Friday 13 October, 2006

Um... sorry for spamming...

Façade is set up like a play. Its loading sequence displays the image of a curtain, hinting at how the player will view and navigate the characters and space. However, instead of just watching the action as you would in a real play, the player takes the role of another character and interacts with Grace and Tripp to resolve the story in multiple ways.

The setting of the game is extremely simple and the navigation is fluid and responsive. When the characters started speaking, it soon became clear that the visuals only served as props for the dialogue and expressive voice acting and interactions.

I had heard about Facade before, so I already knew the gist of the storyline before I started playing. Even so, I found that it was difficult to find a resolution to the conflict because the characters were so temperamental. This resulted in some circular dialogue, such as Grace or Tripp saying one-liners like, “Let’s talk about Grace/Tripp/both not just one of us” where I gleaned a few clues to goad the characters in another direction, but it took some time before I got to some juicy Grace-Tripp conflict, that is, here they monologue/yell at each other. During these extended Grace-Tripp dialogues, I found it difficult to change the direction of the conversation, and even I tried harder, I guess they would have just plowed through. I found that my interruptions (which I used because that’s what I would have done in real life or even chatting online) amounted to nothing most of the time; the real cues for me to respond was if they addressed me directly, which I found to be a bit contrived at times.

I found myself playing the role of a polite visitor in order to find more clues to resolving the game. Unlike a traditional game where the goal is clear, I’ve never really played games involving social situations so this experience was a little ambiguous to me. When I finished my first play I got Grace to leave Tripp. I’m not sure if I was supposed to get at a happier ending, but at least the game ended somehow…

No problem on the spam. ;-)
I cleared the extra entries out of the DB.

I've heard lots of people mention that they feel a distinct loss of agency towards the end of Facade. I wonder why?

Thanks for clearing out the spam :D
Well, about the lack of agency in the game… I guess Façade’s format didn’t really allow for complete agency. I suppose as an interactive narrative, it had to follow the conventions of a narrative, so eventually you had to get to a climax that would lead to a conclusion. After the climax, it’s like a downhill rollercoaster ride to the end where it wraps everything up. Well, that’s what I learned in English class anyway. I think Façade would have done a good job with narrative pacing if I had cooperated better. Pacing seemed to be pretty important especially since it’s in a “one-act play.” And in that respect, the creators did well in interactive fiction, but I guess it’s kind of like setting up dominos and seeing how they’ll fall. I dunno if that’s the only way interactive fiction could work. One would have to define “narrative” and the extent to which one could interact while creating a coherent narrative.