In this project, I share the customs of the Hungry Ghost Festival from the angle of a ghost. She struggled to enjoy the festival like other ghosts due to lack of experience.

As audience may be sympathetic to the wandering spirits who fight hard to taste food during the only time of the year, one may also wonder why these ghosts suffer from such a harsh (after)life. The book "Journeys to the Under-world" explains everything: Karma.

At the end of this mini novel, the protagonist's identity is subtly revealed to trigger a questions relevant to the audience - does a person's image, easy to fabricate through media, always reflect the truth? Is (s)he the same  good person in Gods' eyes?

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Background

The Hungry Ghost Festival, known as the Yu Lan Festival(盂蘭節) or the Zhong Yuan Festival (中元節), is widely celebrated in Chinese communities with a large population of Taoists and Buddhists, for example, in Guangdong (of China) and in the Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand).

Most believe that the "Mulian rescues mother" story is the origin of the festival. Mulian, aka Maudgalyayana, is a pupil of Buddha. His mother was reborn in the Avici Hell due to her earthly sins. All the food Mulian sent to his mother became burning coal, therefore Buddha instructed him to offer monks food and gifts on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month to speed up the transgression of his mother, which eventually established the Hungry Ghost Festival. 

Chinese communities, particularly the clans of Canton, Teochew and Hokkien, believe that ghosts would roam in the human world for food and entertainment during the festival, as if they are taking a break from non-stop torture in hell.

Some clans observe July 14 (of the lunar calendar) as the festival,  while others believe the gate of hell gradually opens on the first day of the month, it fully opens in the mid of the month and starts closing on the 15th day. As long as the gate is opened, ghosts are free to leave, but they have to go back before it closes.

A variety of "activities" are offered for the wandering spirits, such as free food, pop-songs concerts and Chinese opera performances staged at night.

Despite the good intention, the perceptions to this festival vary, for example in Hong Kong it is often portrayed as mysterious and scary, while Singaporeans consider it a chance for doing good deeds for a good karma, they organize banquets and auctions to raise money for people in need, while in Hong Kong everyone goes home before sunset to avoid being possessed by the ghosts.  

Nevertheless, all clans share the same taboos, for example, never respond when someone calls your name, do not pick up any money or food on the street...

It's very interesting to see different interpretations from different clans. I had a cultural shock when seeing Singaporeans being positive about this festival. After all, traditions and the core message should be passed on to remind us don't be evil.

>>The Hell gate opens on Aug 8 in 2021.

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Gameplay

This e-book would "play" automatically, however, the dialogues needed to be prompted by clicking the arrow icon, or pressing Enter/ Space bar on a computer.

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Game art, design, script, production:

KL852 (Me)

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Chinese typeface:
Lee Hon Kong Kai, a typeface created based on the handwriting of late Mr. Lee Hon, a Hong Kong calligraphist whose works were made into signs and billboard spread around the city. Revitalized and produced to be computer typeface with fundraising. Project details:
https://www.instagram.com/leehon_hk/

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Engine: 

Unity with Fungus plug-in

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Audio:

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Additional information:

StatusReleased
CategoryBook
Rating
Rated 1.0 out of 5 stars
(1 total ratings)
AuthorKL
GenreVisual Novel
Tags2D, fungus, Ghosts, Horror, Story Rich, traditions, Unity

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