Hey Bourne,
To answer your question, I have never charged anyone without putting out a full update, and patches are never paid posts either. It's true that my patreon is set on a per release basis, because the updates started getting bigger, and I was having trouble meeting the deadline every month. Actually, I put out quite a few releases for free as well, mostly because I ended up running late. I plan on doing that exact thing tonight considering it's been over a year now
Glad you like the game, and it's awesome that you were inspired to create your own game, just as I was inspired by someone else to create mine. I'd like to check your game out if I get a chance, but as a developer, you probably noticed that it doesn't leave much time to play games yourself... ahhh the sacrifices we make... but go ahead and a post a link if you please
Just so you know, even though it's been so long, I am not abandoning the game. Not sure when I can work on it, so I don't have any kind of timetable, but I like to finish what I start.
Sorry to disappoint you, or anyone else, but as you said, life happens - sometimes literally. Don't sell me short just yet, there's still some fight left in this old dog hehe.