Nothing has stopped me so far, but I'll rephrase the question to "What is hampering me developing and finishing my product?"
Having to write my own game engine would be the first. If there had been a game engine even slightly suitable, I'd have got done much quicker. In the long run, it's probably better that there was no such engine, but that wasn't the question.
Finding artists would be my second. I've been very fortunate, and had a friend doing some pieces of art for the game, and at prices so low he should probably report a robbery to boot. He doesn't have the sort of time to devote to cover all the artwork though, and finding really good character artists who don't already have as much work as they can handle and more besides has been difficult.
Finding a good audio library has wasted quite a bit of time too. I kind of have one picked out now, but I'm still holding off making a final decision, hoping that something better will come along that won't run several thousand dollars per title.
Having to write my own game engine would be the first. If there had been a game engine even slightly suitable, I'd have got done much quicker. In the long run, it's probably better that there was no such engine, but that wasn't the question.
Finding artists would be my second. I've been very fortunate, and had a friend doing some pieces of art for the game, and at prices so low he should probably report a robbery to boot. He doesn't have the sort of time to devote to cover all the artwork though, and finding really good character artists who don't already have as much work as they can handle and more besides has been difficult.
Finding a good audio library has wasted quite a bit of time too. I kind of have one picked out now, but I'm still holding off making a final decision, hoping that something better will come along that won't run several thousand dollars per title.