Overall, feels very serene, and definitely fit the folklore theme. Wish we can explore more about Sidapa himself, given that his reaction at the end is kinda miffed by the sudden ending; which is why I can't wait for more route to explore more about the world and characters. The folklore is interesting though, although I'm a little confuse about the pig part, but I presume that's in the folklore itself. 

At first I was really confused about the stars but then I'd become enamored - by the visual design, the music, and the voice acting. Unfortunately, the ambition is leaking through... I will say that I'd found one of you biggest inspirations (STP) about a month before the jam, and I recognized it well, but... the biggest joy in that novel is the sheer variety. For a game jam? It seemed like too little time. It was.

I'm really looking forward to the full release, but for the jam version, it's... alright. Just wish I knew more of Libulan by the end. Presentation's great, the folklore is intriguing... yeah, I really hope you finish this.

Of all the games I've read so far, I believe this one most fulfills the folklore theme's brief. It's as straightforward of a folk tale as you can get, really. It offers a supernatural explanation for a mundane aspect of life (why the night sky is filled with stars), and does so by personifying the forces of nature into anthropomorphic gods. Yet by doing so, it offers a down-to-earth sort of tale, one that's easy for us mortals to relate to while still making it clear they are immortal deities. It's a really nice perspective into the world of gods, one that's aided by the good characterization and nicely-drawn sprites (especially Death himself, hubba hubba). Though the game is incomplete and as such some choices are closed off, it's still really nice to see choices that affect the plotline. The major choice is a simple one though, help Libulan or not? Yet there's no clear moral imperative either way so it still presents a challenge for the reader. It can be hard to empathize with him when he claims the death of thousands of mortals is worth having his beauty be admired. But, at the same time, we already know that the stars belong in the night sky, though the characters don't know it yet. And if anyone can empathize with the Moon, it's Death. So, truthfully, it's a little bit of a shame that the only completed route is the one where you betray him and side with the Sun. As hot as the Sun is (literally!) it nevertheless feels like a betrayal. Still, I enjoyed this VN a lot! Though it's not too complicated, it made me stop and think several times. I'm looking forward to seeing the completed version.

Alright, so, the store page for this one mentions it's a tribute to Slay the Princess, which is both an ambitious aim, and, at the moment, a bit of an ambitious claim. As others have pointed out, one of the main draws of Slay the Princess is its scale, including the number of responses you have and the vast ways you can shape the story. That really isn't present here, as, certainly in this build but even as routes get fleshed out, structurally this is a pretty standard non-kinetic VN with a few different routes.

However, the best way this project does align with Slay the Princess is its clearest reference. While Slay the Princess opens with "This is a love story", Death and the Thief of Stars opens with "Do not be misled. This is not a dating sim of either gods (sic)." Maybe it's just because the story isn't finished yet, but I think some people might be missing how important that statement is and the way what is presented isn't always entirely true, like Slay the Princess.

I want to get more into that, but before we get there let's take a look at some other rating criteria.

Implementation of Theme:

Yep, requirement met, easy. I had absolutely no knowledge of Filipino mythology before now (actually I'm not sure that's true, I knew what an aswang was but you get the idea) but some brief internet searching confirms that Libulan, Liadlao, and Sidapa are all real figures, and even if they weren't, this story is grounded in mythology more than enough to meet the "folklore" theme. Full credit here. 

Presentation/Writing:

I thought the presentation here was pretty impressive across the board. Full disclosure, I didn't listen to any of the voice acting since it often bothers me more than helps me with VNs, but that's a personal issue and it's still commendable that you managed to get all that recorded and implemented within jam timelines. The BGM was also great across the board, though the initial track especially seemed to carry on for a bit too long and I would have appreciated some more variety. All the tracks were really distinct and memorable though, and it's clear how much effort went into each one. Like oh my lord was the theme for the first encounter with Liadlao in the jungle a banger. 

