An alternative to Coding

So, I woke up this morning from a dream that was pretty much all about coding. Or videogames. And in the end I had successfully tested collision detection with a working model for climbing stuff ... and the big idea was to focus on that before adding NPCs and such. "Eureka!". But the reality is that I'm far from getting there. I'm not even thinking about the engine at this point. There was some stuff I had worked in before, but I kept it out of the updates. I have some ideas ... mostly focusing on where I left off ... so, overlay, mouse and text-input ... and have a better idea of what to make of the meta or how to rework the Librarian. So I felt like sitting down and doing that; But my feeling was ... I wanted to watch Married with Children.
Anyway, after one or two episodes I started to get tense and ... ugh, well ... so I went back to bed and ... oh my. It felt soooo good. Like a sunday morning sleep-in ... feeling so comfy ... I haven't felt like that in a long time. But rest? Relaxation? I'm still tense. And uncomfortable. It was relaxing and comfortable at first, but the mounting unrest kept mounting until I was basically kicked out of bed again.

But so I'm remembering this other dream. I vaguely recall it. It's an old dream. And at the time it felt really important - and I tried to remember it. But I couldn't. And now ... it's the same thing. It would seem like now is the time; But whatever right versus wrong the dream was hinting at ... I don't know.


... and I did it anyway. Some coding. Well, getting back into it, cleaning up, working towards a fresh start within the existent setting. And ... it was tough; Not getting tempted by all the chaos - withholding myself from trying to fix it - and to keep thinking about what it is that I should be working towards. To that end I'm writing a design paper; And ... I suppose it's slow cooking. So far it was a mix of "Ah, I did that already" and "Oh, this is where that might be going". So, there is some rewriting regarding the Meta; And everything related to Libra is supposed to get axed eventually. Virtually speaking I'm like ... tilting my head to get the right perspective. But beyond that, I don't really feel like "doing it".
Well, give or take. In small doses. Rather than taking my mind off of it every once in a while I'm now more like dipping into it every once in a while; So I have more premeditation to take into it - and also a more practical idea of where I'm at when returning back to the ordinary.


Overall, for the first stage, I'm not looking at all that much work either. The most difficult part is possibly to weave past all the unnecessary code already there before I have something up and running to then (re)move the existent stuff to where it should be. But it's still sensitive work.


Yea ... a labyrinth. I remember that from the dream. A part of me just wants to dive right in and ... flip a switch here, close a lid there, bitch batch bing and boing ... - done! But yea; Getting there.


I mean, to really get going; I feel like I need a fresh mind - and right now I don't have it. Matter of fact - the freshness of my mind as it is right now does not feel adequate for it. And I don't know why I'm feeling all weird and caught up again. Trying to explain myself. Like, there's some critical thing that I'm missing.


Could it be that I'm telling You that it'll take time while You don't want it to? Or that I'm urging to make progress while You would rather I not? Anyway; I'm starting to see the way through - am trying to familiarize myself with the code again - knowing where what is, what to watch out for, how this and that works - like, especially the obscure links. T-Core here, Supercore there - and there's a lot of work that I've done; Before I stopped; That's now in there. Like, really convoluted and ... possibly redundant. So, in simple terms - what I'm looking at or what You may expect is a (minor) refactorization with some added features. The two primary metacore files are now called "Setup Frame" and "Control Frame"; What's in the Control Frame might approach canonical; The Engine Control Unit might also come into a somewhat final shape - but most importantly I'm looking towards implementing support for "Crystals" - a.k.a. "standalone apps". Maybe even, all in all, some (semi?) final X6 release that could then be its own entry point into the whole. Yea yea, "as wanted" - "bla bla, give me a break!". You're so impossible!


Hmm ... I kind of like to think of that dream I woke from this morning. There wasn't just one videogame, but a multitude. And ... if I had to guess; I'd think that while built on the X6 framework; They're all kind of incompatible with each other. Or so the idea. Which is a way of saying ... oof. But I can add to that, that the X6 routine - so, the thread Layout and the general function of the Librarian - are to remain as they are and the way the engine is utilized is also going to stay. So, expanding from the Engine Control thingy. Mostly. I'm not too too sure; But I don't think there's much of another way.

