So, so, in the case of, of Walden, um, what made me want to make this game was, um, about ten or so years ago, I guess, now, I had to close my company. I had [unintelligible]. I had to close my company. I was driving around the country, and I was reading Walden. And part of - I have relatives in the area, so I stopped at Walden Pond. And I was reading Walden. And I was just thinking about the experiment that he had set for himself. And it's kind of a systemic experiment, if you will, this kind of, uh, reduction of everything to its essential element. And he talks about the four essential things we need in life. And he only talks about it in the beginning of the book and - where he lays out sort of the economy of the system, right? And then he talks about everything else, right? And I thought, well, that's beautiful, that you have this system underlying this experiment. And out of this simple system have emerged these ideas, these beautiful ideas, right? And so I - you know, for me, um, it was this lovely piece of literature that actually spoke to the way that I see that a kind of simple underlying procedural system can, um, can make for a beautiful, inspirational, sort of ephemeral experience. And it was always really attractive to me. I wrote in my journal at that time, "I'd like to make a game about Walden, but I have no idea how." And over the next several years, I, um, was involved in making games like Cloud and, and then The Night Journey. And I think that I gained more experience, and I gained a kind of confidence. And I - and I, um, began thinking more about how specifically I can make this game and, uh, so decided to jump off that cliff. [laughs]
