That Dragon, Cancer

That Dragon, Cancer is an arthouse video game being developed by Ryan and Amy Green along with other developers and artists. The game is based on the Greens' own emotional experiences of raising their son Joel, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer at twelve months old, and though only given a short time to live, continued to survive for four more years before eventually succumbing to the cancer in March 2014. The game is designed to have the player experience the low and high moments of this period, using the video game medium to provide more interactivity and immersion for the Greens' to relate their tale that a film cannot.

That Dragon, Cancer is aimed for released as a time-limited exclusive for the Ouya, who helped to fund the game's development, before being released for other platforms. The developers are currently engaging in a Kickstarter, in association with Ouya, to secure simultaneous release on other platforms including Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.

Gameplay

That Dragon, Cancer will be played from a first-person perspective through a number of scenes based on the Greens' experience with raising Joel. The player will take the role of the father of a child with terminal cancer and who has been given only a few months to live. The player as the father will be able to interact with the characters and make certain choices, similar to those that the Greens had to face. For example, the first of the planned six scenes will be based on learning of the child's diagnosis, having the player consider their new responsibilities for caring for the child while reflecting on the "absurdity and sterility" of the hospital setting.^[1]

Development

That Dragon, Cancer bore out from the Greens' experience with discovering their child Joel was diagnosed with an atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor at twelve months of age. The doctors had only given the child about four months to live, but despite developing seven additional tumors, Joel continued to live until March 13, 2014 at the age of five.^[2][3] Ryan Green came up with the idea for the game while Joel was still alive around four years of age. He wanted to relay his experiences of raising Joel to a larger audience, and felt that an interactive video game would be a better medium to express a message of grace.^[4] Ryan stated that with video games "you can create this world and ask the player to live in it and love what you have created".^[1]

During the game's development, Ryan Green had been able to secure a deal with funding from Ouya to develop the game, in exchange for a time-limited exclusivity for the micro-console. When Green announced this in August 2013, approximately a few months after the console's public release to lukewarm reception, many criticized Green's choice due to the poor perception of the Ouya system, as well as a poorly worded Twitter message that Ouya had used to announce the product. Green defended his choice for opting for the Ouya, stating the company behind the device has good intentions towards the larger goal.^[5]

In November 2014, Ryan Green announced that to have the widest impact for their game, they have opted to forgo the Ouya exclusivity, and in association with Ouya, launched a Kickstarter campaign with the goal to have simultaneous release of the Ouya version alongside versions for Windows and Mac OS X versions. The campaign is designed to raise sufficient funds to avoid pushing back the title from the planned mid-2015 release, and would be aided, if its goal is met, by personal loans and funding from the Indie Fund.^[6]

Developer Ryan Green was interviewed about the game in the 2015 documentary GameLoading: Rise of The Indies. ^[7]

Documentary

A documentary about the Greens and their development of That Dragon, Cancer was announced in April 2014, entitled Thank You For Playing. The film is being produced by David Osit and Malika Zouhali-Worrall and currently is in production.^[8][9]

References

External links

• Official website