That Dragon, Cancer
| That Dragon, Cancer | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Developer(s) | Numinous Games |
| Publisher(s) | Numinous Games |
| Designer(s) | Ryan Green |
| Programmer(s) | Josh Larson |
| Writer(s) | Amy Green |
| Composer(s) | Jon Hillman |
| Engine | Unity |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, OS X, Ouya, iOS |
| Release date(s) |
Windows, OS X, Ouya
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| Genre(s) | Adventure, art |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
That Dragon, Cancer is a video game created by Ryan and Amy Green, Josh Larson, and a small team under the name Numinous Games. The autobiographical game is based on the Greens' experience 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 in the style of a point-and-click adventure game, using the medium's interactivity and immersion to relate the tale in ways that a film cannot. It was initially developed to relate Ryan and Amy's personal experience with Joel when they were uncertain of his health, but following his death, they reworked much of the game to memorialize and personalize their time and interactions with Joel for the player. Alongside the game, a documentary, Thank You for Playing, documenting both the last few years of Joel's life and the development of the game, has been filmed to be aired in 2016.
That Dragon, Cancer was initially aimed for release as a time-limited exclusive for the Ouya, whose makers helped to fund the game's development. With expanded funding and a larger scope to the game, the developers engaged in a crowdfunding on Kickstarter, in association with Ouya, to secure additional funds to complete the game and assuring simultaneous release on other platforms including Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. The game was released on January 12, 2016 for these systems, on what would have been Joel's seventh birthday. An iOS version was released in October 2016. The game was praised for being a raw autobiographical experience from the parents' view, making the player deal with the difficult emotions and the strength of the Greens' faith.
That Dragon, Cancer bore out from experiences that Ryan and Amy Green had after their third child Joel was diagnosed with an atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor at twelve months of age, around November 2010. The doctors had only given the child about four months to live, but despite developing seven additional tumors, Joel continued to live for four more years. Joel's condition left him mentally underdeveloped, being unable to speak even by age 2, and he required additional parental care and supervision, alongside numerous visits to doctors and hospitals for palliative care and chemotherapy treatment. In early 2014, Joel's condition worsened, and the Greens temporarily moved from Colorado to San Francisco to take part in an experimental drug trial. The new drug failed to relieve any of the new symptoms. Ryan and Amy, following the advice of the hospice, decided to take him off his feeding tube, and he died on March 13, 2014 at the age of five.
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