Really really cool spin on the topic you've got here, it's definitely subtle, but in a good way--took me a second to understand the correlation. The main two worries for me were the character vs background art, which people have already dwelled into, but also the scope needed for this project. In order to change a place, the player would theoretically need to spend a lot of time in said place, which means having to entertain the player for an extended amount of time. That means lot of options for dialogue and interesting connection, as well as anything else that happens inside of this town. Nonetheless, excited to see how this game turns out and good luck!