This was wonderful to play! It's been a while since I've played a VN that felt so firmly rooted in the real world as well as the problems that exist in it, and that dealt with them realistically without being tragic (it made me think back to Butterfly Soup, which was also a great experience).
I really, really love how friendship and romance were handled in this game (especially as an aromantic person, but just in general, too!) Dante and Chester's routes didn't feel any lesser for not involving kissing – in fact I appreciate that neither of them were thrown straight into a romantic "good ending" that would probably be way too fast considering how much else is going on in their lives, even if the interest was there. (I can totally see Chester awkwardly confessing to Ellis at some point, though. It would be pretty cute.)
I also love that it's a valid choice to end Adrien's route in friendship – of course, I would have loved for that ending to have a unique CG, but I realize that would have been a considerable amount of extra work. There were also a few typos in the script and it was a bit jarring that the title screen didn't have music (especially when music is used so well everywhere else), but those are small issues! I'm already impressed with how polished everything is when this is only your first game.
I'm looking forward to seeing the development PDF, and to any future games you make!
Aaa thank you for the thoughtful comment! I started it off with pretty wild ideas but as I worked on the characters I guess it came together that way? (Also I loved Butterfly soup too, it's a great game!)
I actually felt compelled to write romantic endings to fit the genre but...decided to do what felt natural for them instead. Also, I really wanted to write a strong friendship between Ellis and Dante, rather than anything romantic (Dante's also kinda asexual).
Ohh could you let me know where/what the typos were? I ran it through a spellcheck and got some friends to look over it, but some things might've slipped by. Also I'd consider adding music to the menu in future games! I actually enjoy sound design so it might be fun to play with that too...
And thank you again! I can't wait to start on some new projects already haha
Haha yeah, like, some pretty intense stuff happens, but I don't think it felt impossible or unrealistic
I'm glad you decided to go with what felt natural, it works really well! In fact, I think Adrien's romantic ending feels stronger because in comparison to the other routes you can tell that Ellis and Adrien have actual chemistry lol
And tbh I don't remember anything off the top of my head and I don't think I have the patience to go back through the script to pick up typos haha,, But I'll keep in mind that you're someone who appreciates having those pointed out to you for future reference!