I'd imagine you don't condone the builds being released here; I'm really curious as to how it feels to engage in a pirate community as the dev? I've seen some other devs interact here, some positive, some negative, some kinda apathetic. What's your perspective on it?
My issue is if I had things my way I wouldn't release builds at all unless I was perfectly happy with it. But thats not exactly reasonable in the case of supporters and stuff. And builds posted from this site end up so widespread it bugs me more. The only reason I release builds at all is cause I think I owe it to supporters to do it regularly. Same with my detailed update posts.
But you people give feedback on issues and stuff so it's kind of ok besides that. I don't get a lot of feedback otherwise usually. And I do seem to get a boost in supporters.
But the quality of builds is so all over the place, I think it makes a bad impression on my work.
There is a certain point where this may on the piracy issue bother me more, but thats not for a while I think, past certain milestones and depending on my income from this game in general. Cause at some point I will come to rely on this more, and I need make sure the income is stable. And also by then I may be getting more consistent feedback from elsewhere, so this place may feel less useful.
I am trying to keep things accessible though, I get people may not want to support every month, which is why the game is on itch for $5 with a slower release cycle. This won't always be the price tho (My ultimate goal is to make the game worth $20), but hopefully the way itch works people who paid already won't need to pay more later when I do raise it.