Davey Wreden

Davey Wreden
Born (1988-09-29) September 29, 1988 (age 36)
Alma materUniversity of Southern California
Occupation(s)Game designer, developer
Known for
RelativesDouglas Wreden (brother)

Davey Wreden (born September 29, 1988) is a game designer and developer, best known for his work on The Stanley Parable and The Beginner's Guide.

Career

The Stanley Parable

Wreden started developing video games in 2009.[1] He created The Stanley Parable in 2011, as a modification for Valve Corporation's game Half-Life 2. The mod itself received attention for its approach to storytelling and use of the video game medium.[2][3]

In 2013, he remade and expanded it into a standalone title with co-developer William Pugh.[4][5] The Stanley Parable received critical acclaim for its thought-provoking themes and innovative use of popular gameplay mechanics.[6] The game explores the nature of player agency and challenges traditional game design conventions.[6]

Wreden experienced depression after the success of The Stanley Parable, which included various media outlets' game of the year awards.[7][8][9] He described responding to emails, both negative and positive. "In answering all that fan mail, Wreden says that he lost sight of the meaning in his answers, he lost sight of why he made The Stanley Parable in the first place."[7] Wreden also drew a comic to help describe his feelings.[7][8]

Dan Erickson, creator of the TV show Severance, said he partly took inspiration from The Stanley Parable.[10]

Jesper Juul finds ironic similarities between Wreden's experience and his following game, The Beginner's Guide.[9]

The Beginner's Guide

In 2015, Wreden released The Beginner's Guide, a narrative-driven game that delves into the personal and creative struggles of a fictional game developer. Through a series of introspective and emotionally charged levels, the game raises questions about authorship, interpretation, and the relationship between creators and players.[11][12] The Beginner's Guide was noted for its introspective storytelling.[13][12]

Wreden in The Beginner's Guide

Davey Wreden, acting as narrator of The Beginner's Guide, became a character in the game as well.[14] Frank G. Bosman and Archibald L.H.M. van Wieringen write that the game's narrative ends up being largely about the Davey Wreden character, also describing the complex intertextual relationship between the character's narrative and other elements of the story.[14]

Alayna Cole and Dakoda Barker describe Wreden's approach to the narrative of the game; they suggest that the introduction, where he describes himself as the creator of The Stanley Parable and gives out his real email address, is meant to establish authenticity.[11]

Braxton Soderman believes the character Coda is also a stand-in for Wreden the game designer.[15]

Wanderstop

In 2021, Wreden founded the game studio Ivy Road along with Karla Zimonja and C418, with additional support from Annapurna Interactive.[16] The studio is working on their first game Wanderstop,[17] a cozy game which integrates Wreden's feelings of burn out into the narrative.[18] Wanderstop is set for release on March 11, 2025.[19]

Itch.io

Wreden has also released free-to-play games on itch.io. This included a 2017 collaboration titled Absolutely: A True Crime Story, described by Kotaku as a "nihilistic parody".[20][21][22]

From February 2021 to June 2022, Wreden and Cara Ellison hosted The Inspirational Quarterly, a podcast dedicated to reading, reviewing, and discussing Keith R. A. DeCandido's 2006 novel StarCraft: Ghost: Nova.[23]


Style and influences

Wreden has been influenced by cartoonist Alison Bechdel, author David Foster Wallace, and the games of Brendon Chung—including Gravity Bone and Thirty Flights of Loving.[24]

Soderman finds a change in themes between the lightheartedness of The Stanley Parable and the depression and alienation of The Beginner's Guide.[15]

Discussing authorship and player agency in game design, Ivan Girina writes, "Davey Wreden's authorial discourse is often evoked as the focal point around which the meaning of not only Stanley but also his other creations, such as The Beginner's Guide ... is organised."[25]

Personal life

Wreden was born on September 29, 1988.[26] He has previously resided in Austin, Texas but is currently located in Vancouver, British Columbia.[1] Wreden attended the University of Southern California, graduating in 2011 with a degree in critical studies.[27] He originally went to school to study film, but realized it was not what he wanted for his particular work and focused his attention on the gaming world instead, stating that "wasn't so interesting to me, but there's still so much space for games to grow."[28] Wreden is the brother of Douglas Wreden (also known as DougDoug), popular streamer and online content creator.[29]

