Hi!
You can always support us by sharing our game to through word of mouth! The more people that play our game, the more motivated we are. We don't make people pay for our game, nor we don't want to force financial support on our first project, so really the best way is to share our game!
We don't really need additional team members since we want to keep our updates/exchanges/burdens just between us two. We want to check our limits first and we want to keep everything inhouse (Also we cannot pay for people's work cause we are poor... And I want to pay people a salary cause it's fair and the right thing even if people say it's for free. Just doesn't feel right to not pay)
The answer to your question is yes. Since Ren'Py likes being a bastard to save files that are one update behind (or any older versions, for that matter), you're gonna have to download and start from the beginning each time a new update comes out. I know it can be bothersome, but you're gonna have to power through it.
Correct actually.
To add that, I often update codes on prev days to see if I can improve it or change some parts that may affect future events. Because of this, Renpy gets confused when you load into a save. But that's also why we release games in larger intervals rather than several in a month so that you don't do this often.