YAY IT'S OUT
And it was incredibly lovely!! I proofread this so I was already familiar with the story, but the character art and backgrounds/GUI/music added so much to the experience. I especially liked how the tone of the texture over the background changed in order to reflect different settings/times of day/etc., which made the experience much more immersive. The character designs are very well done, effectively communicating the personality of the character without needing to hear a line of dialogue.
The real strength of this work is in the character writing. All of the characters involved feel well-rounded, nuanced, and deeply relatable (even overbearing Mudhik is sympathetic, with understandable motivations - he wants his surrogate son and his daughter to be happy, even if he doesn't exactly know what's best for them).
==SPOILERS FOR THE DEMO BELOW==
Sher is the "oldest child," the one who is pressured by her family,a nd as a result she feels like she doesn't have the right to do what she wants. She feels powerless to rebel against the "marriage" and role of "wife/mother" that society thrusts upon her, even though she is assexual and the thought of intimacy disgusts her.
Shariar on the other hand is a good man trying to do his best, but he struggles with trying to meet the expectations of others. He feels responsible for others' happiness and constantly acts in the way that he thinks that he "should" act rather than by his own judgment. Like Sher, he wants to fulfill this role of "husband" and "sultan" that society has imposed on him.
Duna is a free spirit, the foil to Sher's subdued acceptance of her lot in life - Duna wants to be free, to fulfill her dreams. Duna recognizes Sher's inability to voice her own desires, but at the same time the little sister doesn't recognize the responsibility/pressure that her older sister feels. Unlike the other characters, Duna is the only one that bucks against the expectations of society to pave her own path.
Mudhik is a good man, but he is set in his ways. Like Sher and Shariar, he just listens to what others tell him - he advises Sher and Shariar to act a certain way because that was the way that he was told that people should act. He causes trouble for his daughter and the sultan, but not because he's a bad person - like almost everyone else, he just parrots what you "should" do, what society "expects" you to do.
I really love this take on 1001 Arabian Nights! It's a softer, more humanistic approach, where the sultan isn't an unrepentant murderer, but a man just trying to fulfill his duties. I'm looking forward to seeing how this story develops, considering how many similarities Sher and Shariar have (their struggles with societal expectations + with the "expected template" for a "romantic" relationship) and their shared passion for stories and storytelling!
Fantastic work, and I can't wait to see where it goes!!