I've been playing this game for a while, and have even donated to the author on Patreon, before I stopped using the site. Unfortunately my computer broke a while back, and I only recently got it fixed. I got onto this site to update this game, and I am now being forced to spend money on it! Is there any way around this? I don't want to have to pay every single time I update this game. I cannot even do so, as I do not own a credit/debit card anymore. It's honestly extremely disappointing we're being charged for this. Is there any way around this? Or am I stuck on the version I have?

You don't have to pay.  Near the top of the window that pops up when you click on the download now button, there is a little line of text that is underlined that says "No thanks, just take me to the downloads."  If you click it, you don't need to pay.