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student blogs

My Presentation and Hana Feels

Hey Everyone,

Here is a link to my paper and slide deck for All of Your Time Tossed Selves: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iN8oAbIvAuFJcEk6Z5GG4Z9Rp3RjDxd7Ygep0IrR6C4/edit?usp=sharing & https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1v5Its4UyiT885PBzTwHiLZQ08whdKCCUUvUhmoKEw1k/edit?usp=sharing

Let’s talk about Hana Feels!

What an interesting concept for this piece. Being a volunteer for a mental health hotline puts the reader in a position where a person’s life is in there hands. Right from the start, the stakes are high and I am carefully considering my choices because I want to make the “right choice”.

At the beginning, it says there are three different endings which really reinforces the weight of each choice.

As I am reading/playing this piece, I start to think it would be great for someone who doesn’t take mental health seriously or is not empathetic to play this/read this. The piece really makes you feel for Hana and it makes me want to help and understand her. I think this would be great for old school types who don’t take mental health and therapy seriously. It could be a good way to help change their views.

Another thought is that this could be a great training resource for people who volunteer for these types of hotlines. When I get to some of the choices, I really sit and think about what the best response is to say in each situation. It’s not easy to know which choice will lead to Hana opening up or shutting down and I’m guessing that is intentional.

It’s really cool that you get to play as Hana’s boss. It makes me feel uncomfortable that so many of the responses that you can pick for her are cold and mean, knowing what Hana is going through.

I really like how we switch to a new character after Hana’s boss. I guess this is how the piece will play out, with new characters being introduced. But I feel like it will come full circle and we will be Will at the mental health hotline again.

Wow! I mad it to the end! That was really intense and once Hana revealed her secret, I felt like I had to finish the piece.

To say every choice felt heavy would be such an understatement. Hana’s story is so relatable that I wanted to help her get the best ending possible. I think I got a good ending because Hana told Jen her secret and they stayed friends, Will was very helpful, and Hana called her mom and planned to meet soon.

student blogs

Facade and Welcome Home

Façade was a bit of a mess for me. Since I have a MAC, I was not able to access the game and play it on my own. Because of this I had to watch a number of walkthroughs on YouTube to get a chance to see the game. I feel like I missed out on actually fully experiencing the game on my own, but I was happy that it is still preserved for people to see, even if it is incompatible with more modern systems. I found Façade to be a good time. It was interesting to see how the players interaction can change the dynamic of the overall conversation. In conventional literature, ending can be open-ended but are singular. Here, the player’s (or reader) can create branching paths that actually affect the way the game ends. Another thing that stood out from watching different play throughs was how the characters of Grace and Trip react to what the player chooses to say or side with. This dynamic characterization really made the characters stand out way more than I expected them to. Seeing their gratitude and disappointment when you choose to side with one or another was a really fascinating feature. In seeing how the game can end in different scenarios, I think I can see some of the authors intent. In creating these two dynamic characters, the authors wanted players to pick a side based on their own thought process. Some players might see Trip as the main issue in the relationship, with the same being said for Grace. Some players might want to play peace makers and end up getting both characters to reveal their doubts and infidelities. Façade was a very cool piece of E-lit overall.

Welcome Home was also a great work to see. Lost media is one of the most intriguing things look for. Trying to prove the existence of a piece of work seemingly lost to time and presenting those findings seem to be time consuming but fulfilling. In my spare time, I sometimes go down the rabbit hole in looking into lost media, so Welcome Home and the work that goes into these types of projects was something I have seen before. The work and care it took to build this database, redraw and animate old works and track down old merchandise is crazy to think about. The overall website is very impressive to say the least. The only thing that really surprised me was to see that this can be considered E-lit. I would be lying if I was not confused when I opened this link and went through the website for the first time. Over time, I thought about some of the historical non-fiction books I have read and began to see Welcome Home in a similar light. Although it is not bound and written on paper, Welcome Home must have taken immense amount of research and work to put together this project, in the same way some of the book I have read had. Preservation of older media is an important issue to take up since many works by creative people throughout history can be lost to time. Seeing these older works being appreciated and brought to modern audiences is really cool to see.

