Amy Green: A video game to cope with grief
Amy Green: Un jeu vidéo pour faire son deuil
Amy Green creates narrative video games that focus on innovative stories. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
huddled around a cell phone
nous sommes réunis
of the Game Awards,
les Game Awards,
industry's biggest nights.
pour l'industrie du jeu vidéo.
for the Game for Impact,
pour le Game for Impact,
to a thought-provoking video game
suscitant la réflexion
message or meaning.
une intention d'entraide.
that winning an award like that
que gagner un tel prix
que l'inverse est vrai.
have stuck with me,
de ma vie m'ont suivie,
with a rare and aggressive brain tumor.
diagnostiquée à mon troisième fils, Joel.
par les médecins
that his tumor had returned
de la récidive de sa tumeur
and radiation that they could offer him.
et une radiothérapie des plus fortes.
had perhaps four months to live,
à Joel que quatre mois potentiels à vivre,
my two older sons in bed --
mes deux plus grands fils,
how much they understood,
ce qu'ils comprenaient de la situation,
pour les endormir.
very brave knight named Joel
très courageux prénommé Joel
a terrible dragon called cancer.
contre un terrible dragon appelé cancer.
more of the story,
je faisais avancer l'histoire,
that they could understand
qu'ils pouvaient comprendre
would be answered
seraient exaucées
have to tell them that that knight,
à leur dire que ce chevalier,
reposer éternellement.
finish that bedtime story.
à terminer cette histoire.
to palliative treatment,
Joel répondait bien aux soins palliatifs,
our dying child with all of our hearts.
à chérir notre fils mourant.
that shameful feeling
just a little pain
even if that love could crush us.
même si cela nous dévasterait.
vulnerability has changed me ...
m'a changée
comme si Joel pouvait s'en sortir,
called "That Dragon, Cancer."
d'un jeu vidéo : « That Dragon, Cancer ».
in the shadow of death.
dans l'ombre de la mort.
with doubt is a part of faith --
contre le doute fait partie de la foi ;
do you like that?
dans l'Ombre de la Mort]
into a witness of Joel's life,
we as a family felt and experienced.
ce que notre famille a traversé.
like analyzing interactive poetry
à de la poésie interactive d'analyse
est une métaphore,
were trying to express and why,
ont voulu retranscrire,
that Joel taught us,
acquise auprès de Joel
to offer them branching narrative
une histoire à options dans un jeu
that they make feels important
of game design,
that will change the outcome for Joel.
ne changera le sort de Joel.
as deeply and desperately as we felt it
tout aussi intensément que nous
in our arms praying for hours,
dans nos bras en priant des heures durant,
that we could not create for ourselves.
qui ne pouvait pas venir de nous.
que ce n'est pas possible,
d'écrire des jeux vidéo
that really change our lives,
qui bouleversent nos vies,
of our hardship -- and not our glory.
et non de la gloire.
que Joel s'en sortirait,
à mon mari.
en plus de quelques suggestions.
through our video game --
à travers notre jeu vidéo,
and I helped direct scenes.
et pris part à la réalisation.
a video game is telling a story,
consistait à raconter une histoire,
totalement inédit.
and symbolism are there,
et du symbolisme sont là,
with player agency
in a totally new way to do it,
that without Joel.
par notre choix
of terminal cancer through a video game.
du cancer terminal dans un jeu vidéo.
like so many people before you:
comme beaucoup avant vous :
to any pediatric cancer parent
d'enfant cancéreux
and blown it up into a balloon,
pour en faire un ballon,
into a rocket ship,
through the hospital halls
dans les couloirs de l'hôpital
experiences something traumatic,
une épreuve traumatisante,
that their life feels like a game
pour que leur vie ressemble à un jeu
explore their worlds through play.
leur environnement grâce au jeu.
many things from a family,
plein de choses à une famille,
and you're trying to imagine this family
et vous imaginez cette famille
around a dying child,
autour d'un enfant mourant,
as part of that picture,
dans ce tableau,
to share our story with you,
de partager notre histoire avec vous,
fut difficile.
experienced since.
to share that world
de partager ce monde
experienced it before,
vécu cela avant,
that world until it became ours.
avant que cela nous arrive.
auquel il n'est pas facile de jouer.
to invest emotionally
à s'investir émotionnellement
will break their hearts.
qui leur brisera le cœur.
with a new and a deeper compassion --
une nouvelle compassion renforcée,
dans leur douleur,
and try to help tell them
pour tenter de les aider
won the Game for Impact Award,
that we shared with him
partagées avec lui
about life and love and faith and purpose.
sur la vie, l'amour, la foi et le sens.
as even a single photograph of my son,
moi que la moindre photo de mon fils,
who his life has impacted,
influencées par la sienne,
even though they never met him.
sans même jamais l'avoir rencontré.
that they've shed for my son,
pour mon fils,
just a little bit lighter
s'allège un peu
with a 10-year-old
par un enfant de dix ans
with a smartphone,
dans un avion,
to her first-year philosophy students.
à ses étudiants en philosophie.
auquel il n'est pas facile de jouer.
we could ever accomplish.
n'importe quel but atteint.
I could ever see come true.
jamais réalisé.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Amy Green - Video game designerAmy Green creates narrative video games that focus on innovative stories.
Why you should listen
Amy Green writes and designs video games for Numinous Games, whose first title, That Dragon, Cancer, was an intimate autobiography of the life and death of her son Joel Green. Along with her husband and a team of six other developers, she used a video game to artistically portray the surreal emotional landscape of raising a child with a terminal illness. In May 2017, the Peabody Media Center and the University of Georgia awarded That Dragon, Cancer a Peabody-Facebook Futures of Media Award for Best Video Game.
Green's current project, Untethered, is an episodic virtual reality mystery that allows the player to speak out loud to the characters within the game. These characters speak back to the player, including the player as an integral character in the quirky story that is being told in the game.
Green's work with Numinous Games has been recognized by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, South by Southwest, Games for Change, the Independent Game Developers Association, the Game Awards and has been featured in press coverage by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Wired Magazine, Popular Science, RadioLab, CBS Sunday Morning, the BBC and the Guardian.
Amy Green | Speaker | TED.com