With the recent announcement of Ghost Watch (working title!), I thought it would be fun to take a quick look at the previous 'Ghost Surveillance' sequences from the games. There have been a few! I wouldn't say I'm an expert on ghost cams, but I am fascinated. I want to believe!
So, without further ado…
Dark Fall
This was my original, and favourite, 'ghost watch software'.
My affection stems from the fact it was my first. So, it was the most exciting
for me to play with. I was new to things like programming, especially
randomisation, so found it deeply fascinating to switch between cameras and
hope, (or dread!), that anything supernatural may occur.
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| The original Dark Fall ghost-hunting cams. |
The location, too, remains my favourite; the old Station
Hotel and Train Station, with its derelict rooms, pub and train platforms. I've
always been fascinated by abandoned places, feeling they make the best ghost
locations. It's not just the spirits, the dead folk, which linger in those
places, the buildings themselves seem to echo with past events, actions and
meaning. Looking back, over ten years, I do regret not making the 'ghost
cameras' more integral to the plot and puzzles. They seem like an added extra,
something for the 'ghost hunters' to have used, rather than anything particularly
useful to us… the actual protagonist. A pity.
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| Nigel Danvers, ghost-hunter and... apparantly married! :-/ |
But, I like the interface, the crackling little previews and
the pregnant atmosphere. There's no music, so artificial sound, just the fizz-zurrr
of the refresh and the sounds made by the ghosts. A chilling, scientific
approach.
Lights Out
Sadly, Polly White's ghost cams never made it into the final
game. Following on from her experience in Dark Fall, Polly was 'supposed' to
have hacked into the lighthouse security feed and spied on the comings and
goings of the protagonist (you!) in the form of Benjamin Parker. The only hint
that remains is the accidental snap shot, caught on Polly's clunky digital
camera and the 'web cams' featured on the Fetch Rock Lighthouse website.
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| Fetch Rock Lighthouse |
I was
amused and humbled, just recently, to see that a 'Ghost Cams' website had
featured the cams, believing them to be real. Hard to believe, but I guess some
people wish they were real. I know that I'd be one of the most regular visitors
to a haunted lighthouse, off the coast of Cornwall, if ever a place existed.
Just recently, during a Facebook ramble, I stated that it would be fun to
return to Fetch Rock, for a further adventure. Preferably in full 3D, so the
place felt as real as possible. The Station Hotel got a second look-in, so why
not the lighthouse?
The Lost Crown
The big one! Four cameras arrive, in Hadden's mysterious
ghost-hunter starter pack, which have to be installed, set-up and monitored. A
nice touch, I feel, as it means we (the gamers) feel a bit closer to the experiment.
More involved! It may be the very same Nigel Danvers setting up the equipment,
as he did in Dark Fall, but we, the gamers, ARE Nigel Danvers, so it worked
really well. The equipment is not supposed to be mysterious, that's the ghost's
job! Replaying the game, last month, I was surprised by how much is actually
witnessed via the cameras, which is kind of cool. Does the technology lie? That
was my first question. You see all sorts of strange phenomena: orbs,
manifestations, shapeless entities, time changes etc etc. You also 'hear' a lot
of phenomena too! It's a real treat if you like that sort of thing, which I do.
In fact, I love ghost watching!
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| The Hadden tech monitors Harbour Cottage. |
Recent films like Paranormal Activity/Entity have long
sequences of just staring at static views of empty rooms. It's a bit weird,
when you think about it. If movies are the art of 'moving pictures', it seems
almost naughty, avant-garde, to make movies in which very little moves, at all.
But, there lies the power, the art of the surveillance experience. It's up to
the watcher, the virtual eye in the space, to see what they can. Last time I
saw a 'paranormal' film at the cinema it was surveillance themed. Each
potential event, no matter how small, was accompanied by a low drone, an
infrasound, to heighten tension and unease. It was very effective. Each time
something eventually moved, you could hear whispers amongst the audience,
unsure what they'd seen, usually accompanied by a 'ooohh' sound, which would
provoke panic in anyone that had missed the event -
Viewer 1 -
"What? What did you see?!"
