itch.io

it doesn't add together... it just looks at what the highest amount you paid at once and compares that to the prices of the available downloads. I don't know if folks set sales and prices intentionally to manipulate this behavior, but it does make buying something on sale that isn't finished a bit unappealing since it likely means you'll have to buy an updated version later if it isn't ALSO on sale.

np

paypal allows you to use a credit card as a guest...? It adds a step but is ultimately not different than paying with a credit card directly here.

I would check the download link for your previous purchase and see how much you paid at that time, what I've noticed is you only get access to downloads that cost what you paid before or less... so if you bought a version on sale for $5 (like I did) you will not be able to download this new version that currently costs $10, until a time it also costs what you paid before.

Happy to have spent the 10, I assume for pirating it's primarily folks with paid access to a copy redistributing on free download sites... which seems to happen a lot in this genre. Maybe worth networking with some other adult game devs and see if they have suitable solutions to get that to a better ratio? I would think they'd be eager to share knowledge since it impacts the general value of these games. Why buy X person's game when so many are available for free? The more the quality games can protect their value and price the more viable it is as a profession for everyone.

Charisma seems the most useful as described cause it affects all areas of the game in some way... since you can use it to make it easier to purchase the gear to make fights easier... but also to get more choices in dialogue.