For me, it was mostly my choices in the character designs that I enjoyed doing! Our silly little Stella came about after Lucius doodled her in his UI mockup with floppy ears and an "airheaded" look, which we decided to run with, so I thought making her a sheep would be a great idea. The celestial theme feels self explanatory given her name, but I wanted to give her cloud-like hair to really drill in the fact that her head is somewhat always in the clouds, so to speak :')
I also really like the idea of her horns looking a bit like a crescent moon submerged in the clouds. At least I really hope it gave those vibes
After that I got a bit invested in Manuel too and was playing around with themes of the emotional baggage he has to carry - originally he was going to be a donkey for that reason but I wanted to be more creative. He became a little cactus guy, prickly because he has his guard up around others when feeling so vulnerable already. I don't think it fully made it into the jam's final version but after helping him, you see him regain some of his vibrance and his flowers begin to bloom again! But of course depression can't be "fixed", so the 'scars' caused by his mental health remain. Cacti are known for enduring harsh weather though!
The last one is just a silly one that I wanted to test if anyone noticed or not, but we implemented moving clouds to float overhead for that extra dynamic atmosphere with the shadows on the ground. I actually drew a couple of clouds in the shape of Albert and Hektor to see if anyone would notice, but I think it's too subtle in the end
I'm extremely passionate about character design and the ways we can communicate a character's story through their visuals, it's such a fascinating concept. I'm glad I got to explore that in ways I usually wouldn't in this jam! I've been really intrigued by your game and will be playing it tomorrow, I'm excited to experience the music system you've crafted for it :D