To visit the official site go to https://www.waldengame.com/

A project from the University of Southern California’s Game Innovation Lab. View the official site at http://www.waldengame.com/ The game is currently available for the PC, Macintosh, X-Box and PlayStation.

Walden, a Game has been a very ambitious project to adapt the novel by Henry David Thoreau. Acting as the primary programmer for the project, I’ve had to design and implement systems to be used by a number of designers and artists, for the purpose of simulating a year in 1845 Concord, Massachusetts.

Post-processing experimentation focused on ways to distinguish the look of the game. Walden uses a style suggesting old photographic processes like autochrome, a century-old photographic color process. The game also uses variable adjustment of saturation, reflecting the state of the player.

I’ve experimented bringing with bringing Walden into the Oculus Rift. Technically, the process was pretty straightforward, and as a walkable space fairly satisfying. The change in display, however, introduced a large number of design questions and challenges. The space has enough detail that talking with people who have actually been to Concord proved an interesting experience. Having never been, I’m very curious as to my own experience if I ever find myself in that part of the country.