July 22 Update

I agree with CrazyChameleon it all depends because no matter what you do there will always be someone who doesn't like something about what you did such is the true constant of our world. But I think that a suitable route that could be taken is start off with your concept for a purely linear story but after you complete the linear version have it open a new game+ route where it introduces a hardcore choice based story board with hidden points and bonuses based on your choices that stem into various routes and bad ends. And if you want to toss combat elements into the mix I think games made Eushally and the Sengoku Rance series are excellent when it comes to strategy turn based visual novels but for the premise of your new game this may not but time or cost worthy but always something to think about. Regardless of what you decide I think that you will do the best that can and that is good enough for me. Keep up the good work.

Joshua Jenkins

I trust you can keep your head up and moving forward. And please don't hesitate to ask for any help or support you need, I for one would like to, even if it's very a little.

Thank you for the amazing post I wish more people would think. Something I have learned myself is that many people run away from their fears and problems they either drink it away or take up something that may not be the best idea to do...ie taking your fears and problems out on others. Sure for sometime you can run away but it will always be there until you face it but the thing people dont understand about facing it is you have to face the fear constantly the first time is the hardest it always is but then you learn and grow and beat that fear within you for a short while and everytime you go beat it, it gets easier and easier to beat but you always have to be vigilant with that fear or the problem doesn't matter if you think you got it beat dont forget the first time of how hard it was...how hard it can be again....but this is already probably very long and as I'm bad with words it might not make any sense or seem dumb but I'm working on it and I hope you have a wonderful day :)

The things it is hardest to be introspective of are the things where it is most critical. I've been through some grieving and I think you are handling this in a healthy way. The one thing I learned is that it never stops hurting, but you do get better and better at dealing with it.

Dubsington

There is no need to apologize! While there is nothing wrong with supporting silently, I am always happy to hear from people. Addressing these things is difficult for anyone, so thank you for sharing your thoughts. ^-^

Sierra Lee

I want to thank everyone for their responses. I will be looking forward over the days to come, so I won't reply to everyone, but I deeply appreciate them all.

Sierra Lee

I have no personal experience about losing someone by accident, since all my relatives died due to age, disease and loss of will to live. So it was never that "sudden" and felt like it was meant to end there. I also had a few years in my life I was crying for other reasons, so I feel like I have cried enough for a whole life now. Due to certain triggers in my life (moving out from home a few years ago) and started a dull, but successful life alone. Recently after changing my diet and taking some nutritional supplements to allow my body to "feel happy again" I had an unexpected improvement, since all I hoped was loosing some kilograms of fat instead of feeling like I could tear out trees. Bottom line: After some time we can overcome most hardships and see other positive things in our life!

Markus S.

There are many "single cases" outside of the pharma industrie with successfull threatments of cancers with very simple methods (simple in meaning you could pay and use them at home) like MMS (chlorine dioxide) or MMT (Mitochodrial Metabolic Therapy, got a book about this just 2 days ago as a present). In case the pharma lobby's doctors are struggling to help, you definitely should not lose hope and actively keep looking for alternatives!

Markus S.

My respect and condolences. It is reassuring to me that such work is personal and truly deserves to be called art. I am happy to support such work. It took me too long to learn the lesson that I value most. You can only make your own meaning in life, and I will continue to pay for what meaning you make for yourself. It is great work.

Dmitry F

Usually I don't read a text wall like this,just thought it is an excuse but this?I read twice,even look up the dictionary. Oh my,What have you done!

Iamdexter

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. As always, it is a beautiful display. The highest mark for an artist—which, make no mistake, you are—is channel their pain into a thing of beauty. You have poured yourself into your work. You have put your grief and reflection into the fictions you create. Knowingly or unknowingly. Your thwarted love. Your regrets. Your fatigue. It can be seen, if one knows what they're reading in the characters on your stage. I wish I could reach back through time and put to right the wrong that had been done to you. But that is how I've always been. Lost in the past, or in the future; never anchored in the present. It must be cold comfort for you to hear that you've grown stronger from your loss.

