NEW MEDIA: More on Facade

Now that I’ve gotten hooked on Facade, I’m questioning as well its purpose and as it relates to writing and literature.

Of course, Facade is new media.  It is a story.  It is interactive and it goes beyond text.  It is frustratingly primitive and yet it is awesome (or might be, I’m not aware enough of what’s truly being done out there) in its possibilities.  As with Eliza, it can be used as a tool in a Psychology class, as the player "friend" is asked to participate in a discussion of a marital relationship of a couple to whose home he/she/I have been invited.  In a Creative Writing course, it can be used to present a situation as students learn to build character and dialogue as well as conflict and resolution.  In New Media, it opens up a world of adventure and challenge both to the creator and the ultimate user.

But there are still quirks to be worked out.  As with the beginnings of interactive fiction, the control of the narrative is still limited by key words.  In looking over both the transcript that Steve at the Great Lettuce Head has presented, and some of those from my own, a pattern of speech is obviously planned out, and the turn of events is dependent upon certain words–or is it?  There is no doubt that if more "terms" were triggers, more maneuverability within the conversation would be possible. 

Look at this bit of dialogue from my interaction with Trip and Grace (the animated couple) and myself as "Amy":

TRIP

It’s so annoying… you know lately I’ve been really trying to spend more time together…

AMY

shall I leave

TRIP

    Amy,  she makes it so difficult…

AMY

why

TRIP

Why?

TRIP

Ah, well good, ah, good, you want to understand, see, that helps me… See, I’m trying to fix what’s wrong, Grace...

And this:

TRIP

Amy,  Quit interrupting me, let me speak!

TRIP

Amy,  I ask you this — yes or no…

TRIP

Do you really think that…

TRIP

praising Grace…

TRIP

telling Grace to make art…

TRIP

and what you said about trying to change the other person…

TRIP

that all that is supposed to help us realize something about us?

TRIP

Is what you’ve said tonight supposed to add up somehow, to something?

TRIP

Is it?  Just give me a yes or no. — (interrupted)

AMY

it may, yes

TRIP

Alright.

TRIP

Grace…

TRIP

uhh…

TRIP

I forced you to marry me, didn’t I.

TRIP

When I proposed to you, in front of your parents, on Christmas Eve, and…

AMY

Grace come here

TRIP

I knew you wouldn’t be capable of saying no.

GRACE

You manipulated me.

TRIP

Yes.

The entire transcript is here, with the highlighted sections toward the end of the stageplay. 

It also appeared to me that at one point, where I remained out of view of the couple, they sought me out–another interesting point to check out; where the interactor’s actions act as triggers just as the typed text responses.  I went over to the bar to grab the bottle of wine, and this is what happened (as you can see, I never mentioned a drink):

TRIP

Amy,  where are you?  Don’t run off, you need to help us deal with this!

TRIP

Look, let’s talk about us both, not just one of us.

AMY

here I am

GRACE

Trip, can’t you see, it’s the way you speak, the way you talk to me…!

TRIP

What, I’m not allowed to be angry?

GRACE

You tell me what to do, you don’t listen.

TRIP

Amy,  I’m not telling her what to do, I’m trying to help her!

TRIP

Amy,  come on, I don’t feel like fixing drinks at this moment!

I am going to play around in this a bit more, but it appears to me that asking "why?" in several instances appears to indicate a sense of caring, and while my question is usually met with a few raised eyebrows (inappropriate, perhaps), it does bring about a calmness within the setting.    My first thought was that certain characters among the list of friends that can be chosen as the one the player uses as a persona are geared toward certain responses.  But I’ve only entered the world three  or four times so far, and haven’t had time to check out all the possibilities.  There is definitely a static script along with the paths it can take, and eventually you must leave the playacting, but I’m looking for the key points that trigger the events, just as certain switches lead a train to Baltimore or L.A.

I’ll be back with more on this.