Loving your enthusiasm and emotional attachment to Autonauts! We said "early next year" because we weren't entirely sure when that would be. There's so much for us to think about and do; there's the need for us to maintain some form of income to allow us to keep developing Autonauts; there's the time spent with our families over the Christmas holidays; and so on (and on).
"Early" could be as early as the first day of the new year or perhaps even as early as the first month or even the first quarter of the year. TBH, ATM "early" is looking more like later this month. We find that making 'play' is a lot more straightforward than making 'game' simply because there are fewer stringent rules to uphold and less information to convey with purer play; it's easier to break a game than it is more unstructured play, which means we need to be careful.
Anyway! No excuses, just the facts. We are still working away on Autonauts, making it easier to appreciate and enjoy, and we promise to try harder to update everyone with more news more often (although it must be said that we do have a tendency to focus more on making than talking, so soz about that).
Gary and Aaron, Automationauteers
PS
Happy New Year!