My team and I have decided to cut the Summoned Creatures from the game. Yeah, it was a cool idea and all--and it worked perfectly--but its just that when we first began this project, the Summons had a connection to the plot--albeit small--and now they just have no purpose at all. I will probably try to use this idea in a future game, but it just seems as though The God Gene has enough features as it is without that one as a convolution to both the plot and the gameplay.

I know how it feels, believe me. At least you're not having to do it due to data size restrictions, you have rationally chosen to omit them due to changes in the production schedule. Sounds kinda like the way it probably is over at squaresoft, or any other game developer. And while they have fairly strict professional guidelines as far as revealing details that 'may or may not be included in the game', I don't think we should hold ourselves to quite the same standard. If you look at the tree of life game thread, and then actually play the game, you may be like..."Hey, what the hell?" There are a few things that didn't make the final cut, and other things that were added that I never even talked about. In a community of game developers, I don't think that's such a bad thing. We're all learning as we go, and it helps to provide all of the steps in the process.

Oh, and you have the right attitude about editing. Just file that summoning idea, and use it in the next game!