I mean at this point, with how much money he makes, I don't put anything against him if he only works on the game 2 hours a MONTH, I'd still say good for him. The income he gets is nothing and if he doesn't care about it too much, then that's his right.. And it's your right not to play it.
The only issue I have with games where their updates are slow is if they are profiting off people, which you would be an idiot to claim that this dev is doing with these updates. No, he isn't profiting from this game at all (100 dollars is nothing) and if he wants to work 2 hours creating a game per month, then that's his freedom. If you try and claim that he somehow "owes us" to work hard "for our pleasure" then you're entitled and have lost the plot.
Or are you one of those who claims that a dev should "either work hard or not work at all"? I prefer if the game that I occasionally check out still keeps getting updates, even if they're small, at least I know that they're doing it for pretty much free.
My reply was a direct one to yours, where you made the implication that the lack of funding is a valid excuse for the lack of content. It's not. That was my whole point, is that even as a hobby dev, if he cared to, he could put out more meaningful content on a more frequent basis, and in doing so, potentially get the funding to start taking smaller shifts at the day job and/or buying better hardware with which to make the game. Instead we see a dev who it seems doesn't really want to work on the game.
I'm not one of the 'a dev should work hard or not at all' all or nothing types. I'm just of the belief that stringing consumers (paid or unpaid) along with tiny updates interspersed with long periods of nothing and the occasional completely pointless 'rework' or 'rewrite' is a bit of a dick move and shows that the dev doesn't want to actually work on the game. Which is fine. If you don't want to work on it, then don't work on it, but at least acknowledge that you lack the intention to really continue the project and either leave it as 'in limbo' while slowly plugging away at more meaningful updates on an irregular basis, or officially drop it or hand it off to someone more interested in seeing it completed in a reasonable amount of time.
Additionally, even for those that claim to not care about the financial side of things, making a decent profit will provide an increase in motivation to continue work, even if they don't actually need the profit.
Part of the reason I've never actually tried to fully dev a game, is because I know myself too well, and know I will start really strong and then either rapidly lose interest, or wind up with a MILLION little plot threads that beg for continuation but will never see a conclusion. Comes with manic-depressive. I have to be in the right mood else I can't concentrate enough to make meaningful progress on writing and coding. Don't run into that issue as much with getting 3D rendering set up, but that's because that's a lot more straightforward and 'easier' to get my 'vision' onto the screen, even without using DAZ or an Illusion game as a shortcut.
I have done precisely what I mentioned above by just not making the project(s) public until I have confidence it is in a state where content is mostly complete (that is to say, either main story stuff mostly complete or a sandbox with a reasonable amount of events for a reasonable variety of interactions) and further additions would be feasibly fast to do. That way if I do lose interest, I don't leave people with a lack of closure or a desire for more when it may not ever come.
Even putting something up, totally free, I'd still rather not leave people left waiting indefinitely and disappointed with a trickle of content, especially when much of that content may be things they aren't interested in.
Of note, I'm not saying the dev for this is a bad person or anything like that. Nor am I calling them money-hungry or anything along those lines. I'm pointing out how things look from the perspective of a potential financial supporter and what the most likely issue is. Lack of motivation is a consistent thing, and it's annoying seeing promising games flounder about because the developer not only can't find a focus, but can't be bothered to make sure the updates that are made are reasonably substantial. It's not a thing I'm really tearing into the dev for, because it's a thing I've encountered myself every time I've tried creative pursuits. What I'm annoyed with and labelling a problem, is the handling of that issue, not that they have the issue.
The other side of the coin there, is devs like Ostrich and Yandev (admittedly not a H-game, but still makes my point nicely as an extreme example), who milk the shit out of a game's development while feeding crumbs despite being reasonably well-paid, and constantly making various excuses as to the lack of content, excuses which hold no water and serve only as attempts to mask their own incompetence in various aspects.
To get back to the original statement:
The post I originally quoted used a lack of funding as justification for putting no effort in whatsoever, and seeing no real progress in development, whatsoever. It's not adequate justification, it's blind excuses coming from someone who feels people are being 'too harsh', trying to be nice but failing to look at the situation from the view of the people making complaints.
It is perfectly reasonable, even with a free game, for users to be frustrated and annoyed with a lack of further development of the game, even without erratic behavior from the dev playing into it.
