The Party

[James Yeung]

Hey, so, the makers of Facade, Procedural Arts, have said that they
were in the works of creating The Party, a much more expansive and
deeper experience than the one in Facade. Nevertheless, no information
(to my knowledge) has circulated about The Party since late 2006. I
was frankly just wondering if anybody had any other information
concerning the status of The Party such as more features or a release
date.

The concept for The Party is as follows:

"The Party will be a darkly comic social melodrama, along the lines of
Desperate Housewives. In the prototype scripts, you find yourself
cohosting a dinner party with your wife (or husband, if you play as a
woman), who begs you to keep the conversation and liquor flowing
smoothly. As guests arrive, the party fills with characters who have
various designs on you and on each other. Your ex-girlfriend may try
to break up your marriage; her angry husband may deck you; your
neighbor may be snooping and your boss fishing for excuses to fire
you. You can try to keep everyone happy, or you can hurl insults, or
seduce your best friend’s wife, or announce that you’re gay, or refuse
to admit guests... At every stage, however, the other characters — and
behind them the drama manager — are conniving to draw you in. Madcap
complications ensue... The designers invert the conventions of Video-
Game Land, where shooting people is easy but talking to them is hard:
in The Party, violence will be rare and dramatically meaningful,
ricocheting through the game, as in life, with unforeseen
consequences. Sex, likewise, will be dramatic rather than
pornographic. It may disrupt a marriage or get someone killed. The sex
will not be X-rated, but it will be realistic."

For more information, check out the article about The Party at
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200611/rauch-videogames