I started working on battleMETAL 10 years ago on July 6th, 2016. It was released 6 years ago, and I provided updates as best I could over the past several years. When I started the entire project, I didn't really have a long term vision; just that as a hardcore Mechwarrior / Earthsiege fan, I wanted to take a crack at making my own version.
In so many ways the game shouldn't exist, but somehow it does. Basing it on a (even by 2016) aging Quake sourceport was certainly a choice, one that has created extra effort to maintaining the game or adding new content. Yet, part of the quirky charm is definitely from being built on a Quake sourceport.
The game was always a passion project by a single person, built on spare time heavily borrowed. Countless weekends pulling long shifts coding and months spent building maps. Even after launch, there were so many things that needed either fixing or refining. A decade later, battleMETAL is the best its going to be on Darkplaces. There was never a budget to work on this full-time, and hiring help wasn't in the cards either. Steam sales since launch have been tough when weighed against the time investment.
For now, battleMETAL will be as it is for the immediate future, warts and all. I will continue to be responsive to anyone who needs support for the game where possible, but new content / major updates are on indefinite hold.
Ultimately I did achieve what I set out to do a decade ago. battleMETAL is a wild and weird mech game. The journey of development wasn't a loss either, instead one heck of an adventure.