Like... the weight of getting diagnosed. [...] Of the concern over being a burden on others. Or just feeling worthless to myself...
Thank you so much for the feedback.
One of the more difficult--and better--decisions actually involved trusting the player and their imagination:
The descriptions of the three illnesses (AIDS,TB,cancer) informing the game were originally 2nd person, very hostile and equally accusatory--just pure abuse. There was no doubt as to how you were supposed to feel. In fact, reading those drafts is what drove me to move the safety information to the very top of the document, and even after I did that, I scrapped what I had written about the specific illneses.