Wanted: Dead, Alive, or Other
Wanted: Dead, Alive, or Other is a ghost made by Galla, Miss, and Zichqec for Idea Adoption Jam 2025. The user takes on the role of a necromancer interviewing candidates for an experiment, asking questions and deciding which candidates to accept and reject.
The ghost uses several freeshells, with each of the candidates being represented with a different freeshell.
Table of Contents
Features
Experiment outcomes
Each time the ghost is booted, the previous session's data will be taken into account to determine if the last experiment was a success, a failure, or inconclusive. This is only done if there is new data; if the ghost is closed without accepting/rejecting any candidates, then that session will be ignored.
Data taken into account includes the number of candidates accepted, the number of candidates rejected, and also how many questions each candidate was asked. Candidates must be asked at least 6 questions for the choice to be considered a “good decision”, regardless of if they were accepted or rejected.
Note that Michael is neutral when it comes to outcomes, and will not impact the result whatsoever, regardless of how the user interacts with him.
The outcome of the previous experiment is indicated by the boot text, and can also be seen in the stats menu.
The possible outcomes are as follows:
| Method | Type | Stats menu description |
|---|---|---|
| All candidates were rejected. | Inconclusive | “No experiment could be performed due to no candidates being accepted.” |
| Fewer than 5 candidates were accepted. | Inconclusive | “Insufficient sample size for accurate results.” |
| All candidates were accepted. | Failure | “Candidates were completely unfiltered, and unsuitable for their purpose.” |
| Fewer than 1/3rd of candidates were rejected OR fewer than half the candidates that were seen were asked enough questions. | Failure | “Candidates were not well vetted, and some were unsuitable for their purpose.” |
| 1/3rd or more of candidates were rejected AND more than half of the candidates (but fewer than 2/3rds) were asked enough questions. | Success | “Many candidates were fit for purpose. Results could be improved with better filtering, so that candidates which become problematic can be removed without reducing the sample size too much.” |
| 1/3rd or more of the candidates were rejected AND 2/3rds or more of the candidates were asked enough questions. | Success | “Most candidates were fit for purpose, and candidates which became problematic were easily removed while maintaining a good sample size.” |
Shells
Note that the shells cannot be changed manually by the user1), and are chosen from semi-randomly whenever a new candidate is generated.
Each shell has a different pool of question responses and other dialogue, such that each one is its own character with its own personality. Shells with dressups have a random selection of dressups applied whenever the shell is chosen.
This list does not include the master shell, which has the appearance of a clipboard.
