A gentle ghost story about learning to live after loss, set in a Thai river village. A grieving teen befriends a little ghost only she can see, and finds her way back through friendship, dance, and small kindnesses.
Join 15-year-old Mai as she struggles to put her life back together after the tragic death of her parents in the small Thai river village where she grew up. Befriend a cheerful young ghost named Pim, and together, embody the Thai concept of tham boom to help fellow villagers and earn Karma for Pim. Dance and groove to original new songs performed by Genevieve Goings (Disney’s Choo Choo Soul) and internationally renowned reggae artist Conkarah - and ultimately, help Mai discover that there’s joy to be found through the process of grief.
Mai and Pim’s story has been a passion project for ToeJam & Earl creator Greg Johnson, who was moved by the tragic death of his 28-year-old daughter and his family’s devastating loss in the 2023 Maui wildfires to share a story of finding the way through sadness back to a love and appreciation of everything life has to offer.
Dancing with Ghosts is a cozy narrative life-sim with an original hand-drawn 2D art style, set in a small river village in Thailand and fully voiced in Thai.
Mai has not danced since she lost her parents. These days she keeps to herself, running errands around her riverside village and drawing in her journal, until Pim wanders in: a little phii, the warm and friendly kind of ghost from Thai folklore, and the only one Mai can see. Pim has lost her memories but none of her joy. Helping Pim find who she was turns out to be the thing that slowly brings Mai back to life too.
Players play as both girls. As Mai, you spend your days helping around the village, earning coins and good karma that unlock the next parts of the story. As Pim, you can drift into people's thoughts, sense what a neighbour quietly wishes for, and bring that back to Mai so she can help.
The village is full of neighbours with their own homes, jobs, and troubles. Someone always needs a boat ride, the roti stand gets busy after lunch, and the fish bite when the light turns soft. Along the way there are cultural minigames: Thai dance as a real rhythm game with multiple difficulties, cooking, fishing, scooter deliveries, Muay Thai, and more.
It is a deeply personal project, written by Greg Johnson through real-life grief. The village is modeled on his Thai family's home in Bang Pa-In, Ayutthaya, and the game is made from the inside: Thai artists, Thai animators, and Thai voices.
Dancing with Ghosts has no publisher behind it. Greg Johnson has financed it himself, with help from friends and family, with a small team. No investor, platform, or publisher has had a say in what the game is. The core team today is three people: Greg himself, engineer Ferry Halim (creator of Orisinal), and publishing and marketing lead Yada Khoongumjorn.
KEY FEATURES
- A story told in small choices. Every conversation gives you two ways to answer. No wrong picks.
- Thai dance as a real rhythm game, with real timing and multiple difficulties.
- 10+ cultural minigames: roll dough, sweep a temple, fishing, riverboat ferrying, scooter deliveries, make Som Tum, make Roti, and more.
- Play as both a living girl and a ghost, with different abilities and different views of the same village.
- Earn coins and good karma by helping neighbors, which unlock the next parts of the story. Mai's journal fills in as she heals, in her own drawings.
- Fully voiced in Thai and English.
Independent video game channel over 20 years on YouTube (since 2006).
