I suspect the open source community would have access to the needed skill set.
Why no discussion on open source? Is that a bad word around here? If it is the filter didn't catch it...
i work in software development, hire people etc. You'd be very hard pressed to find anyone willing to dabble in C. And once you did - they would name the price. Given HiTech's experience and knowledge, it would take months if not years for that person to understand the code they have to maintain. Idea that someone would expand upon it is a dream. Unless HT starts working on the game again, nothing will change. Unless you got couple millions to spare and don't expect a return.
Most of todays mods/expansions and such are written in things like Java or scripting languages. There are thousands of developers for those. For C - i doubt you'd find 1000 people worldwide that would have sufficient experience to understand HT's code.