I've been working a little more on this, but have mainly just been exploring how to do some basic stuff with OGRE and exploring the formerly-unexplored world of terrain.
Hard Aether probably won't be done in time for the compo. On the plus side, I am getting a more and more developed space sim engine for use with other games.
I played Graviar recently and feel like it might be cool to remake. I made these mockups:
I'll probably try my hand at making a very minimal, small-scale version of this idea.
And I have half a mind to create a deconstructionist fighting game (just hitboxes and lifebars, no other graphics), or make a simple 4X game with an emphasis on macro- instead of micro-management based off of this mockup: