itch.io

just saw your message while i was looking for for yet another game. due to rest already being completed in their current game versions in 48 hours or less .

im not a game dev myself, im sure my hardware which an old 1st gen threadripper system i donty have the skills or patience LOL.  but yes over the last 2 years i have downloaded over 50 games and none of them were actually completed, one game i downloaded had its last "update" over 5 years ago.  there are games right now i kept on my pc in hopes there would be an update for as i was actually really into them  having good stories  but also gave the impression that you were actually playing a game than just reading a novel and getting the random "choice" to make.  good examples of games would be a house in the rift(AHITR), dogma, corrupted world, corrupted kingdom, evermore by prometheus, the wrath, companion of darkness,  oppai oddysey, ripples , eternum, mythic manor,  harem hotel, my new family, halfway house,  virtues, and phoenixes.  all good games, none actually completed, although out of all of them very few have had a recent update or lets just say that i havent been able to find any online.

it is also important to note that some devs are removing their games from specific platforms forcing persons into others, as an example one dev removed his game from itch and redirected to patreon and discord.  i didnt think much of it until i realised that after this updates and information got scarce on the devs game not much was being released on discord in terms of updates, statuses, etc.  practically forcing you to patreon which was no good because all the devs posts were locked behind a subscriber pay wall and in my unlucky example only the highest tier patreon support for the dev would open up info to updates etc ( sorry but $50 a month was way to much for that in my honest opinion).

with that said ripples and ahtir did get updates recently  but it didnt really seem like it gave alot of content.

my thought isnt merely shove updates out the door, no, no, no.  far from it.  

let me put it this way look at me like more of an advisor of what most people downloading these games want.

1. free ( this is counterproductive to devs but this is easily remedied by giving paying supporters the newest update up to 2 weeks earlier than free and im all for that).

2. regular updaes, now this is where problems happen.  everyone wants updates out fast and regularly hoever, this is unrealistic as it also leads to disgruntled individuals.  go fo a BALANCED approach.  what do i mean by balanced, quite simple really rushing an update every week is stupid in my opinion sure it would be nice but what can a dev really do in a week? not much just small things basically making correction such as fixing typos.  i personally believe an update should focus mainly on a large content update while fixing some of the previous issues ( such as the afor mentioned typos).  furthermore, keeping people in the loop  via social media set a goal for the release of your update what you plan to have in that update inform the people on social media regardless of platform ( dont limit to discord and patreon ( try also spreading on facebook, x, etc. give paying supporters early access to updates.  you could also offer a few non paying supporters early update access to help you keep community updated through social media you dont use and this also would help the dev give more focus on making games and updates rather than using time to make announcements.  basically i think large content updates are better than small fix updates personally and i also think 1 to 6 month intervals is acceptable for such updates ( but again im no dev and have no idea how long it takes but again im advising from the perspective of most people playing these games not just the small niche paying people).  

3.  dont disappoint community, yes things happen we know life happens however some of the excuses i have seen is just ridiculous, one dev used fried pc.  ok fair enough but i see an issue personally if i were a dev i would have a backup pc sitting around and all my software and game data, etc saved on an external drive.  the backup pc would not be connected or plugged in except to update its operating system and antivurus  otherwise it would not be connected to power or internet alleviating lightning strike issues leaving only natural disasters ( fire, flood, tornado, etc.) as a legit reason.  if your update will be late no problem inform the community , lastly dont restrict information regarding updates or issues behind paywalls.

4.  make updates so that when you download it you can extract over the old file withought having to just create a new folder for the update.  dont release an update that makes your previous save files useless forcing a complete replay, i can tell you i personally coulnt tell you how peeved i would be spending 48 hours of gameplay only to get an update that wouldnt let me open my save game to continue ( been there once or twice already and those games are no longer installed on my system but it wasnt just that, there was also issues with inconsistant, long, update intervals with little content update ( to be honest it looked like the dev just gave teh file a new update number adding maybe 10 minutes worth of new gameplay content).

5. focus on 1 game at a time ( this is the most important)  a lot of devs are making things more difficult on themselves working o multiple games at teh same time this causes delay and other issues it aslo tends to all their games being similar in nature to cut corners and save time.  there are already a bunch of devs on patreon that have games with storylines so close you could almost say they were plagureising someone else but when a dev is does this it shows lazyness.  focus on one game, you can make that 1 game better and actually get a completed version out faster, then move onto the next game its that simple.  if you have an idea for your next game write it down, jot notes but do not start working on it if you already have a project started believe me.  although there is 1 dev out there with 2 games he is working on at teh same time both are extremely slow on updates and content sometime one even gets ignored for teh sake of the other.

6.  dotn give up, you cant please everyone thts just a fact.  what you can do is just do your best, focus, and keep community informed.  

lastly, it seems to me that what happens with the devs is once they stop getting cash supporters or the cash flow slows down from patreon they blow off their work or just abandon it.  what the devs are probably not realizing is that they might be losing support due to one of if not more of the reasons i mentioned above.  if you are paying monthly  to supprt a dev and lets say you are giving $25 a month  and you dont see an update for a year ( 12 months) that would mean you have spent $300 and that is NOT including any of patreons currency conversion fees from USD to other countries currency)  that same $300 would get you some completed commercial PC games and DLC for them . even only pledging $5 a month  comes out to $60 which would buy you a commercial pc or console game that would be complete at least.  now dont get me wrong independant devs are different from commercial devs in terms of manpower and resources true however, you  also have to consider the idependant dev is not hiring hundreds or thousands of people, not paying for advertising, etc.  at most teh dev is paying for electricity and internet in regards to their work as im sure they are workign out of their homes.  meanind the devs are raking in bank.  

devs also need to remember to keep promises,  there are stories all over online of people supporting a dev some even for years only for the dev to abandon a game they were supporting without word and some of them were still paying and waiting for an update ( cant you guess how those people felt when they found out they were paying for nothing? )

finish the game even if you lose support you dont have to draw it out just basically finish the story  if it is a nsfw adult harem game  just do a quick story that gets all the girls in the harem with the mc and have one harem orgy as the finaly, then move onto the next.  people who pledge and get let down are the ones that will not support you in the future  and may cause you some issues with new supporters with their comments in the community.  one more thing i just remembered, keep an eye open on your sponsorship levels on patreon, i started supporting a dev to get the recent update and after i did i couldnt download the update to his game getting a message  i have to spend $30 a month for that but that was not stated, even checking the tiers he had showed the $5 tier of his offered early updates ( well after i messaged him about it he changed his tiers to exclude the $5 but i since have cancelled supporting that dev, shall not support him in the future, and have deleted all of his works from my pc.

glad to answer any questions you might have here or you can reach out to me on facebook messenger Fabian Noggle  if yo find fabian noggle and his icon is a skull with bat wings you got the right one LOL.