Facade

Alright, I know it's not technically part of the electronic lit collection, but Facade is a pretty cool little program. Actually, it's a large file. Seriously, it took forever to download the torrent. But, the good news is that I've finally played it rather than just watching Youtube videos.

The first thing I noticed is that spelling counts, otherwise you get responses like "Ummmm," and "Err, Okay then." That's only fair, I suppose, when dealing with simulated A.I. this complex. The second thing I noticed is that Trip and Grace respond to proximity: If you get right up in Grace's grill, she starts to flirt with you, if you get too close to Trip he feels uncomfortable. At this distance you can hug, comfort, or kiss either of the two—it's pretty funny that kissing Trip doesn't get you kicked out. The way the game works is pretty complex, but the big picture is simple—either you annoy Trip and Grace so much that they kick you out (which I have to admit is pretty fun), or you get them talking to each other, get them to reveal their innermost secrets.

It's also pretty cool that the program remembers the things you say to the characters, and furthermore, that it groups them into categories so that Trip can say, "I wonder if you're really my friend or not..." and then reference your statements. I noticed from the Youtube video of the 'good ending' that this doesn't work as well as it does if you produce the bad ending. Of course, I personally got the bad ending—Trip admits he's having an affair and Grace admits she went to town on some guy the night before Trip asked her to marry him. Wow, what a great couple!

In a sense, I suppose, to finish Facade with the bad ending is really the best outcome. I mean, otherwise our cartoon couple would trudge along, still together, trying to work through issues rather than recognizing their infidelity. And that might be the most interesting part about this whole scenario: which ending really is the 'good' ending?