There is. I wanted to tell that here as well but somewhy the board was bugged for me and I couldn't. I'm gonna release V1.0.1 public early October and also I'm gonna release V1.02 somewhere in the future. Not sure how long the public releases will keep up though.
The big thing I would argue is that, instead of making us pay for the full version while Patreon supporters get the full version upon completion, why not just make it so the patreon supporters get the most recent updates while you delay the free version for a couple updates? It is a bit more clerical work in terms of keeping track of versions and updates, but it also incentivizes people to either pay and get the newest features, or wait x months before getting a taste of what the current build is.
I don't want to get personal here, because I don't know you... For me making this game would certainly be impossible without the support of the patrons. No, not because of the money. The money is always nice, I'm not gonna say bullshit here, but for me, it's more like that there are people out there who loved my game so much that they are willing to pay for it 5 bucks. This shows me that they trust and that they DO want me to finish this game. I tried to make games before, non NSFW games but I always got bored after the demo. While they got a positive reception after a few ppl said "It was good, waiting for the full release", nobody really cared and I was there pouring months of work into a game and now I would need to do this for maybe years just to get some ppl to play it... Dunno, maybe it's just me, but this just killed my motivation. It's a ton of work to make graphics by yourself and code the game as well. I'm pretty sure that if I went full free, there wouldn't be this much work that I did after the free release. So no I don't agree with what you said about Patreon (what surprise there), it helps content creators to not have their motivation killed.
I'm not a fan of ad hominem openers of "I don't know you, so I won't bash you, but..." It smacks of someone who has no issue about being condescending to others about a subject they are familiar with.
As a boss once told me, "unless you are passionate about this work, I don't want you. If this is just another paycheque, you're gonna burn out on me." I find that holds true across the board in terms of "passion projects" and whatnot. You can't go into a job or "passion project" looking to make money, or else your art will suffer. You say Patreon is a means for content creators to stay motivated, but what's to keep them from posting maybe one or two updates a year, and then disappearing? The appeal of free money is much more incentive to not try than it is a means to keep the momentum going.
Also, there was a kickstarter for a guy to make potato salad, and exceeded its campaign goal by a golden mile. People don't trust you, bud. They're just mouth-breathing morons who will throw money at literally anything for the sake of either feeling like they're getting good vibes, maybe feeling like they're helping someone achieve a dream, and/or because memes. Don't misunderstand that. I could start a Patreon to record myself taking a shit every time I need to take one, and probably make more than you do.
So in the end I would say, I don't need the money, I need the motivation. And fck me I know, but money motivates me. To be honest posts like these always make me a little sad, because I tried not the be the typical here are 2 images give me 10 bucks per month Patreon creator, but sometimes I'm not sure I succeeded. I still try to release new builds every month with at least 2 new animations put into the game and both this and the previous build have a lot of systems added into it.
Harkening back to that one boss of mine, if the money is your motivation, get the Hell out ASAP. You're wasting our time
and your time. Money should not be your motivation, full-stop. It should be the passion for the project, for completing it and seeing it through. Threshold (guy who is developing "Monster Girl Dreams") has a Patreon, but in discussions about how his intended audience would like certain things to go, he seems sincerely invested in what he is selling us. Heck, if he could just live the Star Trek dream, I have no doubt that that game would be further along.
My other bit of advice is, even if your audience compares you against other content creators, take only the hidden criticism at its value, and not the name-drops or "subtle" references to others. The intent from that whole thing is to provide context for the criticism, not to tell you someone else is better than you are. If you ever feel like you're better or worse than someone else is in terms of progress, again, don't. You're setting a really bad precedent for your own standards. As a friend said last night, "You have to be the hardest on yourself, because nobody else will be. You have to come down on yourself the hardest, because nobody else will ever feel qualified to criticize or correct you as harshly."
