>>> General Thanks
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to download and read, "Horn and Fang". This has been an exciting and educational experience when it comes to getting back into making visual novels after it has been a while since my last one. I need to also thank the organizers, judges, and streamers that made the "May Wolf Game Jam '25" possible. Without the increased buzz around this event, I wouldn't have had the chance to test my skills and find my weaknesses. Also, thank you to the other jammers, who put up great entries that I could learn and steal a few techniques from. They really helped put into perspective the vast array of different ways you can make a visual novel and the level of quality a visual novel can reach in the year of 2025.

>>> Final Update Build v1.02
Quick update for the final version build of "Horn and Fang" (1.02). After experiencing having my visual novel read aloud, I definitely rushed the final proofreading stage in order to get the visual novel submitted, and that's definitely a lesson I'll take with me into future projects. As for what the final build version has, here's the highlights:

> Added more sprites and expressions, especially blush-y ones.
> Fixed a lot of grammar, sentence structures and coding errors.
> Minor detail changes to certain dialog lines to better convey the plot and characters.
> An upgraded final scene to add a bit of style points.

>>> Project Retrospective
Now, onto what I'm sure you're here for, the retrospective of this project. So, where to start? Horn and Fang started when Jrjr posted his May Wolf sprites, which caught my attention, so I was there reading the full document twice over and still contemplating joining it, until I decided that I really wanted to test my skills and see just how I'd stack up against folks who had participated in previous years.

What I didn't know at the time was that (apparently) I was already known of.  So now I was going into this with a reputation for something that I did 10 and 5 years ago respectively. One other thing (which I would later find out wasn't that big a deal) was a rule regarding sexual content/violence, which I wasn't too sure the type of kinks (humiliation, embarrassment, dubious consent) that I was known for would fly in this game jam without getting disqualified. 

There's my starting frame of mind. I had two projects that preceded me, so I needed to show improvement since then. I also had one month. And I couldn't rely on the types of kinks and story styles that I was known for. Then the brief was announced, "A Light in the Dark", the wolf themes were based on the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and being a "May Wolf", a wolf had to be a featured character. Also a word limit of 2k to 25k words. Also, I didn't want to rope my one collaborator into this, because of the time frame and this was more of a personal test.

"A Light in the Dark" gave me fantasy type vibes. I had recently gotten into DnD styles of storytelling and thought that it would make a good structure for this type of limited scope game jam. I didn't want to make a "here's the intro to a future game that I might update later", I wanted to make a "standalone narrative with a bit of horny spice that you can enjoy in a sitting , and get a complete experience".

So, the four wolves of the apocalypse makes a pretty good basis for a DnD party, so that's where I started. War would be the barbarian/fighter obviously. Conquest (cause I associated that with being proud and ambitious) seemed to work with a charming rogue. Famine/Pestilence I took to be more like the wolf would be really lean and skinny, which makes them nimble and that seemed to fit a ranger. Death I thought could be the magic user, like a warlock, but I settled on a mix of sorcerer/wizard. I didn't want to adhere strictly to DnD stuff, but wanted it to be recognizable enough that it felt like you could imagine players playing these characters.

But then it's like, "where's the light?", and that's where I got the fifth member, which would be a cleric, very lawful good and wanting to help out. I thought it would be neat to contrast the character with the wolves of the apocalypse, so that's why the cleric would be a sheep/goat, very much an animal that could be paired against a wolf in a predator/prey situation. Other options could've been like rabbit or mouse, but I was into the design of horns.

Then came the character art designs. I actually really enjoy this part, cause this is where I can start to visualize the characters and figure out their personalities, motivations, and derive a plot from that. Also, this is where I get to try to come up with names for these guys. I went mostly with "names that sound real, but I change a letter to make it fantasy". Rawain is from Gawain, one of the knights of the round table. Vencent is from Vincent, just cool sounding. Frikson is from Erikson, just a neat sounding name. Luthyr is from Luther, that one priest. Modren is actually not one, that one is an anagram of 'demon' but adding an 'r' in there. Early concepts had him acting as a double agent or the 'true hidden villain', that would betray the party. I obviously didn't go with that, which is a recurring thing of initial ideas getting dropped quickly if it didn't seem to make the story work.

