Hello,
I see a lot of frustrations expressed in this and in other threads about Game Development and making money. So I would like to see if I cannot help clean some of this up.
1. Money
People often want to have it. People often make or produce things to get more. I work a full time job to get mine. Developers like all people want money, and if they are spending their effort and time building and producing a game, then it should be rewarding for them financially. The issue honestly that hurts many development teams is the Piracy aspect. Over time, and especially when new content and / or visible change is not occurring, supporters often think "why am I paying for this". The idea that anyone can download this game, makes supporters feel like they are not getting something for the money.
2. Content
I HATE HATE HATE, open feedback to developers. I think many developers are ruined by listening to feedback too much. If your a good developer, then what you should do is :
a. Make a very good plan (complete with story plot, etc) before every writing a single string.
b. Build in rest / review periods in that plan for BUG fixes, real issues. (Dont take feedback on GAME design, remember your the developer, with the vision, and you made the plan.)
c. Deliver what you set out to build, do not yield to the critics, many of which are not interested in paying you anyway.
3. Patreon, SubscribeStar, etc.
Realize that these services are in business to make money. They dont really care about you, your content, or what you are developing. They care that, "THEY STAY IN BUSINESS". So whatever is popular, what ever is in the public eye, that is what they will cater too.
To all the supporters : I hear all of you who ARE supporting developers, and feel like nothing is happening, however we need to stop shouting and demanding new content, and start asking : " Are you on track? How does the project plan look? Are you changing the vision for the game, movie, etc? " We need to support the originality and design of the game.
To all the developers : We need to stop listening to DESIGN feedback, and start delivering what we set out to do. If you are doing it for the money, and want to have a career, dont rake each month and stretch out a project. Develop to your original plan. Deliver a viable, completed project. And REWARD your supporters for their support, do not cater to them. TRUST ME, we dont want catered do, we want you to finish what you start.
Love this, Hate this. Its the Truth.