I can't really debate ethics here. I personally use this site to find games to support because 99.99% of people who make games on patreon have completely forgotten what a demo is and lock every post behind a pay wall. Technically I am still pirating but I'm not trying to turn a profit anywhere... It looks like this Dev is looking for a quick buck with no work to me. They have one subscription level of 5$ a month that says something. I don't know what the case will end up being but if they drag out releases for months when they are using the work and render times of others than that is a very sleazebag thing to do, but we'll see.