The time and effort is to avoid complexity and depth and excel in simplicity and execution. This is counter-intuitive to many people but the best mechanics in game design are the ones that offer a simplicity and clarity that let all the game elements shine through.
From Nov of 2016 to Jan 1st of 2018 so … 1 year and 2 months
The final raw word count for the story material was in the 15,000 word range.
I use COG Archive as a starting point for designing CS IF games.
I also found this thread to be useful for writing tools:
