[Dev or Die]

I'd have to concur. I've been working on stuff about on the scale you're talking about, and it's usually over a year in the making. And as somebody who's housed a "deadbeat" this year, I can assure you: Your parent-in-laws are NOT going to wait that long.

We aren't saying this because we don't believe you can create this. You absolutely can. All we're saying is that it's way bigger inside the code than the external product appears to be, and there's a lot LOT more to gamedev than what's obvious. Many of us would LOVE to see this title, but that also means seeing you not become homeless and hopeless at 30% completion. From somebody that's been there too already, believe me, that REALLY fucks with your development process!!

I'd suggest hitting 5 applications of one neighborhood corner per morning, and another per evening, 4 days a week. Make sure you remark to the manager that you have "a good feeling about this." It's a tiny thing, but it can make all the difference.

Spend about 30 minutes a day on art or coding, because it's kind of hard to start making "building blocks" of code if you don't have the graphical assets to back them up. That part alone has taken me a month, and I'm maybe 5% of the way through THAT. Keep this going/alive, especially in the 3 off days. This, along with job-seeking, will keep you from burning out on either one; and only devoting a reasonable amount of time to each will keep you focused and sharp.

Finally, don't forget to be reassuring to your girl too. While this is understandably a tough spot for you, you also need to consider her place in all of this. Not only is she in the same struggle you're in between job and passion stuff, but she's likely also being torn between her feelings for you and her love for her family in this, along with her own self-worth being judged by the situation you're both in as well. It's that sort of pressure that a girl needs a spectacularly positive and reassuring boyfriend for. Make at least a couple hours devoted every week for this kind of thing, and make it more about caring for her.