"Is there any point in aiming the pipe to get more bounces?" - No, they're just guard rails. You can choose to aim there if you'd like. The gameplay isn't that deep.
"Next, it's a bit unclear why the pixel art is done in different styles." - I probably imported the sprite wrong or scaled it incorrectly. I did at 2am after realizing I had the wrong sprite.
"Regarding story interludes...." It's not that serious. Just a goofy little game about throwing dwarves and your rat friend :)
Thanks for playing!