'Trip to Tombstone' is a young adult angsty melodrama about a group of content creators looking for ghosts and the gal pals that come out to each other during it. It's got all the hallmarks of a classic sapphic romance: the deep history of being friends-to-lovers, the deep and quiet painful yearning from our main characters, and even the 'we have to share a bed' moment. This is all done in the back drop of going ghost hunting on a road trip, which gives a neat lil artistic twist for when the main character is in her lowest state.
The story itself is your classic three event structure, with each act focusing on a different ghost/cryptid that the cast is trying to turn into content for Youtube, featuring Val and Trent as the faces of the channel, and Lilah as the camera/editor for the trio. The first act does a good job of setting up the stakes, of the inner conflict in Lilah as she grapples with confessing her love or potentially losing her friends in the process, and the distance she's creating is only making it worse. What follows as the go from cryptid to ghost, the feelings fester and build up, until the big confrontation and confession, the running away, the self-doubt manifesting itself as the cryptids showing up acting as Lilah's inner demons, and then a heart-felt resolution of 'she actually likes you back, dummy' moment. It's a solid through line, and the inner monologue captures the conflicting emotions that Lilah experiences. I feel like the effect would be stronger if you had given more of an trigger in the rising action portion, something that would give Lilah no other choice but to confess, instead of the overwhelming feelings that have been there the whole time. You could've also really added in the reasons why Lilah pines for Val and vice versa. She seems to complain a lot about her they have a penchant for getting into trouble and seem to avoid giving her attention in her eyes. But, it would be good to balance that out with the reasons why she still has feelings for her. Whether that be physical attraction or just personality compatibility, like she's pushed into an exciting life doing content instead of a boring classroom, or they were both weirdos that liked the same niche subjects.
The presentation is really cute and I love the bubbly art style for the characters. There's quite a bit of fun background and cg art, from the scary silhouettes, the wanted posters, and even the big reveal of the spooky ghost dream, really give a strong impact. The audio direction works for a spooky vibe, and the GUI is changed up so it's not just default. The bit that stood out most to me was the use of the overlay whenever Lilah was filming, with the blinking recording light, that was a really smooth touch that really heightened the experience. The writing prose itself was adequate, didn't have any trouble following the story and felt it was communicated well. As far as a creativity, I think it's a nice angle to approach the story from a content creator's perspective, showing the differences between being on and off the camera, though I feel you could've pushed that element a little bit more. As for the romance, it's nothing that hasn't been seen before, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable to see it framed a couple of gals in a trailer on a ghost hunting road trip.
For the implementation of the folklore element, it's very apparent that 'turning folklore into content' is a strong angle to approach this from. You easily met the brief of it being based on folklore, highlighting several local folk tales from Arizona and I applaud you for that. Could it have been integrated more into the plot? Yeah, there something there that could be said about turning cultural history into consumable content for Youtube, and maybe that could've added an extra dimension to the romance/conflict between the characters. As a suggestion, maybe expand on how Lilah feels that Val and Trent aren't 'their usual selves' when they're on camera and maybe that relates to the treatment of these ghost stories and maybe leads to some thematic element of Val pretending to be someone that she's not which is what's upsetting Lilah in the first place. What I'm trying to get at, is that there's something there, so don't be afraid to cook a little bit more on your plots and character dynamics. Trent is there, so there's all the ingredients for a messy love triangle misunderstanding scenario.
While I see it's not your first VN, it is your first game jam VN, and I think it's a solid entry. Something that comes with the territory of game jams is scope, time management, and understanding what your own capabilities are. You picked out a premise that you were able to execute well, and even if it is another cheesy love story, that's kinda what this game jam is about, so I'm not mad at it. When you do your next VN, don't try to limit yourself, even for these contemporary slice-of-life settings. Try to find places where you can squeeze a little bit more drama and friction for the characters, so the resolution feels all the more sweeter in the end.