student blogs

Facade

Facade

Façade Trailers Procedurals Arts, YouTube Video, https://youtu.be/GmuLV9eMTkg?si=4Q0T_bQblbR-iKjF44

Lareice’s Digital World

Façade: Redefining Interactive Narrative through Artificial Intelligence

In 2005, Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern released Façade, a groundbreaking video game that reimagined how stories could unfold in digital environments. Unlike traditional games with fixed plots or limited dialogue options, Façade places players in the middle of a volatile domestic drama, allowing them to shape the narrative through open-ended interaction. This innovative design challenges conventional storytelling and highlights the potential of artificial intelligence to create emotionally resounded experiences.

Immersive Gameplay and Real-Time Dialogue

The premise is simple: the player visits Trip and Grace, a married couple living in a New York City apartment, for what seems like a casual evening. The encounter quickly spirals into a tense and unpredictable confrontation. What sets Façade apart is its natural language interface. Players type their own responses, and the game’s AI interprets and reacts in real time, creating a dynamic and immersive conversation. This system allows for nuanced demonstrative exchanges that mirror real-life interactions, making each playthrough feel distinct and deeply personal.

Open-Ended Structure and Player Agency

Rather than guiding players through a fixed storyline, Façade offers a fluid narrative shaped by the player’s choices. There are no scripted dialogue trees; instead, the game responds organically to whatever the player says. This freedom introduces ambiguity and unpredictability sometimes the characters misinterpret your words, sometimes they reveal hidden truths. The underlying “drama manager” algorithm ensures that the story adapts to the sentimental tone and direction of the interaction, resulting in a unique experience every time.

Micro-Narratives and Emotional Complexity

Each session with Façade reveals subtle shifts in character behavior, tone, and pacing. Players may attempt to mediate the couple’s conflict, provoke deeper revelations, or be ejected from the apartment altogether. These micro-narratives, small, enthusiastic, charged moments accumulate to form a larger, evolving story. The game’s strength lies in its ability to simulate the complexity of human relationships, making the player feel less like a gamer and more like a participant in an unfolding drama.

A Vision for the Future of Digital Storytelling

Façade represents a significant leap forward in interactive fiction. The player is positioned not as a typical gamer, but as an active participant in a developing emotional narrative. By leveraging AI to create responsive, lifelike characters, the game opens new possibilities for storytelling in virtual spaces whether through 3D avatars, immersive environments, or future applications in virtual reality. It invites us to imagine narratives that are not just told but lived.

Conclusion: My Reflection on Façade

For me, Façade is more than a technical achievement it is a haunting, thought-provoking experience. The blend of control and uncertainty, of intimacy and discomfort, makes it unlike any other game I have encountered. It proves that video games can rival literature and film in emotional depth and even surpass them by giving players the power to shape the outcome. The bizarre realism of Trip and Grace’s responses, paired with the freedom to speak your mind, creates a space that feels both mysterious and deeply human. Façade does not just tell a story, it asks you to step inside one. And that, to me, is the future of storytelling.

student blogs

Feeling Like a Guest

Facade and Welcome Home

Facade

Being asked to choose a letter to pick a name and the somewhat mysterious music playing at the same time reminded me of the game Resident Evil when it first came out for PlayStation. There would be certain scenes when the character is in the save room and a certain music, piano, singing bowl chiming like there was a purpose to fulfill played. The same for when the conversation or argument was occurring behind the door with Trip and Grace. As we are brought closer to the door a few commands as tips are shown along the screen quickly once again creating the interaction but with a feeling of something eerie is happening were we then interact with Trip after once we are inside the apartment. I really paid attention to the background music as I entered after being invited by Trip, a loud harmonica, maybe accordion like annoyance fills the air while Grace is being rude and arguing loudly in the kitchen not allowing Trip to get a word in to comment, only half utters.

