heh, glad you approved. Yeah, i'm not a big fan of perfection. i like flaws and the individuality of the human experience. i wanted characters that were human and fucked up and stumbled and falling into storybook cliches is not an appropriate way to handle characters like that. too much storybook and i think they lose their relatability. all of the characters are frustrating at some point but then i also believe all of us can be frustrating to others when we're not able to see things clearly and i wanted to capture that. i think you summarized it good: characters just trying to do their best. that's smoothing that gives me comfort and it's easy to relate to.
So: on the donation aspect-- hopefully you see this. lemme run through a couple quick things to help you with that decision. 1) please don't rush to donate or feel compelled to. only do so if you're in a safe position. take care of yourself and those you love first-- seriously. 2) the official platforms are Patreon and Itch.io. the problem with sending a donation here on Itchio is that you dont get anything for it. If you donate on Patreon, you can unlock extra stuff (if you're interested in that). The problem with patreon is that when you donate, it sets up autobill so if you're just looking to make a one time contribution, itch.io is probably easier but if you wanna do a subscription thing then Patreon is the way to go. A third option for a one time donation (and my recommendation) is do Patreon so you unlock stuff, then cancel right after, you'll be good for 30 days and it gives you time to see what you're interested in (if anything) over there. There's videos and extras and behind the scenes stuff as well as picture sets that get a bit steamy and fun. If you do the patreon route and forget to cancel, just DM me. I can always refund (but only 3 months back-- after that, Patreon locks it and i'd likely just donate to a charity on your behalf). I want an honest setup here so if you have questions and stuff, please ask. but just remember the game is free for a reason. you can always recommend the game to others, post about it in places or share it. that helps me just as much :)