Thanks you for the thoughtful answer too - it always mesmerizing to have the luxury to be in contact with the makers of the stuff. <3
As writing goes, I’m pretty sure one has to make such decisions all the time, I get it (the fact it made me tear up in the end just talk for itself). In the end, I was only hinting on my own taste that I’d appreciate to be “along them” in the confusion about betrayal ; and instead was given a chair of a “I know better, silly them to fall for it awwww…”. ^^
Also I had a thought before sleep “I didn’t say anything about the backgrounds, the backgrounds were cool !”, so here you go.
The mechanic that really made it home, was (probably underused because it was hard to do ?) the chat prompt “start writing”, then… Nope, sending something else ! - To me it’s especially cool because it’s one of the few tricks that are exclusive to games (and it may be a first for me to see it used in a VN). Felt huge on the “feels real factor”, even if it was a one-time thing.
There’s also the “flow” in the chat too, but I wouldn’t know how to replicate that. Like how agonizing it can be to “wait” for an answer sometimes. It’s a major point of miscommunication out there, and the “X is writing…” of late made that mind-game probably even worse and addicting :p - it took me decades to chill about it, and I still get that imagination going haywire because X didn’t answer immediately - hence strategies like… The spamming of reassuring smileys sometimes. On the other hand, you were successful at featuring how things can get floody when both interlocutor are taken by the moment - by making it hard to read, pretty good !
Thinking about stuff I’d throw in, I’d say, maybe one ought to have more miscommunication ? Perplexing answers, failed jokes, and need for clarification is paramount in the chatbox ! Dunno if it could have been used efficiently as an addition ^^’
Last edit : now that I think about it, the subtle “desk soundbits” at the very beginning really added something imho, would have been a small plus to use them more as highlight at certain points. And now I feel like an ass for suggesting so much stuff as non-game-maker. Anyway ! Just saying it’s so cool as to make me try to contribute with some rambly thoughts, don’t you dare take it as “could do better”, t’was great and I’m just awkward about compliments !