#right next to Corey and Jacob ofc 🤣💛

[hummingbird-games]

I'm going to say something controversial: I think Crushed is better than High School Daze.

Like, hsd's mc is a self-insert, but I felt so much more connected to Corey as a character! I love the way you write slice of life stories though, and I really felt it in Crushed! It's weird but I loved the scenes where Corey is working at the bookstore and the little interactions he had, and I ADORE his friends!!!!

I think Keegan is fucking hilarious (and 100% ship her with Okechukwu, please tell me they end up together dear game dev 👀)

Also I wish the game was longer lol, I know you said you meant it to be short, but I could totally take another scene with everyone going back to school after the break. I know they get into some crazy shit

It soooo doesn't hurt me that you think Crushed is better. To me, that means I've grown as a dev and as a writer so that's such high praise I'm crying into my keyboard, thanks 😭😭😭

Crushed 100% could have been longer. It was almost longer. It is definitely longer than what I set out back when it was a jam entry, damn. But I think its short length was perfect for the story.

...Also as long as I have a personal appetite for slice of life/realistic stories, y'all will be stuck with those games!!!! Sorry in advance!!!!

I have too much experience with bookish retail so it was only a matter of time before I injected some of that trauma, I mean drama into a game.

And I too ship Keegan x Oke!! They're cannon lol. But future cannon.

Oke mirrors a lot of things I've gone through and struggled with and experienced, especially with being aspec but not knowing it applies to him/me/us 😂 so because he has to connect some dots, well a lot of dots, he and Keegan won't become a couple until their college years.

There was a draft where I had some lines about Oke, but they got cut because I would have wanted to go more into his POV when the game is supposed to be about Corey and his problems (like...umm madam, chill, one struggling queer baby at a time @me. Though I did cheat a bit with Keegan, but she and Corey are a package deal and she doesn't have as big an arc as Oke does or even Corey did.

ANYWAY Oke and Keegan as friends, individuals, and an eventual couple could be their own post, and I have played around with continuing their story but we'll table this discussion for now.)