As for the update itself, we are still in the teasing phase, and that’s okay because the story should flow naturally. So don't expect too much action. But that's why we got the revelation of the story behind everything (more precisely, we buried a little deeper in it). So I can't wait for the next update, everything will be here until the end. Call me crazy but I think Lucrezia is worth the wait. She's hot as hell.
As for increasing the number of patrons on the Patreon page, you might want to consider one of the following ideas.
- Status update once a week (for example every Wednesday, or whatever day suits you) where you would describe what you did during the previous week. You don't have to post a preview, just write in a few words to show people that you are active. For example as DPC, Philly, or from smaller devs PHWAMM did it until he disappeared 3 months ago.
- Some kind of advertising, promotions among other developers. You contact someone (for example Mircom3D who makes The Adventurous Couple) and post about his game on your page, he about yours on his page. Take a look at his Patreon page and you'll see what I'm talking about.
- Special render. Ask your biggest tier (or some to the biggest) once a month to vote between a couple of options in what situation they would like to see Lucrezia and to make 1 render unrelated to the game like that and share with the Patrons. You can then use that and add it to the main menu gallery with these non-canon renders.
In the end, I believe that quality always wins. So far, no quality game has been abandoned just because it lacked support. There were always other reasons. In a way, your only misfortune is that you are dealing with a genre that is not very popular, often hated. But even that genre needs someone to make quality games. It is very difficult to make a game of this genre without having a story never seen before. I think that the biggest problem of other developers in this genre is that they do not communicate often with patrons/fans and that their update comes out very rarely (once-twice a year).
As for us fans here, I think people should be patient with sharing the game. It is not difficult to wait a week for the developer to raise the necessary funds. We all can’t wait for the update, but in the end, I think the developer’s request should be respected, especially when he’s in such a difficult life situation. Well then, if it becomes a DPC NTR genre, for example, I don't believe anyone will have a problem with the game leaking the same seconds.