While it is admittedly not the perfect solution F95 can be used, especially for new(er) projects as a place to get your game known. Then - after a while - having a good contact with your playerbase thru Patreon, discord, etc. will probs suffice. Many games used F95 for promotion and became successful (like for example - iirc -
Nothing is Forever or
Karlsson's Gambit). And while it is a pirate site - and the game will leak here no matter if this thread exists or not - there're a lot of people (me included) who find games here and donate to the devs if they like their games and the game is fairly frequently updated.
I do believe that 3 weeks of waiting is a reasonable idea, but it seems impossible to maintain, especially for games that are liked/popular (which in a way means you're doing a great job). I'll join your Patreon tomorrow (it's 6 am now and I need to go to sleep
). Have a good day!