My Best (Magical) Friend - Feedback/Criticism wanted!

[spotco]

Howdy all, for Ludum Dare 34 we've made a relatively short (<30 minute) visual novel.
It's called "My Best (Magical) Friend", and it's a very japanese game about friendship and cool magical powers.

Would really love to hear any and all feedback you have about any aspect of it (please, don't hold back!).
I'm usually more of an action-game developer and this was my first shot at doing something more story-focused.

DOWNLOAD:
http://spotco.itch.io/my-best-magical-friend
(Windows/PC downloads at the bottom).

[Arkentut]

This looks interesting and the art style is cute. I'll give you some feedback soon. Off to download!

[sessurea]

The character design is so refreshing! Great to see such diversity in body types! I'm looking forward to playing this.

Edit: Just finished!

The character design and the little animations gave the whole thing a cute energy that really carried the story. I usually find it really hard to really get into a visual novel, in the way that you'd get into a really good book. But this one managed to immediately make me care about the characters, just from the energy created by the character design and their little animations. Not to mention their cute personalities.

The movement system also added to that energy. I found it really appealing and stylish! Although (and this may be personal preference, in which case you're free to ignore it) there was something about navigating backwards that felt like it could be a little smoother. My thought was backtracking would be easier if I didn't have to hit enter to see the branches for a particular location. It may have been a little easier if the branches automatically appeared upon moving to location marker, without having to hit enter. But I may be missing some obvious reason for the movement system to be the way it is.

Anyway, based on that energy, I think I can see the influence of your action game background, and it really adds a unique edge to this game that makes the whole experience very refreshing!

[spotco]

...

Thanks!
The original "idea" was that the entire game was one conversation, and that you were "navigating" it through going from node to node.
Of course, became much easier to write as a more VN-like story (with intro, content, choices and conclusion).

Gameplay-wise, thought it would be interesting to have "overworld"-like navigation when moving through the story.
There aren't any "overworld" mechanics other than conditionally-locked nodes, but that was in consideration at points in time.
Definitely could be more streamlined though!

[Arkentut]

So... Here goes.

Art; it's really cute and the colors are truly vibrant and warm, truly match the whole situation and theme. I love how cute Simone's costume is. The background is really nice too and matches nicely with the sprite and GUI. One thing that I really noticed from this game is the music; which, I have to admit, really stands out in a good way. It adds more cuteness to the story. The transition and the way the branching really surprises me as it is my very first time seeing such awesome way to branch the choice. Although, I can't find the option button, save slot, or even a way to quit the game.