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Project Descriptions

Walden, a game

January 1, 2015 - June 30, 2016 | Media and Technology
This will be a unique video game based on the writings the American author Henry David Thoreau at Walden Pond. Designed and directed by game designer Tracy Fullerton, Walden, a game, will simulate the experiment in living made by Thoreau at Walden Pond in 1845-47, allowing players to walk in his virtual footsteps, attend to the tasks of living a self-reliant existence, discover in the beauty of a virtual landscape the ideas and writings of this unique philosopher, and cultivate through the game play their own thoughts and responses to the concepts discovered there. The humanities content of the game will focus on an interactive translation of Thoreau’s writings and will also include references to the historical context of those writings. The game takes place in the environment of 1845 New England, when new technologies such as the railroad, the telegraph were first being seen and were part of the changes to pace of life that Thoreau so articulately resisted in critiques of society.

Funders

NEH
Funding Program: Digital Projects for the Public: Discovery Grants
Award Number: MD-226699-15
Funding Amount: $100,000

TEAM MEMBERS

  • Tracy Fullerton
    Principal Investigator
    University of Southern California
  • Discipline: Art, music, and theater | Ecology, forestry, and agriculture | History/policy/law | Life science | Literacy | Technology
    Audience: General Public | Museum/ISE Professionals
    Environment Type: Media and Technology | Games, Simulations, and Interactives

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