I'm happy that Ferdafs is okay and is doing stuff again, and I'm happy NM is no longer working himself sick trying to put together his own planned conclusion... but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't also sad. I was happy to see where it was going, and I do think you guys were doing a great job. I obviously can't force you to do anything, and I wouldn't want to, but if you ever consider going back to it, well, you have my support. Godspeed, man.
Even if Ferdafs hadn't come back, I did say I planed to take a 3 month break after the last update (between r3.8P5 and P6). So, that is sort of what is happening anyhow~ish while we wait for the next version of the Unity game. I'm on "break", ending is "on hold".
I am still undecided on how I want to proceed with the conclusion right now. For the moment, I'm not doing any work on it (again, sort of as planned (I had intended to slow my work on it, not halt it... but, stopping was also a possibility had Ferdafs not come back, as I haven't exactly enjoyed making art for it)).
To be clear, I do want to finish the conclusion, and have it out for players, in a reasonable time frame (i.e. not delay it for some ending point that might never come). I also don't want to leave players hanging, waiting forever for more story. But, there are two obstacles in the way.
First, to no ones surprise, it art. A scene or enhancement every now and then is fine, but making full scenes simply hasn't been enjoyable for me. So I have to somehow motivate myself for it, which I'm not sure how to do at the moment. Having a target goal (completing the project in a specific deadline), was a big motivator, but that is no longer the case.
Second, is the conclusion itself, how it will change what the game is, and what problems it will cause. The main issue is something I tried really, really hard not to do throughout my time on this project, and that is future story. By jumping ahead, I've possibly made new content from Ferdafs incompatible with the current conclusion. That means I'll have to keep changing the ending to match the new content (something, I don't want to do at all).
Additionally, once the conclusion is done, so is the game, it's concluded. Sure, I can keep bringing over scenes, but once there is an ending, every new scene is just "filler". Having an ending changes what the project is, into something I don't necessarily want it to be.
So, for the moment, conclusion on hold, and when I can, I'll move it forward again. Not sure when.