Okay look, lets face it the Forum is dying.
That statement is a bit exaggerated in my opinion. The forum community is far from dying. It's actually pretty active here compared to many other forums of this type of community for the small indie game community that it is. It's also a fairly stable level of activity and population for a game that has relatively no form of promotion or advertisements to help boost its state of existence. There is a constant steady stream of users from the daily/weekly visitors to the usuals who simply visit the boards seeking assistance or casual silent (non posting) forum perusal. I've been around this community as well as others to know when something is "dying" and to say the least I don't see any of those signs around this forum.
There's barely any community here anymore, at any given time I can get on the forum and see the same few people on and only those few people.
Since long before I was even a staff member it was regular to see anywhere from 10-25 users actually logged in on the site at any given time. Most of the time those users were the "same few people" as you stated. It hasn't really changed much since, all that has changed are the "same few faces" as the years have progressed. The most of the visitors we get on the forum have always been guests who aren't signed in. The forum has always been populated by a select few users who actually sign in and actively engage in activities around here. Most users of Feral Heart always stuck around on the game and still do.
Since the update some of the forum regulars have been spending a bit more of their Feral Heart time in game since the maps still feel fresh and new and I'm sure a number of folks are busy enjoying that. As you mentioned as well Raz is still working with the site. The registration is currently temporarily down and the site is still due for some nice renovation, it's normal for things to be a bit slow during these transitional periods as everyone finds their footing again.
I know Raz and everyone is updating the forum to look pretty, but looking pretty isn't enough.
The whole reason for the update on the site is to clean things up and get rid of some old issues and (eventually) replace them with some fresh new and fun things. It isn't simply about making things look "pretty" hence why it's taking so long as well. We here have always prioritized quality over anything else. Vanity is a secondary factor. The site is actually using a sort of default scheme as we focus our attentions and efforts to improving how some things run.
I know registration is closed right now while they fix it but even before the randomly opening registration didn't help the game since no one knew when it would open and you basically had to get lucky.
Yes people didn't know the time it opened but that in no way hindered the amount of accounts being made. If you view the forum stats you'll see we got 26,935 "new members" last year alone. That's far from dying for a community as small and as not so well known as Feral Heart. That's actually a pretty impress statistic given the fact that our game is as old as it is, without actual updates, no advertisement, and a random registration.
What everyone needs to understand is that all communities go through phases and Feral Heart is finally going through a new phase after quite a while of being fairly stagnant since KovuLKD left. It's only normal that we see things change and Feral Heart's community comes into a "new age" as things are being updated. Users both old and new will have to fit themselves into new niches. Some old faces will leave and be replaced by newer faces, it's all just the regular cycles that come with change. There will always be those old users who don't prefer the change while some other old users will welcome it along with newer members.
And if the forum dies the game dies. You cannot run a game without members, and you can't get members without a forum or website.
The only scenario where the game would die if the forum died is if there was no way for users to sign up, download the game, contact staff, seek assistance for trouble shooting, and have access to guides and useful tutorials. Theoretically speaking the rest of the forum is not dire for the games guaranteed survival given that it's always been a select few in the community who actually utilize the rest of the boards that make up the forum. So even if forum activity completely halted (for whatever reason) as long as we could still offer the necessary things listed above Feral Heart would be fine and would continue to run the same way it always has.
And if new pontential members see that "oh almost no one is on here and the registration is closed" they'll probably assume that the game is dead.
To be blunt most new members do not sit around caring how many people use the forum or how active the forum is. When you find a cool looking and fun new game you're usually just to excited to run in and download it to play. So I don't agree with this statement. As I said above as long as the forum could still supply new/old users with a place to sign up, download the game, seek assistance and guidance etc they would be fine.
For what Feral Heart is we can't expect a huge explosion of people joining or constantly remaining online. Feral Heart's in game and on site population will always fluctuate as the each season brings changing cycles to the distribution of players from some starting school, to busy exams seasons, or holidays etc. Feral Heart's population is an ever changing and dynamic one. Point is though, while Feral Heart continues to run and exist there will always be at least a steady flow of users and one shouldn't take that for granted no matter how large or small that group may be. They may not be the same faces as people tend to come and go, but as long as the game and site continue to be maintained there will always be people and therefore we will always be there to serve those people.
We are grateful for the user base that we have.
