Okay, lets get something out of the way right now. I'm mostly making this thread for my own benefit; you see, I have an attention span similar to that of a lobotomized goldfish (*swimming around bowl* Ahh, what nice scenery. Hey, I've seen this beAhh, what nice scenery...) and having other people knowing that I am working on something makes me feel committed to it, keeping me from getting distracted.
That said, here's a brief introduction to Rotary: everyone gets a scout, and tries to shoot the other people down with scourge- and Yggy-missiles, without falling into the sun in the process. Unfortunately for scout pilots with weak stomachs, the basic directions in which one can fire missiles are always (yep you guessed it) rotating. Features include "true" third person ("scoutocentric") view, virtual HP, and survival-based, rather than kill-based, victory.
Lineage (for anyone who cares and recognizes anything that I mention):
-Original ancestor: TankWar (not to be confused with Tank Wars, which is something different).
-Branched off from the main TankWar descendant series that spawned Walker War and Star Mercs (the most advanced "direct descendant" of TankWar) at the never-finished Space Battle, which came in between TankWar and Walker War.
-Squadron! was the branching off point from Space Battle that is leading to Radial. Squadron represented simpler, cleaner gameplay than the other branch of the lineage, sacrificing complexity for faster, smoother action.
-Radial is an intermediate step between Squadron! and Squadron! II, which should be superior to any other members of the lineage in gameplay sophistication, feature sophistication, and balance, except that I can say with 99.99% certainty that it will never be finished.
Radial Status:
-Passive Terrain: 100%. Then again, it's in space, so that doesn't mean much.
-Active Terrain: 20%. Concepts are done and tested; locations are in place. Triggering is not in place.
-Gameplay Systems: 10%. Concepts are done, some are tested. Locations are in place. Triggering is not in place.
-Unit Settings: 100%, but only because they are irrelevant to gameplay.
I really wish I knew the answer to that question, but the fact is, it's hard to say for certain. In terms of the initial "creation" process, one frenzied session of multiple hours should be sufficient (though when, exactly, this semiberzerk state will come upon me is unknown). But that is only the beginning. The actual creation of all the basic systems is not what will take the longest; it loses that contest to the next phase after it: testing. Testing will entail:
1. Ensuring that all game systems are functional, and fixing any that are not.
2. Tweaking gameplay variables to ensure an optimal playing experience.
3. Improving any systems that could use it.
4. Adding additional systems, if doing so would make the map more fun, and they are possible to execute.
5. Repetition of 1-4 a great many times until they are no longer productive.
6. Classification: Based on how well it runs and how well it plays in the "finished" form, I have to decide whether or not to release the map at all.
Since it's hard to say how many times I will have to execute step 5, and how long it will take to complete 1-4 each time, there's really no way of knowing how long it will be before the map is done, especially considering that my work ethic is based on a combination of dice (real, virtual, and imaginary), Formula 1 racing results, real world circumstances, barometric pressure, and my mood...if you believe that my work ethic even exists, which is more of a question for religious scholars than anyone else due to the fact that such a belief can come about only through faith.
So yeah, I don't really know when it will be done. It could be done in a few days, weeks, or months, or never.