Some interesting outfit design notes:

>> Luthyr with the green tabard and tunic was very much World of Warcraft inspired, but with a cleric, there should be some kind of standardized uniform that just said "I'm good and pure and love life" (which included the white fantasy briefs, you know I had to find a place for them somewhere). 
>> Vencent's rogue design was less 'combat-rogue' and more 'pick-pocket-rogue', since he didn't like to get his hands dirty. Thus, he made sure to find really nice clothes to wear, with nice buttons and made him look handsome (you find him picking off stuff from his clothes cause he likes his outfit to be clean). The super tight briefs he wears underneath is also cause he expects to be seen in them, so anything that makes his bulge larger.
>> Rawain's outfit design was very much "practical/comfort over style". So a thread bare shirt that's probably the comfiest thing, a loin cloth that keeps him decent, and his boxer shorts that allow his legs a full range of motion and lots of breathing. The design on his loincloth alludes to how the tribe were woodworkers and carvers.
>> Frikson's outfit design was very "lightweight, but still gives a bit of protection", but mostly that super crop top vest cause I wanted to see that skinny belly of his. I excuse it as letting him be super flexible, but an idea is that he had a crazy growth spurt that made him tall and lanky, so the vest and shorts used to fit him, but he just outgrew them. His original undies was going to be a fundoshi style, but it didn't seem to fit his personality, so boxer briefs, cause he's a modest guy who doesn't realize how sexy he is.
>> Modren's outfit was very 'Skyrim" robes, cause I just dig the style and Modren is 'sensible' above all else. Also, much like how he feels like he's just pretending, he's trying to look the part so that he'll be taken seriously as a magic user. The trunk style undies are there to betray that Modren does have a desire to be desired, but is suppressing it, so they're short and sexy, but Modren can tell himself at least it's not what Vencent is wearing.

But, when it came time to devise a plot, I was thinking about DnD one-shots and what those kinda look like, and figured the classic "Go Defeat the Evil Wizard in the Forest" would be something I could fashion into a plot structure. So, that's when Talrem was conceived and developed, to be the actual antagonist/villain of the story. Just had to camp him up, slutty outfit, very manly and gay, dark eyes, deep purple fur, big ol' horns and long hair. Talrem is an anagram of "merlot" like the wine if you replace the 'o' with an 'a', so that's where that name came from. Also, giving him demon horns meant that there was a potential backstory with him being a goat, and performing a ritual that made him look like that, and having that be a neat mirror to Luthyr was something I thought would be cool. An evil wizard also needs minions for the good guys to fight, so made those little elemental imp guys. Kinda had them as half goat half wolf, to maybe play with weird ideas of their origin later, but I decided against it (the whole magical enslavement thing which I thought would be too much).

>> Talrem's outfit is very much just "how over the top can I make it". He's committed to this line of work, so he's going to fully embrace it. The green is actually a subtle nod to his previous life as a cleric, while the shoulders are jaw bones of wolves (or at least supposed to be). The rainbow wings were actually a last minute addition, that I think ties the whole look together. Also made for a real 'wow' moment.
>> The imp outfits were simple, loincloth and iron collar. Very much communicating that they're slaves to Talrem. But, I did want to color coordinate each one so they looked nice. Plus, doing the classic "same model but recolored" references enemy NPC types in a video game, so that was a funny little visual gag. 

The last part of the plot that I incorporated into this story was a common trope of the "My Wolf" genre that I found out lurking the discord, which was the whole "kidnapping the main character and then falling for your captor". So, the whole plot of the wolves kidnapping Luthyr was an homage to that. After that, the story started to fall into place as I filled in the blanks. Wolf adventurer party with a dark past on a quest to seek answers and prevent tragedy, come across a meek cleric goat who overcomes his prejudice against the wolves to overcome a great evil that is haunting the wolves. The main character is the 'light' to the wolves 'darkness', healing magic versus curse magic, the final scene is Luthyr releasing light energy from a black altar to break a curse, even including a clerical oath that he follows so it's in the text. (Even now I'm like 'Why did I get such a mid rating for implementation of theme?')

