The Tricorder

[11001001]

Sort of like a universal remote MajorD, scan the object, tap into the frequency and hay presto, you can make it do cartwheels around the ship.  . By the way, i really like the design of the tricorder, very sleek, lets just hope it's not made from the same material as the Ipod, I'm fed up with fingerprints.

[MajorD]

Funny you should mention a remote control, I was considering sketching a remote control style tricorder since they fit hands nicely. I may still do it. Also, Captain Archer used his tricorder to open a truck in the 20th/21st century, start it, and hack an ATM for cash.

For now I have a iCorder sketch. I'm going to try some other stuff since it's too flat, maybe get some modeling clay. Also, I realized the device probably has to be flat, at most it needs more balance than having this big thing hanging off the business end, so I drew flatter and flatter ones and tried some details to add mass to the rest of the device, such as the spine. I also felt the iPod edges are too simple, and a sharp edge doesn't belong. I think I came up with a good compromise in the circled edge with the wide hard angle and round bottom.

I just had an idea for something completely different. A glass scanner with opaque handle and lower boarder. You can hold the glass between your eyes and the target and it overlays the data or artificial view over the object. It acts like an information window on reality. The same thing could be done with the iPod style ones but the glass would be interesting. [edit] I tried drawing it and I don't like it. Besides, Starfleet can do 3D screens, so they should be able to miniaturize one for the iCorder.

[Furyofaseraph]

I like the new tricorder design. I don't have any witty ideas on what you could use it for, but I imagine as you guys develop the game it will be at the back of your heads ("hey, here's something for the tricorder" type-deal). You guys are in the best position to decide what it should be used for.

I would consider taking a few ideas from Elite Force for puzzle mini-games, but they were so simple it was offensive.

[MajorD]

I would consider taking a few ideas from Elite Force for puzzle mini-games, but they were so simple it was offensive.

They were also pointlessly simple, you almost always knew exactly when you had to use one and it was never a puzzle just a way to find weak walls. I like the idea of the tricorder projecting onto objects to mark them, which is something normal tricorders can do, (in TNG one projected a hologram and in Voy one projected heat patterns on a rock), but everything else about it was disappointing. The orbital bombardment, that was insulting.

[Legacy]

I like the new tricorder design. I don't have any witty ideas on what you could use it for, but I imagine as you guys develop the game it will be at the back of your heads ("hey, here's something for the tricorder" type-deal). You guys are in the best position to decide what it should be used for.

I would consider taking a few ideas from Elite Force for puzzle mini-games, but they were so simple it was offensive.

Yes tricorders would be used to some kind of fixing puzzles like in EF2, but think more on mass effect 2 style than EF2 puzzles

[Furyofaseraph]

I haven't played ME2 (comp is a little too outdated for it), but I'll take your word for it

[Brex]

Really love that model, I actually love the iPhone... design...
But just for canonical sake call it the XI, not IX since those are the chunky (and more rugged and cheaper = used in war time = used in STO) ones in STO and VOY.

[MajorD]

Fury, graphically  Mass Effect 2 is barely more advanced than Mass Effect, if you can run the latter the former should be possible.

Brex, it may be better to name it something like TR-630 Tricorder XII. The First Contact tricorder is X so the Nemesis one is probably XI. I don't know how much time passes between Nemesis and Excalibur, so it may even be reasonable for the new one to be XIII.

Legacy, the Mass Effect puzzles in both games are okay, but while I'm not a fan of the pipe game game Elite Force 2 uses it does have the advantage of being somewhat flexible in its representation. In the case of an energy management problem, if possible, I hope the standard energy management interface works into a fun quick fix scheme without it being obvious that it is nothing more than a minigame interlude.

Back to tricorders:

It would be great to have some specialized tricorders which have singularly focused applications. Modeling wise this would be nothing more than a reskin, such as with the red tricorder, I don't know what this means on the programming end. The red tricorders would be medic tricorders with only scanning capability related to emergency medicine and basic general testing, no DNA reading, viral analysis, nor holographic projection diodes. I believe I've seen some fan tricorders where an engineering tricorder had black and yellow striping, this would be a little more varied by having material and electrical analysis capability and perhaps improved remote access ability over the medic tricorder. A simple field tricorder in green for detection of life forms and navigation would be a civilian camper's tool. They would be just as large as a normal multi-use tricorder because of larger or more sensors of the single type used for the specific task, giving them greater capability in scanning and controlling things within their field of expertise, or greater scan range. The camping tricorder could be specialized enough to tell you where you are in the galaxy with only a picture of the night sky and no uplink to a ship.

