This may be "controversial" or unpopular opinion since there are so many fans of DmD (me being one of them), but bare with me. Regarding MrDots sort of hiatus and him making another game (Melody), I think that he "needed" it. Don't get me wrong I love the game, but DmD has hit that kinda of wall where it was getting stale and pretty much uninspired at some point. Many events that happened are just copy-paste from earlier versions of game, the only difference being that they are now located in different place and setting. Also there is no point to cling on some things that we already know, just to fill up the space, and add some kind of content. So I think that him working on different game is a nice change, and I think that from now on, we will get much better content, because MrDots, and we as players experienced something different and fresh, which is pretty much apparent in Melody (awesome game with variety of characters, and plot is moving at much better rate than in DmD). I just hope that he can apply that learning curve, and not get stuck again.
I've been thinking a lot about this too recently, and as much as his team have done it tough with having to remove DMD from Patreon and having to unexpectedly start a new project (Melody), as you said, the ideas are fresh, and it has given them a chance to focus on a different story and have a much needed break from DMD.
MrDots and co. had been creating that game continuously for well over a year until it was shutdown, with very little time to completely flesh out scenes and ideas due to pre-setting a release date each month, and trying to have each release out on time.
With this new game off to a good start, and a good three and a half months in between the release v17 and this upcoming release expected at the end of May, then it could be the much required break that game they've needed for quite a long time. More ideas would've come to mind during this hiatus, and with there being a need to wrap things up sooner than they may have originally wanted to, all the best content or ideas that they may have had in mind will make it into the remaining updates of the game. That's what I hope anyway.
Again, an update every three months, although painful for us fans, might actually benefit the rest DMD and heighten the standard of storytelling that was so good up until recent versions of the game. But so far, playing Melody is not a bad way to pass the time
Like yourself, it's just my opinion, and we'll have to wait and see.