The visuals were generally strong as well, with the backgrounds being effective and Libulan's sprites (both costumes) working well, even if I wasn't sure what exactly his fur color was supposed to be in the veiled version. Liadlao, on the other hand, did look a bit goofy to me, especially when compared to Sidapa's depiction on the main menu screen. Like, Sidapa is built like an absolute brick shithouse and I found it just a little hard to believe that he'd be so intimidated by Liadlao, fire powers not withstanding.

There were a few typos and other errors throughout, but the script was well proofread for the most part and really only needed another read-through or two to catch the remaining errors (the grammatical error in the intro warning about the game not being a dating sim is rough though - that's the kind of thing you really want to double check since it's so prominent). The writing itself did trend a bit too verbose at times though, and I think, along with the proofreading, this could have used another pass for general editing. For example, "The cassava will take a while before it cooks, and then we can eat once it's ready." could be cut down to "It'll take a while for the cassava to cook." - the second part is already understood and this flows much more naturally.

Story:

Getting into the meat of the narrative, unfinished projects are always tough to evaluate for jam criteria. The good news is, I think I see where we're going with this thematically; the bad news is, I think that maybe because of the order the routes are being implemented, that vision isn't coming through very well for everyone.

Looking at the other comments, I'm seeing a lot of framing of Libulan as entitled and unsympathetic, and, maybe I'm getting the whole thing wrong or something, but I feel like people are kind of missing the point with these characters. I'm seeing a few references to Libulan getting Liadlao's husband killed below as a reason for this, so it may help to start by breaking that situation down:

1) Liadlao killed Lang. Yes, Liadlao blames Libulan, and he wants Sidapa (and the reader) to take that at face value, but it was Liadlao's spear that killed him. It's classic tragic irony - trying to avoid fate is what caused it to play out in the first place. If Liadlao hadn't been so focused on divining the future, Lang wouldn't have died. 

2) There are multiple references to the inevitable mortality of humans. Even with the stars intact during the day, Sidapa, the god of death, still had to deal with death every day. Predicting the future with stars isn't saving anyone in the long run or stopping death, it's just shuffling the timing around in limited cases. (Also, it's not clear why the astronomers couldn't just read the stars if they were at night rather than during the day if they really needed to be focused on the predictions, but that's a bit tangential to the point). 

3) It is, at best, unclear the extent to which Liadlao really, like really cared about Lang. We hear later that Liadlao has a whole army of spouses, and even when he's talking with Sidapa during the ending, he brings up two entirely different spouses. Does he care about all those spouses? Sure, he seems to, at least, but only temporarily before moving onto the next thing. Hell, he's already flirting with Sidapa in that scene. The stars, mortals, and even other gods in Sidapa's case are just possessions, they're mirrors to tell Liadlao how awesome he is. Libulan never gets any of that because he's literally relegated to the shadows for all eternity. Like compare Liadlao directly asking if Surendra mentioned him on the way to the afterlife to Libulan asking if Liadlao mentioned him when talking to Sidapa. Both want to be seen and acknowledged, but Liadlao is asking to reinforce what he already knows (or thinks he knows) while Libulan is desperate for someone to notice him at all. 

4)  It doesn't pertain to Lang so much as the general interactions between Sidapa and Liadlao, but it's also worth pointing out that Liadlao is a textbook manipulator. He's slick, charming, patient, and affectionate, and he'll tell you nice things and give you head pats (even if he negs you for how bad your star dog sucks) as long as you do what he says, and he'll threaten to kick your shit in if you don't.

Like, let's be clear here - there is a clear imbalance between Liadlao and Libulan. Liadlao does get all the power, all the recognition, all the spouses, and all the admiration while Libulan is expected to thanklessly do his job. Liadlao is analogous to a billionaire telling a 9-5 wage slave to shut up and be happy he's getting paid a living wage. Yes, Libulan could have handled the situation better, and yes, stealing the stars the way he did may have been wrong, but he does have a point, and if you're totally on board with Liadlao you're kind of proving it.

This isn't really meant to paint Liadlao as the bad guy either - both brothers' traits are totally understandable given their circumstances. Liadlao is selfish, egotistical, and arrogant because everyone has been telling him his shit don't stink for his entire existence. Libulan is weaselly and conniving because he's been isolated and sequestered his entire existence. He doesn't know how to trust, he's insecure, he has no self-esteem, and he doesn't know how to communicate, because he's been on his own wallowing in the shadows for millennia. 