Viewer 2 - "Did you not see it?!",
Viewer 1 - "No, what was it!",
Viewer 2 - "Shush, you missed it"
Viewer 1 - "What???!"
It's an uncomfortable feeling, realising you may have missed
a supernatural event, while everyone around you is puzzling over what they
witnessed or heard. It's a neat example of the 'horror imagined in the head'
scenario, where the viewer knows that something is present, but the film makers
have left few clues to the nature of the beast. I say beast, because I watched
one of the early 'Activity' films with friends. During one sequence, the camera
zoomed-in on a seemingly inactive area of the screen. We do not know why. Or, I
should say, WE didn't seen anything specific, but we all (pretty much) had an
idea of what we expected to see. All different. I thought I saw the outline of
a man (dull!!!), Patsy thought se saw a 'grey lady' (trad!!!!), but Matt was convinced
he was about to see a 7ft tall, bull headed hulk of a thing; a monstrous deamon
from the otherworld. That's so
much cooler, don't you think? So, personal experience, and fear, is something
the ghost cams really play on.
Which brings me on to…
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| Ghost Watching is coming! |
Ghost Watch
It seems unbelievable that I hadn't thought about a
dedicated ghost surveillance game before. I've been fascinated by 'locked off
cameras', CCTV and nite-vision for… crumbs… forever! In fact, I did play with
the idea of a PC game, after Lost Crown. Take the Environmeter set-up, and
plonk it down in a series of abandoned places. But, it just didn't seem to get
off the ground. If I'm honest, I'm not sure that staring at your PC screen,
waiting for something to happen, would that much fun, without a character, like
Nigel, to exclaim "There! Definite activity in THAT part of the
cottage". But, I was wrong. Having Nigel tell us that we've experienced
something seems really silly to me, a few years on. You want to state back
"Yeah, no shit Sherlock!". But, a lot of people play full bloodied
adventures with a companion, or group, so that bombastic approach makes it more
enjoyable, so like a game, as it were, with a central character and narrative.
But gadgets, like iPhones, pads, tablets and handhelds are a personal
experience. You don't need Nigel to announce the supernature, as you are personally
involved, often in an isolated state, whether laying in bed, sitting on the
train, or having timeout on the loo. It's a…. argh!! I'm struggling here, to
get across my point. Hang on....
Intimate!!
Yes, that's it! Ghost Watch is an 'intimate experience'.
Just you, your senses and a haunted house.
The ghosts, should they show up, are doing so without a
script, with no Nigel to tell you what you've seen or heard. So, how does that
make a game? Well, the host location, Harwood House, is a great venue. It's got
a couple of hundred years history to hide, which you pick a way at, while
hunting for paranormal phenomena.
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| There's something lingering in the pantry of Harwood House. |
The O.P.G, (Oxford Paranormal Group), have carried out a
brief reconnaissance of the building, stating that it was one of the creepiest
they have investigated. A series of cameras and experiments have been set-up in
rooms, that they believe, are likely to provide some readings and supernatural
events. Later in the year, the second session will be released, then a third - New
camera views, new experiments, new phenomena! Eventually, a meatier PC version
will add extra material, but it's the intimacy of the handheld that I'm looking
to exploit. I love the idea of people watching the cams, as we gradually piece
together the history of Harwood. Let's hope it is a history rich with turmoil,
tragedy and terror! Otherwise, we'll all get eyestrain waiting for something to
happen!
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| I'm playing Ghost Watch... will you? |
And… have to admit, I'm still working on the title. Ghost
Watch is cool, but it needs a little something more, I feel. This is a project
that has to grab people on the App store, so it needs to stand out - A font
flourish, a play on the shape, a switcheroo of letters to digits. I don't know…
it needs something! Partly, I think it would make the title look cool, and I'm
also aware there are a couple of uses of the name Ghost Watch already out
there. Also, I don't want to tread on Stephan Volk's toes, (the writer of BBC's
'banned' Ghostwatch screenplay from the 90's, in which Blue Peter's Sarah Green
was abducted by murderous felines, in a suburban under stairs cupboard!). So,
any ideas are welcome.
My favourite, at the moment, is very simple; ghost/watch
Jonathan