Previously I had been working on the Access Shadow - making it flip between Desktop and VR mode - working mouse controls into the 3D environment - and I suppose the latter would go into a separate "Editor Version" of the engine; While the former would be moved up into the metacore. The working title there is 'Alpha Grid'; But there's still some inspiration I need to be waiting for; For some of the things. And to get it I'll need to work some things out first - and between all that I need the proper downtime ... .

I mean ... omens. There's this thing with my hair. I've had peace with my hair - as with my toilet - for quite a while. Now ... this morning I wanted to code and I had hair dangling into my head bing all itchy; Until I looked the other way. Now I'm sitting here and damnit ... while my anus is going nuclear again. It's a mess. It's confusing. It's aggravating. It's ... complicated. But it seems like I'm getting shepherded to where I need to be.


But I guess ... all in all ... we can call this a lift-off. My little spaceship flies again.


Speaking of ... I had some Star Trek ideas floating through my head that I wanted to share. I'm not entirely sure; For it seems appropriate to make a big deal out of keeping some things secret - just in case; But that might just be the suspense I'm building for myself in interaction with the figments of my imagination. I mean; I don't know how to approach this - but I sure would need a lot of hands on deck for the whole thing to come out right. So, Star Trek - Frontiers.

Or whatever.

The figments of my imagination sure want it; And I suppose it makes sense to give You a little care package to ... dwell upon. Anything that would require ... work or organization and such I'd keep to myself - but mostly, I guess, in the first place we have to deal with the Anti-Voyager sentiment and something about where things have gone wrong in the past.

We are - should this fly - about to embark onto a new Journey. And as it was in the past; from the OS to TNG; We should feel free to retcon the shit out of things. Not however how it was done in the past. I mean; There's the thing with the Klingons. They were "like so" Originally; And then they were fleshed out to be what we came to know. Then someone figured: Hey, let's do this again. As if "retconning the Klingons" is like a Star Trek thing to do. But no. We're not retconning the Klingons. The Romulans maybe could need some Love. But we're not picking up the Picard timeline. It sucks!
So I've heard.

But how it was done before. Someone thought: Klingons make a lot more sense like 'this' - and they were like "OK, let's do it!". And when it comes to some of the shit we've seen in Voyager ... I suppose it's necessary. We need not address any of it; Or feel obligated to acknowledge all of it; But we shouldn't go out of our way to dismiss any of it either.

Another 'obstacle' in the way is the "Andromeda Error". I mean, when looking at it in its simplicity; Andromeda is the next logical step. To say, there's artificial lifeforms - like the Doctor - that function as Avatars for the Ship's Computer. We don't want that. It sure is an aspect that ... checks out. To say: The resources of the Ship Computer that produce the artificial Characters, are somewhat crucial - but that's one of those things ... where "Holo Matrices" (say, some kind of "virtual computer") are the established term that adds a spin of individuality to Holograms. And I guess we kind of want to leave these things somewhat open.

Bonus: The psychology of a Hologram. Holograms cannot relax. Because Holograms are like programs; They are innately intense - that is, they follow their routines like a program would. In other words: Being intense and not relaxed is the (sentient) hologram being relaxed; Saying that the Hologram has to put effort into 'appearing' relaxed. It's ... the opposite to "organics".

An important thing to settle is the ... primary theme. Or ... some such thing. With this new era, we're going Transgalactic. So, that allows us to pick up on the OS flair of visiting far and unknown worlds; But also some more familiar yet distant places. But now, with a former Borg - or two of them - being part of the Federation; And a whole lot of technological curiosities - the Federation is now clearly the dominant Faction in the Galaxy. The Borg are no more - the Dominion is no more - and while the Romulans were playing for some edge over the Federation; Voyager canceled those ambitions.

