Should I rise to the bait!

For the most part, I have loved reading through the survey answers. Almost everyone has been really supportive and I do encourage you to be honest, but I could not let this one go past without clarifying some things:

Deluxe edition is a mistake that will lose you money. People funded you to make the free version of the game; telling them they have to pay to get the 'real' game is an extended middle finger and just going to get your game pirated heavily. You guys seriously want to try and police the entire Internet to get links taken down after release (spoliers: you'll fail)?

If you insist on this route, wait 6 months after initial full release to launch the deluxe edition. It'll be less of a "FUCK YOU" to the people who funded you, and people who want more may be more willing to pay.

Seriously, you don't get a gallery without paying? You guys serious?

1.  The deluxe version may lose us money, but we are SELF funding the extra bits. It is OUR money. We are NOT using the money from the crowd funding to pay for those extra bits.
2. While I have not made it widely known perhaps, the people who donated money have already been informed that they will get the deluxe version for free. These people saved the project and we are certainly not going to insult them by hitting them up for extra cash.
3. I fully expect it to get pirated to some degree. As much as you hope that does not happen, we know that it will. Research shows though that it can be helpful in the long run. If it is worth pirating, a lot of people will decide it is worth paying for. Ultimately, if people want to pirate from us, that is their problem.
   
   We practice what we preach. The art work we make is based on building blocks purchased from small artists through online stores. We have paid for everything that we have used. If we did not make it ourselves or it was not freeware, we paid for it.
4. I have never considered a gallery core functionality. I was not even going to do one until a couple of people asked. There is no DRM on our game and you can easily browse to the folder where the scenes are kept.
5. The standard version is the 'real' game. As we have been working on the game, we have seen an opportunity to do something more, to go beyond what we promised. It will cost US more in time and resources, but the comic will cover some of that and the rest is based on people buying the game at the end. Also, it makes sense for us to do the extra content while we are working on scenes, while the inspiration is there and not go back after.

Our goal has always been to be open and honest, and to treat people as we would like to be treated ourselves.

Everyone on the team, commissioned or volunteer has gone way beyond what was expected of them. They are passionate about what they do. They thrive on your praise. It keeps them motivated. Not being able to work on something this month because they can't yet afford the required resources or have to use something that does not really fit as a replacement instead, is demotivating.

I hope that clears up things. If any of you still think we are wrong to do what we are doing, then we will have to agree to disagree.

I apologise to the anonymous survey respondent for using your words without attribution or permission. You left no contact details.