PostMortem (And BSky link)

Welp, that was an experience!

I'm not sure how much I have to say about this project. It was my first time trying something in Ren'Py, and now that I got my sea legs I think I might bite the bullet and stick with it in the future (unless I want to do a game that's much more game play heavy then I've been doing).

I'd been conceptualizing random bits and bobs for a while before the jam started, but other then knowing I wanted to do a Heist With A Twist, I didn't do much more for characterization or planning or designing before hand though! I actually had a good few stories in thought for this jam, and only settled on "Heist Wolf" once it was time to start making assets. "Tourist Wolf" "Monster Wolf" and "King Wolf" will just have to wait for their time to shine, someday in the future.

My main goal with this was just to have fun. My previous few stories were more intense, and it seems like these sorts of Jams really bring out people wanting to be dramatic and soul rending, which is fun but I thought doing something lighter would be a good compliment to that. Not that this story is entirely fluff, but majorly.

I think the thing I learned from this mostly is that I've really got to push things more. I was told that neither the heist nor the romance really landed as well as they could have, and I felt that. I realized pretty early that this wouldn't be too exciting of a heist story and tried to push for the romance angle, but that also didn't go as strong as it could have, I think. I was considering having an ending where Matthew does rat the operation out for love, but I just didn't really like that all that much.

One thing people criticized was the ending going a bit too smoothly, which is fair. I tried to show some consequences and justifications, but I understand why people would think that was a bit too saccharine. What can I say though, I love a happy ending. If it's any consolation, if I were to ever write a sequel or continuation to this, I'd have it so Terry, the Angel meant to be guarding the light, had to be smuggled into being Matthew's roommate, and various other consequences.

On that note... I also like leaving things with my characters on an open ending. I don't have intention to explore more at the moment; I don't have any concrete plans for the futures of these characters. But that doesn't mean I'm not open to doing more! We'll just have to see.

That said, if you did like this VN and want to see what I do next, follow me on my development Blue Sky here: https://bsky.app/profile/prismtravelervn.bsky.social