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I'm glad you think so :3 The original jam version was pretty rushed since I only had 1 month to make it from scratch x3 which is why I went back and polished a lot of it much later on with improving the UI and stuff while adding some small additions and tweaks to the existing content.

Honestly, it's still beyond surprising for me too that the project has received so much love! I think I likely owe much of that to Manly for shining a light on it in the first place :3 Because, before that video, it didn't really have much in the way of views or downloads. As with all of my games, people probably wouldn't know any of them exist if not for word of mouth because I find social media super stressful, and so it's nigh impossible for me to actually promote the stuff I make >.< The strange thing is though, itch.io's analytics show that many of the people who play and enjoy DD don't go on to check out my other stuff for some reason, which has always baffled me, especially considering that I personally reckon both Limbo Line and Bitter/Sweet are better than DD is x3 Heck, Dawn of the Damned is related to DD with it showing the backstory of some of the characters yet to be added, but that has practically no downloads in comparison even though I posted that they're linked, haha.

Actually, I hate to say it, but I'm kind of drowning in suggestions and feedback at this point xD That's not to say I'm not happy to listen to more because I always am :3 Admittedly, I do have some concerns though when it comes to that sort of thing, but you'll have to bear with me as I clumsily try to explain myself on that front, haha. I can be extremely rambly, so I can only apologise for that T_T A lot of it probably won't even apply to you or what you want to suggest, but it's stuff I feel like I need to get off of my chest in general and may copy to create a post at some point that acts as a sort of explanation I can potentially point to in the future as a way to respond faster rather than covering stuff I've already been over in the past.

The TLDR version would be something like, I don't mind suggestions at all, but whether or not I can take them on board often depends on what aspect of things they're related to.

Actually implementing stuff that's suggested to me is often impractical due to a mixture of differing reasons, such as my skillset not being up to it, clashes with what I already have written or planned but that isn't currently in the demo, or lack of funds. Or more simply, I had already planned to do something similar to a suggestion anyways. There may not be much playable content yet, but there's a fair amount of writing already complete, and I know where I want to go with the overall story, as well as with several character routes.

The proper explanation is as follows.

Sooo, the biggest problem that I have with suggestions is that a lot of stuff is repeated because it's difficult for anyone to locate or find out what's already been suggested and discussed previously due to some of it being long buried in the comments on the game page, and some of it being through private conversations over email or Discord >.<

Now, I could attempt to solve that issue by creating some sort of list that groups everything together in one place and putting a link to that on the game page, BUT, I've found that more often than not, the information on the game page isn't always read before posts are made or messages sent, and that's understandable because there's already a lot of information there as it is and I can't imagine people want to go trudging through it all. But the fact remains that making a list would more than likely wind up being a waste of time, and I'd still end up repeating myself over and over trying to respond to everything x3

And the second biggest thing kinda ties in with the first, and that's that a lot of the suggestions I've received so far are things I was planning to include anyways, but haven't had a chance to yet x3 or things that I just physically wouldn't be able to because my skillset wouldn't allow for it.

But there's more >.<

One big part of the problem is that I don't think everyone who's interested in the project understands that Castor/ia is just one character in the game out of (hopefully) a cast of other characters. This isn't Castor/ia's story alone. It's just that, as I mentioned earlier, the project was originally started for a game jam with a 1-month time limit, and so I was conscious of that and tried to create something that was a complete story in itself, but that I could also continue to work on at some point and expand.

That's why in the updated demo, I added a tiiiny bit more to where the original demo left off, to make it clear that the 'endings' of the original jam version of the game, weren't actually proper endings, more like the end of the first part of one character's route, and would continue past that point, branching off in different directions. And I also left a lot of dead ends in there like mentioning the AI and Cana (which I realise now can be quite frustrating to the player >.<) to show that there is more going on than just Castor/ia's route. In reality, my plans for the game include a fair few character routes, and all those choices in the beginning that currently don't lead anywhere in the demo are just some of the choices that will start you off on other routes for characters that haven't been introduced yet.

Because I haven't revealed much about the lore of the world the game is set in (and I can't really do so without a bunch of spoilers) it means that a lot of suggestions and feedback are immediately moot just on the basis that the people giving the suggestions don't have all the same information that I do >.< For example, a lot of people have said that X or Y doesn't make sense in the context of Castor/ia's story, or that X or Y doesn't appear to have relevance to Castor/ia's story. And these are often things that I've already accounted for in my completed writing or notes, but that aren't part of the game yet. So I find myself continuously explaining to people that X or Y will make sense eventually x3

The full story is nowhere near fully written, but the next segment of it continuing Castor/ia's story and beginning Cana's is, and a few trusted friends and acquaintances have looked over the script and provided their honest thoughts and feedback on it, which has been immensely helpful :3 I also post certain things to Patreon and Ko-Fi for supporters to vote on when anything like that comes up in development and I'm struggling to make a decision by myself, but they're mainly aesthetic decisions, such as the hairstyle of female Cana's sprite.

