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That Dragon, Cancer Takes To Kickstarter As Title Expands To PC
That Dragon, Cancer will now see release beyond the Ouya platform. Developers Ryan Green and Josh Larson have taken to Kickstarter for funding to see the game through to completion on PC, Mac, and its original home.
The title is an adventure game that explores the story of the Green family, who recently lost their young son, Joel, after a four-year battle with cancer. We've previously featured That Dragon, Cancer in our extensive empathy feature.
In that piece, Green and Larson told associate editor Kimberley Wallace that the vision for the game changed following Joel's passing. “Early on, it was important to me that the players see just how much Joel had overcome in his sickness," Green told us. "Just how many times he’d received chemotherapy. Just how many times he’d undergone radiation therapy. Just how many tumors he’d beaten. We wanted people to understand all that he’d faced and yet was still here. Since his death, I’ve noticed that it doesn’t ultimately matter. What I’m finding is that rather than retelling the story of his cancer, I want to share what it was like to love Joel in the midst of his illness. More than retelling the story, I want to retell the emotion.”
Green and Larson are seeking $85,000 to complete the game. You can read the whole feature on empathy games and visit the That Dragon, Cancer Kickstarter pitch for more information.
Our Take
The story behind That Dragon, Cancer is utterly heartbreaking. I am overjoyed to see that when it does eventually reach completion (assuming it hits the funding goal), that it will be available to a wider audience.
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