This all leads back to the starting quote and where I think this is supposed to go. This is not a dating sim. Both brothers are deeply flawed due to a system they didn't initially choose, and are too ingrained in their ways to see things from each other's perspective. Sidapa is a neutral arbiter that is tasked with doing the right thing rather than siding with one brother or the other, and that will likely take the form of a compromise that lands somewhere in between, that neither one could have seen on their own. It's just hard to know that for sure, and hard to see at all, when it's not actually in the text yet. 

I know that was more of a rant than an actual critique, but I felt like I was going crazy here so I just had to let that one rip. 

Creativity:

Yeah, I can't fault the creativity here at all. Maybe Slay the Princess is a lofty ambition, but there's a lot already present in this build to like. The characters are well-realized (at least to me), and the audiovisual direction is intentional, inspired, and vibrant. I'm not sure where the final scope for this project is going to land, but I hope this team can see out their vision because I think they're cooking something special. 

Not sure what was up with Libulan getting like, demoted to pig at the end though. Might be some offended boars out there, I don't know. 

Final score of 19 asses out of 12 wangs from me. 

Occasionally, there comes games that I find good but have very little to say. Death and the Thief of Stars is well made as a whole, but I nevertheless have few specific qualities or flaws to point to. One thing I did miss was a "Neutral" route. For a project with branching paths (even if there's only one currently implemented), the game didn't quite sell me on the idea that this MC has any real stakes in this conflict — one of the characters even says so. Unless a player finds themselves enamoured by these "Love Interests" (which I did not), having to choose between the routes feels pretty arbitrary, which is where I think a "None of the above" route really could have fit. Even so, I myself think this criticism might be me asking the game to be what it is not. I don't have much to say on Death and the Thief of Stars, but I can say it is fine.

Wow... That was beautiful...

I love this a lot, maybe I'm biased because this is a Filipino mythos inspired work. But the story, the presentation, I just hope post-jam I could see the other routes. AND, with voice acting as well??? Insane pursuit over greatness, like I want to give my props to Libulan's VA they did so well with how they expressed his lines, like the emotion in Libulan's voice is just *chef's kiss*. Sidapa meanwhile with his sultry voice like damn, though it's so quiet sometimes I don't hear it or get confused by what he says. As for Liadlao, has quite the hard Filipino accent (/pos, I as well am a hard Filipino in his presence- I mean whatttt), I do kind of wish on that scene where he was behind Sidapa it had directional audio, the simpness would have risen even more haha,,, also I noticed when there was no audio, he had an echo in his voice, either intentional for god-like audio, or unintentional, I don't have much for comment. But still with all the work done, it was mega impressive. So much has been done for this.

Now for the implementation of the theme. Pretty much done well, very well, the story is folktale-like along with being inspired orrrrr implemented from true folktales of I hope I'm right, Visayan deities from long old, ones like Bathala for other examples of old gods in Filipino mythology, I need to look at more information about those, I feel ashamed to be lacking.

The story, was beautiful, I was immersed, the voices did well to keep me reading, and this is probably one of the few times I would slow down my reading. And I felt strong emotions about these characters, I went, for example "TELL ME LIBULAN, TELL ME WHY YOU DID IT BEFORE SIDAPA WILL PROBABLY FORCE YOU, YOU'RE NOT SPEAKING." And "WHY WOULD BE BELIEVE THAT YOU LOVE HIM WHEN YOU BETRAYED HIM 😭." And it was great. Though it's hard to tell who's telling a lie on the kind of personality each brother presents, I wonder what would be known post-jam. Like Liadlao says he doesn't open up to his brother, and in my head I confirmed it by how "Urgh, I'm not telling you, you would just be the same, just like all of them" like I understand how he feels, it's just not helping his case for Sidapa to listen, Sidapa had given him the chance to talk but noooo. Also I wonder how Maguayen would be able to return them in time as a "Here's back to the beginning of the story again." But considering this is going to be something inspired by Slay the Princess, I kind of wonder if it will be a full return, or a change in story, which damn it wayyyyyyyyy lots of work for a jam, but good for an initial start because that's how STP also started as a demo.

