Introduce Yourself

edited August 2013 in General
I'll start of the Introduction thread here.I'm Kwadroke of "The Wired" (aka Kwadroke or Kwad for short), Site owner, Admin, and Webmaster here at BridgeSim.net. I try to keep up with all the different Starship Bridge games and figured I'd share my knowledge and learn from others, which is why I started the site.Started off playing Artemis SBS over a year ago and run it at local conventions. I'm a Trekkie, and Star Wars, Galaxy Quest, Andromeda & general Sci-Fi fan. If you have any questions here, feel free to ask.
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  • Hey! This is Carmine.. the creator of Quintet! Great idea for a site/forum. Thanks for creating it!
  • Welcome Carmine! The site's still pretty new, but hopefully it will be a good resource for people to share information.
  • Hey! I would like to introduce myself to the site.  My tag is Sintax7 but my name is Lee Keiser II.  I Love this site concept!  Keep up the good work...

    I played a "commercial" ($25each * 5 players for a ~3 hr session) multi-seat bridge simulator almost 20 years ago in a basement in S.E. Michigan.  Each of the 4 officer stations had (3) monochrome green screens and a single CGA color monitor.  There were NO graphics and everything was done with simple ASCII codes.... I LOVED IT!  Even though it was real piss-poor when it came to graphics and gameplay, the CONCEPT was awesome!  I was hooked...  I vowed back then to create something bigger-better-stronger-faster than that if I ever got the chance...   Fast forward 17 years...

    I discovered Artemis about 3 years ago when the first release was less than 90 days old.  I realized then that I could start building the bridge hardware that would go with this software.  I put together a basic bridge using some communication racks from an ISP business I sold earlier.  The hardware and software worked well together but the overall experience itself lacked the"polish" I'm going after...

    I really like the Artemis software and its script-based mission flexibility and GM console.  My rack-system worked well and was flexible but neither the software nor my hardware were up to the vision I have created in my head.  I'm currently in "brainstorming" / "prototyping" mode. I'm trying to detail out exactly what I would like a bridge-sim software to do.  I'm also working on the custom controls, indicator lights, and other ambiance for the bridge itself from a hardware side of things.

    I've played a partial-Alpha release of the Hydra software you have listed in the "Other Games" section.  I'm quite impressed with the direction the developer is going, although he's still got quite a bit of coding to do. I've been trying to help him in any way I can (including some nice officer station console decals from my graphics business).  He's a heck of a nice guy who seems to really know what he's doing.  His project is worthy of following and further review. 

    I've also played or demoed many of the other titles listed, including Quintet.  It seems like this TYPE of game is here to stay, I'm happy to report.

    My end-goal is a multi-simulator commercial LBE (Location Based Entertainment) worthy of Disney.  The "masses" need to be able to experience this type of cooperative gameplay.  Not just us geeks who lug all of our computer crap to a single location to play a game like this.

    It may take me 5+ years for my hardware efforts to mix and mingle correctly with the software side...  But that's the path I'm on.   :-)
  • edited November 2013
    Welcome to the site, Sintax7.
  • Hello Everyone,

    My name is David "Auric" Hernly. As Sintax7 has said, I'm currently developing a simulation engine. It is called Hydra: VCS (or Vessel Command Simulator). The intent is to create a game engine that is capable of deep and immerse experiences. While I loved Artemis, I simply wanted a lot more so I resurrected this project from my 'to do' list.

    I've stay low on the radar on purpose. While not trying to keep it a secret by any means, I've held off on a big push for public awareness until I get to a certain point.

    We are almost there, and we have started attending conventions and letting people take it out for a spin while it's still in development.

