LCARS Interface Release 20 [Windows 8] Now Available!

I've gotten some great feedback on Release 19 and so here is some more feed your LCARS appetite! Not a huge update this time, as there are no new modules yet. However, this update does bring some exciting things, mainly to do with the Red Alert theme!

The first thing you will notice are the new buttons at the bottom right of the main panel. You can now set the Alert Condition of your ship at any time, without having to go change the theme in the settings. Pressing "RED" will do what seems obvious. Pressing "GREEN" will revert back to whatever your selected theme is when not in Red Alert. Those of you who do not wish to see these extra buttons will find an option to hide it....in the next update (sorry)!

If you currently have the "Extra Animations" setting enabled, when you do declare a red alert, the panel will now come to life and animate, similar to the LCARS panels in Star Trek: Nemesis! Other shows/movies may do this also, but that movie is where I drew inspiration from.

Also one of the requests I received was to be able to change the Red Alert klaxon to something other than the TNG version. Well, I hear you and I've taken the first step and set it up so you can select the red alert sound from Voyager instead! You will find that setting in the "Sounds" panel of the Configuration module. This at least makes you stick to the canon sounds for red alert for ships that would use LCARS. If there are others you would like me to consider, send them to me and I will see if it makes sense.

I also apologize to those of you running Windows RT who may have experienced some issues with the Systems Allocation module. I have scrapped all of the code for the bars and re-did it from the ground up to be much less resource intensive, so I'm hoping this update will resolve those issues and allow you to enjoy that piece of the app also. If there are still any issues, please let me know!

You should be able to fetch this update later tonight!

LCARS Interface [Windows 8] Hits version 2.0!

Update: This update flew through certification at Warp 9 and should be available for download shortly! Please visit the Version History page to read up on the changes.

--------------------------------------------------------------

It's been a busy week but it's finally time to unveil the next update! Why is this one version 2.0? Because the split I was talking about in my last post has happened. There are now officially two modes, although the switch between them is pretty seamless. Simply tap/click on the "Change Mode" button at the top left and the left menu buttons switch between (unofficially named) productivity and entertainment modes. You can go back and forth between them easily enough since the "modes" are really just sets of buttons that change out to allow for more modules to fit.  Productivity mode is where you will find most of what has been included in the app up to now. The Simulator has moved over to the entertainment side of things and is the only thing to do so for now.

This app has mainly been focused on making LCARS versions of basic productivity apps besides the simulator module.  There will now be an additional focus on making the app a little more fun, and I am starting to build some simulated LCARS panels that not only look neat but you can also interact with them to some extent. There are two new modules in this category to get you started. What are they? You will have to wait until the update passes certification...or if you simply cannot wait, go over to the Version History page where I already added the release notes for it! These modules certainly take some time as I am doing them all from scratch and building them in native code. They are not flash animations from other sources. I will be adding more of these as time goes on. If you encounter any performance issues with these modules, please let me know!

Also less major but still noteworthy is a new panel in the Settings module which will allow easy access to this blog, the Twitter page and the Facebook page. I want to make sure everyone who uses the app at least knows about this blog so that everyone has an opportunity to see what's happening with the apps and to make suggestions for new features.  Get your suggestions in now and they might make it in the next update!

New Feature Requests Page

With all of the new releases lately, both on the Windows 8 platform and Windows Phone platforms, it seems like the right time to give you all a place to easily voice your opinions on what you would like to see in upcoming releases! Most features added to these apps come from user requests, so please request things you want and we will likely respond to it! Visit the page from the link to the right. Also please continue e-mailing us with questions/comments/feature requests, as we love hearing from our users on how to make your experience with our apps better!

In other news, it seems like an inevitable split is going to occur within the LCARS Interface app for Windows 8. Don't worry, it's not becoming multiple apps you have to buy! But with the ever growing number of features and modules that are being added, It is outgrowing its initial design. The new Startup screen was the beginning, and soon we may end up splitting the application into two sections. One will contain all of the productivity and tools that help you in the current 21st century, such as the log editor, media player, calculator, file manager, etc. The other side will contain modules such as the Tactical Simulator, and eventually some additional "24th century" modules which will do things like monitor ship operations and other more fun features that don't actually do much, but will let your computer or mobile device feel like something that might be used in the TV show. These modules should be fun for role playing, geeking out at conventions and fan club meetings, or maybe even being used in fan films. All of the modules are designed to be fun to some extent, but this set will have less real functionality and just be slightly interactive to display simulated information. Included modules for this have not been decided on, so if you have any suggestions on what to start with please let us know!

LCARS Interface Release 18 [Windows 8] Is now Available!

A new update has been released for the Windows 8 app! This update brings a couple of small but important bugfixes to the weather module and the video log editor, as well as some new functionality to the calculator! The calculator is finally starting to approach the scientific functionality level, but it still needs a little bit more, which it will receive in future updates.

Here's the official change log for Release 18:

Added trigonometric functions to the calculator module. Includes ability to switch between degree and radian units.

Fixed Kelvin temperature calculations for Current Weather.

Video Log Editor should now work with any number of cameras to switch between.

LCARS Simulator Now Available for WP7 and New Markets!

We are happy to announce that the LCARS Simulator app is now also available on Windows Phone 7.5 and up! It is also now available in additional countries including Russia and Brazil. Last but not least, go grab it on either Windows Phone 7 or Windows Phone 8 for a new lower price! If the new 99 cent price doesn't show up for you yet, wait an hour or two and it will!

LCARS Interface Release 17 [Windows 8] Now available in the Windows Store!

The Windows 8 LCARS Interface app has been updated and should be showing up in the Windows Store today! This update brings some new options to the Weather module, as well as fixing a couple things like the blinking cursor now showing up in the Text Editor! See the Version History for the complete list of changes.

LCARS Simulator Coming Soon to WP7 and more International Markets!

I had a request yesterday and as that usually goes, I give it a try if I can. I spent some time this morning taking my LCARS control framework from Windows Phone 8 and porting it back to work on Windows Phone 7. With all of the Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 stuff happening in the past few months, it's easy to forget that Windows Phone 7 still has more than half of the Windows Phone market share, and that is even higher in a lot of countries outside the United States!

Read on if you like to read all the details.

New Facebook Page!

I created a new Facebook page for those of you that like to see everything in one place. Any new blog posts will be linked from there so you won't have to check this site directly all the time. New posts should just show up in your newsfeeds like everything else. Go and Like us!


http://www.facebook.com/pages/Davstar-Apps/482769015122696

LCARS Interface Release 16 [Windows 8] Now Available

Ok, so Microsoft finally sorted out their issues with the Windows Store (for my app, at least) and so Release 16 of the Windows 8 LCARS Interface app is now available for download. Sorry for the confusion on this the past few days. Microsoft has been very slow moving in getting this update out even though it was approved days ago.