When Ryan and Amy Green's toddler was diagnosed with cancer, the father resisted the temptation to shut down by creating a videogame about his son. "That Dragon, Cancer", is a very weird, moving, emotional videogame, that follows Ryan's thoughts and baby Joel's fight with cancer.
It doesn't get more indie than this in the videogame industry; the title was funded through a successful kickstarter campaign, late last year, and their journey is told in a new documentary. "GameLoading: Rise of the Indies" has just premiered in San Francisco, during the Game Developers Conference, and it is a must-see for everyone - even those who don't like Videogames.
The documentary is the product of two years of work by Studio Bento, a New-Zealand & Australia team composed by Anna Brady and Lester Francois. The filmmakers were thrilled at the packed premiere in Metreon Theater, in San Francisco, and told me they plan to screen the documentary around the world. They had to add a second screening for the first night, given the high interest in the Film.
GameLoading takes us to multiple cities and features dozens of testimonies. It follows some of the best indie games stories from the last years, including Robin Arnott's 'Soundself', an intriguing videogame that uses meditation techniques, and Davey Wreden's 'The Stanley Parabole', a narrative adventure that went on to win multiple awards.
"Working in independent games right now, it feels like there's infinite potential in any direction," Robin Arnott says in the documentary, which also features well-known female developer Zoe Quinn, who created 'Depression Quest'. "Every single game has that fingerprint of who you are on it, and every single person has a game in them," she states.
She also talks about the harassment going on in the industry and the so-called #GamerGate controversy, opposing those who denounce sexism in the videogames scenario, and those who say there is actually a diverse and all-welcoming environment.
The documentary tries to explain why gaming is so important for everyone, as it is the way we're supposed to learn, and why projects like Kids Learning Code will shape a new generation of gamers and, maybe, independent developers.
'GameLoading: Rise of the Indies' is already scheduled for screenings in Boston, New York, Chicago, Portland, Seattle, Sydney Melbourne, Utrecht, Amsterdam, London, and Cape Town. More will come, the filmmakers promise.
