itch.io

Don't get me wrong, I agree that the sum is high for a game like this, and that is why I'm asking for poof that the money is being spent responsibly. Voice actors could be a thing, commissioning a full OST too, upgrade materials for systems, or hiring a small team to help with translations, coding, 3d rendering, etc. I'm not saying that these are a must, but that they're the usual money drainers in big game project developing. Not counting living expenses. 

I don't have near enough experience with economics to dare calculate approximate expenses up to date, how much money should be left, and how many months this dev should still be able to sustain themselves without further income. What I do know, is that Patreon is a voluntary thing. Anyone thinking that they've invested enough, or that the de should be good to go for a while without further investment, can cancel their plan at any time without consequences. And as far as I know, more and more people are reaching that level. Even if the dev doesn't turn it off, they're going to reach the point of having no backers left.

Which is why I said they have two choices now, either wait it out until that point, or take action. And to take action would mean to prove that the money up to date has been responsibly used, and showing us some results of where has it been invested into. Of course, even if he doesn't, and things continue as-is, people will get mad and sue, starting an investigation. Patreon follows the same principle as Kickstarter, so usually they don't meddle, but if it can be proven that the creator is essentially scamming the patrons, they should take matters into their own hands. At that point, there's nothing else we could do but wait for a sentence. But until then, there's still time left to release a build that makes a statement. And based on that, people can decide to drop their patronage or back it up further. 

If we take solo indie devs as examples, both Undertale and Omori took a bunch of years to finish. They had way less budget to work with, but with the inflation things are also more expensive now than then. Am I expecting that HHG becomes something of that caliber? No, of course not. But I'm illustrating the key difference that those had a one-time income via Kickstarter, so they didn't had the need to keep releasing devlogs to keep investors engaged, and they still had to face some criticism by the later years before releasing the final product. HHG is backed via monthly income, so at the bare minimum there's the need for reporting regularly what's being done. Apparently they're using Discord for that, so you can go there and take a look yourself. But still, it's not enough anymore to serve as proof of concept, *that's* what I've been trying to say, what I would like for you to take away from my musings. I'm agreeing with you on that front. 

1st- You agreed to help-- it's a "donation"... meaning if you weren't comfortable donating, stop. Simple. Anyone that keeps up with the Discord had the right --at any time-- to cancel their membership and ride free if they are IN ANY WAY uncomfortable with how the money they gave away is being spent, just like anyone that didn't, or felt they were being kept in the dark.
2nd- Make no mistake: you are NOT paying for a product. You're donating -aka giving away- money to a developer. It's right there in the TOS for Patreon, Subscribestar, and any number of platforms like it. It isn't a bill. It's not a charge. It's a donation. You can even get it back through the right processes on Patreon. Stop acting like they're robbing anyone, or even conning them, because they didn't force anyone into membership. You're calling them grifters because they aren't doing things according to YOUR business model? That's ballsy. Nobody got here at gunpoint, and nobody is getting scammed. You can download it free--> if you like it, you can check out the Patreon/SS--> if you feel like it, you can donate--> if you don't, you still get it for free--> if you're not happy with how it's going, you can cancel.
3rd- There is nothing misleading, here... his progress reports here are not hidden. Anyone can see how long it's taking, and if they want more info, the Discord is there to help. Quit whining, put away your self-righteous indignation, and move on, if you are an adult that isn't satisfied.
P.S. putting anyone's finances on blast in a public forum is in poor taste-- a bullying tactic-- don't come here claiming you meant to do anything but harm those finances by chasing away supporters, present and future. Anyone curious can look, yes, but it is also possible to hide those numbers, and I would imagine Komi left them public for transparency-- rather a poor tactic for someone looking to hide something, yeah?
Low-class cheap shot.