Anyone thinking the creator used his game as some kind of a money grab failed to see just how he conducted himself and LaS as a whole. Early on (meaning several updates after the demo), Veq himself was often the one to upload the game here (on release day) for all to dabble in, free of charge. He just wanted people to enjoy his work, and if you liked what was offered and wished to support him after, all the better. I believe he considered it a bonus rather than a requirement to continue progressing with the game. Perhaps a bit naive, but Veq was an optimist and a great dude overall.
And I'm actually curious to know if I'm the only one that feels this way, but seeing this game picked up by anyone other than Veq himself just wouldn't feel right. Someone could get the broad strokes correct if they were privy to the direction of the story, but the small, nuanced elements of the game would continuously get neglected or lost entirely during the process.
A few examples...
- Veq insisted on including a new render for (just about) every new line of dialogue in the game. I remember having conversations with him about this, implying he was mildly crazy for doing so. But he was adamant. Said he wanted the characters to feel as alive as possible by continuously shifting their body language, including a new facial expression, having their eyes look in a slightly different direction... and so on. I don't think I've seen this type of dedication in any other game I've played.
- Referring to his dialogue, there was something about it that elevated his characters. Aiden was the first male character (besides any MC) that I rooted for in a game, and I think this was largely due to how he came off verbally. Moving over to Caitlyn and how she referred to the MC as "Amy's brother"... I truly thought this was a subtle stroke of genius. This alone added layers to who she was and instantly made her relatable. This was only made better considering most people thought this was an error in his coding for her.
I'm as eager as anyone to see what could have happened if we continued down this rabbit hole, and no offense to any other creators, but when it comes to LaS Veqvil is the only true maestro behind the scenes, imo.