Wow, I think you've just become iconic to dozens of us (self included). Congrats on taking life's lemons and turning them into sweet victory.

I saw in another comment you were able to make yourself work with complete focus (8 hour+ days 7 days a week). I have two questions --

In hindsight, if you had only worked 5 hour days for twice as many months do you think the project still could have succeeded? Or do you feel that there's some momentum or other factor at play here?

Nextly, are there any discords or other networking resources that you found crucial to the process? I saw you mentioned a publisher. Personally I'm more motivated when I have people depending on me (or eager to see what I'm making for example).