Is Elements development dead?

[remrej]

Is anyone else concerned that Elements may be a dead project?

The last update was made in April, and the lead developer posted in May about "small, more frequent patches".  But he has now been inactive since October.

Can anyone put my fears to rest?

[Acsabi44]

The developer seems to be on a hiatus, aye. It seems that, for the moment at least, we have to work with what we got in the game.
A small glimpse of hope may be that there were periods like this, when the developement of the game was halted, but the developer would check the forum or game from time to time. Who knows, he could announce a new patch just tomorrow!

By the way, the game is far from dead. The most of the fun in the game lies in the forums, and the forums is buzzing as usual. You can participate in all kinds of activities here, like tournaments, competitions, creating art, sharing ideas and the like. In just a few weeks War, the biggest PVP event on the forum will start. In other words, there is always stuff to do around here 

[remrej]

By the way, the game is far from dead.

Certainly.  But what worries me is dedicating time and effort to a game that, tomorrow, could cease to exist with no warning.  A game community with no game is relatively worthless.  Developer hiatus is one thing, but no communication for 7 months is worrisome.

[RootRanger]

The last update that actually improved the game significantly was over a year ago, and zanz has said pretty much nothing to us lately. So yeah, I would say development is dead. The game is alive, but slowly losing popularity.

[Cheesy111]

By the way, the game is far from dead.

Certainly.  But what worries me is dedicating time and effort to a game that, tomorrow, could cease to exist with no warning.  A game community with no game is relatively worthless.  Developer hiatus is one thing, but no communication for 7 months is worrisome.

The game may not be updating regularly, but I do not see the connection from that to the game suddenly not existing anymore.  There's still more than enough ad revenue for it to be continuously hosted on Kong and ETG.com.

[ZephyrPhantom]

Seems Zanz keeps checking in on the forums every now and then I do not think the development is 100% dead, but it certainly is on a long hiatus. I don't think the forum is decaying very much (if at all), so I think the game is still going, if only because its fanbase continues to push it forward.

Certainly.  But what worries me is dedicating time and effort to a game that, tomorrow, could cease to exist with no warning.  A game community with no game is relatively worthless.  Developer hiatus is one thing, but no communication for 7 months is worrisome.

Considering that Zanz did drop by to fix a major PvP1 bug when it happened and the PvP servers are still up, I'd say this game is still being looked after, at minimum. As cheesy said above, it's very possible for this game to sustain 100% off of ad revenue if necessary.

[plastiqe]

I wish zanz would come back and make a post, it would be a Festivus Miracle!

[remrej]

The game may not be updating regularly, but I do not see the connection from that to the game suddenly not existing anymore.  There's still more than enough ad revenue for it to be continuously hosted on Kong and ETG.com.

Perhaps I don't understand the server architecture behind the scenes.  I'm specifically concerned that if the developer isn't active anymore, he may not be willing to continue renewing web or database hosting.  Domain name expires, or the database becomes corrupt, will they be corrected?

[whatifidogetcaught?]

Perhaps I don't understand the server architecture behind the scenes.  I'm specifically concerned that if the developer isn't active anymore, he may not be willing to continue renewing web or database hosting.  Domain name expires, or the database becomes corrupt, will they be corrected?

If the domain name expires or the database becomes corrupt, it would draw too much attention for him to not fix.

[vrt]

I can completely understand needing to get away from this place, especially when you're on the receiving end of the type of idiocy this community is capable of.

[shadow303]

I would think even if there will be no more updates for the game (which isn't proved at all) that doesn't automatically mean that the game and support to keep it alive ends. Especially since there is an active community here.

In addition.. I have no clue how the business concept of this game is, but if there is really a risk that there will be no more active developers for the game, maybe it's time to make a "developer class" like the existing "art class" to recruit some new developers

[TheAccuso]

maybe it's time to make a "developer class".

I remeber that many times the "auto-sustain" idea have been suggested, but don't know how much Zanzarino want this to happen since this progect is basically a fairly important part of his portfolio.
Sure if the project have to be stagnant i see no particular reasons for him to don't let the community step up, especially if the comunity developers will continue give him the rights and the fair credits for it.