Please, do not apologise!! (On the contrary, sorry for replying so late!!) I have read your comment several times now, and I genuinely can't stop smiling! To hear that my work is not just appreciated, but inspiring for other developers is something truly incredible, and something that genuinely I never thought would happen.
Also, please don't be angry at yourself for not playing it sooner. I myself struggle keeping up to speed with development, life, study and find it extremely hard to find the courage to be more open about my WIPs.
I think that there is a stark difference between a "good game", an entertaining, fun, well built game, and a game that "leaves a mark on you". I have played many games in my life, and some are better than others, but I think that a game doesn't need to be the "best game to ever exist" to leave a mark on you. I never wanted to make "the best game", I just want my games to be remembered, to leave a mark, to not leave people indifferent, and by reading what you have written, I think I succeeded in my intent, and that makes me so, so, so happy.
For the sake of honesty, I must make clear that I did not compose the music in this game - or any of my games for that matter. This is a sore lacking in my toolset, and one I have tried to rectify with not much of a success. Most of the music you hear in this game is composed by Erokia on freesound.org. All I did, other than simply choose, was distort, add echoes and invert some tracks.
And yes, I do not know how to draw. I was even unsure whether to start game development at all, since the only experience I had at my disposal was with writing. My reaction to this fear was to try and use this inexperience to my advantage (if I draw like a five year old, let's make a game drawn in the style of a five year old, and so C:\FOR\EVER was born).
Those passages you mentioned, the dialogues regarding the gramophone, the unfinished work and threads and purpose... Those do, in fact, come from the heart and cared for (along with the rest of the game) as much as I could - and to read that they resonated with you is extremely heartwarming.
I am convinced The Bridge is a world that "makes sense", just not to us. If those characters were able to see our world and "exit reality", they would be as bewildered and weirded out as we are in seeing theirs.
I know the story is hard to grasp, and that is partly on purpose. I recognize that it came out much more enigmatic than it needed to be, and I aim to rectify it with the game I am working on right now (C:/FOR/EVER , finally!!!!!). I myself have explored much more deeply the world I have crafted and understand it much better than when I made that game.
My very personal and objectionable take is that when making something like this, you need to have "something to say", something that, in my case, cannot be fully put into words. Of course, like you said - it's not really about the gameplay, the look and entertainment value, that is not really the point for a game like this. I like to look at things, anything, from the "bird's eye view", to fathom all collectively and see how each moment fits together. Sure, this should not be an excuse to make some shoddy and unpolished things, but I believe (very subjectively) that new, creative ideas and scenarios, new "things to be said", are be infinitely more valuable that retraced, redone and overused ideas, even if they are well executed.
I put as much effort and love in what I make as I can. I love what I make, because it is a part of who I am. I am so happy that you were able to find a way to love this too. Thank you so much for your stream of consciousness.
With all the love this tiny heart can muster <3