SDF

Ryan Green

Designing for Intimacy

Ryan Green lost his third son Joel to a rare form of brain cancer two years ago. While his family was battling cancer with Joel, Ryan and his wife Amy, along with a small group of independent game developers, crafted a video game about their experience of loving then losing Joel called, "That Dragon, Cancer". Video games are evolving with their designers into a medium that can be used to express and to share increasingly personal and intimate experiences. While some may recoil at the prospect of a subject like cancer being explored in a “game,” Ryan asserts in this talk that video games are an extraordinarily appropriate medium to honor loss, encourage intimacy, promote empathy and even examine spiritual concepts such as grace and faith.