I AM RATING THESE ALL THESE JAM SUBMISSIONS RELATIVE TO ONE ANOTHER. THERE ARE HIGH HIGHS AND LOW LOWS BUT PLEASE DON’T TAKE THIS TOO PERSONALLY, AFTERALL, WE ALL ONLY HAD A MONTH.
Implementation of Theme (5):
Hands down, the best implementation of theme. I was severely worried when Purrka said that his VN was about politics because I couldn’t understand on my own what the Municipal Regions Act meant. But after getting MY WOLF taken away from me by that bitch, I fully understand. I wish I was able to look at the citations during my stream.
Story (5):
An absolute treat starting from the first line. I didn’t know that Purrka had this kind of writing chops in him. Until this VN, I was always kind confused where Purrka got all of this ethos from that he used in his VN reviews but now, I doubt it for one second.
The line about “and fornicate” was one of the best lines in the VN.
My only complaint with the story was that the choice at end was kind of confusing since I thought that it would influence the story but as I know now, the history is set in stone.
I wish I could read Finnish so that I have a whole new excuse to replay this from start to Finnish.
Presentation (5):
I knew this was going to be something incredible the first time that Helsinki exploded.
You got the most of the Pre-Made Sprites that you could. Sprites where recolored to feel unique. You also took advantage of the MPreg Sprites in a depressingly innovative way.
The scene with them running was done better than even a VN like Socially Awkward could. So many little moments like this paint the VN throughout.
The title screen is one of the most creative ones I’ve seen. The UI is great and it took me more time than I’d like to admit that the nameboxes were highway signs.
Creativity (5):
When you said that the VN was like CountryBalls, the concept started to make sense to me. But playing it makes me want to go to Fennoscandia just like how Dawn Chorus did just so can be with Sipoo. I think that making a VN all about a policy that no one besides the creator knows and understands then stretching it into a narrative where you’re rooting against what ends up becoming reality, is genius. I can’t think of anything that comes close to this.
Total (20):
The winner of the Unagi’s Favorite Award!!! Rightfully deserves to be 2’nd/3’rd Place for Jam Overall depending on which itch.io metric you’re looking at.
After I was overwhelmed/underwhelmed with how much I didn’t like The Other Island and then the promise of being abducted by tigers gave me the biggest whiplash of 2023, I didn’t have high hopes for whatever Purrka was going to make for MAY WOLF 2024.
The fact that you made this engine by yourself is testament that Godot shouldn’t be dunked on that way it has been in the past in the Furry Visual Novel Community. As Lunrae said in a VC, who is also trying to dip his toes in to Godot, the bit with Helsinki looking through the peephole deserves 5-Stars on its own.
I’m now more hyped than ever for the White Tigers when it eventually comes out.