'Encounters in the Moonlight' is a meet-cute into sexy-times scene, with a bit of a familiar 'overcoming homophobia' character arc. It's one more of those entry point stories about being gay, getting ostracized by your family and community, only to be rescued by a big hot wolfman who immediately finds you attractive and you have hot intercourse under the moonlight. The story does some interesting world-development for a scene, as it alludes to a significant technological and culture difference between Solus and Lucius, the two characters.
The way the story goes is that Solus is on Earth during an era of tribalism, goes out into the forest, gets attacked by a beast and is rescued by Lucian, who's from the moon, is alluded to have been a highly scientific space colony from when the Earth had undergone some kind of Armageddon and now they're coming back to see if the world is hospitable again. It's a fun dynamic, which gives a bit of 'Star Trek' first contact vibes, plus bringing in a lot of modern cultural advancements to contrast with the more primitive culture of shunning homosexuality. There's some revelations given to Solus, who gets to fully embrace his inner feelings, and get to go visit the moon with Lucius who is really interested in him. It's a satisfying wish-fulfillment kind of story.
The presentation is really nice. The color aesthetic is consistent throughout, the art sprites are emotive and fun, there's drawn backgrounds and cgs, and can't forget about the custom cg sex scene which is the big wow-factor of the whole visual novel. There's also a lot of detail that goes into making the sprites blink and even have mouth movements for the speaking parts (that takes quite a bit of effort and knowhow). Overall it's a really impressive visual package that is probably some of the highest quality I've seen in this game jam. The writing is adequate for getting the two characters to meet 'n fuck. I'm not gonna lie and say that this is the most original set up or plot-line, the one detail of the Earth culture and Moon culture was the aspect that gave it something to stand out, otherwise, it's very much a classic gay coming out/angst story. You get a couple of weird incongruent story elements like how his first lover gets exiled, but he doesn't because special treatment just cause he's the important family's son. He begs to stay and feels a sense of loyalty to his tribe despite how badly they treat him and openly say how much they want him gone. It feels like while the story is a feel good framework, it doesn't do much other than to give a reason for the really good art and sex scene to exist. It's not a bad thing, and it's probably going to be someone's first experience with this kind of storyline (I've done plenty). It could make stronger choices in how it plays out to help it distinguish itself from other stories exactly like this, but I also imagine that as it's only this scene, the scope was limited to not further explore other details. We're told how the village treats Solus through a novel style monologue from him, and we're told about what the moon is like through Lucius explaining to Solus what it is. The plot device of the wolf beast is just so Lucius can save Solus, and the beast is never explained further. It might be stronger to show the scene happening where Solus is caught the first time to give a more viseral experience to connect with him better. While, Solus is the POV, you could always change view points to Lucius as he saves Solus and get a sense of Lucius in that way. Just as some suggestions/examples.
The folklore element of the visual novel I believe is the in-story folklore of the moon-god and how Solus believes Lucian to be of the moon come to take him to paradise. It's a cute way to tie in a religious element into the plot. As it's only one or two scenes, there's not much opportunity to explore that element further or how Solus's beliefs are completely shaken by finding out that his folklore/religion might be just stories and not fact (that might've been an interesting theme to explore). Creativity wise, there's some interesting seeds of ideas here. What's present however is kind of stock gay-angst wish-fulfillment which I will always welcome more of that into the world. The sex scene, while hot, also still is a sex scene.
From what I can see, this is a first timer entry, and for that, big props for completing it and giving it a really good polish. It's very pretty and it's a treat for the eyes. The writing gets the job done, and if it gives you the confidence to try to push yourself further next time, then I'll be happy. I'd say read a bunch of the VNs from these game jams to expand your reference pool for furry stories, see what elements you can pick up from them and see how you can incorporate those bits into your works in the future.