See my earlier post.....I may have identified the problem which might be my fault. Am I supposed to play the game ONLY WHEN LOGGED INTO THE ITCH ONLINE APPLICATION? If yes, then that's the issue. When I returned to the game (prior to my recent email), I wasn't logged into the ITCH APP. But, to send the email, I logged on. After sending the email, I then hit the "Launch" icon (while online) and tried to load the same saved file that failed earlier (prompting my email). The game has now been running OK for the last 45 minutes or so.
Sorry if I didn't realize the requirement to be logged in online to properly play the game.