And now we have what I estimated months ago: If both sides do not stop the spiral, what neither Slowburn nor Viper did, the end result leaves only losers!
...etc...
Well-stated, rational response.
I would go a bit further and throw out a reflection or two about how I see things.
I spent a lot of years running a video production company (now retired @ > 60 y/o) and so I know a wee bit about marketing and publicity. Over the past few years I've watched similar (although rarely to this extreme) situations play out between developers and consumers. Some devs understand the old adage that there's no such thing as bad publicity. When your product is put in front of the masses, good things usually happen, although
when it happens may not be to the producer's expectations which can then lead to disappointment.
Most of these devs operate without some big marketing campaign such as accompanies a movie release or an A-level game. So how do they promote? Well,
here (as in F95) and
here is a great place. Some devs may disagree, but where else are they going to place their product in front of tens of thousands of potential consumers at zero cost? No way can I make a game and place it only on Patreon and expect to draw any large number of consumers. But here, one has to play the long game and expect that once people can depend on you to stay the course and your product is a good one, then people will usually play then pay. Maybe this release picks up 10 more subscribers, which is 10 more than before. Next release a few more, then a few more after that. Finish a game in a reasonable amount of time and you'll build a good following and have a nice base for the next game. Almost all the successful games and devs on this site are gracious, hang out here and answer questions and sure they'd all like to have more money, but they recognize one way to lose business in a hurry is to antagonize. That approach will not work.
Lastly, devs need to understand that having people pay you for an unfinished product is outside the norm (and you can call it whatever you wish, but money changes hands and the dev is being paid). If devs can operate under that premise then fine, I'm all for it. I never once, ever, had anyone pay me up front for a job. All the computers, all the cameras, all the lights, all the assistance I had to foot the bill. I had to go to the bank and get money and take the gamble. Most devs here are taking almost no gamble at all. That's why I do not, and will not, pay for something until it's finished. If a dev can get others to do it and others wish to do it I'm fine. Everyone should have the freedom to spend as they wish. But I (and I know others of similar mindset) will send $$ to a dev if and when their product is finished (and I think it worthy of reward). But what's happened here will surely give folks like me pause.
Be gracious, have a thick skin and take pride in making a good product. The rest will take care of itself.
