Devs, please please please stop using PNGs! This isn't just aimed at this VN because it has been a consistent problem I've seen in this jam. It's just particularly relevant here cause this VN is 800mb(!!!!!) large when it should be like 100mb.
I'm not an expert on this topic but this is what me and my dev friends figured out to be the most effective. WebP should be the default vn export. If you're using CSP then in the drop down select Prioritize file size with Quality set to 100-75. PNGs should be reserved for printing or files that has special color requirements. 99% of the time this setting will be good enough. If your picture is 1920x1080, then export to 3840x2160 with oversampling enabled and @2 in the name to tell renpy to half its resolution. This is all documented in the renpy documentation in the Oversampling section. You get img that doesn't lag and benefit with x2 resolution or over 10x smaller file sizes for backgrounds and around 2x smaller file sizes for sprites.
Audio wise, it's generally safer to use oggs instead of mp3s because ogg is more optimized for games. In my experience wav and mp3 files lag a bit more, and in this vn I had a few instances where the ambience stopped playing because I hit the 'back' key, not sure if that's a formatting issue or renpy is being renpy. I understand not everyone is an audio engineer, but I'd recommend looking into the bare basics of audio treatment. Some breathing and voice samples are untreated which at times took me out of the experience. A simple Reverb or Delay effect to push these sounds to the back of the room would be immediately effective for the iconic newscast sound space.
With that out of the way, this is a GREAT time! The VN pulls the oldest tricks from the dramatic writing playbook, i.e. high stakes public improvisation and corporate incompetence. The strongest part of the story imo happens around middle when it's just our reporter on stage with the evil exec, the entire crew had an urgent stake and are caught up in the chaos. I was genuinely on the edge of my seat. I wouldn't complain if the story just ended right after, because the villain failed to return in any meaningful compacity by the third act, and because how slow everything moved, it's quite a let down compared to the fantastic first two acts.
As an outsider, this was an especially fun read as it is an exposé into a system that I don't know much about. For one I didn't know unannounced recordings could be admissible in court or is common practice in non state-ran journalism. Also just learning about the brand of corporate lingo in the bathroom while our mc is getting berated is kinda cool. I really hope the VN is a good representation of the current journalistic landscape or the writer is a journalist themself because it is fascinating.
Overall I can see this being one of the most notable entry in the jam art wise. The main cast emote so well. The line and rendering are all top notch, especially our lil Beastars Jack (sorry haha!). The UI is slick, and I think this is one of the 2 entries that has a custom pause menu?! The CGs are killer, obviously. I also really like the duo b&w textbox (everything is so extra in this vn it's great). Overall, even with the slight hiccup in the latter half I am obligated to give this piece an extremely high score. Everything comes together in a slick package that other devs should definitely learn from.
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I am the artist for our team. I really appreciate your feedback! I read it very carefully. We are all making an FVN for the first time. We do not have much experience yet. We actually learned a lot from this competition. Your advice is super practical. You clearly put a lot of thought into it. We thank you so much!