I think you have a great argument and point to make. But I think you've interpreted the game as fact, as explicit, when the surreality implies to not take it at face value. I never said the happy pills were antidepressants, either, I just said they're to fight the pain - they could be benzos or opioids. The game's supposed to represent the despair, isolation, and emotions that a person might feel after losing someone. Help, yes, is crucial to healing. But sometimes you can't get help - maybe your parents refuse to believe your pain is real; maybe your friends tell you to get over it. Maybe you have nobody. I'll keep your point about medical professionals in mind - I personally have had terrible experiences with them, but I shouldn't let that blind me. Thanks for sharing your opinion. The fact that my game came across as such was not what I wanted, and I would revise it; however, this game has honestly been too emotionally taxing for me to make. I don't want to touch it again.
I'm sorry you had bad experiences with doctors. Whenever I or my sisters have gone to a GP for a mental health problem (we may not even know it's a mental health problem at first, it can be difficult to distinguish between the two sometimes) they usually give us two referrals: One to a counsellor and one to a doctor qualified to diagnose mental illness. This is of course after testing for deficiencies, but we always get to proper help in the end and we're a lot better because of it.
You make a strong point about depression skewing reality, which I like but the elements of reality and what's distorted is confusing for those playing. Making the player experience what the protagonist is feeling is important, but when it gets in the way of the core values of the game or miscommunicates something it can leave multiple, possible unwanted interpretations. In my case, I tried to interpret it in three ways.
One where the game was entirely in someone's imagination, one where everything was reality and one where it was somewhere in between. Your game falls somewhere in between meaning, like I said before, what is real and what is distorted is unclear and since you're the creator it's probably glaringly obvious to you but to those who don't have insight into who the creator is and their motives (such as your bad experiences with doctors) assumptions have to be made in order to reach a conclusion.
I understand how you can come into a project with so many hopes and aspirations and for the reservoir to be drained by the end, so you don't need to worry about touching the game again, especially since the various interpretations were due to miscommunication and not from morose intentions. As a word of warning, I think if you don't make a statement regarding the multiple interpretations it will continue to be perceived that way.
From what I could see while playing, the mental health professionals aren't all that helpful, but going to the clinic will give you the option to go to the grave if you give the right answers. And I found the conversation with the coworker, which for me ended with them offering to visit the grave with me and saying we should talk more, was a good way to show the benefits of reaching out.
I have to agree that if the majority of endings are suicide, then it is implying that the action you take leads to you ultimately ending yourself, which is not a great way to present people in this situation.
Every time I played it lead to a suicide, and considering that the game is so inherently beautiful, I couldn't help but feel that it is glorifying suicide.
That being said, the path to solace is not easy, and so "good endings" should not outweigh the bad ones, so I appreciate that greatly.
The character committed without me expecting them to do so. Obviously, this game was only made in 48 hours, so there's limitations, but in future work it'd be great if the player had a bit more controll; for example, choosing to take pills shouldn't end in suicide. It felt like quite a big jump to go from "I'll take what the doctor gave me" to "I will use what the doctor gave me to die" it'd be good to have an option that was clearer, again, I understand that the game is emulating the effect of confusion and uncertainty, but I feel that it's implying that people in this situation have no choice or agency in their own lives
From personal experience, I feel that a more true depiction would be to come close to suicide multiple times, but ultimately returning to a state of repetition.
After all of what I've said, the game seems to've resonated with a lot of people, and they seem to've found it helpful, so I guess that my view is my own. I see that you said you don't want to touch the game again and that's very understandableI hope that what I've said doesn't come across to negative or damning, and simply acts as something fo you to think about if you ever consider this type of game again.
Keep up the hard workand thanks for creating beautiful games