiple nights (be on the lookout for future updates and maybe avoid "How To Play," "Settings," and "credits" on the main menu unless you take a post submission build), but I am very proud of what we accomplished in just 1 week. 

This was an amazing experience!

Features

• Random Items spawn every time you play!
• The prices of items are never the same, even on multiple playthroughs!
• Race the clock, you have 200 seconds to grab as much as you can!
• Take EVERYTHING, food, bottles, furniture, walls, the cat! Just about everything can be taken!
• Compete against Teddy, your other worldly rival who is trying to steal everything from your still living wife!
• Carrying too much? Well that'll slow you down. Even in the afterlife you can become encumbered. Offload your stuff with Sam at the hearse to lighten the load and move quickly again.
• Speaking of Sam, Your buddy keeps track of how much you and Teddy have collected. Better make sure you get everything into the hearse though, otherwise Sam won't count it towards your total when the time is up.

How To Play

Help Henry the Poltergeist save his widow Ethel’s belongings before his rival, Teddy, steals them! 

Move with ⌨️ WASD and hold🖱️LEFT  MOUSE (LMB)  to collect valuable items,  then deliver them to his buddy Sam’s hearse. 

Ethel will only be out for a short time, and you don’t want to scare her,  so hurry - the clock is ticking!

Story

Upon the roof of his beloved Ethel’s empty house, Henry McCall’s ghost paced fretfully. In death, he had watched over his widow’s home for a few years, waiting until the day when she too passed and joined him in the afterlife. It had been a peaceful vigil until yesterday, when Teddy Jenkins appeared with a spiteful threat upon his spectral lips.

Henry and Teddy had been acquaintances in life, former partners in various criminal enterprises. They had primarily been thieves, robbing homes and banks in the ‘50s and ‘60s. When Henry and Ethel fell in love, her disapproval pulled Henry out of crime. Henry became a handyman, but Teddy remained a criminal. Teddy carried a grudge against Henry to prison and, eventually, to the grave.

When Teddy’s ghost appeared at the McCall house, the glint in his eye burned with a thirst for vengeance. He boasted that he would ruin Henry and Ethel’s afterlife. “I’m gonna steal this house and everything in it! I’ll take it away so you two won’t ever share it again!” Teddy had howled.

Henry had no intention of letting that happen. Yes - in this stage between life and the true afterlife, Teddy could indeed steal away all traces of the McCalls’ life…but not if Henry struck first. To keep Teddy from succeeding, Henry would need to pull off one last audacious heist. He would have to steal the essence of the entire house so that he and Ethel could share it in the ever after.

Henry floated down to the front door and manifested as a poltergeist able to touch the physical world. He whistled and a hearse driven by his buddy Sam appeared, ready to carry the house away. His old burglar’s skills stirred, gauging value and planning the take. He knew he could win the race against Teddy. If only he could track down his old crowbar…

Credits

Producer
Neil London

Art
Brandon Garnica
Atharva Sawant

Rigging/Animation
Anoshka Jhaveri

System Design
Joseph Vanlanduyt

Level Design & Lighting
Alex Clark

Narrative
Tobias Seltsam

Programmers
Anoshka Jhaveri
Neil London 
Joseph Vanlanduyt

Ghost AI Programmer
Vladimir Dubrovsky

UI/UX
Alexis Boyle

SFX  &  Music
Joseph Vanlanduyt

Quality Assurance
Tobias Seltsam

Playtesters
Nina Globerson
Hunter
Karuna Ketan
Matt MacDougal
Esai de la Rosa

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Contributor Links:
Vladimir Dubrovsky: https://cenobite.itch.io/
Anoshka Jhaveri: anoshkajhaveri.com/
Atharva Sawant: https://atharvasawant.itch.io/
Tobias Seltsam: https://www.mobygames.com/person/65035/tobias-seltsam/
Joseph Vanlanduyt: https://joeyvand.itch.io/

Out Of Office Game Jam: https://itch.io/jam/out-of-office/entries

Technical Info

Game Engine:
Unreal Engine 5.6.1

Other tools used:
GitHub, Git LFS, ClickUp, Maya, Discord, Logic Pro

Additional Art Packs Used in addition to custom made assets:
Stylized Nature Pack
Stylized Countryside House Interior ( Stylized Stylised House Country Interior )