No, Darkera Studios has not abandoned development of Rise of the Clockwork Stallions or anything nasty like that. As you can see in the above trailer they've continued to make good progress in their game (even if that Spike sprite is horribly ugly), but given how big the game has gotten lately it appears that they desperately need a sprite animator. I still think that 44 playable characters is a bit too much, but ah well. As long as they manage to finish the game eventually, I'm happy.

Interested in applying as an animator? You can contact ChurchCrusade on Skype or Twitter (preferably Skype), and maybe send him some sample sprites and whatnot.