Sorry if this is a dumb question. I absolutely love this game. I'm willing to pay the $30 or so one time / upfront to have access to all the updates earlier but I'm not clear if this is an option or one must subscribe monthly through patreon/subscribestar to get earlier releases than public release dates?
To get updates earlier, you must use Subscribestar or Patreon. These have monthly subscription models: You can pay $30 for just one month and get all respective benefits for that month, but once your subscription runs out, you no longer get anything. If you need to optimize your finances, you can spread your $30 out, e.g. paying $6 on five release months to get the newest update 6 days earlier each time.