The thing to be aware of, is that if you're going to do regular updates, you need to actually stick to that schedule. Prison Architect was a phenomenal success because they said they'd do weekly updates and they did.
Prison Architect was also a great concept and well executed. Saying it was "because of weekly updates" is stretching it an awful lot. Given the numbers it sold, it's highly unlikely a majority of the playerbase even knew they were doing weekly updates (especially since only the monthly ones got significant PR like youtube updates).
Those weekly updates do help ALOT though in a situation like that. Firstly it says to the player, very loudly, "Yes, we absolutely are going to keep going with this game: HERE IS THE PROOF". It gives the player confidence in the developers, which is ever more important these days considering some of the crap that happens with early-access games. Secondly, it also keeps players constantly invested, because there's always new stuff to do and see. A player who is really invested in a game is also a player who will keep TALKING about the game. Third, well, it's like dangling food in front of a dog. Players see more and more shiny stuff added constantly, and eventually some of the hold-outs might cave and buy the thing. And then they like it, and they too are invested in it and keep talking about it. This though of course is assuming that the developers communicate with the community enough. Gotta let them know that updates are there, after all.
It's not even just updates, in a way it's almost a mini-PR sort of thing amongst the community and anyone following or connected to it. But that sort of strict scheduling doesn't seem used very much. The only other game I can currently think of that does something like this is 20XX, which goes so far as to have a timer counting down on the title screen, towards the next update which is every two weeks. Talk about getting the player to notice...
Of course, the problem is that if you break that schedule at all, players get more than a little irked. If too many updates in a row are just things like bugfixes, that irks them too. They expect constant STUFF, which can be a problem. It's hard to put out constant content.
Anyway, congrats to everyone working on this for the whole KS and stretch goals thing. Cant wait to see where you take the whole thing. Just... try not to overwork yourselves too much, yeah?
