Progress Report #129 & Poll - Project's & Android's future

Hey lads!

The project has achieved a new record of 500 paid patrons, 1800 followers, and 2200 Discord users (although Twitter is stuck at 300 followers for ages). That's super motivating to see years of my hard work being appreciated and my game being played by thousands of people across the world! Thanks a lot!

So, for the last few days, I've spent dozens of hours, basically from dusk till dawn, trying to fix multiple problems with the Android version and see what more I can get out of it. I read a lot of stuff and even contacted fellow indie devs, and... There's stuff I can't do anything about...

Basically, the highest I can target is Android 11 and 32-bit, and once phones entirely stop supporting either of these, it's the end of my game on Android. It's hard to estimate market share on Android, but it's getting bigger each year and it's currently around 20-40% of all downloads for my game. For comparison, Linux & Mac are 1-2% each. I'm getting more and more questions about support for the newest phones or refunds because the game isn't supported on the newest phones.

So, what are my choices?

Either I leave it as it is and keep working on new content normally; nothing really changes. I follow the roadmap, and in a few years, nobody will be able to play Unaware in The City on Android. I might encounter other limits I'm still unaware of.

Or I spend the next few months upgrading the project to the newer Unity version. You won't get any new game releases for a long time (it might even take half a year if things get really ugly), but once I'm done, the game will run on the new Unity version, smoother, better, making it compatible with future devices and systems. However, I'll also remove and swap old tools and mechanics. For example, getting rid of the old animation system and replacing it with Spine, while re-making all old animations. Using Spine will let me hire a proper animator in the future. I will most likely add some stuff from the roadmap along the way, like diner or kinky nymph updates. It all sounds great, but I know that a lot of people will leave, some will even get toxic. But, most importantly, if too many people leave, I might get in financial trouble again, which will force me to take a loan with high interest that I will have to pay up next year. Although if it doesn't get too bad, my graphic artist will still be able to work on art for the game in the meantime. But even if it would be for the better in the long run, it's still quite a risky bargain... Yes, I did a similar stunt last year with re-making Unaware of the World into Unaware in The City, and everyone who played my previous game would agree that it was for the better, and that I will deliver.

Anyway, it's a now or never situation. With each new update, added features, animations, art files, it will only get harder to port it to the new Unity version, and I need to do it before the Steam release because I can't release the game and disappear for such a long time... So, I either start in the upcoming months, or I stay on Unity 2019 forever.

I'm interested in your opinion about the matter, so I'm attaching an open poll. I need you to help me make up my mind, so even if one option gets more votes, it doesn't have to mean that I'm going to roll with it. Any feedback and criticism are more than welcome!

Cheers!