That Dragon, Cancer is an art video game created by Ryan and Amy Green, Josh Larson, and a small team under the name Numinous Games. The game is an autobiography based on the Greens’ experience of raising their son Joel, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer at twelve months old. Though only given a short time to live, Joel survived for four more years before succumbing to the cancer in March 2014. Wikipedia
Research exclusive to this game
Auxier, John W. “That Dragon, Cancer goes to seminary: Using a serious video game in pastoral training.” Christian Education Journal 15, no. 1 (2018): 105-117.
Schott, Gareth R. “That Dragon, Cancer: Contemplating life and death in a medium that has frequently trivialized both.” In Digital Games Research Association Conference (DiGRA), vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 1-10. Digital Games Research Association, 2017.
Research that includes this game in its sample
Blount, Tom, and Callum Spawforth. “Pathos in Play: How Game Designers Evoke Negative Emotions.” arXiv preprint arXiv:1909.06799 (2019).
Farber, Matthew, and Karen Schrier. “Beyond Winning: A Situational Analysis of Two Digital Autobiographical Games.” Game Studies 21, no. 4 (2021).
McMillan, Robyn, Darshana Jayemanne, and Iain Donald. “Reality inspired games: expanding the lens of games’ claims to authenticity.” In DiGRA 2020: Play everywhere. DiGRA, 2020.
Spellman, Ched E. “What Remains of Our Lament?: Exploring the Relationship between Death, Memory, and Grief in the Christian Life and in Recent Cultural Texts.” Southwestern Journal of Theology 62, no. 1 (2020): 33.