Is there an official hosting guide?

I found none. The information comes from the community Pterodactyl egg and a forum post; confirm it on the official Nova-Life: Amboise Discord.

How many players can the server hold?

The Pterodactyl egg accepts 1 to 50 slots (25 by default) via serverSlot; this is not a limit confirmed by the publisher.

The community develops plugins for Nova-Life ("MOD NOVA LIFE" Discord), but the install procedure is not officially documented here; ask the community.

Where is server data stored?

In the server's Servers/ / folder: configuration in Config/server.json and database life.db (per the egg). Back them up together.

Install a Nova Life server: local, VPS, dedicated, ports

Nova-Life (Amboise) is a French life-simulation roleplay game on Steam where you can create your own server. I found no official hosting documentation: this guide relies on the community Pterodactyl egg and a forum post attributed to the developer, and flags every unconfirmed point. Allow 20 minutes.

Step-by-step installation

Prepare a 64-bit Linux server (Ubuntu/Debian) and a non-root user.
Install SteamCMD.
Install the server with app_update 1665030 (see the "Nova-Life server scripts" tool).
Start the server once with -startServer to create Servers/<name>/.
Edit Servers/<name>/Config/server.json ("Nova-Life server.json generator" tool).
Open the game port (7777 by default per the egg) on the firewall and router.
Create the systemd service for automatic start and restart on failure.
Back up the Servers/ folder (including life.db) regularly and update through SteamCMD.
Ask on the official Nova-Life: Amboise Discord about plugins, and list your server on game-rank.com/jeux/nova-life.

Requirements

OS: 64-bit Linux; a Windows server build is not documented.
Minimum hardware: not officially documented. The egg defaults to 25 slots (up to 50); plan at least 2 cores and 4 GB RAM as a starting point (unofficial estimate).
Steam account: anonymous SteamCMD login. Players must own the game.

Install on a Linux VPS (Ubuntu/Debian)

The commands below reuse those from the forum post and the egg; the 32-bit libraries SteamCMD needs are installed through lib32gcc-s1 (recent Debian/Ubuntu). There is no documented localhost connection test: run the game on another machine and add the server by its IP.

sudo adduser --disabled-password --gecos "" novalife
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y lib32gcc-s1 curl ca-certificates
sudo -iu novalife
mkdir -p ~/steamcmd && cd ~/steamcmd
curl -sqL https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steamcmd_linux.tar.gz | tar zxvf -
./steamcmd.sh +login anonymous +force_install_dir ../nova-life_server +app_update 1665030 validate +quit
cd ../nova-life_server && ./nova-life.x86_64 -batchmode -nographics -startServer "MyServer"

Ports to open

The game port is set with serverPort in server.json (7777 by default per the egg, "any port can be used"). The protocol (TCP or UDP) is not documented: open 7777 for TCP and UDP to test, then narrow down. On a home router, forward (NAT) the port to the local IP; at OVH, Hetzner, Scaleway also open it in the firewall / security group. Test from an outside network.

7777/TCP+UDP — game (egg default, protocol not documented).

Linux firewall (ufw)

sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw allow 7777/tcp
sudo ufw allow 7777/udp
sudo ufw enable
sudo ufw status

systemd service

File /etc/systemd/system/nova-life.service; the service restarts the server on failure. The egg notes the server prints many console errors, which it says can be ignored: watch the game's behaviour instead.

[Unit]
Description=Nova-Life server
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
User=novalife
WorkingDirectory=/home/novalife/nova-life_server
ExecStart=/home/novalife/nova-life_server/nova-life.x86_64 -batchmode -nographics -startServer "MyServer"
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Updates, backups and restarts

Update: stop the service, rerun app_update, then start. Backup: the egg mentions life.db and server.json; copy the Servers/ folder (server name) while the service is stopped. A cron job can schedule the restart.

# cron root, 05:00 : sauvegarde + mise à jour + redémarrage / backup + update + restart
0 5 * * * systemctl stop nova-life && tar czf /root/nova-life-$(date +\%F).tar.gz -C /home/novalife/nova-life_server Servers && sudo -u novalife /home/novalife/steamcmd/steamcmd.sh +login anonymous +force_install_dir /home/novalife/nova-life_server +app_update 1665030 validate +quit && systemctl start nova-life

List your server

The isPublicServer and serverListName fields in server.json control display in the game's list (exact behaviour undocumented). Also add your server on game-rank.com/jeux/nova-life to get it known.

Troubleshooting

SteamCMD fails: install lib32gcc-s1 (32-bit libraries) and double-check app ID 1665030.
Server does not start: -startServer expects a name (alphanumeric, dashes) and the executable must be run from its folder.
Players cannot connect: port 7777 not open (test TCP and UDP), missing NAT or a different serverPort in server.json.
Settings ignored: server.json edited while the server runs; stop the service, edit, restart.
Lots of console errors: the egg says they are common because the game is in development; if the game works, ignore them and report them on the official Discord.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an official hosting guide?: I found none. The information comes from the community Pterodactyl egg and a forum post; confirm it on the official Nova-Life: Amboise Discord.
How many players can the server hold?: The Pterodactyl egg accepts 1 to 50 slots (25 by default) via serverSlot; this is not a limit confirmed by the publisher.
Can I add plugins?: The community develops plugins for Nova-Life ("MOD NOVA LIFE" Discord), but the install procedure is not officially documented here; ask the community.
Where is server data stored?: In the server's Servers/<name>/ folder: configuration in Config/server.json and database life.db (per the egg). Back them up together.