As I was writing out the story and the backstory, that's when I started to play into figuring out the personalities of the wolves and how the player could 'fall' for one. This I admit was ambitious, since it split the attention four ways, so I tried to really differentiate them in a way that made sense that they still worked together, but you could tell them apart (and not just by their fur color).

Luthyr definitely was designed to be sheltered, complacent and meek. He had a comfy job, didn't need to think too critically about it, and live a comfortable life. There's an element of ennui or stagnation, so while Luthyr could feel the call of adventure, he was going to need a push to pursue it. But, I also wanted him to be competent, and feel like he had agency in the story. I had planned that in the first fight with the imps, there was going to be an option where you could try to run away, but I wasn't a fan of putting such an obvious 'bad end' in the middle of the story or trying to write a full different emotional route if Luthyr doesn't help out, since I wanted the wolves to like him back to support their sex scene later. I did have a lot of fun with writing Luthyr and Talrem, since I did want to indicate the whole "this is how Luthyr could've ended up if he stayed sheltered and closed minded", plus having Luthyr help heal the imps is just a way to reinforce his new found mindset of being a better cleric and doing better. I think that's what I was trying to go for with the final confrontation between him and Talrem, since Luthyr is rejecting what Talrem represents, like using fear as justification for causing suffering, since at the start of the story, he was very much afraid of the wolves in the shop and was using it to justify stealing their money (if accidentally). Thought it was a fun full circle moment.

I did get comments that the wolves kinda homogenized into a single unit, which I definitely get, since when you're playing through it once, you basically get to pick your flavor of wolf, and enjoy having the sex scene with the flavor you like. Still, I think having multiple choices is a valid trade off since then you can have fun being like "which one is your favorite?" when talking about it. They're all from the same tribe, so they have a similar backstory, but I tried to make it so that each one feels a little bit different about it.

Vencent is someone who's wanting to move on from what happened to his tribe, but because his tribemates are still affected by it, he wants to do it for their sake (though in turn also get something out of it for himself). He's supposed to be very suave, a very slick talker, very flirtatious, and as one put it, 'a fuck-boi'. But, he is loyal, so that counts for something. When it comes to Luthyr and Vencent, Vencent has an antagonistic view of Luthyr, but always had a physical attraction to him. Luthyr was Vencent's 'conquest' (get it?). Luthyr is one where he has a love/hate relationship with Vencent, since Vencent pushes his buttons, but Vencent is also easy for him to read. Especially in the sex scene, Vencent is the one who takes control in the bedroom, and Luthyr gets excited by his overwhelming charisma and confidence.

Rawain is someone who blames himself for his lack of strength or ability for what happened to his tribe. So, he's always trying to find ways to get stronger in order to protect what's important to him. One thing that is alluded to is that Rawain was a weaker wolf, but after the curse, that's when he got big and strong. That being said, Rawain was more of the stoic, "only speaks when it's important", and 'let's his actions do the talking". I think I added in the detail that he's actually a bit bad in big social environments, cause it reflects on his own self-perception. It comes off as standoff-ish, but really, he's just awkward cause now he's intimidating but wants to be trusted and depended on. Like yes, it's the classic "gentle giant" trope, but it's a trope for a reason. I think it's great when Rawain opens up, and Luthyr is there to listen, cause then Rawain starts to value Luthyr. It really reflects in their sex scene, when Rawain offers an invitation for Luthyr to join him, and Luthyr eagerly accepts. Big guy just wants to be appreciated, and Luthyr definitely does that. 

