Thank You to My Incredible Friends

So here it is, the last post before the update announcements and the last of my new screens that will open when v0.21 boots. 

If you didn't see the other two, they're posted here and here so please go check them out. This is part of a series of posts that I've done secretly in the background that will now show when the game boots. If you were to only read one or two of my long posts ever in your life, I would want it to be these three.

So here I go one last time: this slide was part of my secret thank you file. What you see is by far the most edited part of this entire project and this entire game. The dev team is seeing it now for the first time along with you. 

For over three years I've refined this slide and changed it, added and subtracted. It's the summation of my journey with this team--my friends-- and how much they've not only helped with this project but, improved me as a person. I started writing this thank you in secret around 2019, and have continued to refine it to the very last moment. I started drafting it on the first computer I started the game with, it was moved to the laptop that I wrote this story with, then moved to the new rendering machine that I've done the art with. It's stared back at me from my desktop, every single day and it has always been with me; sometimes purposely hidden by windows when I did screen shares so the Devs couldn't see how secretly lame I really am. Yet it's been there with me all along... just as they have. Through every step and stumble. I look at it often. Sometimes when I was stuck I'd open it back up and look through it again. I would read my words and it would stir feelings and then these characters would dance the story we've all shared together. Sometimes it gave me the energy to write the next line and other times it just made me appreciate what I have in this world. 

I wanted to thank the Dev Team separately because they have to put up with me. The ups and downs and they've helped me hold things together over these past few years through obstacles that are too lengthy to even list. At times it's been challenging for me behind the scenes and they've been there through health and sickness, through tragedy and horror, and when I've had to say goodbye for the last time to very important people in my life. I appreciate and love them and I hope they know that for all of their days. 

They are undoubtedly my favorite part of this project.

On an even more personal note, I've ended it with a catchphrase of mine that I've only reserved for the most elite and cherished within my life. 

"To the very end..."

We see this within the narrative of the story a few times and it's a simple statement that I only use with certain people. The energy that I wrote this with, to me, is captured by those words alone. When the characters say it in the game, the energy behind this thank you slide to my friends is the intensity behind their statement and I truly wish that you could feel that the way that I do. For me, these words are one of the most powerful things that I can say to another person. The simplicity of it transcends words to me and it something so immensely powerful that it cannot be captured or trapped by mere descriptions or language.

Thanks again to Clay for helping me with this and even helping me figure out a way to actually sign it by hand (yes, that's my signature).

Thank you, guys. You mean the very world to me and I'll never forget this.

-Aaryn