SaintOfVoid

this game´s an awesome read, and also totally wouldn´t mind dmm going full force at non japanese markets, seeing how much they lately focus on developing own titles etc. 
+ their budget is sky-high, can´t complain about its tl-quality, adult-dlc planned and the whole thing´s just appears to be well thought-through.
hope this keeps up.

sorry if that sounded a bit rude, but it wasn´t neccessarily aimed at you, more generally talking, or in the case of noby refering to your previous comment. the "maybe presented itself too much of being the next Clannad and others, rather then focusing on making a good product" part that is.

in short, neither has a debut title to be commercial, nor does it have to look like one. good writing and story is all that matters in the beginning. seen some friends pour tons of their savings into creating sth and still put it on freem, only to get some exposure first. budget, media coverage and hype gets you nowhere if the aforementioned are lacking.

in my opinion its been doomed from the beginning. honestly, and unless you´re a lucky fucker who´s got fairies writing the script at midnight, there´s simply no way sth good will come out of it without having at least some talent for writing. granted there´s also a massive mountain of garbage available in jp, but the vast majority doesn´t even dare declaring it as some sort of next level written whatnot, instead puts it on freegame and good is. this whole "let´s kickstart xy, cause i´m able to play with my dick - talent is for the simpleminded and there´s no stopping me" attitude is what ridicules those who really put their heart into it, eg. invertmouse, ebi-hime etc etc. no even wanting to touch upon the subject of releasing a barebone piece of rubbish, or getting mad upon being confronted with the ugly truth via reviews/blogbposts

he´s the author of a free doujin called cyber-rebeat in which he rather darn promisingly demonstrated the potential writing-abilities of his (though the engine they´ve used sucked dinosaur balls). all in all it´s by no means a masterpiece, probably never meant to be one as well, but its thought-through concept and the overall premise sets itself pleasantly apart from many others of its kind.
http://www.freem.ne.jp/win/game/9149

mocha´s mesmerizing bg-art - check
partly written by earu - double check
promising/interesting setting - let´s go!

re: ...and I know that some readers don't want realism in VNs to begin with, so this is something they will never understand or even want in the first place ...

- characters behaving in a realistic, non illogical and consequent manner does not neccessarily contradict a plotline that still gives off a fictional vibe, as both are pretty much able to co-exist, btw. enhance eachother, whereas most titles lacking the former often end up nothing but works of great retardism, making you cringe until there is no more. basically saying well written works of selfinsertion are long since dead, be it either because of authors seemingly giving some fucks, or to non scare off the more sensitive part of their readership who tend to favor maximized escapism over its pendant, prone to getting depressive and such. honestly speaking, to me every kind of art (unless it contains personal information) is and should always stand above ethics and morals, means, why should an author even care about some readers possibly hanging themselves, forwhy it´s simply neither his nor his works fault (obvious exaggeration(?) here). nothing worse than crippling your own works out of false consideration/playing amateur-therapist, seriously.