Frikson is someone who is very optimistic and in high spirits, but I did want to have a subtle undertone that this is a bit of a mask for Frikson. The idea that he actually has no control over anything, so he just lets fate take him where he may, and then just tries to make the best of it. This is supposed to be communicated in how the other wolves make all the decisions and choices, and he's always having to follow their lead. In a way, Frikson is also trying to overcome this, by bein' a good boy and trying to suggest about doing things for the greater good. Helping others cause it's the 'right thing to do'. This is why when in a Luthyr and Frikson dynamic, Luthyr ends up being the one to take the lead. Luthyr helps Frikson along, by encouraging him to also be an active participant in the present. You see this in the sex scene, where Luthyr tries to bring Frikson up to an equal level, instead of just taking the opportunity to be on top.

Modren is the one that I personally like paired with Luthyr, cause Modren's that serious, well meaning, but easily frustrated guy. Modren's thing is that he hates that he wasn't smart enough to see what was happening, thus his whole shtick is a fear of not having agency. If only people listened to him, if only he was smart enough, he can only rely on himself. Which I think is a great foil with Luthyr, since Luthyr is someone who can meet Modren at his level. They both pursued magic as a method of fighting their fear, so they can understand each other and their experiences. Luthyr helps Modren remain optimistic, while Modren helps keep Luthyr grounded. An idealist and a realist. I also enjoy their sex scene, cause while it's not as physical as the others, there's a level of vulnerability that's being shown by Modren, since he's very closed off under layers of pretense and appearances.

Talrem is my villain, and boy did I enjoy voicing him. The idea with him is the classic "every villain thinks they're the hero", and having Talrem have an understandable backstory was something that I wanted. Since it can be so easy to feeling justified into using that to continue to be cruel. Talrem is someone who is hurt, and is unable to find that peace, so he can only fill in that emptiness inside by continuing to be cruel. I think it was pretty astute of Luthyr to recognize that he wasn't going to be able to change Talrem's heart, since his own heart had only changed because of his time with the wolves, something that he couldn't give to Talrem. I do think he's a fun villain, and I'd like to bring him back, but that's for future Fuze. I should mention that at some point, I did float the idea of a 'bad end' where you join Talrem, but I definitely didn't have enough word space, and was worried about bein' too sexually dark.

Speaking of sexual, the polycule option for the sex scene was just pure indulgence on my part. Like, sure you could get the one on one with your favorite wolf. But, if you can't decide, why not have all four? Was it contrived? Yes. But, that's kind of my specialty when it comes to porn plots. It was fun to try and find a way to make it make a little bit of sense.

>>> Reflections on Feedback and Comments
Overall, I think I produced a solid piece of work that is able to be enjoyed to completion, while still giving me the option to continue with these characters in future chapters. My biggest room for improvement is definitely in the writing and proofreading part, as I was visibly cringing each time there was a blatant grammatical error being read aloud. Luckily, the overall plot still made sense and I didn't leave any gaping plot holes, and from the feedback, the characters were fun and the plot was 'cute'.

The most frequent comment that I received from the jam reviews was how the novel felt too 'short' or went by too 'fast'. Part of me scoffs because I think I had the highest word count in the game jam, but one thing to keep in mind is that with a few branching options, like the sit down with the wolf and the sex scene, the average length of one read thru is between, 16k to 18k words (not the total 23k that is listed on the spreadsheet). Still, it put it at the longer end of submissions, so I was still taken a back by the comments that it was short.

Granted, I think what the feedback was saying is that either the scenes moved from one to the next too fast, or the text was too efficient at conveying the information. This is one of those comments where I don't actually know what the solution is for me to address it. The opposite seems like an easier thing to solve, since you're cutting out superfluous details, but in my case, it feels like folks are asking for more superfluous details, which is odd since I was already reaching the word count limit. Maybe I was supposed to cut out a scene, so that another scene could last longer? Was I supposed to only take this story to a halfway unfinished point so that I could extend it further post-jam? Still, guess it's not the worst feeling to have if folks are asking for more.

