"I can honestly say, that's not a problem I experienced until The Field of Kings, where I used custom pieces. (thank you again sir for making my game beautiful)"
Very welcome. Sadly, alot of the work I gave you used photo textures which is something I scrapped a while ago. I draw everything now.
"I was able to finish my game (using a different engine) but I can't even create a simple SoM runtime with the custom pieces. (which, I raise an eyebrow to all the added stuff I used vs. the non-added where I could create a runtime without issue)
Was this the problem you had?"
No, actually my main problem was intergrating my old pieces with the existing artwork, basically I taught myself the process of creating assets similar to SOM through trial and error. Mostly ... Error. I stayed determined, though. SOM has a beautiful exisiting set of artwork and I would not claim that my work is better, but other forum members say im definately on the right track.
"I might be very guilty of overlooking the fact that I see more textures/mods/add-ons made than SoM games made, because there are more textures/mods/add-on makers than game makers here. ....by trade. "
At first it might seem like alot of the work done in the customs field is somewhat demeaning towards SOMs existing assets, when in fact the basis of it is to create a framework or replicas similar to KF and SOM, so in essence it is still SOM. Anyone developing here likely has played and loved KF so I think in terms of 'essence' we are moving ahead nicely.
I recall you mentioning a while ago and recently that you didnt have anything more to make SOM games with, and with all due respect im pretty sure that when the plentiful addons from the custom games are available to all, you'l probably be inspired to create something finely polished again. Could inspire alot of folk.
"I think as long as someone has the interest and capacity for this genre of digital hobby, we've got a chance. If people are still making NES games/mods, I'd say we've definitely got a chance."
Some people love to keep certain games alive, and thanks to them I have played some great classics both on the DOS and numerous other long dated platforms, which could have been easily abandoned. If we love KF that much we'l be here. 
Very welcome. Sadly, alot of the work I gave you used photo textures which is something I scrapped a while ago. I draw everything now.
"I was able to finish my game (using a different engine) but I can't even create a simple SoM runtime with the custom pieces. (which, I raise an eyebrow to all the added stuff I used vs. the non-added where I could create a runtime without issue)
Was this the problem you had?"
No, actually my main problem was intergrating my old pieces with the existing artwork, basically I taught myself the process of creating assets similar to SOM through trial and error. Mostly ... Error. I stayed determined, though. SOM has a beautiful exisiting set of artwork and I would not claim that my work is better, but other forum members say im definately on the right track.
"I might be very guilty of overlooking the fact that I see more textures/mods/add-ons made than SoM games made, because there are more textures/mods/add-on makers than game makers here. ....by trade. "
At first it might seem like alot of the work done in the customs field is somewhat demeaning towards SOMs existing assets, when in fact the basis of it is to create a framework or replicas similar to KF and SOM, so in essence it is still SOM. Anyone developing here likely has played and loved KF so I think in terms of 'essence' we are moving ahead nicely.
I recall you mentioning a while ago and recently that you didnt have anything more to make SOM games with, and with all due respect im pretty sure that when the plentiful addons from the custom games are available to all, you'l probably be inspired to create something finely polished again. Could inspire alot of folk.
"I think as long as someone has the interest and capacity for this genre of digital hobby, we've got a chance. If people are still making NES games/mods, I'd say we've definitely got a chance."
Some people love to keep certain games alive, and thanks to them I have played some great classics both on the DOS and numerous other long dated platforms, which could have been easily abandoned. If we love KF that much we'l be here.