Oh, have you not heard of a Ghost? Also called an Ukagaka (伺か) or Nanika (何か), these desktop mascots originate from a series of Japanese basewares that run one or more characters that sit on a user’s desktop to provide aesthetic and entertainment in text bubbles, along with some helpful tasks and occasionally games.
The only baseware still updated today would be SSP, which stands for SakuraScript Player, that can be found right here. After it is downloaded, the opening Ghost, Emily, will be able to download more Ghosts by having their files (a .nar extension) dragged and dropped onto her. Quonit also made an English install guide, available here.
Many Ghosts are in Japanese, since Japan of course is the origin of the program. However, many can be found in other languages, such as English, Chinese, German, Spanish, French, Russian, and more. Some Ghosts, such as Zarla’s Handplates Gaster, have numerous translations. Zarla has also made a wonderful video for more background on Ukagakas, which can be found here. It includes every English Ghost that she could find when the video was made, including two I have worked on: Zaiga and Nox.
And with that, I welcome you warmly into my website! Right here is my own corner of the Ukagaka world, where I host my own creations. Many are collaborations, but some are completely my own.
On top of the four Ukagakas I have worked on, here is also the home of my SAORI, AdvancedMovement. A SAORI is a sort of plugin for Ghost creation, which can help them do more complex features, such as take out the recycling bin, or check what programs the user has open.
I hope you can find something useful to you here.
For more details, check out these pages (or use the navigation bar above):
And here's some more helpful links:
Well, I’d hope you would download one.
If you’re interested in simple and straightforward ghosts, Zaiga might be the one for you. If you like a fun look along with some subtle background minutiae to keep things lively, Nox would be a good fit for your computer. For those who enjoy taking care of things and a healthy dose of angst, The Scientist’s Assistant is a companion who would be very happy to have you.
If you like worldbuilding, immersion, and passive interactivity, my largest project Gel would be a good place to look. All aspects of them were created by me, from the art, to the code, and all of the writing. They’re here from a dystopic future to have fun with you, and maybe with all that you can figure out a little more as to why they’re here. They have 9 different states they can be in that change depending on what you’re doing on your computer, and with patience, maybe they’ll tell you a bit more of the truth as to why they’re here.
To top it off, Gel will always be a little different from install to install. There are 5000 different possibilities, with the most common major deviations being Caramelized Gels who may be a bit more saccharine, and Unstable Gels who tend towards being a bit more solemn and touch-averse. There could even be something more in very specific port numbers… there’s a lot to say about 1712, for example. Maybe when you’re good friends, you can learn even more.
