I get what you saying, but i kinda feel like this type of Mindset shoots them back in the foot at some point. I mean in all honesty, and maybe it's only me, but in itself Summertime Saga is fantastic and really stands out. The Art is particular amazing and IMHO also unique, and the Concept is pretty neat. I mean i'm pretty sure there were Games kinda like this before as well, but for me it felt Summertime Saga made it atleast popular(if it wasn't the first one) within the H-Gaming community, and it felt like Games like Taffy Tales, A Town uncovered and such get a huge push and did pop out after Summertime Saga.
My Point: I do think they are pretty competent Devs, and even if they would finish the Game too fast, i'm pretty sure they would find another great project, which also had a huge follower-base especially after such a great Game like StS is finisher (and i'm with you, i really hope the devs will sell it on Steam once it's finished). However if you drag it out so long and are so slow with the Updates,(atleast if it's on purpose) you will lose the goodwill of People and might screw it up at some point. So i find that rather weird approach....
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Also - i've to add i can see some Value with Patreon, for soem devs the only reason why they can work on something etc... and i understand less popular games or better say niche have a hard time which slows down the Progress....
Problem is - as an outsider it's hard to tell what kind of Dev is sitting behind it... one who exploits Patreon or one who struggles with the development (because to few supporteres and whatever). However it's kinda hard to believe in case of StS that it is the latter one.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I agree with you 100%. I love Summertime Saga, and there are other patreon games I would consider good games. However, this kind of slippery greed (though, honestly, that might be too harsh in some cases) isn't exclusive to patreon or H games. There are plenty of big name games/series out there ruined by chasing dollar signs.
So it doesn't change the fact that they may be excellent devs or the game and or idea itself is good, but like you said, if you shoot yourself in the foot enough times, you're going to bleed out. Utterly off topic so I won't stray far, but that's how you get stuff like Anthem, lol Excellent team, looked great, awesome concept, but EA wanted it to be a Destiny 2 money machine clone instead of a MP Bioware RPG. The devs told the whole story behind the flop, and it's really, really sad.
But no, Patreon can't add value if you ask me, because I doubt all that extra money is going into hiring extra devs or outsourcing work to make things faster... it usually goes into their pockets and little else from what I've seen. The scopes of most games don't even change despite funding doubling or tripling.
And no, they won't lose good faith. Even patreons games that have become memes are still making bank each and every month. Subverse is already a flop and there are still hoards of people defending it and saying it just needs time.
The problem with patreon is that instead of just twiddling your thumbs and praying the game leaves development hell, the development hell lets the devs siphon from your bank account and gives them less and less reason to hurry with each day. That's much worse.
But remember that there are tons of other devs out there who made fully successful (and great) games without resorting to milking patreons. A lot of Japanese devs do just that.