Hello! Yes, it's the usual release wave routine. It will soon be available as a public version. Tomorrow, to be exact. You can check out how release waves work in posts like this one. I make similar posts for each game update to keep players posted.
As for Patreon, it did a lot of stuff tits-up, but I'm not aware of the clear rip-off. Do you mind sharing more details? It's pretty sad to acknowledge, but they are still number one for indie devs like me.