itch.io

No hate but I mean that's like 80k a month. Idc but I'm just gonna point it out

I will answer your comment point by point, at least from my perspective as a player.

The game is free. Calling devs of a free game greedy is just beyond laughable.

The game is free. True. But I never used the fact that the game is free as an argument against you.

Calling the developers greedy is not inherently laughable just because the game is free. I am calling the monetization greedy because features that were freely available for months, if not years, are now locked behind Patreon. That is what I am criticizing.

Which other game gives you a way to give yourself all the items available? All the money?

Yours did. Before this update.

That is precisely my point. I am not asking for something that never existed. I am talking about functionality that was already available to players for free and is now being monetized.

Resetting a story line?

Yes, that one is much less common, I agree. But that’s not really the point I was making.

People make 3rd party tools for that purpose and we never disallowed those on our discord unless someone tries to bypass security on our own cheats.

I actually appreciate that you allow third-party tools.

But that also makes the current situation more frustrating. If the debug menu itself is now locked behind Patreon, I don’t see how an officially allowed third-party tool could reasonably provide the same functionality without effectively bypassing the restriction.

And if it cannot, then a feature that was previously available to everyone has effectively become a paid feature.

You even have a problem with polls (that became a very minor thing for small details)?

Yes, I do, although that’s a separate issue.

My concern is simply the principle of giving paid supporters disproportionately more voting power. If one person can effectively purchase thousands of votes, then it stops being a community poll and becomes a form of plutocracy.

That’s not something I personally like in a community.

Please explain to us what kind of monetization is ok with you.

This is actually very simple.

I have no problem with Patreon benefits. Early access, exclusive cosmetic content, supporter badges, behind-the-scenes content, bonus content, etc. are perfectly reasonable.

My problem is taking functionality that was already available to everyone and turning it into a Patreon-exclusive feature.

And honestly, if I had discovered the game two or three years ago, I probably would have happily paid €10 for it as a normal game. I paid €10 for Among Us back in the day without having a problem with it.

So yes, I would much rather pay €9.99 once for the game than have existing gameplay/debug functionality gradually moved behind a subscription.

The truth is 99% of the people that played our game didn’t give us a dime and we are very grateful to the people that contributed, but I don’t see why we should shoot ourselves in the foot and make Patreon tiers with no benefits.

I don’t think Patreon tiers should have no benefits either.

Again, I don’t have a problem with Patreon benefits.

The problem is specifically when the benefit is something that was already part of the free game.

If the debug/cheat functionality had never existed for free in the first place, I probably wouldn’t have made my original comment.

Even though you call us greedy you still ask for more. Give me, give me, give me… Have some shame.

I think this is where you misunderstood my point.

I’m not asking you to give me a new feature for free. I’m asking for the return of functionality that was already available to players.

And yes, I would still like an official or at least safe way to play an older version. That’s not contradictory.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with preferring the version of a free game that doesn’t put previously free functionality behind a paywall.

I genuinely like the game. That’s precisely why I’m criticizing the direction of this update rather than simply uninstalling it and moving on.

You are absolutely entitled to monetize your work however you want. And I am equally entitled, as a player, to think that a particular monetization decision is greedy or simply bad.

I don’t expect you to agree with me. But I would prefer that you address that argument rather than reducing it to “give me, give me, give me.”

(This has nothing to do with the paywall nor voting. I don't particularly care about either.) Since Steam is out of the question, would you consider submitting the game to GOG? I would definitely buy it day one even there.