@vortexcannon Although I am not influential member of this community, I'd like to share my 2 cents.
I found the game was interesting using in consideration the genre (story). It's a bit cliché but hey, pretty much everything on the internet is considered to be a cliché nowadays because it has been overused shit ton of times. Regardless, story and it's execution in game is really nice. Props for that.
There are two things that bother me and I think that many will agree with me.
Yes. You are the creator of the game. It is your choice whether or not the game will be an "online" game or not.
(Quoted it because the game is NOT a fully online game and online function is used only for regular / VIP account authentication as of now)
You have set the goals for the supporters how much money are you expecting in order for them to unlock a tier of rewards. It's pretty much the same as almost all other Patreon creators.
Free Players get a base game. Supporters get a bit more: Early access, more playable days, cheats. The more people open up their wallets to support your project, the easier it gets for them to play the game, but...
Although you are offering cheats and a walkthrough for VIPs, Free players should be able to finish the game 100% without cheats and they are not. VIPs get cheats and Free players get a half coocked game where they miss on majority of the content because they didn't pay you.
The way I see it, Random number generation (RNG) spoils the game so much that, when you approach your whole project from a different angle, you basically give Free players a half finished product.
Although I found a 100% walkthrough for an older version of the game somewhere on the internet, it was still up to date a few versions back.
Reason 1: Locking a 100% walkthrough is a really bullshit move because of reason 2.
Reason 2: Everything in the game is timed so perfectly that, if you missclick you lose your 100% progress. Missclicks and RNG can ruin you so much that you, sometimes, need to go over the chapter again and again and again just so you can get it fully 100% and even if you don't fuck up and missclick, it is almost impossible to reach 100% because of RNG. Main example of that being that you need to find the rope through exploring on day 14. If you get the rope on day 14, then good for you and if you don't, you need to search for it the next day but if you do you won't have enough stamina to go to Olga's cottage. And you NEED that rope so you can create the shelter on day 20 but in order to get the rope, you must go exploring instead of blowing up the bank or going to casino to earn money. And if you don't gather enough money by the day 17, you don't get a date with Dasha which rewards you with Alpha points and if you don't get those Alpha points, you fall behind on everything after that.
The same also applies to money and food...
So... I am not telling you that you must offer the walkthrough for free but it would not be ill advised.
You need to remove RNG around key parts of the game. Example, again, being the rope.
The Key items that player needs in order to progress through the game should not be blocked by RNG.
Even AAA games offer you some leeway when it gets to that.
Free games make you grind a bit more but all the content is still there.
Example of a AAA (free) game:
You need a bomb to blow up the bank vault and rob the bank before all the money gets transported out of the building. To get the bomb you need to complete 4 side quests.
You complete 4 side quests and get the bomb. You proceed with the bank robbery.
Example scenario in your game:
You need a bomb to blow up the bank vault. To get the bomb you need to Explore through the city.
You Explore and find it on your last attempt but you can't go to the bank because you have no stamina.
or
You Explore and don't find it at all that day, forcing you to go to sleep making your bank robbery null because all the money has been transported.
With all other Patreon creators, while Supporters get version 3.4, free players get version 3.0.
When Supporter gets 3.7, free player gets 3.4. Free player gets everything that supporter gets only a month or two later. That same game version. Version that can be completed 100% and you can still see all the content in it.
With your game, that is not the case and, in my honest opinion, that the biggest slap in the face for all those that like your game but feel frustrated because your supporters get a game they can complete 100% while others get a game they can complete around 60% and miss 40% of it unless they pay.
