Re: Repure Aria Sequel?
There's so much wrong with this mentality...
For starters, Patreon is a support platform, nobody has to pay for anything. He releases the animation to the public for everyone to see. Those who give Kyrieru (or anyone on Patreon) money do so of their own accord. The only exception to this is when someone locks content to Patrons-only mode, which would be objectionable if such Patron-only content included demos or somesuch stuff.
Then there's the fact that it's still a demo. No matter how big or small a demo is, it's still supposed to be a demonstration of the final product, something to persuade potential buyers into purchasing the full version of the game. But this first look is locked behind a (small, but still very existent) paywall. It's not a matter of price-to-value balancing, it's a matter of principle.
So true, so very true. "Paid-for demo" is an oxymoron. No matter how big or small a demo is, no matter how much content gets put into a demo, if it's not free, it's not truly a demo. Because the entire concept of a demo is to try BEFORE you buy.
Patreon "demos" are not demos if you have to support the Patreon before you can try them. DL Site "demos" are not demos if you have to input your credit card to get them.
It's a fucking dollar. Back in my day demos came with 20 dollar games magazines. And you're not even forced to buy it. The DLsite entry now includes a free version of the demo, which is the exact same fucking thing.
Well back in my day, all demos were free because, by definition, that's what a demo is. Like I said, "try before you buy" is what a demo is. Anything else is not a demo.
And as far as non-demo RePure goes, regardless of whether or not you call it a demo, you're still paying money for a fraction of the full content. Regardless of whether or not it's "paying for an early release to get the full game later," it's still paying money for an incomplete game with no guarantee of the game even being finished. Regardless of "oh, it's only a dollar" it's enough to get people to sniff out a scam. Regardless of "they made two quality games already" it's been only two games over, what, 10 years?
For these reasons and more, it's enough to make plenty of people skeptical and understandably shrewd, which is why many people don't "buy in" to Patreon/Kickstarter/early-purchase mentality. So many developers practice this and so many consumers have gotten burned by developers to practice this to the point that people simply don't trust developers who practice early buy-ins. The very idea of buying part of something incomplete is justification for anyone to withhold their cash and pay in full once the product is complete.
