A Change to Future Releases (Patreon)

Hey everyone,

I need to make a change to how releases work going forward, and I want to explain why instead of just quietly changing things.

Right now, Patreon tends to grow significantly whenever I release an update, but most of that growth disappears again within the following weeks. People join, grab the newest build, cancel, and come back for the next release.

I completely understand why people do that. Money is money.

Unfortunately, the current cycle isn't sustainable for me.

I'm putting an absurd amount of my life into Harvesting Corruption. I'm working somewhere around 120 hours between writing, coding, rendering, animations, testing, fixing bugs, and everything else that goes into keeping this alive.

And I love making it.

But I also have five kids, real bills, development expenses, hardware costs, software subscriptions, and all the other boring adult bullshit that unfortunately cannot be paid in Annika renders.

I've been covering the difference myself for a long time because I believed Patreon would gradually grow enough to make development sustainable. Instead, I've reached a point where I need to change something if I want to keep giving the game this much of my time.

So, starting with future releases:

Patreon builds will be the complete version of the game.

They'll include:

The full release with all video animations

A new Cheat Menu, accessible through the in-game phone and completely optional

The newest content as it's released

Public builds will still be available for free, and I'm not planning to gut the game or turn it into some glorified demo. They'll contain the actual game and new content, but video animations will be reserved for Patreon builds.

I don't particularly like putting content behind Patreon. I've tried very hard to make Harvesting Corruption unusually generous for a game that's largely supported by individual players.

But I also think the people who consistently fund development should receive something meaningful for doing it.

I don't want Patreon to feel like you're tossing money into a tip jar because you feel obligated to support me. I want you to get something worthwhile for your money.

If you're paying for Harvesting Corruption, you should get the best version of Harvesting Corruption.

And if enough people eventually support the project that I'm no longer worrying about whether I can afford to keep doing this full-time, I'll happily revisit this decision and make the animations public again. This isn't something I'm doing because I want to squeeze people. It's something I'm doing because I want to still be here making the game.

For those of you who have stayed subscribed between releases, especially when there wasn't some shiny new build waiting for you that day, thank you.

And hopefully, one day, I'll be able to write another post saying:

“WI made it. Everything is public again.”

Until then, I've got a game to make.

Thank you for keeping me at the keyboard.

- NuveroticJuicy Genie Games