Did you say "black mark"?
Dude, do you know what you're talking about, how many times has this developer updated between 2022 and now 2023? How many times has he posted on Patreon for his DA project? You're looking at DA 0.9 which was supposed to be released in September 2022, DA 1.0 which was supposed to be released in early 2023, and it's now the end of July 2023, soon to be approaching 2024.
Then again, the developer hasn't been heard from since March 22nd when he was doing promotions for other games, what's the point of the sponsorship money the sponsors gave him, can he just take the sponsorship money from the sponsors and do nothing with it?
You say the developer doesn't pay attention here, don't you realize that he initially did all the game promotion for DA on the F95 site? Some people have pretty much mastered the pattern of the developer's activities, and the only time the developer posts is when his sponsors have dwindled significantly and his sponsorship money has nearly dried up, then he cries and sells out to gain sympathy and forgiveness from his sponsors, and after that he goes back to earning sponsorship money in silence, without any effort.
Instead of helping him better his DA's game process, the recent sponsorships of him by some people on Patreon will continue to amplify his greed. Who else is going to think about updating DA as a game when you can get $4,000-$9,000 in sponsorships every month for doing nothing? Who could resist the temptation?
Finally, at the risk of sounding presumptuous, are you a former sponsor of this developer? How much do you know about him?
Never been his sponsor. First played the game a year ago; as I've said before, the concept of the game has a lot of promise, the actual execution of the game has shown little of it. Conceptually, I would ultimately expect a harem-ish team of super-powered individuals (think X-men) to form to resolve the mystery underlying to story and the advent of special abilities. We've met two such individuals (not that I recall actually seeing a power for Mia), two police cases (one resolved), something happening at the bar (I think there may be more to that, but I haven't gotten that far), an extended "escape room" like segment (which game-wise, was actually decent), and a couple of sexual encounters that were maybe too "game-ified" for my taste (invisible girl's mom, and the lady in the bar bathroom) with older (milfy?) women. Oh, and the girlfriend of the guy who owns the coffee shop Mia works at. That was also a segment I enjoyed.
If it helps, my favorite VNs are
Crimson High,
Grandma's House, and
In For a Penny. I support all of these (either through Patreon, or by making larger than requested payments at itch.io). Each comes out regularly, which probably has a lot to do with them also being items that I tend to download, install, and play each update through to completion - I know basically exactly when each will come out, and thus that I won't be waiting anywhere from months to years for the next installment. In addition, all are closer to novels than games (Crimson High has some underlying game mechanics apparently; Grandma's House has choices, but they're really opportunities to avoid encountering characters or kinks you might not be interested in; In for a Penny is a straight-forward kinetic novel, as far as I can see); that's something I very much like about them.
Back to your actual question: I haven't actively followed this forum. I did note that the dev owns the OP (which gives him some degree of control, but does
not allow him to suppress leaked updates). I have seen some of his posts where he either gets defensive or even aggressive (but not necessarily hideously so). I am completely aware this is a pirate site, and that smart developers can use it for a testbed and for feedback on their project. I am also well aware that many users on the site can take this overboard, acting as if the dev should develop the game to cater to their desires/kinks. For that matter, I am aware that this is a global site, with many devs and users who are expected to post in English when that's not their native language, and that can lead to miscommunication. If you're looking for them, you can get polite, well-considered comments on your game. If you're looking for nothing but ego-strokes, you're on the wrong internet, bub.
My "black mark" comment was actually based on the fact the dev seems to have used this forum to help spread interest in his game, and interest in supporting it. People coming here and seeing the project marked as "Abandoned" are unlikely to say to themselves, "That's terrible! The poor dev must need more money to continue development, I should go find out how to give him some!" If he wants to rebuild his list of supporters, it would be a good idea for him to agitate to get the "Abandoned" tag removed. The simplest way to do this would be to push out an update of some sort (simplest, not necessarily easiest).
I have seen devs who turn off Patreon payments when they can't continue to work on their projects (whether due to real world commitments, personal tragedies, or burnout). If this dev wanted to rebuild good will with his patrons, then that would be a good first step. At a minimum returning to regular communication would be required. As noted above, releasing an actual update that made it seem possible that he's been working on the project this whole time would do wonders. Not saying I believe that it would be possible (or, at least, accurate) at this point.
On the one hand, from what you've described, it sounds like the dev has shown a pattern of going incommunicado without warning. This is probably another case of this. On the other hand, in my own life, I had an experience where I pretty much dropped out of sight from various on-line communities due to a prolonged hospital stay (which led to both a below the knee amputation of my left leg, and major back pain that left me unable to functional normally for more than a year after my seven month hospitalization/physical rehab stay). I would hope I would have had the presence of mind to drop some sort of communication regarding the situation into critical channels, and the sense of honor/ethics/right & wrong to disable payments if I had something like this project going on, but I can't help but allow for the possibility that something serious like this could happen to a dev, and I know that your priorities can change radically.
That said, I would be disinclined to continue to support this dev, and by no means do I
expect that something like my experience has befallen him (I just can't necessarily rule it out). I expect that the dev's support will continue to drop, and indeed would encourage those giving him money to actively decide if they should continue to do so, if they are getting nothing in return (rather than just passively allowing their banks to continue to give him (and Patreon) their presumably hard-earned cash).
One further note: in general, the money donated to a Patreon account is being given to someone to support their on-going work. In some cases, one or more tiers may be tied to a specific project; in other cases, special rights/output may be granted based on tiers; but, in most cases, if a creator moves away from the project you wanted to support, on to a project you aren't interested in, it's up to the patron to decide they no longer want to support the creator, and to terminate their payments to them. In other words, you are usually supporting the person, regardless of the project they're working on.
