Yay, I'm glad my comment was uplifting to you (text-dump wall that it was). Thank you for liking my ESSAY of a comment, lmaoooo~
I know you're working hard on the game, but I also just hope you're having fun with your characters as well!!! From what I've played, it sure feels like you're allowing yourself to have fun (SUPER IMPORTANT TO KEEP SIGHT OF!!!)--and that same passion/devotion shines through in the gameplay. Players easily catch onto that; it's just infectious passion, yanno?
And yeah, I can see how creators understandably feel nervous on how their audiences might perceive the ending(s) of their story. That extra mental energy is definite gasoline for the creativity tank, ya?
This is just my two cents SO TAKE IT WITH A GRAIN OF SALT, but since you're the one who knows your characters best, I'm sure you'll discover the conclusions for each character that feels the most "truest"/"right" for their personal journey.
If you just continue on with your knack for good & consistent characterization, the majority of readers will come out ultimately satisfied.
Sometimes worrying about people's negative feelings about an ending is besides the point, anyway; especially if a character's series of (ahem, BAD) choices & cause-effect development logically foreshadows/lead them up to their tragic ending (eg. famous Greek/Shakspearian plays like "Oedipus Rex" and "Hamlet").
While I know there's RL people's feelings about the ending to consider, focusing more on the characters' feelings on how far they come + where they end up is the higher priority, IMO.
Given what I played from your games thus far, you've given me a lot of material to where I can say that, I trust you as a storyteller. I trust that you care enough about each of these characters' unique journeys and honoring who they were, who they are, and who they may become. Unlike some TV shows, where they pull a total ass-pull of an ending just to "shock" against audience's predictions, despite zero prior characterization or plot-foreshadow leading up to it. 🙄
To me, you possess good balance between knowing when to keep consistent characterization VS. show psychological/circumstantial nuances that go against a character's usual behavior patterns. The fact that you drew parts of it from your own personal experience, just shows your alchemic ability to transmute your raw unique experience into material that illuminates the humanity within all of us.
It's definitely vulnerable and difficult to find ways to organize all of those rampant emotions & thoughts into something as concrete as a game, but hell--you managed to!! And you even invited others (us, players) along for the fun, wild brain ride!!! Thanks for giving players like me, such a rewarding emotional experience (and lovely memories) revolving around such an awesome cast of characters.
"I also just hope you're having fun with your characters as well!!!" --> I definitely am!! Tbh the chars are the major reason why I'm still chugging away after all this time and why I'm still so motivated to keep working each and every day on it lakdjfasd I normally am not super great at actually finishing larger projects that I start out to but the chars and this story overtook me to the point where it's been the largest part of my life for the last...... gosh almost two years now 💦
"I trust you as a storyteller." --> THANK YOU????? That honestly means a lot and gives me a lot of confidence lakdjfas This story has already grown so much larger than I ever expected it to when I first started out, and the characters, too. I know where I'm headed with them in my head for the finale -- I just hope I can actually make it work when it comes to writing and directing it LOL And I want players who've been along for the ride to feel like the ending is deserved ig 💦
"The fact that you drew parts of it from your own personal experience, just shows your alchemic ability to transmute your raw unique experience into material that illuminates the humanity within all of us." --> THIS IS TOO MUCH?????? YOU ARE FLAYING ME WITH YOUR WORDS LKASJDFLASKDF
"Thanks for giving players like me, such a rewarding emotional experience (and lovely memories) revolving around such an awesome cast of characters. " --> YOU ARE SO WELCOME. It fills me with joy every day to be able to share something that's so meaningful to me and have people enjoy it so much (despite also making me feel a bit embarrassed LOL).
Thank you so much for all your words of encouragement!! I've been pretty up and down lately due to general mental health stuff so honestly this means so much and is really giving me a lot of joy and feels right now. Thank you for taking the time to leave such a wonderful and sweet comment!! 😭💕