A Cast of Thousands

The map of The Tower is almost done, well, the outside anyway. Considering that's the trickiest part of the thing, I'll count that as a minor achievement, a small win. The issue I found myself with, is the basic idea that The Tower, unlike the other things which are basically interiors, is mostly exterior. The form of it has to follow the function of it. Aborto, the first try, suffered because even though the platforming may have functioned, it looked like something built by crazys and drunks, using non-euclidean geometry to appease their great dead gods. For the first time, it has to not just function but be pleasing to stare at, and if the opportunity forces the issue, see momentarily as it rushes on by during an extended fall.
But just drawing out on a map isn't quite enough, it still has to play. So now while tweaking I have to consider things like, "Does this make it better?" "Does this make it ugly?" "What in the name of Odin's crab infested beard is that anyway?"
At least the inside is, well, not outside. I can make the interior sections twist and weave in ways that make no sense since the outside of them will be filled in by the player's imagination.
"Why there's no stairs here because this is a large open air spot. There's stairs in the back, but there're lots of guards and things, so we're avoiding that area."

-Anyway, on to the titles (cue music or something. Here, hum a tune I'll wait). The Artist has mastered the old, and wonderful maxim of Under Promise and Over Deliver. Original time estimate said 20-30 hours per model. Actually closer to 2 or 3. So now we have Guards and Fencers to add to the Knights and Skeletons. In effect, we have every kind of basic enemy modeled now. After looking at them for a while, I've decided that I'm quite fold of the Fencer's and see what The Artist was going for. He summed it up thus, "They're fast and vicious and a little bit dandy."
There's a little bit in the combat code that makes throws happen. There is also a little bit of space set aside for The Thief to do a finisher when he defeats an enemy. Fencers have, and will, get a quick boot to the junk using this system in a perfect world. With their little musketeer hats and their odd little smug look, I can have our hero kick them for days.
In any event, hypothetically, the enemy modeling could be done. The bosses, in something resembling wisdom, are all variants of the basic enemies and could be color swapped. Of course that seems to be an option that nobody really likes, but always a possibility nonetheless.
So in this, our second Seldon Crisis, I'm starting to get an odd feeling again, the feeling that, maybe, just maybe, we'll get through this.

EDIT : Just got an email from The Artist who read this. Apparently, I was wrong about something.
"Btw you lie! Each model is around a full days work. You dont appreciate my sleepless nights of toil. (Sniffle)"