And even more... (sorry T_T)

The attention the project received after Manly's video has been a double-edged sword. On one hand, the positivity and overall support has been incredible, and I can't thank everyone enough for playing through what little there is of the game so far, taking the time to type up kind comments, and even donating towards the project's development :3 But at the same time, the sheer level of expectation that has arisen for the project as a result has also been the source of quite a bit of stress. Sometimes to the point that I almost wish I never made it in the first place >.<

Most of the negativity is confined to my dev inbox, so while it mainly looks like sunshine and rainbows over here on the game page, that isn't the whole truth x3 But it's not people hating on the project for various reasons that gets me down because I know by now to ignore hateful comments that aren't in any way constructive. My biggest demotivator is a small number of players who actually like the project, but who take it upon themselves to make demands of me or pressure me to work faster on it. I've had people demand that X or Y is in the game because they want it to be and they donated $5 towards the project, so somehow, by their logic, that means I should have to do as they say >.<

Sometimes it feels like people forget that I'm just one person working on making video games as a hobby >.< No one's paying me to do this.

Of course, I'm beyond grateful for any donations that I receive towards development because, without that support, I wouldn't be able to include things like voice acting and CGs (and the project would be worse in general),  but it doesn't change the fact that I'm human, not a machine, and I have a life outside of game dev.

Donations make it possible for me to get a little closer to realising the vision I have for the project, but it's not a form of income. I make games because I enjoy doing it. As nice as it would be to be able to earn a living doing something I love, at this point, I don't feel as though it's something that will ever happen for me for a number of reasons I've discussed at length in older posts, and I've made peace with that. If it reaches a point where I'm no longer in love with doing it, then I'll take a big break from it or just stop completely >.< I sincerely hope that never happens because it's really not a hobby that I want to ever fall out of love with, but some days when things get too much, it does feel like leaving it all behind would be the easier option.

So yeah, expectation is a funny thing. When people are patient and supportive, it's something that can motivate and inspire meto keep going and work even harder :3 but on the flip side, when it comes at me in a more aggressive, negative form, it can be absolutely crippling. I find it far easier to work on jam games because there is little to no expectation.

Heck, I didn't think I'd ever have the opportunity to even expand on this project outside of the jam I originally made it for even though I really wanted to, just because of stuff like the cost of voice acting. Those who voiced what's currently there did so out of the kindness of their hearts because it was for a jam. I knew I'd never be able to afford to have them back in a million years because I don't have much money myself. And since getting voice acting into my projects is a massive motivator for me, I had accepted that I'd likely have to leave things as they were at the end of the jam because I didn't really want to work on a full-length version of the game if it wasn't going to have voice acting.

Of course, that changed once the project got more attention and support, but at the same time, has also created an entirely new dilemma in that the period of time between the game being released for the jam and the game actually becoming somewhat known (and gaining support as a result) was pretty big, meaning that even after getting some funding together, the voice actors involved in the project at the time have moved onto other things and aren't necessarily interested in reprising their roles. That's something which is looking more and more likely, though not certain. But whatever happens, it's something that's out of my control >.< That's just one of the many problems you can end up with if you start something but don't have the funds to finish it the way you'd like.

I was joking with a friend the other day that game dev is an odd hobby to have because sometimes you end up with strangers essentially shouting over your shoulder that you should work faster, or that they don't like X part and it should be more like Y. Or that they think X should be included here and Y there. But that wouldn't happen with a lot of other hobbies x3 Like with my mum's cross stitching, or my dad's bird watching, haha. Again though, there's plenty of positive stuff too :3 It's just sometimes the negative voices are the ones that shout louder >.< and that's when it's not fun anymore.

Anyways, I'm gonna wind up going completely off track in a minute, so I will try to curtail this essay x3

As I said, I don't mind listening to suggestions at all, I just can't make any promises because, at the end of the day, this is a hobby. I didn't set out to make these games for anyone in particular, and I'd never be as foolish enough to try and please people either because that would just be a road that leads to misery and disaster since you can't please everyone.

So all I can do is keep trying to do the things I enjoy, and if other people end up coming across the stuff I release into the wild and they enjoy it too, then that's the best bonus to a hobby that I could ever hope for :3

Also, I realise that trying to read long posts like this with the font on this page is kinda difficult >.< I'm gonna try and change the font to something more readable when I get a chance, but I have to go now and make dinner, so that's a job I need to remember to do later x3