FANTASTIC WORK! Each route's writing is super engaging.
I'm not quite sure who to create the final sprite designs to, were they drawn by Foil? Everyone's visions collided very nicely to make some fantastic character designs. Seeing Gabrielle's gloves immediately placed the games time period.
Awesome work on the sound design as well. The beginning riff of Marshall's theme sounds really familiar and it scratches an itch inside... Just generally pleasant and "of the time," maybe?
I haven't gotten into The real classic Japanese visual novels yet, but the game's art perfectly gives of the "vibe" of them I have in my head. Especially my subconscious association to the more recent subversive stories like You and Me and Her and Doki Doki Literature Club
The UI works so wonderfully. The day/night counter is so charming. It immediately gives the feel that this is going to be a 7 hr long dating sim where you have to juggle gift giving and mini-game segments. And of course, that damn 2nd half UI shift made my stomach drop.
All four routes, the second half I got unintentionally matched the character I tried to score the most points with, so I thought, "interesting, all the girls I pursue think I was trying to obtain the other one, is this a theme about projection and insecurity?"
So it was surprising to read in the postmortem that the actual functionality is that the second half matches who you have less points with, which makes a lot of sense
Thank you for the experience!