    I will post more about it under the Hydra topic. =)
  • Welcome to the Site, Auric. I've been hoping to hear more about Hydra. 
  • Hello,
    My name is Jeffery Myers. I was quite happy to see a forum like this pop up, I think it will be very interesting. I’ve been very keen on bridge simulators since I first saw Artemis and thought “Oh yeah we can totally to that kind of thing now, we’ve got all the pieces”. Thankfully we have a classroom with a 120 inch projection screen that we can use after hours :)

    I’ve always been interested in developing games and have worked extensively with the BZFlag project (open source 3d tank game) but recently that project is winding down. I saw Steven Cameron’s Space Nerds in Space and was quite intrigued so I started a fork of it for windows but got sidetracked rewriting it in C# for cross platform support. I ended up writing down a number of my ideas and thoughts on the wiki page for the fork, and still use it as for reference. https://github.com/JeffM2501/snis_rework/wiki  I was happy with the overall framework I had made as it was very extensible but I ran out of time trying to balance keeping up with Steven and going to school. Getting your degree at 40 can be a pain sometimes, Trust me kids, stay in school :)

    Recently I’ve been thinking about how I can convince my advisor to allow a bridge simulator to be used as the basis for my senior Capstone project I’ll be starting in a few terms. They usually aren’t too keen on games but one of the instructors is on my side, so we’ll see.

    When I saw that the book “The Complete StarShip Simulation Project” by Robert Garret existed, I picked it up in hopes that I could use it as a bit of a historical reference for my project ( and hey it was 5$). Man did that guy do some research. The programming portion is of course extremely dated and limited by the computers and languages of the time, but the ideas area still rock solid. I live the fact that it goes down to extreme detail and is much closer to the modular design I had in mind initially. So I’ve started a project to work those ideas into something more modern. I’m not concentrating on graphics or networking at this point but simply the ability to simulate starships and there crew/systems like book talks about. Given that they talk about simulating the crew at a nearly Dwarf Fortress level of details I have high hopes that it will turn out to be a worthwhile experiment, or the basis for a project later on down the road. https://github.com/JeffM2501/StarshipSimEngine

  • Hi Jeff!

    It's always great to see new projects for simulation.  Hydra: VCS is written in C# as well. Where did you find a copy of that book for $5? You've got me curious. =)

    I started working from the outside-in and slowly added detail to vessels, and finally built an entire component engine to allow builders to create their own internal systems design. I'll be curious to see your progress tackling this from the other direction!

    Good luck with your work! 
  • Auric, Thanks.

    I found it used on amazon,
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/091839810X/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1385769223&sr=8-1&keywords=the+complete+starship+simulation+project&condition=used

    It had obviously never been sold as the binding and pages were perfect. The cover showed that it had been on a shelf for a VERY long time and moved from bookstore to bookstore, but it's perfectly serviceable to read.

    I like your concept of using HTML for consoles, I think it's a good options for cross platform clients. I don't think that it can be the only way to hook up consoles since it could limit extensibility (interfaces to custom bridge hardware and the like) but it's a great way of getting consoles to connect to a ship server with out needing client software.
  • Welcome to the website, jeffM.
  • Hi everyone, I'm the creator of Dream Flight Adventures, a company that makes bridge sims for schools, museums, and community groups.  Our simulators go to a lot more places than space (inside the body, into volcanos, under the sea, back in time, etc.), but it was all inspired by an experience I had as a kid at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center, which captured my imagination and never let go.

    Now I work to bring this incredible heart-pumping experience to a new generation, including my own kids.

    So that's me in a nutshell.  I'm thrilled to find this site, and I look forward to learning more about all the cool projects you all are working on.
  • edited February 2014
    Welcome to the website, AdmiralStarblayze.
  • Welcome AdmiralStarblayze!

    Where are you located?
  • I'm located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but I hope to bring simulator magic everywhere. :)
  • I'm a few hours future east... I'm in Newport News, VA. =)

    I use to go just north of you every summer to Coopers Lake.
  • Howdy, I'm John and I run a weekly Artemis game in Tucson Arizona.

