Early access isn't the issue so much as being able to effectively put out content in a timely manner unfortunately a visual editor can't replace a skilled coder in speed and accuracy. as far as your example of breeding season being an example of bringing people in as a bad idea that's kind of wrong there were several problems Primary one was Management, the reason breeding season ultimately imploded was poor management that and the idiot lead thought it was a good Idea to give the artist all rights to the art assets for the project (which by the way never happens ever except this one time. again bad management) the other was Direction the lead was effectively a Knucklehead who knew how to code in flash to some extent but would often meander and give crap instructions. But SR7 and you seem to have a good fix on direction, and SR7 as an Artist seems to be able to put out content in a fast and timely manner, the only issue just keeps coming back to implementation of said created assets in a timely manner.
I.E. just sucks you guys have 2/3rds of a winning and working solution for future projects.
oh and been going over fungus's documentation it is possible for a coder to come in as long as they follow it's coding standard which they pretty nicely layout all the hiccups if you are trying to do it without the visual editor. tho at this point probably just be easier to find someone proficient in using it.