Alpha 5, here we come! 

Thanks for hanging tight, everyone! It's been a while, but I'm so glad to be back with additional content. I've had a bunch of life events going on, which have taken most of my time, but I have still been dying to get some new content out the door! 

If you've been using the system so far, I'd love to know how it's been going! Please comment or message me directly with feedback. 

The Trouble with Tribbles Ideas

All of my ideas come from a need that I've personally found. This project, for instance, came from my love of MSDs and wanting to print, draw, and make my own. 

Those projects are born in Affinity Publisher, often as tinkering little designs before anything is set in stone. 

And, as such, things like design languages, proper (and consistent) sizing, and labeling are thrown out the window. I'm just testing, of course, but those tests often become something real. 

Part of what has taken this project so long is the difficulties wrangling with that. In updating this project, I've had to shift the size of the tables used. You may have noticed that right now, each room is 167.5x96.5 pixels. Completely goddamn asinine haha. What is that number!? It's the number of someone who just drew a table and thought it looked right. 

So, part of my process has been wrestling with what I can fix, what I should fix, and how much work I can improving and adding to the project as a whole. I've decided, in this update, to not change the size of the rooms. A part of me rebels against that. I hate it. But I also can't change everything. I have to be a good general here, and I'm not going to win the war dying on every hill. You've all already waited long enough for this project. Time to get a move on. 

Updating Designs

I am, however, updating several things. 

I try to be as up front as possible regarding AI. In this project, no AI assets have been used.  At this stage, AI really struggles with the kind of shading and abstract line art that's central to this project. 

What I did do, however, is use AI to help me generate side-on imagery to better understand what my shapes should look like. Then I've been upgrading and tinkering with that. 

To do this, I used Chat GPT and created a prompt asking for Chat to create 2d, side-on images of screen caps I took in Star Trek online. I would isolate an image as best as possible, then tell Chat what it was. 

Above is an example. Chat created that image from an STO screen cap, which I didn't use, but I have been working with building my own line art off of. It's helped me confirm that existing designs look good - and aren't totally batshit crazy.

Space Frames

Wave 2 will introduce two new space frames: The New Orleans Class and the Nova Class. These two fit the smaller profile and work with the two page paradigm, but also (and more importantly), they were requests! I really appreciate you all enjoying this, and I even more appreciate that someone enjoys it enough to request something! So I am honored to put those ahead in the lineup. 

Mission Pods

The New Orleans class introduces a new little wrinkle I hadn't previously thought of- Mission Pods. How do I deal with those? What do I put in them? Do people just create their own? I had to solve for this design-wise, while still creating something neat. This is why Mission Pods are now a new room section. I've already created a few demo pods that are ready to use, or at least inspire players to use them. 

Shuttlecraft

Several new shuttlecraft make an appearance in this, enough to warrant another new section! You can now pick shuttlecraft from the industrial replicator plans, in case you want to drop your own in. 

New Suites

I've continued to add new famous Star Trek Online consoles (in the form of suites), including the legendary M6 Computer, and DOMINO. I have also added the original astrometrics made famous in Star Trek Voyager. 

Coming Soon

I'm done with about 80% of this work, including sorting out how to add all the new things. It should be good to go in the next couple of weeks. If I get a burst of free time, I'll also continue to add a few more rooms, consoles, and shuttle types. 

Stay tuned, and please, post your stories and ships! I'd love to hear about them. If there's any smaller ships that anyone is dying for, please also let me know. Cheers, all!