Okay, I made my first executable for distribution. The game is still very primitive and ugly, but I'm going on holiday soon and wanted to get this out first. I am all ears for any criticism and advice. The battles need a lot of work, the character graphics are ugly, and there's no sound. Still, you can play through the first town.
You have 3 time units, completing quests causes the time to run out. When the time counter gets to zero (it's in the top left corner), you will immediately be booted to the end screen. I plan to put a brief delay and a "time's up" animation so this process isn't so abrupt.
http://keksociety.com/Theseus/Theseus.exe
If you're confused, press "I" to get to the character sheet. It has a help tab, but basically it's WASD to move, space to talk, and use the mouse to click dialogue and buttons. If you're done talking to someone, just walk away from them.
Usually, having the first 2 completed levels means you are halfway done, so it is a good time to start getting the word out indeed. Why use programmer art over free art. There might not be much available, but I started with
open game art.
Lots of good art, thank you. I found some buttons and other things that I plan to implement once I get back.
I'm starting to learn it's extremely difficult to estimate progress. I might get lucky and find a really great art or sound asset in a few minutes, or I might just be browsing around forever and writing messages to contractors. As for programming, it depends on how cruel and difficult the computer is feeling.
The writing is about the only thing I can reliably estimate, along with self-created art assets... assuming I don't get stuck in the office or working over the weekends.