[I recently wrote a response to another player in the HS discussion thread about how had argued that since we are all playing for free, we should - instead of complaining - go off and play other games. The following is a bit of a response to that opinion.]
Some people [such as myself] were former Patreons who excitedy paid to support the game, and grew disenchanted when the dev set a release schedule that made the movement of the continents seem almost rushed. A release schedule, I might add, that the dev chose not to explain or apologize for. AT ALL. I suspended my Patreon donations to Caizer after waiting 6 months for any substantial development of the game. I won't be back until the dev releases an update that is on par with virtually every other game out there; at least every 2-4 months.
There are going to be people who haven't paid for any of the games they play [and offer unasked for critique], that's true of any game. There are devs here who release slightly different versions of their games. There is a basic release - usually seen here and other places that is meant to attract players/patreons to invest in the game. Then there is a Patreon-only release, which often contains extra scenes, dialog and plot development, which is almost always released much earlier than the free version and pretty much never gets released for free. This appears to be a standard practice.
What is not a standard practice is someone like Caizer, who - in the beginning and for several months afterwards - promised a pretty ordinary release schedule before growing silent and releasing the barest minimum content.
A developer who has a change of circumstances [limitations coming about due to family, medical or work situations] doesn't necessarily need to go into detail about what changed, but they do need to explain that circumstances have in fact changed.
And we can clearly see from the release of mini-game within HS that the dev does in fact have the time to devote to a significant release...if he wanted to. It is crystal clear that Caizer is releasing the barest minimum of content so as to keep the Patreon/Subscribestar money flowing
Additionally, if the developer isn't a con man, they either limit or do away with Patreon donations until they can match that payment with performance. Anything less than that feels fraudulent and opportunistic.
I am sure that a LOT of other players feel this way; they do play other games, but keep coming back here because they have hope that their hope, interest and generosity is someday rewarded with an update worthy of the definition. And - like anyone who has been conned, they get pissed about reminded of the fact that they are indeed getting conned. If I were Caizer, I'd be very worried that just about every other game has a release schedule and quality of content that champions over Caizer by an order of magnitude. People are growing disillusioned by Caizer's shameless opportunism. He grandpappy would call him a cad and a scoundrel. I just think he's one of those people who never, ever leave a tip.
Currently, this game's current saving grace is the quality of the art. But with the advances in AI, that isn't going to preserve Caizer's last remaining grip on his supporters. His development 'career' is living on borrowed time. I hope the developer realizes this. It won't just be his current game that we abandon, but - due to such a shitty track record - we will apply the current level of pessemism towards any future game he might be considering.