[Game Idea] R=cks that Fall

 I was watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LkYEfn3Cwo and was thinking about the last few moments when the satellite was told to just 'crash land' on the comet.

A Game about controlled abstinence?

Imagine this 'robot' is on the surface of a comet. the comet releases gasses from time to time, its made up of varied rock, and has some level of gravity. Imagine if when the comet passes the sun, the solar panels charge up, and begin to work, but the commands from earth are not in range, so the programming of the device, to not lose any opportunity, is to perform tasks it decides are important.

You are the program. 

You have a limited array of choices to begin with. soil drill, sample retriver, sample crusher, sample melter, sample chemical mix, a small 3D printer, and a loader to load in one of the materials. All of which are also in the 3D printers memory banks.

So, to start, you have limited power per 'run' and have to decide, and decide quickly, (because thinking costs power too) to choose what tasks to perform.

The game starts off with a few buttons and maybe sliders. a battery value, (in binary) maybe datetime stamps, also in binary. and you can send data to earth, if you think you are lined up for it.

Your first few 'runs' you'll gather some resources, crush them, melt them or chem mix them and report those value to earth. you won't know if earth got them or not. 

after some time, once one of your material storage areas is full, you'll be instructed that you can create a new storage for the resources. AND the ability to dump the resources when it gets too full. You'll be unaware of your maximum capacity, until its filled, and then you'll unlock instructions where to store the new ones.

The Aim is to explore options. there will be instructions to do things that will be counter productive to the game. the earth team don't want /expect you to do anything else except gather samples, study samples and report back to earth what was found. 

The Reality is, Earth is not getting your signals. Your solar array is misaligned and damaged. Your samples are just dropping to the ground when you finish, because the storage is not full. 

Exploration, means you discover to fill one container with one material til its full to unlock the 3D plans for a 2nd container.

you 'ping' space at each possible interval, to determine where the sun is. and then use what little power you have to turn your solar array in that direction.

This increases the amount of power you'll get, which means turning on earlier in the sequence, and lasting longer while IN sunlight.

creation of more batteries is possible, once its understood that the batteries are maxing out, because one battery is dead. and another is slowly failing. so, using the 'release' valve, the dead batteries can be dropped, and new ones inserted via the 'arm' 

There is also the smaller unit, once enough power is established to ping for the local unit. it can be guided to come back to the main unit by extending its legs and needle in the right pattern, and the signal becomes slightly stronger (and needs less power), until it 'bumps' into the main. and now it can have an arm attached to it, at each of its leg joints, and they in turn can be used to un-attach the original arm and improve it with a better arm, with more joints, giving access to repair the solar panels that were broken. 

Once this happens, the power allows to turn on the internal heaters, to access the other functions of the unit, (the melter was being used to provide enough internal heat to run the functions. note if the heater is not run, some parts might not work..

Its an incremental game, but has a logical flow to it. 

The eventual goal is to re-launch the unit back into space, to return to earth, and submit its findings, BUT the game should allow for varied styles of play. maybe even improving the drills, and reconfiguring the 3D plans to make more effective machinery to unlock other aspects. Maybe even replicating the whole rocket system and converting the comet into a rocket.

No Aliens needed. just what's available in 2023.  

[Adventures] The Cabinet

 I got the most interesting client this week. Certainly the most interesting for my whole career. Before I even attended the first lesson I had to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement, I remember it had a 10 year clause, for the generics, but a lifetime on specifics. So in interest of that NDA, I'll be light on some details.

I had to attend a meeting with an official at the Russian DUMA to get signed off. I approached this imposing building. All squares in shape for my recollection. big columns outside. I approached the front 'desk' which was a cabinet of soldiers? wood. slots for papers & passports. They wanted mine, but I was in a quandry.

Australians are instructed not to let out passports out of our hands. Its our only 'link' to the outside world. If we lose it, or its stolen, we are stuck in the country for months, and if your visa expires in that time, you are doubly stuck that you MUST leave, its  a catch 22 you do NOT want to get stuck in. I have once, and I never want to again.

So when asked to hand over my passport, I could not, without it, they could not let me enter. catch 22 again.

Russians all have this 'internal passport' like a licence really, you hand it over, show it off. its a pain in the ass to get a replacement, so its LIKE a passport, but at the same time, not such a hassle, so people hand them over to these goons at the desk, and they get a 'pass' to go in.

I ring my student contact. I can't get in. they ring back, wait there. For a small time I'm staring at the ceiling, the stairs, watching officials come and go, its fascinating. Eventually a small demure girl of 20 comes to talk to the goons,. long story short I left them with a photocopy of my passport.

I go up the stairs in some side wall, then through some corridors to another building, whose floor is not aligned with the first, so the doors are all skewed by a few feet, and some steps. 

Then I walk down this beige + orange corridor, passing wooden doors. its strange, like in those 70s movies, but this is real life. 

We come to a door. she has one of those old lock&key style keys, a slot in the door, the turn of this 3 inch metal rod, and the door puckers, as the leather 'seal' inside gives way. We enter this tiny little office. a desk, a laptop, a cupboard, a chair. none of it quite fits. its not meant to be a secretary room, or wait room, its only meant to be a cupboard for your coats. I'm sitting on a chair, INSIDE a cupboard, with a secretary, and her desk and chair, and laptop. inside a cupboard for coats. insane.

Soon enough, the door to the next room opens, and my student stands there, motions me in. I'm a little in shock, I was not told the position of this man, but I recognize him. I know who he is. BUT I'm a good teacher, it doesn't matter. I teach movie stars and ministers of finance, I can teach anyone, and ignore their position in life. I'm there to teach English.

He knows enough English, we discuss his needs, his level his practice. He's heard of me from some of the cabinet, and I'm unknown enough to be anyone. I signed an NDA remember. its all good.

For the next 6 months, I entered that chamber and spoke to him about a wide range of topics, and at one point, he advised me that it'd be in my best interests to return to Australia. that was 2011. I know now what he meant.

I'll go into more detail in my book, but I wanted to start writing some small parts out as marketing. get some interest and then publish.

I did alot of strange and interesting things in Russia. many of them far stranger than the above, 100x stranger. living in sheds in the snow, to 'test' my resolve. Digging ice tunnels. drinking Vodka with a man about to kill me. watching Explosions in Chechniya, and being told by my govt I needed to leave, after 80+ foreigners were bombed in a theatre. OH and I got to see paul McCartney Live in moscow. 

I did alot. and I think its time to write it all down, before I forget and so my kids can read it when they're old enough.