“What happens when the stories we want to write are replaced with the stories written on to us” – Ryan Green, “That Dragon, Cancer”
This quote above was taken from the Kickstarter announcement video, (Located at: www.kickstarter.com/projects/godatplay/that-dragon-cancer) by the developer, father, and local Colorado resident Ryan Green from the “That Dragon, Cancer” team who demoed at 2014 Denver Pop Culture Con’s Hall of Games.
On March 13th, 2014 at 1:52am, 3 months before DPCC 2014, Joel Green passed away at Age 5. Ryan explains that the team originally started this project in hopes they would document a miracle. However the final chapter to of their story was written onto the team, or was it?
The team has recently released a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the new chapter of this story. However in addition to the team’s request for backing this point and click style adventure game, the team is also looking to document and digitally display backer’s stories of love and loss, triumphs and defeats in text and art form. These words and works of art will be displayed and documented in game, giving each person a personal piece of their story.
So this begs the question, are video games the right medium to convey personal stories, such as this?
The “That Dragon, Cancer” team believes so, and from the reactions and responses to the game during 2014 Denver Pop Culture Con, we believe they may be onto something. We wish the team good luck, and hope this project gets the funding it needs; because frankly the world needs to see how powerful games can be as a platform for conveying stories.
Please check out the team’s Kickstarter, and visit the various news outlet’s listed below covering the team’s progress and story. We hope “That Dragon, Cancer” chooses to visit us in 2015, and look forward to hearing more from the team.
If you want to hear more updates from Developers, Exhibitors and Panelists, let us know! Check out our DPCC Facebook page for more gaming and tech related posts every Thursday.
Game Informer: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2014/06/25/demon-slayers-gaming-tackles-real-issues.aspx
Entertainment Weekly: http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/11/14/that-dragon-cancer-kickstarter/
Joystiq: http://www.joystiq.com/2014/11/12/that-dragon-cancer-dad-devs-push-on-after-tragedy/
Killscreen: http://killscreendaily.com/articles/dragon-cancer/