Quiet Stranger

I'm not very active, since I always just think I'll bother people with my stupidity, but this time I wanted to say something about this...reflection, seems like a good word. Even if I don't think myself all that smart, and even if I can't express myself all that well...anyway I'm rambling I'll just start. There are moments in life that can lead you to your greatest heights, or your lowest pits and they usually come with a great deal of introspection, trying to reassert your own existence, or simply just reorganizing your thoughts. You realize just how complex it all is, despite intellectually being able to say you already knew that, in some ways things just "pop" into your mind after some form of...trauma? Anyway, life is short, for instance, usually comes from people close to its end or who lost someone. I'm kinda ranting without getting to the point of this, so lemme try to cut to the chase here, introspection, these "insights" will always be the things driving you forward, you'll learn that great as it is, that loss made you a better person thanks to the reflective period that followed, the grief, the anger, sadness, everything that comes with it made you better because in the end your mind, your thoughts are all you are and have, so there is no shame in letting these thoughts flow outward, even if people find them inconvenient, because externalizing grief, anger, sadness, even the contemplation all help you as much as it can help others (the contemplation bit anyway, as that is when the "deep advice" comes from) So externalize all you need, we'll "hear" and personally I promise not to think you're seeking "sympathy" over it. EDIT: This ended up being kinda long...sorry >.< I'll go back to lurking.

Sergio Dos Santos

Ooooh, Talky Creator Lady! You're letting your inner Orcent show here, Sierra :-P More seriously: your thoughts reflect many feelings that I've had before, but have never been able to form into a coherent whole, never mind put into such eloquent words. I'm sorry for the pain that has led you to them, but I'm glad that said pain has receded to the point where you can contemplate it without recoiling. I am lucky in that I am yet to experience a loss so severe, and yet your advice strikes home; I live hundreds of miles away from my family, and I really should make more of an effort to keep in touch with them, rather than lazily shrugging at the distance barrier. I really appreciate the fact that you share these more personal thoughts with us here, especially given the raw nature of the emotions involved. I can barely work up the courage to share such thoughts with those closest to me, never mind write them down and broadcast them to people I've never even met. Kudos to you. With regards to the rewards of the time I spend here, all I'll say is that I'm typing this at 1AM on a work night, and yet my inner tittering schoolgirl doesn't care because she's too busy squealing "SENPAI NOTICED ME" about some of the changes you've made in the latest build :-)

Lamsey

I have no words to express or speech to go along with how I feel you work has affected me but my life in recent years have been a roller-coaster of a ride with too many lows, all I can say with true honesty the time spent playing and following this development has been a rewarding one.

Bladestorm

I remember when this time came around last year and I expressed how much I admired your ability to continue doing what you do even in the face of so terrible a loss, and that I didn't think I'd have that strength in your place. In the intervening year, I've definitely found the truth of that because someone to whom I have a very similar relationship to what you described then was diagnosed with stage four cancer at 25. I don't bring that up to ask for sympathy, because your situation is far worse--the cancer won't ever go away, but she's responding well to treatment. But it does make what you say about treasuring those close to you while you can very vividly real to me as well. I'd hesitate to call it a platitude at all, mostly since I associated platitudes with emptiness and that one is far from empty. It tends to be human nature to take what we have for granted until it's threatened... In that sense, I'm lucky that it's only being threatened and not stolen away without the chance to appreciate it for the danger. But it's a reminder that sometimes it's worth making yourself appreciate what you have without it being threatened the same way... For what it's worth, I agree that there's no real choice but to embrace the imperfect complexity of life. The world we live in is imperfect and complex; trying to simplify it is not only a wasted effort, it also tends to be blinding. I was reading an article yesterday about how the inability to engage with the complex imperfections of reality is what makes extremist ideologies attractive to people who wouldn't necessarily be bad people otherwise. Extremist ideology offers an illusion of simplicity in a world that isn't simple, a "right way" or "root problem" that's easy to want to see. But as you say, entirely avoiding that sort of tunnel vision can be a challenge in itself. In any case, I once again offer you my deepest condolences and admire your ability to carry on in the face of such loss.

Lord Forte

I for one love your work and am glad this brings value to you. Going through clearing out of my own head a bit I understand what your saying. Life is shit sometimes but it always gets better, always better with TLS release aswell. i enjoyed 0.36.

Lusty Loiterer