Gadgetory

Linus tech tips coverage of Pax 2013 is brought to you by Western Digital Intel and SteelSeries hey guys I'm here again at the indie mega booth that dragon cancer and this is kind of something really different this isn't something that I've seen on the floor this isn't even something that I've really seen in a video game very often and yeah I think that's it for me what can you tell me about this game well my wife Amy and I have four sons and our third son Joel has terminal cancer and we've been fighting that for the past three almost four years and so this story is about him and it's about the roller coaster that's our life in and the hope that can be found the hope that we found in them in the shadow of death well it's it is that deep he's not just exaggerating I have played through the game it is quite a moving experience how do you go through this game at this story well this first demo scene takes place in a hospital and it retails a night that I actually spent with Joel right after they told us that he was terminal and they inserted palliative treatment he got a stomach bug and so he was hospitalized for dehydration and so this kind of compresses that six or seven hours that I spent with him not not being able to calm him you know like not being able to do anything to help him and the helplessness that I felt in that but then also the grace that I saw at the end and so like that's what this that's what this particular scene is I hate this room it didn't used to for a for a moment it was an adventure I was cast as the compassionate and caring father holed up with his fragile son in a small cleft in the rocks the storm raging waves ripping at the sharp black rocks below and enveloped in my arms he feels safe you really just you're kind of in my head and you're also kind of outside of outside of me and as I'm kind of stuck in this hotel room with my son it's really interesting playing through that scene because you feel really connected as a player with the situation I know I know you were actually in the situation but as a player it's it's obviously not the same thing but you can feel a little bit of empathy for the situation and then one thing this obviously won't be in in the game but in the play chest that I just had there's the picture of you and your son right to the left and I felt myself referencing that picture throughout the playthrough because it's just it's so deep and you do really feel that connection and it's it's it's a completely different thing because it's a true story and because it's coming directly from you you can tell that it's just there's that much power behind it I just want them to feel better it's okay totally Shh it's really really interesting game is there anything else you can add well you know I just I'm a pretty proud father you know and like I put the pictures there because I want people to know that who he is and that picture was taken two weeks ago and I want him to know how beautiful he is and just how sweet he is and and so I also want people to know that this comes from a very real place for us I mean this is something where my wife and I decided that we were going to approach this project with our deaf partners in the middle of our experience you know and to me that was really important because I think a lot of times when you approach hard things from afterwards you know you have a tendency to like oversimplify those things that you went through and when you try to pass them on to people they become off as like laws and rules about how you're supposed to live right and so like for us there's a very important part of being in the journey and and and choosing to walk that with other people because you know there's thousands and thousands of people here and they all have their own pain and that pain is very real to them you know it's not something we can compare and I just want to give them a hand and say hey I have like just a sliver of experience and I I have an idea of what you might be going through in a very small way so and that's it's it's I'm very happy that you have found a way to be able to develop this while going through it because you're sharing an experience with many people that can't actually feel it but this is the closest they will possibly ever be able to be most likely ever be able to be some ground is that funny about about about spokes folks how will someone be able to get this game well so you know we kind of poured our life savings into into doing this right and so and then we kind of ran out of money so what happened was is who you stepped up with an investment and and that allows us to like really commit to this project full-time and be able to support and love my family you know hit at the same time and so it's like yeah it's like a real blessing and it's it's just tremendously awesome of them to step up and do that because they believe that what we're doing should be done you know and so we're gonna come to you first next year and then after that we'll see where we go great so if you don't have a new yet definitely check that out and if you can't check that out just wait because you should definitely try this game it is a really big experience it's totally surreal thank you for developing this game thank you for showing me this game if you want to see all the rest of our packs content be sure to subscribe to Linus tech tips