evildumdum Wrote:Wondergamer, i cant help but think it's simply your choice of projects to support that is letting you down. If you don't see results, cancel your support until you do then sign up again. In my case i just play the free versions until i find a creator i really really respect. Since i have quite high standards for what i respect i only support 3 creators, but they've never let me down. (FYI, Sierra Lee, Bad Kitty Games, Renpy.)
That's pretty much the case as it is already.
Malise and the Machine is a monthly
subscription (even though they argued that wasn't the case), where you have to pay monthly to get project updates each month (not necessarily
playable updates, which really is the only thing I care about). As it is now, I'm paying only when a new version comes out so I can download it, then I immediately cancel the pledge afterwards (they're still paid for the pledge for the month regardless, this just prevents further charges until I put in another pledge & cancel the recurring charges again). However I wouldn't have even created a Patreon account if not for the developer of M&tM promising a full copy of the game to anybody who had paid at least $20 (originally confirming the statement before I even gave a pledge late 2016) over the course of it's development (whether they stopped paying down the line or not). I'm going to make sure he keeps that promise & I've made it a point I will be reviewing the game when I receive the full version on release & the review will be more of the developer if he didn't keep his promise (more in the form of a boycott, although I didn't specifically state that on his page). My first pledge was for $20 to secure a copy of the full version, with an additional minimum when he does release new
playable versions (which hasn't happened beyond the first pledge yet); the results of the review when written depends on the outcome of the game & whether the developer keeps his promise of distributing the full game to those that cleared the terms he set on his own. From what I've seen, the review is expected to be mostly positive if he does follow through on his promise, but entirely negative (and not of the game itself) if he doesn't.
EDIT: Also the reason why I don't like Patreon is because it seems they use a subscription-based payment system & I don't like the idea of paying monthly-payments on an unfinished product (especially if the project gets dropped,
Breeding Season being a
HUGE example here).
What I'm okay with:- One time payment on betas (i.e. Steam Greenlight, KickStarter)
- Monthly subscriptions on finished products (i.e. most paid MMORPGs)
What I'm not okay with:- F2P games with microtransactions (normally I just avoid the microtransaction content, until I realize key content is under that paywall, then I uninstall & blacklist it)
- Monthly payments on unfinished products (i.e. Patreon)
- Monthly subscriptions on sites that don't give a hard copy of what you're paying for (i.e. various porn/hentai sites, many having interactive games only accessible from their site)
- Payments towards games with limited activations (i.e. Bonetown/Bonecraft, Ultravixen series, SecuROM games; PSN is a bit different as you can revoke activations by system to get them back).
- Indie projects with only online gameplay (this determined after I got ripped off on the abandonware Fray, never got to play it as it was already dead when I purchased it & Steam refused to refund the purchase).
I could go into other standards as to what games I will
waste my time on (whether for the better or worse), but I'll stick to just those that require transfer of money for the time being...