Dev update 12th Dec
Hey folks,
1) Still on track
Release is still planned to happen late tonight (my time - GMT). If it goes one minute past midnight and no release, please don't panic... Rest assured, I'm not going to bed tonight until the game is out, so please don't flood my inbox at 000:01.

So... estimate is 14-16 hours from now, but allow a little grace period. Thanks
2) Authentication process has been scrapped
My last dev update mentioned a couple of things... that relevant patrons would receive an authenticator and a password, along with some simple instructions on how to use. And also asked for a little grace period on any questions NOT related to episode 25, as that is where all my focus would be for the next few days. Since that post, I have received 42 messages about season 2, 28 messages about old episodes and 30 messages about the authenticator, inlcuding 3 patrons who told me they had downloaded the authenticator but couldn't get it to work. These last 3 were the most surprising, considering I haven't even uploaded it.
So...the messages from all of these folks has shown me that the authentication process will go very smoothly for approx 90-95% of patrons, but will be a screaming nightmare for the rest of you. Lots of things I probably failed to consider such as: Not everyone is PC literate or tech savvy, some people aren't aware of the Patreon DM system (which is how I planned on communicating the authenticator details and password) and for some folks, English is not their first language (I couldn't even imagine trying to read the essay I posted if it was in a second language), and some people (including those last 3 people mentioned above) are just a little "different"

so it's understandable that some folks might struggle.
So, to ensure no negative experience for any patrons, I have decided to scrap the authentication process. Being honest, this idea was 100% for me (to protect something I've been working 70+ hour weeks on for months and months)... But... you guys are the customers, so if I can't provide something that will work seamlessly for ALL of you, then the right thing to do is scrap it. It's a pity... I was looking forward to seeing how quickly (or hopefully how long) it would take to crack my fancy code!

If I had any confidence that it was un-crackable, then I'd probably drive on with the authenticator and just work with the 5-7% of folks to help them get through their issues. But the game engine I use (renpy) is very easy to crack, so the 2-3 day delay I was hoping for, just isn't worth it if it messes up the experience for some patrons.
3) Tier release
As mentioned in my last post. As soon as the game is released it will be available to $10 tiers. One week later, it will be available to $5 tiers. $1 tier do not automatically get access to the latest episode. However, there are some long-time supporters of the game at $5 tier level who I will get the game to before the one-week window, and a
handful of $1 patrons who will also get the game. However, for these folks, there is no automatic process for this and I'll have to process these one at a time AFTER the release, so please be patient.
I'm not going to specify the exact criteria for these extra releases for long-time supporters, because last time I got into that, it was a nightmare (people sending me queries with bangladeshi currency conversion rates to prove they met the threshold, etc.

) which I just don't have time for. I'll work through them one at a time starting with the folks who have been around the longest / contributed the most.
So, if you are a $5 patron, expect to wait a week. But for those long-term supporters, I will aim to shorten that. But I can't confirm yet who will /won't be on that list or how long it will take me to get to you, because it's a one-at-a-time manual process.
Summary:
To guarantee immediate access, you need to be a $10 patron.
For long-term $5 patrons (and handful of $1 patrons), it could be anything from 1 hour to 6 days post release to process things. The longest / highest contributors will receive it earliest.
For those in this category, I don't have the scope at the moment to answer individual queries on timelines or where you are in the queue.
4) Thanks
Once again, I just wanted to thank ALL of you. Your support, kind message and feedback is very much appreciated.
CG