Around this time, Jun Maeda was inspired by Hiroyuki Kanno's pioneering 1996 visual novel '. It demonstrated the storytelling potential of the visual novel medium, and influenced Maeda's later works. After leaving Scoop in 1997, Maeda went to work for the newly formed company Tactics under the publisher Nexton. There, he went to work on the scenario and musical composition of Tactics' second game "Moon", followed by his work on the scenario for their third game ' in 1998. After realizing the positive reception received for both titles, Maeda and much of the staff who made both "Moon" and "One", including Itaru Hinoue, Shinji Orito, Naoki Hisaya, and OdiakeS, left Tactics to work under the video game publishing company VisualArt's where they formed the company Key.