    We have started small and hope to keep growing, I'm now drawing close to 30 people each week and we are starting to have two bridges on a regular basis.

    I'm at the 'Trying to buy enough hardware to outfit my first bridge' step, I'm up to 3 laptops that I've purchased for the game along with two DMX can lights, a controller and some other misc toys.

  • Welcome to the site, johnkiniston.
  • Hello,

    My name is Roger Garrett and I have been a fan of everything Star Trek since the very beginning. In fact, back in 1978 I wrote a book called, "Star Ship Simulation" that described how a simulation of a star ship might be built. In the years since I have heard from many individuals and groups who have actually taken on the task and built their very own simulations, either in just software or in both hardware and software. So it's interesting for me to see this Bridge Sim project.

    At present I am building a large scale (4' long) replica of the Galileo Shuttlecraft from the original TV series.

    - Roger Garrett

  • edited July 2014
    Welcome Roger_Garrett.
  • Welcome Roger!
  • Hello
    My name is Thomas Ganshorn from munich, germany.
    Since bridge commander I always wanted to create "my own command bridge".
    But as this is not a singles person game I never did it till 2010.
    Inspired by Rogers book and my own ideas I did a bridge simulator for a German live role play group.
    Here is a link to the project although it is only in German you will find there some nice images I hope.
    Http://www.novaimages.de/bridgesim

    Although the system was initially planned as a simulator with a game master controlling the mission by an iPad, the group decided (to my disappointment) to use it more as an interactive play set.

    So I was always thinking about doing the system again. Now with a full simulation background and a game mode.
    I never started the project again (mostly because Artemis appeared and I didn't want to make a concurrent project) till about 4 months ago

    Now finding this forum makes me kind of sad and happy at once.
    Happy because I am not the only crazy one (at least in Germany) and probably I can find people willing to work with me on such a simulation.
    And a little bit sad because there seem to be so many other projects that I fear there is no place for another simulator system.

    Nevertheless I am happy to have found this forum.

    Greetings Thomas
  • Welcome JarJarThomas. 

    I've been to your project website before I started this website, but, for some reason I never posted about it here.  It looks awesome.
  • Hi all,
    My name is Johan Holtby. I really like coding and electronics. I have also a background in game Dev for some advanced Unity plug ins. This seams like a real nice forum. :)
  • Welcome Johan.
  • Joe 'Kiltman' Greene, A.K.A. Volg Clawtooth. Owner of MystBrigade which is just a name for now. I run Artemis SBS currently, have poked at Hydra: VCS *wave at Dave*  just found this forum a couple of days ago via my discovery of EmptyEpsilon.  I run a 6 bridge setup on 36-39 Fujitsu Lifebook T2010 laptops. I was the 'Chief Engineer' for the 'The Forge'  at GenCon using Artemis on said rig booted from Linux USB custom live images with wine 1.7.6..  Already have EE up and running, plan to test it on a new custom linux build in a couple of days. 
  • edited August 2015
    Welcome Volg Clawtooth.
  • 39 laptops? Damn. I thought I was fancy with our 6 laptop setup.

    We've been running the whole EE setup from PXE boot lately, because harddrives started to fail in our laptops. All running from a single read-only NFS share, which auto-boots EE and has the option to set different configurations per laptop (clever use of symlinks and mac address)

    Also means that I can scale up quite fast, just plug in more laptops and PXE boot them.
  • As soon as I get my new build up and tested I'll send you a link for the ISO.  it'll be perfect for PXE.  I use Linux USB thumb drives for my rig. Current build (which lacks SFML) runs Artemis uner Wine 1.7.6.. none of my laptops have hard drives at all.. much cheaper that way... 

  • Thanks for hosting a game agnostic site for the sim community. I'm an old timer been playing since muds, moos, and mucks were popular on the VAX and love the simulator experience. I'm hoping to finally have some time to contribute back to the spaceship simulator community.
  • Welcome BigEd.
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