These guys have been getting donated like 5-20k per months for a over a decade.
- The smallest monthly amount the article mentions is $3,000 / month
- The highest monthly amount the article mentions is $8,181 / month (Dec 2104)
- The current number seems to indicate $6,999 / month
- $7,000 * 12 = $84 / year
- Split between two people, that's $42,000 / year each
- General rule of thumb is that the cost for an employee doubles their salary (to account for expenses such as health care, supplies, taxes, etc). So assume they're actually making less than that. We'll make it $30,000 since the overhead for a contractor is less than that for an employee.
$30,000 per year is not a lot of money to live on.
When he releases a new version, people pay attention and donate. When he takes time to introduce fun features that drive excitement, people don't donate because he doesn't release.
He occasionally adds a gentle ask for donations at the end of his progress blogposts, and it seems more like a guy who hates having to ask and would prefer to ignore money - which also seems like his entire personality.
My point is responding to "For anyone nitpicking the animations, UI or graphics choice... Please go and read about the reasons which drove the Adams brothers to finally cash in on their 20 year long passion project." They have been cashing in for a decade, it is a profession game put out by a decently paid experienced team, if I want to have a problem with the graphics or gui at whatever price they are charging, I will do so.
Including patron, it looks like they averaged over 11k per month last year.
If you're talking about the team they have doing the front end work for them, sure. But if you're talking about the two DF developers, certainly not. They've been making money on the game for years, sure... but a relatively low amount of money on the game, certainly not something I'd label as "cashing in". Rather, I think they believe the Steam move is "cashing in" because they hope it will bring them a lot more money; an amount I would help is better aligned with their work.