As some of you watching the Mod will have noticed, our website is down. On the 16th of November between the hours of 17:00 and 19:40 GMT the website content housed on our FTP server was illegally accessed and deleted. Following an initial email to establish the cause of this freak mishap that night, I first asked for information regarding the account used to wipe all content on the 17th of November. At a time of development when I'd just opened up our design document to public criticism and comment (see previous newspost, apologies for the dead links!) this has created a substantial impasse to our gameplan.
Due to HLGaming's hosts, EdgeNetwork, being incredibly slow with their reponse to numerous emails I've sent to HLGaming, we have not been able to resolve this issue. You may ask yourself why we don't just put the site back up if we have a mostly intact forum backup? My view on this is simple, I want to know how secure and reliable our hosting is before continuing to use them, and before risking losing not only game information (which is saved to HD) but team and community input. Depending on the response I get, and how quickly it gets here) we may have to look for alternative hosting. [Edit] The logs were deleted, I'm waiting on a support ticket.
So it is with great regret that I have to inform you all of our hibernation, effective as soon as approved by a staff member of the ModDB and to last an indefinite amount of time. However, work will not stop on Citadel Utopia. I will be working hard in my spare time to put together a proper site template in which to reinstate our forums. I will also be working on an off-shoot of the design document aimed at providing the codification team with a full understanding of all elements required.
I understand that this will cause substantial annoyance within the meagre, but loyal community we have following our progress, and I am fully prepared for flak from disappointed individuals. As I have said, it is not without a great deal of regret and a certain degree of shame that I make this somewhat sombre announcement, but I do believe it to be justified. I believe in truthful communication between a Mod Leader and its followers, and this is why I have chosen to reflect the current state of CU's development as a state of hibernation. By all means, you are entitled to exercise your right to hit the 'Stop watching this Mod' button, but if you think you have seen something unique in Citadel Utopia, that same something that captivated your interest and prompted you to reach for the 'Watch this Mod' button in the first place, then you'll want to know when we're back in action.
(cryptic hint at storyline ftw!)
Stephen 'Crispy' Etheridge
Citadel Utopia
Project Lead
This game concept still exists, and is slowly being added to, until the day it can be fully realised. This is likely to be many years, if ever, but there is still a glimmer of hope you may one day see this. And if that day ever comes, it will be glorious indeed.