Hey, I'm just going to leave my thoughts in here mostly unordered.
First of all, congrats on finishing this visual novel. It's super long for a one-month jam, which is even more impressive considering you did all of this yourself. This VN is very well done.
I like to leave feedback both of what I enjoyed and what could be improved. That being said, any improvements are pretty much nitpicking. The VN is great the way it is :)
The background art style is simple but effective. I like the way the unimportant background characters are drawn at the start - it saves time and fits into the background. Throughout the VN, I kept thinking to myself that the BGs are just... I don't know, artistic? I'm no artist so I can't quite pinpoint it, but I think it's the mix of the textures with the simple lines drawn on top that I like.
The way you pay attention to text presentation seems like such a small detail, but it makes a huge difference. Specifically when it stops on certain words and when you play with the font size. I remember considering doing something like that, but in the end, I lacked the time to go through with most of it.
At first, it was a bit confusing when characters interrupted each other and the textbox continued to the next lines automatically. I thought the game was bugging out, but once I figured out what was going on, it was a cool feature. Maybe you could wait a bit longer for the switch or find some other cool way to emphasize that it's someone being interrupted, although I don't have any ideas for how to do that.
If you want to work on this after the jam, I think you could benefit from some editing. It's always difficult to find your own typos since usually, the author *knows* what they wanted to say (speaking from experience here. I usually make the stupidest mistakes and am very grateful for my awesome editor). I saw some typos here and there and I'm sure a more dedicated proofreader could provide valuable assistance. Still, the few errors I saw weren't distracting. It's more of a quality of life suggestion!
I think I recognize the music from McLeod. Nicely chosen - the tracks fit the mood. Maybe you could have added a *few* more to counter ear-fatigue (mainly for the first bit), but it's always difficult to find what you need when having to scour royalty free music sites, so I feel ya, haha.
I like the complex group dynamics. Everyone feels well and distinctly characterized and the way they interact with each other is consistent. The little details like figuring out sitting arrangements work really well to drive the point home. Also, the expressions fit *so* well.
When they started drinking beer, all I could think was just that I really hope they have a bathroom down there lol. Luckily, it wasn't needed.
Looove the NVL mode with the CGs on the side. Beautiful layout. Also, packaging small spooky stories into the bigger one is neat. We used to love telling each other these type of stories on sleepovers back in school, so this was very nostalgic :)
My favorite of the small stories was Lucy's. Make of that what you want, I'm just leaving whatever feedback I have in case it helps in some way :D
When Devon started his story, the transition to the background with him at the table was very sudden. I didn't pay attention to the transitions before, so I think those weren't like that? Maybe you missed that one? When asked which story I liked best, I chose not to answer. I hope that helps you find the missing transition!
I think the ending I got was "Waking Nightmares Aren't So Bad If You Share The Trauma", unless it says that for every/multiple ending(s).
Again, this was a great ride. You conveyed the whole concept of "making friends" beautifully. I want to check out a lot of other jam games, but I'll come back to this one to hunt for different endings for sure afterwards!
Edit: and I totally forgot to tell you how much I loved the way the VN's name came into play towards the end!