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Walden, a game
Developer(s)USC Game Innovation Lab
Publisher(s)USC Games
Designer(s)Tracy Fullerton
Programmer(s)Todd Furmanski
Artist(s)Lucas Peterson
Composer(s)Michael Sweet
EngineUnity
Platform(s)
ReleaseWindows, Mac
  • WW: July 4, 2017
PS4
  • NA: May 15, 2018
  • PAL: July 2, 2021
Xbox One
  • WW: July 2, 2021
Genre(s)Exploration, serious, educational
Mode(s)Single-player

Walden, a game is a first-person open-world video game developed by Tracy Fullerton and the USC Game Innovation Lab for Microsoft Windows, Mac, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The game translates the experience of naturalist and author Henry David Thoreau's stay at Walden Pond in 1845–47 to a video game.[1][2]

Gameplay and plot

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The gameplay in Walden, a game is balanced between several goals: surviving in the woods through self-reliant living; seeking inspiration in the woods through attention to animals, sounds, solitude, and books; and exploration and discovery of the social and personal context leading to Thoreau's experiment.[3]

The survival simulation focuses on the four "necessaries of life" as described by Thoreau in the book Walden—food, fuel, shelter, and clothing. Players must care-take these aspects of their life in the woods in order to maintain their energy. If they fail to do so, they will faint from exhaustion.[4]

The inspirational aspects of the game focus on several of the themes discussed in the later chapters of the book Walden—visitors, sound, solitude, and reading. Players can find inspiration by exploring the woods and interacting with animals (visitors), finding places of solitude, which are marked by cairns, listening to the sounds of civilization (wagons, a train whistle, church bells, etc.) that can be heard from the edges of the woods, and reading books found throughout the woods. When the player is inspired, the colors and sounds of the game are richer, however, if they let their inspiration fall, these colors and sounds will become dull.[5]

In addition to care-taking survival and inspiration, the player may also explore Thoreau's world to discover a series of intertwined stories about his life and the tensions in the world around him that sent him to the woods for his experiment in self-reliant living. Letters and visits from his mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson explore his ambitions as a writer. A series of poetic clues from his sister Sophia leads the player to secret areas of the woods and to an understanding of a mutual tragedy. Other storylines follow Thoreau's involvement in the Abolitionist movement of the times, his work as a surveyor, and his connections to prominent scientist Louis Agassiz.[6]

The game takes place over the course of the first year of Thoreau's stay in the woods, as does the book Walden. At the end of the year, as Spring comes, Thoreau experiences a rebirth and re-connection to life, and the player can choose to leave the woods, or to stay and continue their own experiment.[7]

Development and release

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The game was developed over the course of ten years as a research project at the USC Game Innovation Lab led by Tracy Fullerton. The game began production in 2007 without funding, but in 2012 was awarded a media arts grant from the NEA to support the production of the game.[8] This support was followed by admission into the Sundance New Frontier Story Lab in 2014, and grants from the NEH Digital Projects for the Public.[9][10][11]

The crew for the production was made up of a small core team of faculty and staff from the Game Innovation Lab as well as students who participated over the years. The audio design and music composition for the game was done by Michael Sweet of Berklee College of Music and the score for the game was recorded live at Berklee College.[12] The voice of Henry David Thoreau is performed by actor Emile Hirsch.[13] The game was announced for PlayStation 4 at the 2017 PlayStation Experience.[14]

Walden, a game was first released for Microsoft Windows and macOS via itch.io on July 4, 2017 and via Steam on March 18, 2019.[15][16] The game was released for PlayStation 4 in North America on May 15, 2018 and in Europe and Australia on July 2, 2021.[17][18] It was also released worldwide for Xbox One on July 2, 2021.[19][20][21]

Reception

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Walden, a game was selected for several festivals prior to its launch, including Indiecade 2014 (Digital Select), Indiecade 2015 (Finalist), Tokyo Game Show Sense of Wonder Night 2015, International Documentary Film Festival 2015, Sheffield Doc Fest 2015 (Special Mention Interactive Award), Meaningful Play 2016 (Most Meaningful Game Award) and Davos Betazone 2017 at the World Economic Forum.[22]

The game received significant press attention after an article on the front page of The New York Times extolled its unique premise: "In 'Walden' Video Game, the Challenge Is Stillness."[23] The launch of the game in July 2017, concurrent with the 200th anniversary of Thoreau's birth, brought attention from Harper's Magazine, The Smithsonian Magazine, The Times, USA Today, CNN, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Slate, Salon and Rolling Stone among others.[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] Press reaction to the game was positive, citing beautiful visuals, a slow pace allowing for reflection, and historical accuracy of the content. The game was given a five star rating by Common Sense Media for its positive messages, role models and educational value.[33]

At the 2017 Games for Change Festival Walden, a game was awarded Game of the Year and Most Significant Impact.[34][35] At the 2017 Indiecade Festival, it was awarded the Developers Choice Award along with Where the Water Tastes Like Wine.[36] It was also nominated for the Off-Broadway Award for Best Indie Game at the New York Game Awards 2018.[37]

Walden, a game was one of the top purchased games of 2017 on Itch.io as well as one of the top tipped games on the platform of that year.[39]

