Aw, appreciate it man. And congrads!
I've always had kind of a lopsided way of approaching things when it comes to interest: either just not caring at all, or REALLY diving in. These games are the result of the latter. I started playing a bunch of explicit games many years ago and ended up being fascinated by just how much effort and thought and SINCERITY was put into them, instead of the usual whinging, apologetic "ha ha isn't it funny it's a game but also PORN?!" that the stuff I had seen up to that point tended to have.
So when I started trying to make my own it was in that model: I tried actually caring. Partially because it makes for a more enjoyable game, but also because it just makes it more fun to work on the game. So I try to have actual characters, some somewhat interesting mechanics, replayability, lore, etc. Maybe from a certain perspective this is silly, and most people would be happy with bland porn ducttaped to the most default gameplay possible, but *I* don't enjoy that, and my guiding principle with all this has been to try to make something I would want to play. I'm glad that continues to pay off and resonate with people.
I am surprised you're just playing through now: I remember that VERY vivid profile pic from a while back; I assumed you have gone through it quite a while ago. But I'm glad you finally did, and that you enjoyed it so much.
"This game deserves to be more popular."
I appreciate the kind words, and don't necessarily disagree, but given the state of things right now, I'm...content to stay in my own lane. By all means, tell your friends, spread the word around, but I'm not going to push TOO hard to get widely noticed. The cutesy Kotaku piece profiling a bunch of adult games on Itch came juuust before the massive censorship wave, here and elsewhere. I wonder where the pearl-clutching normies found out there were VILE PORN GAMES on the Internet? Somehow I don't think they were hanging out on 15-year-old anime torrent forums. "The nail that sticks up gets hammered down." I'm just gonna chill for now.
And of course, glad to help where I can. I have to balance responses here with actual dev time, which of course has to come first, but I'm glad to help in small ways where possible. And it's important to remember as a dev that event though *I* may have seen discussion of something game-related dozens of times, a brand-new player likely has no idea, it's all fresh to them. So I'm glad I was able help, and get things back on track.
And while we're here, what was your favorite scene/scenario?