Personally, everyone makes mistakes.
I mean, it's easy to call ppl out for using/not using certain tools or making/not making certain design but... remember that the ppl making those complaints are doing so from the ivory tower position of the end user, not the developer/s.
Now, I'm not saying that always gives devs a pass to fuck up or whatever. I'm simply saying he's just one guy making a game for an audience that feels nothing but entitled to say whatever the hell they want, good or bad, even if they never played the game on top of doing it for free and maybe with no experience.
Sure, it's easy to say that said dev could've drawn from other devs' works and/or game dev related froums but who's to say they didn't? Again, all we get is the end user experience from which to say anything. Well, unless you are a dev but... most devs who do comment don't tend to sound like 'know-nothing-know-it-alls' whenever hiccups come up and/or the end product isn't what we initially expected or wanted. Well, that last part has to do with the devs' vision and another discussion altogether. Personally, unless you're a long time part of the player base and/or actively supporting the game with a little more than just words, like wth subscribestar or something... then there's not much you can expect to do. Well, not that you could do that much anyway, but there's more incentive for devs to listen when they see that support. Just the nature of the beat, and even more so when you're making the game all on your own with no guarantee of making even a cent on it, instead more likely losing money due to having to get those tools/assets themselves.
Now, were mistakes made? Oh, most definitely.
Did the dev learn from that? Yes.
Could they have done more or maybe made better decisions before coming to the decisions they made? Also, yes.
Is that inherently bad? Not really. I mean, that's just part of the learning process for a lone dev.
In the end, I like what the game offers and feels it has a lot of potential. So, for the time being and as long as there's active development on their side, I'll keep supporting it.