Heya thanks for your thorough review and kind words!
I always think that a good visual novel should be able to deliver not only good writing but also... an immersive experience to support the whole package. I didn't really have a goal entering the jam except to learn how to do some cool stuff, like talking sprites, animated backgrounds, basically other aspects that can make the game feel more alive. I'm also a big fan of symbolism, so of course I also wanted to learn how to do subtle storytelling without words.
Diving in as a new solo dev made me realize how big the scope and resources needed to make a VN are, things that I did not expect at all. I had to juggle between learning Renpy, making art for the BGs and sprite (gotta made sure my wolf stood out from the other wolves!), audio editing, and putting everything together in the code.
Sacrifices had to be made. I'm aware my writing is still very rough (because I barely even write anything lol), so I decided to put my best into everything else. I thought to myself, if my story is too bland or cliche, I should offer something else to make a good impression. You might notice the difference in the quality of the writing, some parts are well-developed (too much, even) while some feel rushed. But at the end of the day, I feel proud of the stargazing scene. And knowing that my work is well received makes the struggle worth it!
Now that I'm no longer bound by a tight time constraint, I'll do my best to fix the story based on all the feedback I've received ^^
Also... Music is my main source of inspiration for this project. I wrote the overall theme of the story based on my interpretation of lyrics from a couple of songs, specifically Constellations ("everything you thought you knew, will fall apart but you'll be all right") and Cold is the Night ("we carry our lives around in our memories"). So, I designed the overall presentation to recreate the atmosphere that I felt when I listen to those songs.
I thought it'd be nice to share the playlist so some readers can experience better what I really wanted to tell through the story, so there goes the playlist! This idea is actually inspired by Santa Lucia's dev (Stormsinger Studios), though in their case the playlist serves more as a device to dig deeper into the personality of the 6 main characters.
It's definitely interesting to know what inspires other writers to make their stories. Looking forward to listening to your list!