Thank you for the kind comment! Yes, since I'm using that one illustration repeatedly I want to keep the experience fresh, therefore I blended the level gameplay and story with each other for the extra narrative oomph. Hehe, I'm happy that the dog made your day.
Although I was firm about needing a timer in the level, I wasn't sure how that would be received when normally these hidden object games are relaxing experiences. I believe it has been actually quite positively received too by most players.
If I ever make a similar game - or expand on the universe - it will be a pickle on how to come up with new level challenges without them getting stale. Such as it's easier to go wild trying out features for a small VN like this than for a larger project that is meant to include far more levels. Because if there's a level mechanism that players hate but it returns repeatedly, there will be complaints. Nevertheless there are no actual plans to make a larger version, just speaking in hypothetical terms.
That's an honour! I hope you find many fun hidden object games along your way if you want to get more of the genre! I've discovered that there are quite a lot of unique ones on Itch, but unfortunately the 'hidden-object' or 'hidden-objects' tags are rarely used, so it's really hard to find them through search. Such as they are commonly listed under 'puzzle' but that can mean anything.