The presentation, also impressive is the many sprites, especially for Libulan my goodness, I really like all their designs, but I'll save my thoughts on Sidapa because all he has is a back view (which does look nice still). Though if I have a suggestion, it would be to change the menu colors, it doesn't contrast with the dark background, so it's a little hard to see. Also those chapter screens, very nice. The chosen backgrounds, done well. That one cg, urghhhhh painnnn in my heart (/pos). Also the music, props to them too, did so well to immerse me in the story too.

The writing, I can't explain it, it's just good. Em dashes are a trigger for the brain, but I remember someone I'm not sure if it was you who said will continue using em dashes regardless of the current state of writing with em dashes and semi colons. Still they were used well. There was one line that didn't have a capital on the word after "..." I have to check some time. Now this is a part of the VA work for missing dialouge, but it won't remove any points, rather just sections in case there aren't any noticed recorded lines such as "What how?", "Your brother was easy to converse with", "That was not a request", "It was not until then that he used the stars against me, and ran away", "I'm sorry Libulan, but I cannot do it...", "That would ruin what we worked hard to fix, do we not?", "Of course I do. When I delivered him, he was happy." While for Liadlao, "Follow me to the mountain peak, Death. I have something to show you.", and "How can I ever repay this debt of mine?" And then "But too much is at stake" is said instead of "But so much is at stake."

And finally, incredibly creative, probably the only one that did VA work (afaik, if not correct me, and even if there would be, it's still creative as heck.) But that already bumps up a lot in the creativity factor, and also, it was done so well. No wonder it was also inspired by Slay the princess URGHHHH, so good, so peak.

5 on all the boards, can't wait for post-jam.

'Death and the Thief of Stars' is a furry visual novel retelling of a Filipino myth of the source of the stars in the night sky. Always fun when these folklore entries bring me to do outside research about validity of myths vs cultural impact vs purpose of myths, none of which are suited to be discussed here. Instead, this is a story about the role of fate and design, how Gods are often portrayed with surprisingly mortal vices, and the value of balancing the desires of the individual over the desires of the masses.

This is a story about Gods, the god of the moon Libulan, who steals away the stars (that are only visible during the day) from his brother Liadlao, god of the sun, and hides out on the mountain belonging to the god of death, Sidapa. Sidapa starts by speaking on behalf of Libulan to Liadlao, as he is a neutral party who does not care whether stars are in the day sky or night sky. Liadlao reasons that the stars were not Libulan's to take and that by taking them from the day sky would throw the heaven's out of balance for mortals use the stars to divine the future and their locations on the surface of the Earth. Libulan retorts that they are lonely in the night sky and requires the stars so that they can feel beautiful and be seen at night. Sidapa ultimately agrees with Liadlao (in this build) because Libulan is in the wrong no matter how justified their motivations may appear, both in that the stars are not theirs to take and it would cause terrible consequences. As a result, Libulan's wolf form becomes a pig and they fall into a depression and fade while Sidapa gets to be all flirty with Liadlao painting stars in the day sky. We are told this is the bad-wrong ending as another god comes along to tell us that we made the wrong choices, and that they will send us back in time to make the right choices. The good-right route does not exist at this present time.

The presentation is fantastic, with really appealing art sprites of the characters, excellent audio direction and even fully voice acted dialog! There is a lot of effort that had been put into the visual and audio experience, that it feels like watching an independent short film. The visual novel medium is used to a great extent to show all the [exploration] options for more info, or just [response] options to move the story along. I will criticize how it's frustrating re-reading through the story expecting to be able to obtain the good-right ending, that was greyed out, only to find that the option isn't available yet (perhaps not show the option exists?). The writing is quite well done, and reads like a reading an ancient folklore myth, and each of the characters really stand out in their own ways. I will say that I felt the voice acting was a bit too slow for my liking, and about halfway I ended up muting it so I could read through the mundane parts a bit faster. It was interesting that the splash screen warned against this being a dating sim, which feels a bit confusing towards thinking there was no romantic elements in the story, when it also feels like romance does play a heavy role in motivation for the characters, so being a bit more specific in saying there aren't any explicit scene would better convey the nature of the story.

