RifE is separate from us completely.
I offer some suggestions sometimes, and some advice on code, but other than having a bit of access to private information regarding upcoming projects, the FF team has as much access and influence as any normal forum member.
As for our own progress, it still hasn't gotten very far. We may be sliding into full retirement at the current rate, with Civ5 potentially being our death bell.
Still being reworked. I am cleaning up a lot of basic Firaxis level code, then going to go through some of Kael's stuff and rework it. Learned a lot about how to write the code smoother/quicker and so I am taking the time now to try and optimize things so that we have more room to play with tricky code that slows the game down while still managing to (ideally) seem faster than other mods.
Well xienwolf, for two cents from a total stranger, I absolutely love Fall Further. So even if you stop working on it altogether, you should be proud of what you have accomplished. You have given me and many others many many hours of fun.