Sadly I'll have to abandon this game.
2 major issues prevent me from further giving this game my time and they are as follows (Note: I'm playing the Mac version):
1) Saves don't work.
This issue was somewhat overcome using a method described here that says I should open the Unix Executable File located in Contents/MacOS and then it'll create a "Saves" folder and "Data.sav" file in the root folder where the game is located.
Creating an alias in the root folder made it so I didn't have to repeatedly go through all the folder to reach that and made it much easier to start the game and allowed me to save.
However, I still don't think it should be necessary for me to do this all just for the basic necessity to save my progress.
While it's a bit of a weak point compared to the 2nd one, I still think it should be noted for future updates.
2) I cannot continue playing whenever I trigger certain events.
This issue is the one that caused me to have to restart the game, throw away my saves (because the OP states using cheats can cause bugs to occur) and finally give up finding a solution because nothing I found seemed to be directly related to my problem (unless I'm misreading things).
Certain events, such as discovering Vicky and Seth "having fun" in the yard (Eye symbol near the door on the left) and inviting Emily to the beach (specifically when our MC goes to her house and sees her at the front door), will start and then the game will remove the option to do anything (the textbar disappears and not a single button or mouse click works) as if the game crashes/freezes (yet I'm still able to exit the app with the usual Mac exit keys or right-clicking the app icon and choosing exit, showing that the game hasn't exactly crashed or frozen).
This seems to be a case of missing files perhaps? In any case, it means I cannot continue key events (such as Emily's route).
If anyone knows of a solution to the latter issue then I'd be extremely grateful and I'll resume playing (the former issue I can ignore for the time being).
So the the dev(s): Thank you for the fun the game has provided me but I'd rather come back once this issue has been fixed.
To those who know a solution (preferably fellow Mac users): Thank you in advance!