Generally, most people on patreon are artists/freelancers/designers. People with a lot of skill, but that don't have a job. There can be X reasons for that. Company work is crap and most of the time they restrict one's abilities. Or is a recent graduate that don't have enough job experience to be taken seriously on the market.
Patreon can be considered, by itself, a resume if you wish. "Here's what I do. I play games with excellent commentary/draw fantastic images/develop games. If you like my work, please support me, and can keep working on this". Plague of Gripes is a good example. A farmer in Kentucky (I don't remember) that draws good stuff. A big part of his income is through Patreon, and he is very popular among some people, and fanbase of channels he works with (2BF mostly). That helps because his popularity increases with every image or collab done.
Now, let's say you have the skills, but is not well known. You need to earn money someway. Are you going to work to the point of exhaustion, make a complete game in 3 months without any for of income? Nope. You are going to make a proof of concept, show what you can do and make the most of it. People are going to see you are capable, and will pay some money every month. That's how people do.
Now, quoting the Man-Emperor of Mankind, to hit the coffin on the hammer of the last nail, the word Patreon, comes from Patron, the person who does Patronage, or the act to support, encourage or help financially another. Do you think that Raphael, da Vinci, and many others only got their money at the end of a sculpture or painting? Of course not. They received money over time, to encourage and aid them on their work, to finish, shall we say, their Magnum Opus.
That is why many games fall flat. The developer showed that they can't keep up, and the patreons go look for someone else. That is also why many games become a cash cow. "Why show everything if I can upload very little every month?" Irredeemable is making his content free, and asking for opinions outside of his patreon, something that few developers do.
So, don't go firing all guns with "I would wait a year before uploading something". You would be dead of hunger long before that.
Remember that little content is best than no content, and smalls steps are better (and have a higher chance of evolving) than lying dead on the ground.
. Thanks a lot