References

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  1. ^ Andy Chalk, "Walden, the Henry David Thoreau survival game, comes out on July 4" Archived 2017-12-03 at the Wayback Machine, PC Gamer
  2. ^ "USC Game Innovation Lab’s Walden, A Game Arrives July 4 on Windows PC and Mac", Gamasutra
  3. ^ Julie Rose, "Walden -- The Digital Version" Archived 2019-03-21 at the Wayback Machine, Top of Mind, BYU Radio
  4. ^ Greg Toppo, "Learn to ‘live deliberately’ with ‘Walden’ game on Thoreau’s birthday" Archived 2017-12-14 at the Wayback Machine, USA Today
  5. ^ Alexander Stern, "In Walden the Video Game, You the Player Are Henry David Thoreau", Humanities Magazine
  6. ^ ""Playdate Podcast Interview Series"". Archived from the original on 2019-03-21. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  7. ^ Colin Cambell, "Life, and how to live it, explored in a new game" Archived 2017-09-05 at the Wayback Machine, Polygon
  8. ^ "NEA Arts: Level Up! Archived 2017-12-01 at the Wayback Machine,National Endowment for the Arts
  9. ^ "Sundance Institute Selects Six Creative Teams and Projects for New Frontier Story Lab" Archived 2018-01-13 at the Wayback Machine, Sundance site
  10. ^ Mike Boehm, "Move over ‘Warcraft,’ NEH is funding new online games" Archived 2018-01-12 at the Wayback Machine, Los Angeles Times
  11. ^ Katherine Vu, "Game Innovation Lab receives two grants to fuel creativity" Archived 2017-04-19 at the Wayback Machine, USC News
  12. ^ Emily Reese, "Level 75: Michael Sweet (Walden, a Game, Berklee College of Music)" Archived 2019-03-21 at the Wayback Machine, Level Podcast
  13. ^ "Walden, a game full cast and crew" Archived 2019-03-23 at the Wayback Machine, IMDb
  14. ^ "USC Games Projects to be Showcased at Playstation Experience" Archived 2017-12-12 at the Wayback Machine, School of Cinematic Arts News
  15. ^ "'Walden, A Game' Gets Release Date - Screens & Trailer". WorthPlaying. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
  16. ^ "Walden now available on Steam". Game Innovation Lab. 18 March 2019. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
  17. ^ "Yes, There's A Video Game Version Of Thoreau's 'Walden'". www.wbur.org. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
  18. ^ USC Game Innovation Lab [@uscgamelab] (2021-07-01). "Well, hey to our folks in Europe!! We're finally able to announce #WaldenAGame on @PlayStation for all the PS European stores dropping tomorrow 7/2!!! With the wacky way the world turns, it is already live in Australia, as you can see lol!! @USCGames" (Tweet). Retrieved 2024-10-06 – via Twitter.
  19. ^ Dennis (2021-07-10). "Video Game Releases: June 21st to July 4th". Parallax Media. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
  20. ^ Fullerton, Tracy (July 2, 2021). "Walden, a game Press Notes" (PDF). WordPress. p. 3. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
  21. ^ USC Game Innovation Lab [@uscgamelab] (2021-07-02). "Good day, everyone! How about a walk in our virtual woods today? Just the thing for the start of a holiday weekend! Six hours of open world gameplay and story in a beautiful environment! @USCGames @kinojabber #WaldenAGame available now worldwide on @Xbox https://bit.ly/WaldenXbox" (Tweet). Retrieved 2024-10-06 – via Twitter.
  22. ^ "Everything you need to know about Davos 2017". WeForum. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  23. ^ Pogrebin, Robin (February 24, 2017). "In 'Walden' Video Game, the Challenge Is Stillness". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 4, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  24. ^ "Game of Thoreaus". Harper's Magazine. July 2017.
  25. ^ Peterson, Britt (March 2017). "Can a Video Game Capture the Magic of Walden?". The Smithsonian Magazine.
  26. ^ MacIntyre, Ben (July 8, 2017). "Grand Theft Auto generation slows down". The Times.(subscription required)
  27. ^ Toppo, Greg (July 11, 2017). "Learn to 'live deliberately' with 'Walden' game on Thoreau's birthday". USA Today. Archived from the original on December 14, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  28. ^ Allan, David G. (July 12, 2017). "Walden, the anti-video game video game". CNN. Archived from the original on March 19, 2018. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  29. ^ Warr, Philippa (July 24, 2017). "Walden, A Game: hummingbird spying as Henry David Thoreau". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on January 8, 2018. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  30. ^ Pesca, Mike (August 2, 2017). "A Video Game Thoreau Might Play". Slate. Archived from the original on October 3, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  31. ^ Smith, Matthew (February 27, 2017). "WATCH: Thoreau's classic work "Walden" gets the video game treatment — yes, you heard that right". Salon. Archived from the original on December 18, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  32. ^ Fullerton, Tracy (August 2, 2017). "'Walden, a Game' Creator Talks the Sublime, Life's Tough Questions, Games". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on March 7, 2018. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
  33. ^ Wolinsky, David (2017). "Walden, A Game". Common Sense Media. Archived from the original on 2018-03-19. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  34. ^ Crescente, Brian (August 1, 2017). "Game Based on 'Walden' Takes Top Honors at Games for Change Awards". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on March 19, 2018. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
  35. ^ Kerr, Chris (August 1, 2017). "Walden, A Game and Everything honored at Games for Change Awards". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on March 19, 2018. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  36. ^ "10th Anniversary Festival Awards & Honorees". Indiecade. 2017. Archived from the original on 2018-02-23. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  37. ^ Whitney, Kayla (January 25, 2018). "Complete list of winners of the New York Game Awards 2018". AXS. Archived from the original on April 1, 2019. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  38. ^ Ntelia, Renata (18 April 2018). "Review for Walden, a game". Adventure Gamers. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
  39. ^ leafo (January 4, 2018). "itch.io year in review 2017". Itch.io. Archived from the original on January 7, 2018. Retrieved January 7, 2018.

Further reading

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