>One side thought: how much time do you estimate will be spent
>creating and/or editing areas before CF eventually shuts down?
> How much of that time would be saved if a graphical editor
>were available? If the saved time is more than the 18 months
>it would take you to build the thing, then in the long run it
>might be worthwhile.
>
>The counter-argument, of course, is that your time (as an
>Implementor) is worth much more than the time spent by
>heroimms creating their areas. So it's not an apples to
>apples comparison.

A valid point, however the 18 months then also has to include maintenance of the tool. At one point I tried to write a quick and dirty "verification" tool that would at least let you know that you had exits right, flags, etc. That tool no longer exists because the maintenance cost to keep it up to date was worse than just loading an area and fixing the bugs.

I also like that you bring up balancing of resources, as I deal with that on almost a daily basis. The time of a 7 figure V.P. is much more valuable to the bottom line, than the time of a 5 figure individual contributor. I don't think the delta between the top and bottom of CF immortalhood is nearly that drastic, but it does exist in impact made on the game.