 As Diana is finally greeted by Grace the conversation seems forced, and fake showing the lack of compatibility. When it came to the responses to Graces decorating, any welcoming response about her abilities to decorate lessens the tension some before Grace could get angry or upset and gave Trip the opportunity to step in and further iterate her good sense of style and artistic vision. Grace was getting jealous though before that from the comments made by Diana on the Italy photo and it gave Trip a big head from all the compliments. It also felt weird, awkward when they thanked Diana for introducing them 10 years ago and some fo the words used to describe their relationship overtime were abrupt and not the adjectives I expected, or transparency found in a couples usually reply such as Pain. The argument between them started to heat up and then they raised questions to Diana about what a marriage or relationship should be and if couples should make each other better. Diana’s responses were taken offensively it seemed or not the answers either Grace or Trip wanted to hear. They both wanted to be right, and Diana was only there to justify each of their positions in the marriage and how they felt between each other. Anxiety kind of also got higher in what I as feeling even though I was just watching and not really there observing through the YouTube social media link. This becomes a entirely new way of interaction.

Welcome Home

If there could be any two contrasting Elit content it would be Welcome Home and Façade. Right away the color palette makes you feel warm, welcomed and wanting to know what’s going on here, let me further explore. The experienced of joy and “home” is really emphasized with all the content that was found and restored from this children’s TV program in 1969, created to have a treasure trove of happiness at the click of a mouse. The Playfellow Exhibition and “It’s for You” interactive phone really sparked some ideas but also shows how challenging it would be for someone from most recent generations to just sit there and listen to the recordings on a rotary phone, not being able to type or text, or respond in any way to justify their being. I wanted to experience more of the recordings and attempted to click on the active hypertext link to their merchandise page but there was nothing there to go to, only greeted with the acknowledgment that I went too far out of the page. I was impressed though when I clicked on The Neighborhood button and all the different residents who resided there and the description each had.  The colors again made me feel welcomed unlike the theme of interacting with Façade and the tension, anxiety that was always present. The transcripts were very long and fun to read even the extensive conversation of dialogue involved in each catchphrase.

I think out of all the characters I can relate to Wally, since I too am an artist who enjoys expressing and connecting with others through painting and lending a helping hand with similar mannerisms, characteristics mentioned in his description being a neighbor who is “soft spoken, patient, kind, and observant, regardless of his surrounding circumstances concerning his over-the-top neighbors.” It seems he is someone who always tries to make the best out of his situation and keep a smile on his face for not only himself, but also for his neighbors to feel welcomed and joyful. We can learn a lot from these characters and the moods, examples they portray that we can try to display in and around our own surroundings.  Neighbors should be anyone who we have the pleasure of interacting with, not just a person or persons who lives next or across the street from us that we feel obligatory to interact with. Welcome Home is a great interactive restoration of a children’s tv show that I am sure touched a lot of hearts when it was aired and also influenced happier times, interaction with others as they related to each character.

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Welcome Home/Facade


I feel like I was going down a rabbit hole going through “Welcome Home”. I’m not gonna lie, I went through the entire website and got a little overwhelmed because I just wasn’t understanding the purpose. I guess I was expecting a storyline, rather than a website which is the story itself…if that makes sense. Granted, I was doing this assignment in the dark and when I was playing some of the Discoveries where it included snippets of the radio.. I was getting a tad freaked out. Especially when they wrote “But we believe there is someone trying to stop us or make light of our efforts”…like who is watching you? Why are they watching you? It was just giving me an uneasy feeling and I didn’t help myself by googling and reading creepy conspiracies about “Welcome Home”. I digress. When I opened this story, I was inclined to click on “About us” because I literally did not know what this piece of e-lit was going to be about. I then moved onto to meeting the neighborhood cause whats a story without a character.

Overall,  I think my thoughts would be that this piece was interesting to say the least. I’m not sure why they included sections that were clickable but didn’t really lead to anything. For example in “Guestbook” the page literally said the guestbook will be closed for the foreseeable future…so why add it there in the first place? Maybe I am analyzing this too much and missing the bigger picture?

