I've just realised how long it's been since the last update, so I thought I'd better let people know I am still working on it (see below for details on what), as it caused some concern last time there was a long gap between updates.
I'm likely to be releasing less frequent (and larger) updates from now on, so if you want to stay more up to date on ZGA's development, I regularly post my progress towards the next update on twitter:
https://twitter.com/Zero_G_Arena
Or if you're a facebook user instead, there's also a Zero G Arena facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/zerogarena/
As well as reports on progress towards the next update, I often post work in progress for feedback, or gauge opinion on possible features, so social media is a good way to have more influence on ZGA's development too.
At the moment, I post a lot less regularly on facebook than twitter, as the facebook page has very few followers, but I'll try to post more regularly if it gets a few more.
Anyway, as you'd expect, the next update is going to be quite a large one, the biggest feature of which will be dedicated servers. This has been the main cause for delay since, as well as proving to be extremely unstraightforward to get working, I also had quite a lengthy wait while Valve had to enable something required for Steam dedicated servers. Naturally, I started work on some other things during this wait, including achievements, which is why you may see some hidden achievements in the steam library now. These won't be unlockable until I release the update though.
I've finally got a dedicated server working, so it shouldn't be long until the next update now. I'm going to aim for this weekend, but don't count on that just yet.
Currently, I'm just trying to finish off all the other features I've been working on, such as the aforementioned achievements (also proving not entirely straightforward [not entirely to my surprise]). I may just release the update with only some of the new stuff, and release another update shortly afterwards.
Anyway, I imagine the playerbase has dropped off to just about nothing by now, but rectifying that is my current number one priority. The dedicated servers are part of my plan to get people playing more regularly, and I'm also planning to participate in some upcoming Steam sales (and perhaps even do some external advertising), which should hopefully bring some new players in. The achievements are also part of my plan to get more people playing, as I intend to make them only unlockable from official servers. Hopefully that should provide more long term focus, which can otherwise be lacking from an online-only game. I'm also working on cosmetics that will be unlockable by achievements, which should add more of an incentive to work towards them.
Anyway, hopefully that's removed any immediate fears for the game, as I know it causes some concern when there are no updates for a long time (I think this may be the longest yet).
For the record, in the highly unlikely event that I had to stop work on the game, I would definitely let you all know why, but I absolutely intend to finish it as it stands. I'm always contactable on the forums or on social media anyway, if you're wondering what's going on.
Kind Regards,
Jon