So is the Federation building a new Generation of starships - and that creates a new political landscape; Giving birth to the "new" Prime Directive. Well, the Prime Directive remains what it is; But there's a new Frontier. A new Limit. And the pitch goes a little some like: [short intro to the Prime Directive] - and within the rise of this new technology; A new Frontier is born. Technologies so advanced, they'd tip the scale once more. And people with the knowledge to do so would be considered dangerous; Protected by their [factions] at all cost. Only a few civilizations would grow to fully realize these potentials; Being themselvesa [new Domain].
So, what we get is that ... as a center piece. To say, to kick off with Star Trek optimism; We want to imply or impose that the Federation is capable of it. The Technology is shared, the members of the Federation act as would be necessary for it to work out alright - so that we can situate the show at the verge of this transition.

The first big difference is that rival factions are no longer simple backwater "space type stone-age" savages; But by themselves fairly advanced - maybe even themselves "new Domain" type civilizations. So, in some ways it stays the same; Like, though Romulans and Federation see eye to eye in some way; There is still that iron curtain between them. So, in a way it isn't even clear yet if this distinction is a thing. But it is because now the federation is just far and beyond where the Romulans can go - but how that affects Federation Planets; How it affects diplomacy between these and those; How available or protected certain elements are ... that's ... I suppose what we'll be tuning in for.


Well. On the one hand it seems reasonable to think of "Trans Warp" or "Quantum Slipstream" as a new thing - but it's not all that practical because nothing really separates the cultures themselves there. It would just take a little longer for species X to get here or there; If it could here or there at all. The problem is more one of ... having these high tech bastions that would be protected from infiltration - that are by themselves symptomatic of an "unenlightened species" - as it were. It's - the isolationist approach through which the advancement is ... well, isolated from the body and as such it is also vulnerable. So, a part of the challenge here is to also look beyond "travel tech" - and see how else this new era might look like.
The Klingons are an interesting bunch; As they are rather 'allies' of the Federation than a part of it. And that's in a way a precursor to the question of how the Romulans would adapt to this situation.

So, all in all - the idea still needs to be fleshed out somewhat. Maybe it'll stay a pipe-dream. I certainly feel already way too optimistic again ... . But here's my design for a new Flagship. It's supposed to be twice as tall and twice as long and such as a Galaxy Class Starship; With the justification being that Transglactic travel at this point requires something bigger, possibly more stationary. ...





And now ... everybody laugh!

I mean ... it's an attempt; And I like it better than my last one, from a few years/a decade back. Anyway ...

I'm not quite sure how it's all supposed to come together. Picturing this thing in 3D from this is a bit difficult. It's supposed to be a relatively complicated shape; where ... I tried to keep with the traditional Starfleet Design while also bringing in some of that Dauntless style that I've been a fan of ... but not quite; While also trying to give it some Klingon/Vulcan/Romulan touch.

Importantly ... it's back is like ... bent in. The slots to the sides (inside) are shuttle-bays - which go into the saucer - while the center bit is more like a Promenade Deck. It would be like ... mostly glass with some of that ... Next Gen Technology ... think, Replicators but Holograms ... kind of like that Armor stuff or the Disguise of the Dauntless. I don't care much about the Tail; I just couldn't come up with something better (yet) but the Front is really where it's at I think.
I think the 'broad elliptical' approach works best ... at least that's what I got stuck in my mind. Make the tip a little flat ... . Uhm yea, the Bridge doesn't show on that forward view tho; Didn't think much of it. It's ... well, anyway. The "wing" segments probably need ... I mean, it should work between the forward and the side view.

Well. More thoughts ... well. The Enterprise D is pretty much a work of perfection; And every Enterprise thereafter, well, I guess worked for theatre; But ... I mean, they were like Shovelware anyway. I never really liked them, nor the tendency to just try and make it look slicker. But so one is like ... boxed into a corner there. How to spice up the formula without baking a carricature? How to create a new flair while still keeping it "Practical"? And how to make it ... express and carry its own identity? That's where I also don't like the bottom view or any of the "internal" line-work here. It's ... an attempt. I'm quite sure I want the back bent in and I think the convoluted line-flow could really pop in 3D; But so, I'd need a 3D Model to really take another spin at it.

Maybe the "envisioned" size is too large; But I also think...bgsssh....pffff.....