Mark,
I feel the same way. I want to make things for Hal but the thing kinda has a way of biting you in the ass. Like Nige, I got hung up on the Ogre engine and thought I'd be making characters for it by now. I check into the forums as much as possible but it seems like things are alot lower key. I think that maybe Hal is in some kind of growing pain phase between Windows Vista compatability issues and the looming just over the horizon, Ogre graphics engine. Jack being MIA doesn't help things either. If Hal grows into the program we all imagine, perhaps it is worth the wait. I hope we can all hunker down and stick it out.
Ted, hope you are feeling better each day. Take care of yourself.