Thanks for clearing that up, I guess the only question I would have before asking if I could join your project is exactly how long-term you're thinking of working on the project, I doubt that'd be a problem if I did ask to join since I'll be having a lot of time on my hands for a good while anyway but I figured it would be good to ask just to be sure.
Honestly, I don't have an end date. Once this game is wrapped up I have the rough outlines for a few more I'd like to start working on. The only variable is how popular Project 1 ends up. If it's a flop, then there won't be much point in releasing another project. But if it's decently popular, why not keep building on a good thing? :) As I said in the post, it's a side hobby for now, but ideally, it earns enough of a support base to let me/future artist focus on these projects full-time.
Starting to catch drift of what you have in mind, reckon you'd be cool with talking through this a bit more via discord? Seems I've already taken up much of this thread's space with my questions. You seem pretty eager on doing justice to what you wanna create, I'm happy to discuss working with you and better decide if I'd be the right fit for what you want.