References

  1. ^ a b "About - Everything Unlimited Ltd". Everything Unlimited Ltd. 9 September 2015. Archived from the original on May 25, 2024. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  2. ^ Hamilton, Kirk (August 9, 2011). "The Stanley Parable Turns Video Game Storytelling On Its Head". Kotaku. Archived from the original on May 31, 2024. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  3. ^ Kuchera, Ben (August 8, 2011). "A tragedy, not a challenge: understanding The Stanley Parable". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on October 23, 2023. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  4. ^ MacDonald, Keza (October 18, 2013). "The Stanley Parable review". IGN. Archived from the original on March 22, 2016. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
  5. ^ Matulef, Jeffrey (October 1, 2015). "The Stanley Parable creator reveals The Beginner's Guide". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on October 1, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
  6. ^ a b Standen, Seven (November 26, 2022). "The 'Parable' of Stanley's success: indie game is "re-imagined" a decade later". The Boar. Archived from the original on April 14, 2024.
  7. ^ a b c Bischoff, Daniel (February 21, 2014). "Stanley Parable Creator Explains Struggle Between Creator And Audience After Game of the Year Award Wins". Game Revolution. Archived from the original on April 7, 2024. Retrieved November 2, 2011.
  8. ^ a b Wreden, Davey (February 21, 2014). "Game of the Year". Galactic Cafe. Archived from the original on March 2, 2014.
  9. ^ a b Juul, Jesper (2019). Handmade Pixels: Independent Video Games and the Quest for Authenticity. MIT Press. pp. 163–166. ISBN 9780262042796.
  10. ^ Francisco, Eric (February 24, 2022). "'Severance' is the sci-fi thriller every office worker needs — here's why". Inverse. Archived from the original on July 19, 2024. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  11. ^ a b Cole, Alayna; Barker, Dakoda (2020). Games as Texts: A Practical Application of Textual Analysis to Games. CRC Press. ISBN 9781000329735.
  12. ^ a b Marchiafava, Jeff (October 1, 2015). "The Beginner's Guide Review". Game Informer. Archived from the original on November 7, 2023. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  13. ^ Vincent, Brittany (October 2, 2015). "The Beginner's Guide Review: Wreden, Begin Again". Shack News. Archived from the original on December 4, 2023.
  14. ^ a b Bosman, Frank G.; van Wieringen, Archibald L.H.M. (2022). Video Games as Art: A Communication-Oriented Perspective on the Relationship between Gaming and the Art. De Gruyter Oldenbourg. pp. 35–39. doi:10.1515/9783110731019. ISBN 9783110731019.
  15. ^ a b Soderman, Braxton (April 27, 2021). "4". Against Flow: Video Games and the Flowing Subject. MIT Press. p. 166. ISBN 9780262362481.
  16. ^ Holt, Kris (July 29, 2021). "'Stanley Parable' and 'Gone Home' devs team up to form Ivy Road studio". Engadget. Archived from the original on June 20, 2024.
  17. ^ Castle, Katharine (June 7, 2024). "Stanley Parable and Tacoma creators fight back against onslaught of coffee games with tea-themed Wanderstop". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on June 8, 2024. Retrieved June 7, 2024.
  18. ^ Taylor, Mollie (December 5, 2024). "'Healing is messy, and it is bitter': The Stanley Parable's creator has used his newest game as an outlet to explore his own burnout". PC Gamer. Future plc. Archived from the original on December 5, 2024. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
  19. ^ Romano, Sal (December 5, 2024). "Wanderstop launches March 11, 2025". Gematsu. Archived from the original on December 6, 2024. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
  20. ^ Gach, Ethan (November 28, 2017). "The Beginner's Guide Creators' New Game Is About Keanu Reeves Stabbing People". Kotaku. Archived from the original on February 3, 2024. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
  21. ^ Beck, Kellen (November 28, 2017). "'Absolutely: A True Crime Story' is a game about Keanu Reeves stabbing people". Mashable. Archived from the original on June 20, 2023. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  22. ^ Caldwell, Brendan (November 28, 2017). "The Beginner's Guide creators release a JRPG about Keanu Reeves because why not". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on May 21, 2024. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  23. ^ "The Inspirational Quarterly on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. June 20, 2022. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
  24. ^ "Davey Wreden Interview". The Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on May 8, 2023.
  25. ^ Girina, Ivan (July 2021). "On Agency and Interactivity in The Stanley Parable". In Jung, Berenike; Sachs-Hombach, Klaus; Wilde, Lukas R.A. (eds.). Agency Postdigital: Verteilte Handlungsmächte in Medienwissenschaftlichen Forschungsfeldern. Herbert von Halem Verlag. pp. 137–139. ISBN 9783869625034.
  26. ^ Wreden, Davey [@HelloCakeBread] (September 29, 2018). "Today I am 30 years old" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  27. ^ Stephen, Scott (January 3, 2019). "The Stanley Parable honored by The New Yorker". USC Cinematic Arts. Archived from the original on December 8, 2023.
  28. ^ Yang, Robert (November 22, 2011). "Level With Me, Davey Wreden". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on May 21, 2024. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  29. ^ DougDoug (May 11, 2022). I played The Stanley Parable with the game's creator. Archived from the original on July 29, 2022. Retrieved July 29, 2022.

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