The folklore aspect is front and center, being a re-interpretation of this myth with anthropomorphic furry species. That being said, I'm left wondering how effective it was even as a way to convey why Sidapa would willingly let Libulan steal away the stars for the night. Maybe it's because the current story route does too good a job in portraying Libulan as a spoiled twink with self-esteem issues, and makes Sidapa and Liadlao as the reasonable level-headed guys. Especially with the epilogue straight up telling the reader that "this is not how the story should go, go back and redo it". I take it that this would be better fleshed out in future updates, but for the current build, I think I'm supposed to feel sympathy towards Libulan that doesn't just come across as trying to be manipulative. As if, the only reason I'm supposed to side with Libulan, is because I know that stars show up in the night sky. Granted, that just might also be the original myth. Anyway, I thought this entry was really creative with it's presentation and the way it handled dialog choices.

It's kinda crazy just how good this game is put together for what looks like a first time writer/manager, especially with the help of so many contributors. What looks like several character and background artists, coders, voice actors, editors, and musician. Time management and team management are both hard learned skills, so being able to collaborate with so many is impressive. Scope seems to have outgrown the confines of the jam, so it's a bit unfortunate that we only get what is written to judge the game off of. It's hard to say if there's any critique towards the re-interpretation of the myth story itself, since you have to adhere to the general pre-established narrative, but maybe this visual novel is limited by the source material. Stray too and doing your own thing loses the connection to the myth, staying too close means it's hard to see what spin or new input is given to the story. Funny enough, if you had just left the visual novel as is, where the stars don't get put into the night sky, then it might even be considered a subversion of the expected myth. Perhaps a re-interpretation of what the dark night sky meant, less as a "I'm stealing the stars so I can be beautiful" and more of "I'm embracing my existing beauty, which lifts the dark veil of my jealousy and that reveals the stars," or something with a modern emotionally healthy twist to the myth. Still, great job, and gratz to a strong first showing.

I think this is a game with a lot of promise, that's held back by ambition perhaps too big for a jam game. It wears its STP inspirations on its sleeve, which I deeply respect, but it lacks the same expanse that is what made the many many combinations of STP so awe-inspiring. The art, especially the sense of design, is beautiful. But perhaps some CGs for some of the standout moments, like painting the stars back into the sky, would go a long way. I think it's a strong introduction, but without more, I find myself lacking investment in our trio. Frankly the moon does seem incredibly selfish, and his actions resulted in the death of his brother's spouse. I'd be upset too! Beyond "I love effeminate twinks" there's... just not a lot of compulsion to side with him. 

The voice acting is fine, it works well enough, but I don't know if, for me personally, it adds enough to justify the amount of work it entails, or that it makes the lines where it occasionally doesn't work, all the more jarring. It's one of those things that I believe is really, really hard to pull off at the weird in between place of layperson and professional that a lot of us in the fandom occupy. 

As for the folklore itself, I think that's my favorite part. I remember awhile back hearing about Sidapa and Bulan... and then finding out that the whole thing was fabricated, and that being a huge scandal. I know that a lot of Filipino culture was lost due to colonization, so sharing more of it, even reinterpreted, is a really noble choice. I do really hope you see this game through and finish it in its intended form.  

"(Twink) Death (of) the Thief of Stars"! In all seriousness though, I've never had any contact with this side of folklore or mythology, but even if this were a 1:1 retelling of a myth, the execution is so skillful that I would find it hard to use that against it.

The art is sublime, the writing flows, and the story is very captivating, so I find it hard to pick out many weaknesses in this submission. Only a couple of small things irked me a little during the whole game, and for a project this long, for so few slips to occur is also worth commending.

