Hunter and Smoker

Hunter and Smoker
Type	Ghost
Developer(s)	Zarla
Origin	Left 4 Dead (AU)
Language(s)	English
Sakura	Smoker
Kero	Hunter
SHIORI	AYA
Release date	November 21st, 2012
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Content warning: Gore, body horror and unsettling elements.

This article is about the ghost named Hunter and Smoker. For other uses, see Hunter and Smoker (Disambiguation).

Hunter and Smoker (sometimes referred to as Hunter and Smoker Beta) are one of the earliest English ghosts available, released on November 21st, 2012. Zarla used them to learn much of what she knows about Ghost coding through trial and error, and eventually would take what she learned to create the Girl and Triangle template ghost, the first extensive piece of Ghost documentation in English.

Hunter and Smoker themselves are original characters of Zarla's that are set in the Left 4 Dead universe. Their friends Charger and Jockey belong to Zarla's friend Jazaaboo, and Quonit actually made a Jockey Ghost as well! More info on them in general can be found here. They're best friends who like teasing each other and bickering, although perhaps that's not all that they are…

Hunter and Smoker have an enormous amount of material and features, in particular a ton of dialogue. Their files are a bit of a mess though as a result of their experimental, unguided development. This should not be noticable to the casual user, however.

Their files are available at their homepage.

• Specialized dialogue for times of the day, week, seasons, and months, as well as certain days.
• Items that can be unlocked and used to do various things with/to them
• A relationship stat that keeps track of how they feel about the user, which can affect things they say and items the user can use
• Charger is a bonus third character can be unlocked, and she has her own unique set of conversations with them and her own relationship stat with the user
• The user can play Rock Paper Scissors with Hunter, and Blackjack and Tic-tac-toe with Smoker
• The user can battle a Rabite with Hunter
• The user can pet them, touch them, or hit them with varying results
• Smoker can check the weather and set an alarm, along with other standard ghost functions
• Hunter has explanations of every ghost function and how it works and what it does in her menu
• The user can give them new names, and can choose titles and pronouns for them to use for them personally
• Smoker has a cookbook that the user can use to make different recipes! There are like 90 different recipes to discover.
• They have a secret mode the user might encounter on Halloween or late at night…
• If the user has Jockey, they're able to talk with her! They have a lot of dialogue with her, with and without Charger. They'll also talk to other random ghosts as well, although there's no guarantee that the other Ghost will respond…
• They have a silly choose-your-own-adventure type quest the user can go on to earn an item!
• They have self-care options where the user can ask them for emotional support or motivation for whatever they're working on.
• Smoker may fall asleep if it's late at night or very early in the morning.
• They have a changelog that pops up after they update that the user can check for information.
• If the user overlaps them with each other, they will hug.
• They can be reset to start relationships with them from scratch, as well as relock the applicable items.
• The user can give Smoker a high-five in a certain pose.

The user can check on their relationship with either of them by looking or clicking on the heart in the corner of their menu balloons. The heart will fill depending on how close they are to the user, or go black if they do not like them.

The user can build their relationship with them by giving them gifts via the “[Name], I…” option in their menus, although their reaction will depend on what the user decides to give them. They react positively to things related to their interests, and negatively to things that show unfamiliarity or annoy them. It may take trial and error or observation to figure out what it is they like or dislike.

At times, they may ask the user for their opinion on something. The way the user responds will also affect their relationship. If the user takes one side over the other, there is a chance that one's relationship will go up while the other's goes down.

Hunter's relationship will change depending on whether she wins or loses rock-paper-scissors. Smoker will also get a little annoyed if the user wins Blackjack with only two cards. She is generally pleased when she wins.

The user can gain one point by leaving them open for at least an hour. They REALLY don't like it if the user tries to touch their butts or their breasts.

Their relationship with the user will take a big hit if the user hits either of them. Both of them will get upset.

Charger is not available to the user immediately. There are three ways the user can trigger her appearance.

• The user can wait until either Hunter or Smoker bring Charger up in a casual conversation, then click her name. They'll explain who she is, then her entry will be added to the anchor book item. If the user keeps clicking her entry in the anchor book, there is a chance she will appear.
• The user can wait for a certain conversation of Hunter and Smoker's about Charger. There is a chance that Charger will appear for the second part of it.
• The user can input “HELP ME CHARGER” (with multiple Rs such as CHARGERRRR if preferred) into Smoker's “type in commands” option in her menu.

Once Charger has appeared once, the walkie talkie item will be unlocked in Smoker's menu. The user can use this item to call Charger any time, and they can send her away with her menu.

Charger can be renamed like the others, and she has her own menu where the user can ask her questions about herself or the others. Items like the hypno-pendulum or eggplant will also work on her if she's present. All of Hunter and Smoker's dialogue also changes while she is present to include her, including any dialogue related to any items.

Charger has her own relationship stat with the user, which can be affected by giving her things via her menu like the other two. She will also react depending on how the user's been treating Hunter and Smoker, in particular getting annoyed if the user's been treating them badly. If her relationship is high enough, she will open up a little about herself in casual conversation. Like the other two, she does not appreciate the user trying to grope her in any way.

If the user hits her, Smoker and Hunter will freak out and get extremely angry, their relationship with the user taking a big hit. They'll refuse to open their menus or do anything for the user until they apologize to Charger for hitting her.

Charger has two unique features in her menu: “Do you know any secrets?” and “Do you know any recipes?” The first gives hints to some hidden features available by putting phrases into Smoker's “type in commands” menu option. The latter gives hints to the more unusual recipe combinations in the cookbook.

There is an item option in Smoker's menu that will show all the currently available items. Items that are greyed out must be unlocked, while unlocked items are displayed in full color. The user can click the picture of each item to choose it for use.

• Anchor Book - Always available. If the user clicks a highlighted name during their dialogue, that name will be added to the book and can be clicked at any time for more information about that person.
• Brush - Unlocked by completing the quest in Hunter's menu.
• Pendulum - Unlocked when Smoker falls asleep randomly.
• Walkie Talkie - Unlocked by encountering Charger, as detailed above.
• Eggplant - Unlocked by inputting a certain phrase into Smoker's “type in commands” option in her menu. The user can get the phrase by asking Charger “Do you know any secrets?” in her menu.
• Piece of Cake - Unlocked by opening them on the user's birthday.
• Cookbook - Always available.

Creepy mode happens under two conditions. It can be triggered manually by the user, or it can happen if the user opens them on Halloween or randomly late at night, although rarely.

This section contains spoilers for unlockable content.

In this mode, Hunter and Smoker take on frightening, strange forms and their dialogue gets menacing and ominous. Their menus are glitched and distorted, and they won't do most ghost functions, instead closing themselves immediately. They will go back to normal if the user switches to another ghost or closes them. They never talk about creepy mode outside of when it happens.

This is one of the forms they take during creepy mode. Spoilered for body horror.

General Usage

Halloween Update

Hunter and Smoker use the hunter and smoker balloon, a small balloon styled to match each of the characters in the ghost.