Another element I remember getting a comment about was my use (overuse?) of common Kevin Macleod music. I guess audio is one aspect that I'll have to explore more, since I'm not a musician, nor do I know any who're willing to work on a project like this. Maybe explore different free music spaces? Though I was glad to be pushed to add a bit more in the sound effects area, cause those little chimes do make some scenes feel more immersive.

>>> Future Plans
But yeah, I think I'll take the feedback and see what I can do for when I work on the follow up in a Chapter 2. Which, while I'm not exactly expanding this first story, I do want to follow it up with a new chapter to see what I can do when I don't have so many constraints, like time or theme. I wanted to preview a few character designs I have in mind, which you can see in the uploaded pics with this devlog, just to show that I'm not completely abandoning this.

As for if I'll do another game jam? Well, I don't know if I'll do something like Novem-bear, since that's a pretty busy month for me, and I wouldn't be able to put something together that I'm proud of. But, as for next year's May Wolf, I could myself trying this again. See, if I can pick up a few new Ren'py techniques, cause one aspect I did like about this game jam is how 'reality tv competition'-coded it is. I think it might be interesting if I could join a team, pair up my art style with a writer and maybe a musician, see if a collab might be in the future.

I feel like this was my chance to really explain a bunch of my thought process, but if you guys want to leave me any questions about the story, my work flow, or just general art advice, feel free to leave them in the comments and I might do a follow up to this if there's a bunch that I just completely forgot to talk about. 

>>> Thoughts on the Game Jam Results
As for where I placed in the game jam, in terms of ratings and placement of those ratings, cumulatively I placed 13th place out of 48 entries (just barely outside the 75th percentile), with my highest rating being 9th in presentation, likely cause it was all custom made art. The VN didn't get any superlative awards either, but I did receive a participation award for taking the time to read and review all 52 other entries to the game jam (12 folks got that). I'm a little disappointed cause I was shooting for top 10 or 75th percentile, but I also can't be upset about averaging 4 stars (rounded up) on the categories. Especially at the higher end, when there were 10 entries that averaged between a rating of 3.9 and 4.0, sometimes it comes down to subjective taste and just how many folks even give your VN a shot and rate it favorably.

As for how the overall scores compared with my personal ratings (cause I did rate all 52 of them), 6 of my top 10 also made top 10, and the other 4 were in top 15. One thing I noticed in my ratings versus the majority, is that I place a higher value on projects that reached a satisfying conclusion rather than promising looking WIPs. While I get that game jams are mostly used as a way to motivate people to just work on a project, when it comes to rating them, I wouldn't want to judge a story when it's only got the first chapter done.
>My personal top pick was actually "The Curious Case of Route 19", which placed 6th.  It hits all the right marks, bein' spooky, having sexy moments, it's thought provoking, and an immersive experience that drew me into it's world. Plus, early entry, and by a first timer, like, super props to that guy.
>For my personal most underrated VN is "Blue Hour", which I'm shocked was rated 28th. It was such a cool premise, the art style is ethereal and dreamlike, there's some super fun philosophical plot lines, and I wonder if it suffered in ratings cause it took a while to get an English translation, and folks knocked points for not being able to follow the plot as a result of translation issues.
>Personal most overrated VN? "Wolf of White Waters". It's got very striking visuals, don't get me wrong, and it should to be rated mid to high, but it just comes off as pretentious to me, and 10th place is pretty high when a handful of others either did more or said more.
>My personal favorite choice, independent of score, is "Escort".  I'm a sucker for trash cinema, and "Escort" just captures everything I love about the genre. It's so over-the-top, it's so sincere, it holds nothing back, and has the bravery and nerve to put itself out there and not apologize for what it's about. It was the first game jam VN I read, and after finishing all 52, I still think about it.

Though, don't take my opinions or criticisms to heart, the fact is, if anyone is willing to put their art out there, they are already great. Still, a game jam has ratings, it has awards, it has judging, so I'm just giving my fair shake on that playing field. Feel free to also tell me about my thoughts in the comments below too. This game jam has consumed the last two months of my life, and I'm always willin' to talk shop about it.