I wanted to say more after reading your postmortem. The reason I liked it so much is because it gets across the experience of missing someone you love really viscerally. I can understand why you feel disappointed, because it wasn't what you wanted to convey originally, and it's maybe not as thematically ambitious, in the sense that there are a lot of stories about love and missing someone. I think what's special about it is how strongly it gets across this feeling in such a short time. Anchoring it in specific personal details made the feelings stronger for me. You could make similar comments about "Sydney", though. Maybe since missing someone you love is such a common experience, this work was more "relatable" to people and got a larger response. It sounds like maybe you want make more games that are difficult to relate to :) I personally really like when I make something super niche and specific and it still connects with people.
You might be right about making games that are more “difficult to relate to”. I remember the feeling I had when I made my first game, Hanna: I just wanted to put something out that is hyper-specific and I don’t really care if people found it “relatable” or whatever because it exists.
I’ve always been interested in reading stories where empathy is a challenge. If one is able to embrace the most unlikable characters and see what connects with them, then it becomes more than Just A Work. Most of my favorite works, especially ones on Itch, are the stuff I’ve never experienced, but I realize that’s a real and visceral event. Finding myself in different shoes is discomforting, yet it’s so familiar at the same time. That’s what I find most exciting in writing a story.
This comment is honestly enlightening. I also share the “if the story is niche and people still connect to it, it’s awesome” feeling. Thanks for writing this as well as explaining what makes the story click for you :-)