The difficulties though with this is that given the time frame, I wanted this to be a short experience and I couldn't let the story branch too much. I decided on only 3 endings and giving multiple routes to these endings. Some objects are there just as tidbits of information on the characters themselves or the world around rather than the story itself. The idea behind this is to add "more" without adding more. Since it is a story game, the collection of lore is something that is likely in the interest of the player even if it doesn't do so much as to advance the actual story. It augments the experience, hiding the rather linear story behind it. 

It's things like this that make developing visual novels interesting. More can be added like statistics for the player to pass skill checks or NPC interactions. Balancing it with delivering a fun and/or impactful story is the key to a good visual novel. One that leans too heavily into the game aspect of a VN will inevitably lose the interest of those who wish for a story and vice versa. On one side, why wouldn't you just play a regular RPG and on the other, why wouldn't I just read an actual book?

Did I manage to do that with this? Definitely not. There's a lot to improve. For one, as a writer, I'm not particularly proud of the story I threw together here, though I do enjoy certain aspects. As a designer, some of the puzzles could and should be more logical and more branches would create more opportunities for interesting moments even if the writing workload would increase rather exponentially. But as a first true journey into the realm of visual novels, I'm proud in what I managed to throw together in such a short time.