"It's a wonderful surprise that Façade has been such a good fit for streamers, but it makes sense, for a couple of reasons," they say.
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They created a playpen-a microscopic universe where things go wrong over and over again-and they knew full well that the internet was going to try to see the boundaries. Thankfully, Stern and Mateas are totally fine with Façade's newfound reputation. Still, it's funny that this deeply impressive piece of software, that has been showered with the crossover glory this industry so rarely gets, has devolved into a meme. There is a magic eight-ball in the corner of the apartment that you can consult for randomized advice, and the very fact that Trip and Grace will respond to some of your more outlandish queries seems designed for some good old-fashioned videogame mischief. To be clear, there are things about Façade that are intentionally tongue-in-cheek. Instead, they fill the chat log with as many rude words as possible until the premise snaps in half. These videos do not give Façade the benefit of the doubt, nor do they cache their vulgarity in any plausible deniability. You can eagerly insult, dismiss, and belittle Trip and Grace you can interrupt a heated exchange, as The Gaming Lemon does, by saying "I need to shit " you can kiss Trip right on the lips as soon as he opens the door. You can be a hilariously awful house guest in Façade.
How did they manage to find comedy in a fairly solemn experience? Well, the thing about Façade is that its reliance on genuine interaction with the AI makes it ripe for abuse. His first Façade video racked up a massive 7 million views, with guys like JackSepticEye and The Gaming Lemon not far behind. I'm not exactly sure who first pioneered Façade's strange second coming as an internet meme, but like most things in the swirl of YouTube screeching, it's probably PewDiePie.
"We aimed for the stars, hoping to hit the moon, and we think we at least got into orbit," says Stern and Mateas. Façade might not be that influential, but it certainly earned its keep. The closest analogue I can think of is Myst-the first real example of games-as-art self-seriousness-which single-handedly changed the definition of interactive entertainment for a ton of suspicious baby boomers. In 2006 Façade was christened by the Slamdance Independent Games Festival with their Grand Jury Prize, and that same year it served as the central motif for a glossy Atlantic feature. It is perhaps the earliest example of an indie game receiving the type of prestige acclaim doled out by mainstream media institutions like the New York Times, who wrote a piece with the hilariously out-of-touch headline, " Redefining the Power of the Gamer." But after bringing their project to a few showcases, Façade hit the stratosphere.
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Mateas and Stern wanted to get as many eyes on it as possible, so they released it as a free download and accepted small, personal donations to recoup the costs. The thing about Façade is that its reliance on genuine interaction with the AI makes it ripe for abuse.įaçade was released to a pre-Steam world. Or you might fuck up and say the wrong thing, and have Tripp angrily escort you out of the apartment. If you navigate the ebbs and flows of the conversation correctly, you might temporarily mediate their issues and convince the couple to give things another chance. They get enthralled, angry, amused, and offended in the way that humans do, and the facial animation, while primitive, is emotive enough to get the job done.
Tripp and Grace stay in-tune with your inputs. If you play Façade as it was intended-by role-playing the experience as a concerned friend-their AI system holds up remarkably well. In other words, we wanted to experience an interactive dramatic one-act play, akin to getting on stage with improv actors skilled enough to collaborate with you to make an interesting and meaningful drama happen in real-time." Instead of requiring dozens of hours of questing, object collection and leveling up, we desired a short but emotionally intense, tightly unified experience, focused on the entanglements of human relationships. "Structurally and thematically, we wanted to make an anti-videogame. "We've always wanted to play a game that uses natural language, that offers players hundreds or even thousands of ways of expressing their own emotions and ideas," say Mateas and Stern, who I reached over email (they told me they'd like to answer my questions as a team).
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