It’s been some time since Ryan Green’s provocative That Dragon, Cancer came to E3 2013 — and after years in development, the game will finally be released Jan. 12, 2016.
That Dragon, Cancer follows the true journey of Green’s son Joel, who underwent radiation therapy, chemotherapy and surgery for multiple tumors after being diagnosed with cancer at age one. He eventually succumbed to the disease in Mar. 2014, at age five.
“It’s one of those experiences where I don’t know what else I would do to cope,” Green said at E3 in 2013.
Eight months after Joel’s death, Ryan, along with wife and That Dragon writer Amy and programmer Josh Larson, brought their game to Kickstarter. Their page raised $104,000 on an $85,000 target, allowing the three-headed Numinous Games team to finish their work.
That Dragon, Cancer will be released for Windows and Mac OS via Steam and a Humble widget, as well as the Razer Cortex Storefront for OUYA and ForgeTV.
Green hopes the game will minimize the stigma of talking about difficult subjects like cancer.
“Everyone at this point can relate. Even if it isn’t cancer, disease, challenges to well-being are everywhere,” he said. “People just don’t want to talk about it.”
Perhaps, with the game’s release, they finally will.
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