We’re huge suckers for FMV games around these parts, so when we saw Host writer and executive producer Jed Shepherd tweet that he’s creating a new real-time, full-motion-video game, we got incredibly excited.
Shepherd announced the game will be titled Ghost and will be developed by Visable Games and distributed by Limited Run Games. Jim Henson’s Creature Shop will assist with creature design, along with Slimy Swamp Ghost.
The game will be released in February 2022 for the Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PlayStation and Steam platforms. Ghost currently has a Kickstarter campaign ongoing with a goal of $227,000 by May 7. At the time of this writing, the project has raised over $80,000.
Interestingly, because the game has a live-action aspect to it, the game must be played at 10 p.m. in your local time zone, according to Ghost’s Kickstarter page.
FMV games have a long history in the game industry, dating back to the early ’90s, with the releases of Astron Belt and Dragon’s Lair released that kicked off the arcade FMV craze. The hardware that was created for the genre was expensive to maintain causing the price per play to double from $.25 to $.50. When the genre hit home consoles, it became the subject of controversy, with Night Trap, to be specific, being partly the subject part of the 1993 congressional hearing on video games. Mortal Kombat and Lethal Enforcers were all lumped in this hearing, as well, which lead to the creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board in the United States.
When one thinks of “Jim Henson,” it’s easy to imagine the cute, likeable creatures from “Sesame Street,” but the Creature Shop has also worked on other things you’ve might have seen but not realized. For instance, they’ve done work on the concept, design and fabrication on puppets and wardrobe featured in Lady Gaga tours, and also the headpiece of EDM megastar Deadmau5.
Jed Shepherd wrote the Shudder exclusive pandemic horror movie “Host” on a $35,000 budget. So just think of what he can write when the budget is aiming to be at least 10 times the budget!
[Editor’s note: This post has been updated. We incorrectly identified Jed Shepherd as the director of Host. In fact, he was the writer and executive producer. We apologize for any confusion this caused.]
