That Dragon, Cancer documentary film in development

That Dragon, Cancer is aiming to tell the story of a child's battle with terminal cancer. As the game remains in development, a documentary crew is also chronicling developer Ryan Green and his family's struggle to cope with their child's illness for an upcoming film called Thank You For Playing.

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That Dragon, Cancer tells the story of a child's battle with terminal cancer. As the game remains in development, a documentary crew is also chronicling developer Ryan Green and his family's struggle to cope with their child's illness for an upcoming film called Thank You For Playing.

The documentary comes from David Osit and Malika Zouhalo-Worrall, who contacted the Green family in June about following That Dragon, Cancer's development and their final days with their son, Joel.

"You wouldn't think it so, since our family has been so public and in the news about sharing the game, and we've been part of a web-based documentary before, but letting a film crew in to our personal, creative and professional lives was a little scary," Green said on the game's website (via Eurogamer). "We are not the producers of this film. It is independent of us. Before this project, we did not know David and Malika, but we decided it was important that people see the parts of our lives in-between the scenes of the game. Life happens in the middle and so does death."

Green adds that the film crew was present with the family when five-year-old Joel passed away in March.

Those looking to learn more about Thank You For Playing can check out the documentary's website. That Dragon, Cancer is expected to release later this year on Ouya.

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

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  • reply
    April 14, 2014 4:00 PM

    Ozzie Mejia posted a new article, That Dragon, Cancer documentary film in development.

    That Dragon, Cancer is aiming to tell the story of a child's battle with terminal cancer. As the game remains in development, a documentary crew is also chronicling developer Ryan Green and his family's struggle to cope with their child's illness for an upcoming film called Thank You For Playing.

    • reply
      April 14, 2014 6:34 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      April 15, 2014 4:15 AM

      Wow, that's really, really depressing.

      • reply
        April 15, 2014 5:08 AM

        No, the really, really depressing part will be when the game is released and bombs because
        a) very few people will want to play a game about a dying child
        and
        b) it's exculsive to Ouya

        I can understand wanting to bereave through artistic endeavour but I hope the family have the bankroll to pay for it without adding massive debt to the list.

    • reply
      April 15, 2014 6:10 AM

      Ya, I'm going to avoid this as well.

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      April 15, 2014 7:06 AM

      Finally watch the trailer for the documentary. As a parent, I can totally respect them needing to do this. I can see how the game would be very cathartic. There aren't enough Kleenex to enable me to try to play that game, having 2 young kids myself. I can't imagine the pain that family must have gone through. I'm sure their other children are getting extra and tighter hugs for a long while.

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