It’s released!
Lingering is now available for everyone to play! We would like to thank the people who supported us along the way. To our Kickstarter backers, we’re sorry it took longer than expected. We know it’s not perfect, some of you might even say it sucks LOL, but it is the best that we can do at the moment. A lot of things happened while making this game. We’d like to explain a bit about what Lingering symbolizes for our team and our intent with the game, but if you all just want to download the game and skip this monologue, please go ahead!
If you guys want to stick around, well then, thank you, and here goes. First off, we want to say that Lingering isn’t for everybody, it does talk about dark topics that some of you might not be comfortable with. But we did make it in hopes that people can at least talk about it or stop being so awkward around the issues addressed in the game. All the cases and characters in the game are actually based on people we know and we have asked for their permission to tell their stories in this visual novel format. There are some tweaks here and there made, due to the respective person’s request, or just to make it more cohesive. Basically, this game is a compilation of the things I (Xero) have heard about when being referred to as ‘mentally ill’ (I don’t know the correct English phrasing for this, Indonesians usually just call me crazy which I’m not… I think). We’re not trying to tell you what’s the right or wrong thing to do. We just want to get some stories across because living in Indonesia, admitting there’s something wrong with you mentally is basically asking to be estranged, harassed, etc. At least from my experience with having BPD and depression.
Things in this game, like the stuff people say in the University case, is something I have heard first hand or just overheard from other people's conversations. Stuff like “Are you cutting for attention? If you really wanted to off yourself, jump off the roof.”, etc. At first, I try to protest but I can’t win either way, so I just smiled and nodded. I can’t really talk about these kinds of stuff in my country. So at the least, we want to be able to talk about stuff like this in a game. I’m not gonna lie, making this game brought a lot of relief for me, and it helped me grieve. Helped the people I based this off of too. Being able to be upfront about things that we’re normally not allowed to express is very therapeutic.
However, I know this game can be easily misinterpreted. What we intend to say might be perceived differently. My English doesn’t help, as I wrote this in a non-native language and all. But hopefully, this post will clear some things up regarding our intent.
Like it or hate it, we’re grateful towards anyone for giving this game a try. And sorry in advance for anything lacking in the game, we’re still learning. Thank you for your attention and time.
Take care out there,
Xero and team, Ceylon Entertainment