The only real perverse incentive I can think of is that one might deliberately make the build process extra complicated to encourage people to part with their $

The only real perverse incentive I can think of is that one might deliberately make the build process extra complicated to encourage people to part with their $10. The game in question is by a solo indie dev afaik, so that seems a bit unlikely in this case. I think "program build consultancy" is an overly cynical way to look at this particular situation. I was more than happy to pay the $10 to support the guy and not have to muck with an Electron build. /shrug