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Time Wizard Studios: My journey started when I made this post on the Lemmasoft Forums, convinced of how easy it would be to make a lewd RenPy game. Well, 3 years and $15,000 dollars later, I can finally conclude that, actually, it is not that easy. But nevertheless, here we are! Before we get to the big reveal though, let me take you a little back. When I discovered this genre of gaming all those years ago, I was instantly hooked. I was having a blast playing and exploring the newly emerging market of Western Adult Games. But in the back of my mind, I knew I could make something better. So, I downloaded RenPy and got to work. Who knew that my scheduled daily fap session would set me on track to change my life forever. I wanted to create something that was more than just a hentai game. I wanted to immerse myself in the game. To wander around the setting, entering and exiting locations as I pleased. To have these backgrounds be filled with girls that I could talk or flirt with. To find items littered around each location, items that I could interact with, pick up, combine, give, or just plain investigate. To solve puzzles and mysteries, embark on quests, play mini-games, raise stats, and collect money. All while periodically getting my rocks off to doe-eyed cuties. So, I am very excited to show you the first release of our brand new interactive Adult Point-&-Click Adventure Game, meets Dating Simulator, meets Visual Novel — Another Chance! The Game: Another Chance stars a 20-something waste of space going nowhere fast. Through a series of mysterious circumstances, our protagonist receives a divine intervention and is granted another chance at life. You can’t invest in Bitcoin in this new timeline, but you could possibly hold some hands. Here is a little gif that shows what our game is about: https://i.imgur.com/v8FyBgs.mp4 But don’t worry, we’ve also got something for those of you who like your pixels stationary. Meet some of the girls you will be bumping into as your roam Newfall High’s hallways and corridors. https://i.imgur.com/arMH4fe.jpg And a couple of locations where the story takes place! https://i.imgur.com/ceA08jZl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/lkMvKFK.jpg https://i.imgur.com/KhLjKFL.jpg https://i.imgur.com/bGhMWjm.jpg The Future: That concludes my little town cry. For most of the developmental time, I was working from the shadows, but now I am very excited to become a regular poster in this community. The game is currently free, you can download and play the latest version, and if tickles your fancy, check out the Patreon. We plan to roll out new updates monthly. But truthfully, that is not what is most important to me. Really, I just want to foster this community. I feel a strong sense of acceptance and belonging from forums like this. So, above all else, play the game or not, enjoy it or hate it, support or freeload — in any case, you're welcome to join me on the Discord! Here is the Discord Link! https://discordapp.com/invite/KPRktG2 Here is a link to the Itch page where you can download the Mac, Linux, or Windows version. https://timewizardstudios.itch.io/anotherchance We’ll be waiting!

That was pretty much my exact reaction when I found it. At first, I thought the high rating might be because of the joke/meme reviews that commonly plague Steam, but I decided to give it a go anyways since it was pretty cheap. Long story short, I think it deserves the praise it has received. At its core, it's basically just a slice of life drama (like you said), but it's presented in such a brilliant and impactful way that I played through the entire VN, all routes included, in a single sitting (totaling maybe 10 hours), simply because I couldn't manage to put it down. I honestly can't think of any Japanese VNs to compare it to off the top of my head, because this felt much more real to me than those usually do; probably in part due to the fact that some of stuff is based on the developer's personal experiences, and coincides with my own on several occasions.

Okay, finished Acting Lessons (completed all the routes and got all major endings. Didn't bother to uncover every single of little ending variations) It was really good. In addition to what I have already said, I agree that they did the protagonist's male friend thing really well. After hitting bad ending on the first playthrough, the good one was all the more satisfying. This VN surprised me a few times, made me shed some tears, and had some nice comedic bits as well. With 3D EVNs it's really hit and miss, since many of them are just plain nukiges, sex sims etc, but this one is really one of the gems. 8/10

As for Acting Lessons, I just finished my first playthrough. Wow... the last two chapters hit like a ton of bricks. And some twists were really twisty. Also, THE WALKTHROUGH LIED TO ME! Seriously though, this VN does unusually good job when it comes to the consequences of the protagonists decisions. And I have to go back and get me some good endings now. But I'm already impressed. Also, (warning, HEAVY SPOILER!) Someone asked for a similar JVN. I think the one that comes closest from the ones I played (but still very different) would be Yume Miru Kusuri. Themes are different, but the thing about consequences (and having some of the h-scenes already in the common route) bears some similarity.