Anyways, I will say the section for News was pretty helpful in the sense of keeping their readers included. They would provide updates and I was able to figure out when certain pieces of information were found or “given” by this anonymous source that shall NOT be named for some reason. The section where we were introduced to “The Neighborhood” was probably my favorite plot because thats the only time it felt like a story but also the full house intro theme song kept playing in my head while reading about these characters. Finally, I will say that every section had a voice of the same person which I appreciated. At no point did I think the speaker changed since we knew there is more than one person contributing to the piece.

Honestly in the year 2090 if something like this but Spongebob related comes out, it was probably me preserving it lolol.

student blogs

High Muck a Muck Reflection

For me each experience inside High Muck a Muck reached all my senses, engulfing me with each icon, symbol that I clicked that would trigger a voice, music, movement sometimes fading in and out or present until I decided to move on.  I was engaged throughout the entire time in front of my laptop, one hand on my mouse the other on the keyboard; my instruments of how I interacted waiting and expecting to either hear the music, someone’s voice, or an object moving across my screen. At times these all happened together or in separate that presented a different experience. emotion to the piece. “A lot of small pieces broken from a long stick promises “was one of many lines of poetry that stood out to me and sparked a curiosity in me of similarity. “That anger of not having language itself-never mind the words – was another powerful line to read.

It was smart to offer the option of a video tutorial to learn how to interact by clicking on the icons that represent a particular experience, place, person and the Pak Ah Pu lottery card. The map laid out across the body reminds me of a Chinese medicine map of energy meridians in the body, similar to an experience I had when I got a shiatsu massage. The wall had various posters of our energy levels, circuitry running though our meridians and what affected or interrupted them from having a open flow of freedom. The locations spread across the silhouette lines forming the anatomy of the body or certain extensions made me feel that each experience would be something permanent, personal that happened and all that remains is the story just like a tattoo that the graphics, print reminded me of a represented location or name of a person. This even more so with the arm and the Canadian Pacific Railway interest since I worked on the railroad in the past and could relate. I enjoyed the pleasant sounds from traditional Chinese instruments being played, the tinkling then a commentary interview comes on speaking that I didn’t expect. The pop-up/poem or explanation of text that faded in and out kept me engaged as well waiting to the next poetry or information to show related to the particular icon I clicked on and presented as an addition to the experience a narrated story that made me want to know more about what I was learning about.

The Pacific Rim was filled with electronic noises, tinks, and nautical sounds of the ocean and movement of a petrol cargo ship moving across the screen with small type print Made in China barely visible in the background representing the waves, current and ocean. This for some reason reminded me of the experiences when sitting and watching which I don’t do much the instrumental theme music of a Netflix original movie during introduction to gain your attention while they show brief clips while it is being played.  Words associated with trade such as cheap labor, global while music celebrating an event or I assume strong economy was ironic. The pains of their labors, the ones who don’t have a choice or voice due to economic struggles, insufficient dispersing of wealth, oppression, are for me realties not discussed in public or heard outside of their own surroundings. At least some of the narrative in various parts of this project provides that voice allowing me to realize its effects on the culture of the people there in China throughout history.

The idea behind the Pak Ah Pu lottery card is brilliant. While interacting with the Chinese lettering characters I enjoyed waiting to see where it brought me to. Being exposed to Hanzi lettering I research it some on my own as it seems to be part of a Logographic system where its difference compared to traditional alphabet letters I am used to using. Each character of Hanzi which is referred to as a logogram contains its own particular sound, shape, and meaning to it. This provided a better understanding of the importance and significance of the Chinese characters being used on the Pak Ah Pu lottery card in relation to the experience and what was being told, shown to you once I clicked on the stained dotted circle on the card. There is so much to take in and experience each time I go back to the screen and click on another symbol. I found that even though I visited a few over and over again I didn’t mind as the experience felt fresh and new each time.