This could also be used as an explanation for the odd naming convention of code then Roman numeral. The code may be nothing but the version number while the numeral could relate to the number of sensors or hardwired functions. There could be TR-6XX series devices ranging from I to XIII. The camping version could be a II, and the engineering one could be a VI. Certain software would be physically incapable of running due to lack of particular sensors packages.

[Legacy]

MajorD: I was refering to the type of mini-puzzles in mass effect 2 for decoding and decrypting.

[MajorD]

MajorD: I was refering to the type of mini-puzzles in mass effect 2 for decoding and decrypting.

But they are not flexible, they're always the same regardless of what they protect. The improvement in ME2 or 1 is that it has two mini-games for two types of hacking rather than the one mini-game. The ME1 mini-game would differ, but only to get harder and not in a way that felt like a different system or different security. Despite the deficiency of Elite Force 2's mini-game it at least had representative pitfalls for variations in the systems.

The key here may be the game Uplink, which is all about hacking computers and networks. I remember it being quite varied and able to hold my interest for a while, so I'll have to load it again to see exactly what it involved.

More tricordness. We all know that despite the advanced nature of Star Trek, they really don't push things conceptually unless it is by accident. If the will is there here are some extremely advanced concepts that could be used for tricorders or interfaces.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX-gTobCJHs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2gzRQ5f3No

[furswift]

I doubt that Nokia concept will be used for the game, but thanks for posting that link, D; It was really interesting.

[MajorD]

You're welcome. Me too, it's too out there to fit Trek, even 29th century Trek, but if the team is willing to really push things and ignore certain aesthetics then it could be awesome. There's actually precedent for it thanks to the Nemesis tricorder superseding the old future tricorders. I posted the second link just because I love that commercial.

[11001001]

Couldnt that Nokia concept be used as the new LCARS system?

[Brex]

Here's my contribution... I'll make a more detailed one soon, along with some more precise specifications (size and simple LCARS as well as side/back/top views (I have this idea of a PCI style add-in card system for more specialized functions and only to have one base Tricorder, we saw the ports in VOY, now I want to use them ))

[Josh]

Hey, i just wanna throw this in. Its just for fun

[11001001]

That eyepiece looks like the dominion one out of DS9

[Brex]

Cool, hope that makes an appearance
I've refined my design after realising that as a hand-held device (approximately 12% zoom if you want to download and see for yourself) the buttons and LED's are far too small to be read/seen pressed. This means making the screen smaller though... but I think I can get a decent compromise

[MyOwnSling]

Wow, that's kinda neat.

[Brex]

There's a quick update, I've tried to make all the lights appear as if it is off, and the bottom left look like a tarnished metal, with engraved bronze plating.
Full specs are; (from top left to bottom right)

• EMRG Button - Activates emergancy transponder and 'instantly' transmits all data (in emergencies)
• GEO, MET, BIO - uses the basic scanning equipment pre-installed, takes readings of individual rocks for geological analysis, metalogical system for rudimentary computer interface and more advanced translation algorithms and biological systems for personal health analysis and detection of heat signatures given off by biological life forms - with scientific and militaristic purposes.
• PWR Button - Power button easily operated by either thumb (left hand) or index finger (right hand) for quick power on/off of tricorder. Tricorder suspends for 5 minutes then shuts down after not being reactivated.
• Green LED - Power indicator (stays on for 2 seconds after turning on, flashes when internal battery reaches 5% or when EMRG transmit is activated)
• Blue Status LED - Flashes in a notification such as completion of scan or when a message has been sent via a text interface
• Speaker - Well just for realism
• Yellow/Red Alert LED - Tied with the ship to notify the user of current ship board status
• Red LED - System Fault, the internal software has been compromised by a hostile computer system or the tricorder is physically broken and rendered non-operational.
• Yellow LED - External Fault, the add in card has malfunctioned or an interfaced device is non-responsive.
• A/B Arrow rocker - Enables you to scroll through data and switch between a library or function
• Screen - Displays information (obv. )
• Alpha - Delta lights - Displays the internal CPU usage (it's a quad core)
• IMG Controls - Allows greater functionality when using imaging

[11001001]

Very nice, you seem to have covered all the basics, could you show something on the screen though, maybe a heartbeat line or diagram, to show it could look.