The only real issue worth mentioning is that by the end of the story, I had grown quite tired of Libulan's whole "No one understands me" shtick while refusing to elaborate much beyond "My brother was always more important," while at the same time seemingly refusing to talk with anyone other than the protagonist. Now, it may be that he tried and failed, or perhaps his brother lies about it, but if that's the case, he doesn't disclose any of it either.

Nevertheless, this detracts very, very little from the project, and I still found myself heavily invested in the characters and the story for its entire duration.

This is quite the lovely VN. Great art, energetic music, and even some excellent voice acting. All of these elements combine to make for an impressively good presentation. The prose is also a joy to read by itself, with words naturally flowing into each other. The mythology this story is based on is one I'm not particularly familiar with, so that gives it a few points in the originality department. The story really hits that mythological tale sweet spot. The characters are quite fascinating, with each one feeling like they have depth beyond the VN itself. Also, cute tiger and scalie, so bonus points for that. I will say that Libulan kinda got on my nerves with how entitled he acted, though the available route does punish him properly. Unfortunately, the route where you side with Libulan isn't implemented into the game yet, so that sucks. I really wanted to read that route since, from that's closer to the actual myth, considering we don't have stars in the morning sky. Highly recommend reading this, especially when all the routes are implemented.

A VN directly retelling a folklore story (as far as I can tell), we have seen strangely few of those. And as someone who was unfamiliar with the source material, I was intrigued.

The story was really nice. It flowed pretty well, the characters were interesting (Sidapa himself was maybe a bit underdevelopped?). Too bad the other routes couldn’t be finished in time; I’m interested in checking them out when they are. They might help bridge the two faces of the moon we see (hehe, faces, phases^^)

Having voice acting is always a treat. There were a few problems with it (a couple lines missing their voice, Sidapa being quieter than the other voices) but the acting was pretty good! I really liked the music too! It’s pretty varied and just nice. The sprites have really neat designs as well. The backgrounds are a bit uneven though, and the overall image is a bit static.

Overall, a really nice story. It makes me want to go see the stars… Great job!

This is an incredibly promising game, that falters somewhat under the weight of its own ambition - from the voice acting to the choice structure, I can definitely see where inspiration was taken from Slay The Princess, but it does leave me wondering if such a project was fit for a game jam like May Wolf - because of the time limits imposed by the jam, we only really have one route out of seemingly many, with some variation near the end - and quite a few dead ends to tease us. 

These dead ends are the main problem I have with the story - while the sheer variety of choices in Slay The Princess helped make the game feel vast and unending, the amount of dead ends here makes the game feel quite constricting - to the point where I wonder if we needed to be told just how much we were "missing", because as is it feels as though it casts a shadow over what we do already have for this story (especially when the only route we currently have feels like the "bad" route in so many ways).

And, in spite of what I said, what we have is fantastic! The characters are well-defined and interesting, the writing is gripping, and the voice actors elevate the script even further! Libulan especially stands out as a character, with his beautiful sprites, his actor's fantastic performances, and just by being really interesting to follow in general - just like how the princess is the centerpiece of STP, he makes for a fantastic centerpiece to this work - and one which leaves me incredibly curious as to what the rest of the routes will look like. 

There's some small issues with the presentation, such as the voices not all being at the same volume (with the MC's voice especially being quite a bit more quiet than that of the rest of the cast) and it feeling as though there aren't enough backgrounds for me to really properly grasp the world here (I especially would have liked for there to be a background of the MC's house, but I understand that it would be really hard to get it right given the usage of stock photos), but at the end of the day this preview left me thoroughly impressed, and I'll certainly follow to see what comes next - whether it's in visual novel form, or as any other form of interactive fiction.

For a God, Libulan is far to be perfect, but he has a good motive, and dang I’m rooting for him. All the characters are well written, and the art is beautiful. Good job!!

We discussed this a lot already on Discord so I'll spare the copy paste, but if somebody is reading this I recommend the game. It's enjoyable, even if it has a fair amount of issues that need fixing. Pacing, character motivations, and the stakes need to be adjusted and this game will be a lot better.