Ectosprite

Investigate haunted locations, identify the ghost, and trap it before it gets you.

You play a paranormal investigator. Each job drops you into an unwelcoming building where your task is:

1. Investigate - Ten possible ghost types exist, each with its own fingerprint - deploy sensors, sprinkle salt, watch the surroundings, and log what you observe in your notebook to prove which one you're dealing with.
2. Catch it - Once you've narrowed the suspect list down, set a trap, commit to the right guess, and hold your ground until it's sealed.
3. Get paid - Cash and XP buy better gear and unlock bigger, nastier locations.

Most of the time, staying quiet keeps you safe. But some evidence only shows up once you provoke the ghost on purpose.

Full Game

A free playable demo runs right in your browser - it's limited to investigator level cap of 2, and the first two locations: Old Garage and Ash House.

The full game adds:

• 3 additional larger locations
• Uncapped investigator level and all shop unlocks (Alarm Clock at Lvl 3, Chalk at Lvl 5)

Default PICO-8 keyboard controls

	arrows
	z/c - refered to as button O
	x/v - refered to as button X

Main Menu & Starting a Character

From the main menu you can Continue with your existing investigator, or Start New Character. Starting a new character asks you two questions:

• Character Mode: Normal or Hardcore - Normal sends you back to the shop empty-handed if you die or abort; Hardcore makes death permanent.
• Difficulty: Easy, Normal, Hard, or Nightmare - this decides how cooperative the ghost is about giving you evidence, and how fast it moves when it's done cooperating.

Press O to confirm a selection, X go back.

The Shop

Before every job you'll pass through the shop. It's split into two halves:

• Left side - the catalog. Each item shows its price (3) and how many of it you're allowed to carry at once (2). Some items are locked (1) until you reach the required level.
• Right side - your loadout. Every item you currently own or have queued up to buy (4).

Scroll the catalog with UP/DOWN, flip between browsing and confirm with LEFT/RIGHT, press O to add the highlighted item to your basket (or confirm (5)), and X to put an item back if you change your mind.

Choosing a Location

Once you're geared up, pick where you're working tonight. Each location (1) lists its XP and cash reward for a successful capture. Locations beyond your current investigator level are shown as locked.

Scroll the available maps with UP/DOWN, flip between "browsing" and "confirm" (2) with LEFT/RIGHT.

Controls

Movement

The four arrow buttons move your investigator around the location.

Action buttons

O - Use / Confirm. Opens your inventory when pressed once; press it again to actually use whichever item is selected. In menus, O confirms a selection.

X - Back / Cancel. Closes the inventory or notebook without using anything. 

During a job, pressing X brings up an Abort Mission prompt - press O to confirm the abort, X again to cancel and keep investigating. WARNING: Aborting a mission with a Hardcore character will result in death!

While the inventory is open: LEFT/RIGHT cycles through your carried items.

While the notebook is open: UP/DOWN moves between the evidence rows, O cycles that row through Unknown/No/Yes.

Gathering Evidence

Every ghost (2) in Ectosprite manifests uniquely. Use your notebook to track the evidence (1):

• Makes sound - Watch a Sound Sensor's readout volume. Be careful to correctly identify when noise is made by your surroundings and when it's actually made by the ghost.
• Motion sensor - a placed Motion Sensor flashes and chimes when the ghost crosses its beam.
• Disturbs salt - sprinkle Salt across a doorway or floor tile and watch for a footprint trail.
• Hovers items - keep an eye on the loose breakables scattered around every house (dishes, glassware); a calm, wandering ghost with this trait will play with them.
• Breaks items - the same breakables; an agitated ghost with this trait throws and shatters them.
• Leaves ectoplasm - glowing residue left behind after certain ghost interactions.
• Emits ghostly wisps - only visible with the lights out. You can use Pullers to disable the fuse box.

You'll get a notch on your badge and extra pay for each unique ghost you've caught.

Setting the Trap

The Cursed Teddy is your capture device. Drop it, and if more than one suspect is still possible, you'll be asked to pick which one you think it actually is before it activates. Once set, the trap tries to lure the ghost toward it.

Your Toolkit

A quick reference for everything in your bag. Items marked consumable are spent the moment you use them. Items marked reusable only make it back to your inventory if you successfully finish the job - lose or abort, and whatever you've deployed stays behind.

	Chalk (consumable, unlocks Lvl 5) - Use it on an open floor tile. A chalked tile becomes impassable to a hunting ghost, but only for that hunt - once it ends, the chalk is spent.
	Salt (consumable) - Sprinkle it on the floor. A ghost that disturbs salt will leave visible footprints crossing it.
	Sound Sensor (reusable) - Mounts on the wall. Displays a live volume number for sounds nearby, whether made by the ghost or by your surroundings. Red means the sound is undisturbed. Orange means it came through a wall.
	Motion Sensor (reusable) - Mounts on the wall. Lights up and chimes when the ghost crosses its beam.
	Fuse (consumable) - Use it on a blown fuse box to restore power.
	Alarm Clock (consumable, unlocks Lvl 3) - A deliberate provocation tool. Drop it and it rings loudly enough to agitate a wandering ghost toward it.
	Cursed Teddy (consumable) - This is your ghost trap.
	Pullers - Cuts power at the fuse box.
	Notebook - Your case file

Passive gear:

	Flashlight - Lights your path in the dark. Drains while the power is out; hit zero in the dark and it's over.
	Thermometer - The ghost chills the air around itself.

Field Notes from a Veteran Investigator

Recovered from the journal of a veteran investigator. These notes won't tell you how ghosts work - only how I survived them.

#1. The dead listen more than they see. Careless noise rarely goes unnoticed.

#2. An agitated ghost has somewhere to be. Let it go. Shadowing one is how patient men become impatient ghosts.

#3. A ghost never betrays its own nature. Salt and motion sensors never fail to reveal the signs they were meant to find.

#4. A trap only holds what it was meant to hold. Guess wrong, and don't expect gratitude.

#5. A trap demands conviction. If you're already running, you've set it too soon.

#6. Every ghost has its breaking point. The longer you provoke it, the less patience it has for your presence.

#7. Spend down to nothing, and that character is finished.