For me, the worst part of it taking so long was that, by the end, I knew
much more about game writing than at the beginning, so that I found
myself facing something of a dilemma; there were a lot of things I wished
I had done differently, and I was faced with the choice of (a) starting
the game over,(b) abandoning all the work I had put in, or (c) fixing
things as best I could and hoping it would be an enjoyable game even if
it wasn't everything I wanted it to be.
I chose (c), but, with hindsight, I wish I had written a couple of
mini-games first to get the hang of it.
By the way--I found that I made tremendous progress in finishing the game
after I broke up with my long-time girlfriend. There's nothing like
wanting to vanish from the outside world to help you program. Alas, I'm
now in a very happy relationship, and haven't been able to program
anything more than the occasional mini-game.
-Jacob