my completely ignorant (im a programmer, but i havent seen his code) opinion is that a lot of the code on this project is approaching spaghetti.
Damned spaghetti. Following that, the programmer gets tired, and leaves his app a vaporware. Worse yet, once they stop working on it completely, they wont release it into community either, because they are so scared of someone seeing the work up closely! Seen this so many times. I forecast the same with DF, before it even reaches Beta. Or if it ever reaches Beta, it will be because it was pushed forth to give a feeling of progress.
And yeah, how many people will be motivated to keep donating with him going at this sort of pace?
You know the term "Alpha" is completely meaningless on a game that's been playable for 5 years, right?
Actually, I think Toady is moving pretty fast, considering what sorts of things he is programming.
I mean, yes, it's going to take him about a year to get through the Caravan and Army arc, and maybe some more of the Adventurer stuff before he gets around to the ESV things, and I really do want to see him get around to it, but it's not like he's just sitting with his thumbs up his ass, here.
He's producing procedurally-generated cities at the moment, and hopefully, we'll see him continue to make refinements of this code to make some truly organic-looking cityscapes for us to explore. He's even throwing in absurdly spacious sewers and catacombs and undead, just for
cliche traditional adventuring material.
Take some time to enjoy either the game as it is now, or else to enjoy some of the other things in life, because this game has been in development for years, and will continue to be in development for years. DF will still be here when you get back, and you'll probably enjoy the surprise of what popped up while you were gone a little more that way, too.