With version 3 we will be transitioning the application to Windows 8.1, which will bring a lot of useful new productivity features such as viewing PDF files, in addition to what we have been spending the bulk of time on which is overhauling the entire Entertainment mode. Currently the ship systems operate independently and changes to one have no effect on the others. This is going to change, as we have been writing a brand new "ship" to control! The systems will be interconnected to each other, and so for example going to Red Alert will trigger the shields to be raised and weapons to be brought online automatically. Navigating with the Conn to new planetary systems will change the readings of the sensors, etc. As you can imagine this takes a HUGE effort to figure out how all of these things need to work together and to accumulate the information necessary to make it happen.
The other question we are trying to answer is whether to have actual playable scenarios with which you need to perform certain tasks in order to be successful. This would give it a very game-like feel. Then there would be the possibility of a "scenario editor" where you could program your own situations for role playing purposes, fan film making, etc. This is all speculation and it has not been decided whether or not this functionality will ever be included.
Another feature planned for the (not exactly near) future is to allow multiple LCARS terminals to connect to each other via the local network and interact with each other! This is still in the very early stages of research and will not be focused on until we have all of the ship systems working together on the same device. Windows Phone may also be incorporated into this as well, and be able to possibly control some subset of the systems from the phone app.
Here's a little peak at our newest module, on our first ship configuration that we will have.
From this image you can see what details about the shields you will be able to view. The buttons on the left modify the shield modulation frequency, and the buttons at the top operate the shields. Maintenance such as diagnostics can be performed, and there will be an entry pad for inputting custom values for things like the power level for the shields.
You may also notice that the "horseshoe" around the edge of the screen is missing. This is part of the total re-design that we are making to the interface, which will allow for more animations, less resource use, and better use of screen real estate across many different device sizes and resolutions! The previous design was too limiting for the amount of new things that will be included for the entertainment side. That design will likely remain for the productivity portion. The interface design and included features for this module are not final yet, but this is just an example of what we have been working on. The difference here is that this display is actually controlling, and is also controlled by, the whole "ship" instead of being standalone. Many of the current modules will be re-designed as well to accommodate new features and capabilities related to other systems.
That is all we have for now! We are sorry there is not anything else visual to show about the work being done. Most of it all happens behind the scenes and that is hard to provide information about. Stay tuned for more information about this monster of an update! We currently have no ETA on when it will be ready. There is a lot of work still to be done, and then a lot of testing to follow before it can be released. Of course the artwork for the ships has to all be done from scratch which takes a lot of time, as we cannot use anyone else's work without them providing it to us explicitly.