I see. I think I'll give it a try - it's pretty cheap anyway and apparently not too long either. It'll be interesting to see how much the 3D-EVN scene has evolved in the meantime.

There's no option for it right in the game, but since it's written in Ren'Py, it probably would be possible to somehow edit it to have visible textbox.

I'm reading it right now, and really liking it so far. (I'm at 3rd chapter) It's quite refreshing when an EVN doesn't try to pretend to be JVN, but does its own thing.

Have you read Acting Lessons? If you're not averse to VNs in 3D, I highly recommend it. I stumbled over it by chance during my Christmas vacation and it turned out to be one of my best VN experiences of the year, just out of the blue like that. It's really well written, with great humor and one of the most awesome best friend characters I've ever seen. It can get quite dark and emotional at times though, so you might want to make sure you're in the right state of mind before you start reading.

First, I'm going to say right out that this VN feels very familiar to me, as someone who dropped Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai. I dropped that game for a number of reasons... but the biggest one was that I was extremely tired of slice-of-life and romance at the time. Since Hoshi Ori (and indeed all games by Tone Works) is a pure slice-of-life/romance VN (not charage) it just was a bad time for me to hit on it. As I studied my feelings about my experiences with the path I'd played, I went ahead and rated it based on that, and I'm going to tell yall some of my impressions of Tone Works' games. Tone Works, unlike most slice-of-life companies, doesn't utilize any sort of heavy-handed moe. As a result, it definitely isn't a moege company, as most slice-of-life companies are. This is only the first - and least important- distinction. The most important distinction is the detail in which this company portrays the blooming, growth, and maturity of the relationship between the lovers. The creation of the relationship, its growth into deep love, and its mellowing and deepening into maturity in adulthood are all portrayed in this company's VNs in incredible detail... That is why their heroine paths are generally ten hour affairs (seriously) and actually much longer than the common route. This VN is no exception that way. The common route covers the first half of the central cast's middle school experience together... and that in itself covers about six hours of reading. However, from there it extends through the end of middle school, throughout high school, college, and into the characters' mid-twenties, touching upon various experiences in each era, as the characters grow and mature. To be honest, this kind of VN will probably overwhelm most people who read it with the sheer overload of information you get. By the time I'd finished Bethly's path, I'd been playing for eleven hours, just covering the growth of their relationship and path to marriage. As such, I can't really make a good comparison to give you reference points for how to understand the experience of a VN like this. In my experience, neither novels nor VNs actually cover this kind of gentle, almost real-feeling relationship growth. That is probably the reason why I had trouble with Hoshi Ori. For better or worse, the story goes so deep into the characters that it really feels like a betrayal when you pick another heroine, to the point where I actually feel like I'm cheating on Bethly for starting a new path. I didn't even realize I was becoming this emotionally invested in her, lol. It isn't quite the same as the epiphany I had when I first watched a love-comedy anime (Ai Yori Aoshi), but it is the first major epiphany I've had in some time, when it comes to fiction. While I always complain about the incomplete nature of Vn endings, I am definitely getting the feeling that I should have been careful what I wished for, lol. PS: Incidentally, I rofled hard at the scene from the pic below. http://s21.photobucket.com/user/Rihochan/media/Bethly zombie.png.html

Also always on the lookout for this, but so far I haven't found anything 'larger' than Clannad. If you're just looking for an unique route system, you could perhaps try Axanael. The story is told from the perspectives of six different protagonist, which you all read at the same time. The catch is, that the only 'choices' in that VN are completely luck based (on your first way through at least), as it is the Russian Roulette itself that changes the story. Each time a character participates in the game, there's the possibility of them either dying or getting their wish fulfilled, and the story changes based on that. It's a very novel and entertaining way of reading an interactive story, although it admittedly wears out after your second or third way through, as they didn't go too crazy with the variations for obvious reasons.