Andrew (R.S Admin) @ajroach42@retro.social

It has been brought to my attention that I haven't talked about Jupiter's Ghost recently enough for even people who know me well to know what the hell I am talking about so

It's time to talk about my pet project.

Not #newellijaytelevision

Not #expeditionsasquatch

Not the #zinestation or the #zinestation486

and not the #spacelarpcafe (although very nearly the space larp cafe)

Today, right now, and for the foreseeable future, I'm talking about #jupitersghost or #jg, what it is, what I want it to be, and how you can get involved.

Every once in a while my brain decides that it's time to think about the #SpaceLARPCafe again.

Today is that time.

Add a motion sim and some dedicated space, and you've got a #spacelarpcafe

I'm thinking we turn one room of it it in to a screening room/old movie theater, stage for live concerts and small plays (and maybe it's #spacelarpcafe when it's not anything else.)

Then we wall off a tiny portion of the upstairs and make it a retail store for things made at the maker space.

That leaves the downstairs and a good portion of the upstairs of the building, which becomes The Museum of Early Pop Culture (about radio and TV shows from the 30s, 40s, and 50s).

We're looking at a commercial building up the road from the coffee shop.

It needs a lot of work.

But it would make an excellent home for the makerspace's retail endeavors, with plenty of room left over for a Museum or a #spacelarpcafe

This was such a big deal to me as a kid. Everything about the Star Tours ride captivated my imagination in a Big way.

It's the only ride I ever enjoyed standing in line for, too.

I was sad when they rebuilt it, and I'll probably never ride the new one.

I don't know that I'd ever build something so elaborate for Star Tours either, unless it was at the request of someone else, but I will totally do something like this with OC on the way to the #spacelarpcafe

So this is where I am at the moment re: #spacelarpcafe

I need to design a uniform and produce it.

I need to design some gear (side arms, communicators, etc) and make them.

I need to make fancy scifi housing for some of the laptops I have sitting around, and figure out if I'm going to run Space Nerds in Space or Empty Epsilon.

Then it's:
- Design and print quickstart guides for the various stations for new recruits
- Build some spaceship props/sets
- invite my friends to alpha

You know what I just remembered?

#spacelarpcafe

Now that's all I'll think about today.

It's #Sunday! I'm listening to #Jazz, drinking #coffee and trying to buy a #coffeeshop

(And fighting everything in me not to turn it in to a #spacelarpcafe)

Thinking about #SpaceLARPCafe again today as I plan a #SNIS party for some friends.

We're renting a room, I'm covering everything in silver foil and passing out (nerf) side arms and uniforms.

I imagine it's going to be a lot of fun.

Order of Operations:

- Sasquatch (In progress)
- Intergalactic Computers (coming fall 2019)
- Jupiter's Ghost community site (coming winter 2019)
- Yesterday, Tomorrow (coming spring 2020)
- Jupiter's Ghost podcast (coming whenever it's ready and no later)
- #SpaceLARPCafe (coming whenever I don't have to work for someone else anymore.)

(and, like, yeah it'd be way easier to tell a convincing story about people aboard a spaceship if I had a physical cabin for the to board, and if that cabin was apparently fully functional, but I've already established that that part can be done for $5k DIY with arduinos and hydraulics, and I need a compelling story first anyway.

Build the universe. Make it interactive on it's own. Bolt the flight sim on later, if at all.

It's a #SpaceLARPCafe, not a Spaceship Simulator Building.

And, obviously, the coolest application of motion simulators and animatronics is the original Star Tours.

The first time I rode that ride I was obsessed with it. I've been talking about it endlessly for the last week. I've gone off about the #SpaceLARPCafe several times, but that's just an extension of my desire to combine physical special effects with story telling and play in a way that makes something unique.

It's born straight out of my Imagineering childhood.

There's a building for rent on the square of the town where my home is (which is far away from the town where I live.)

It's RIGHT on the main drag in the little tourist area of town, and I so much wish that I could turn it in to a #SPACELARPCAFE

Two years ago, on another social site, I said:" Okay, but seriously: Take the idea of a haunted house, replace all the horror elements with sci-fi/space stuff.

Add basic plot, and some interactive elements.

Result = best day ever."

Clearly the #SpaceLARPCafe idea has been kicking around in my head for a while.

@ajroach42 I've swapped a couple of emails with a local 3d modeler about designing custom ships and other assets, once we're a little further along.

I've even been considering (re/actually)learning C so that I can contribute to the core game.

Of course, my ultimate goal is to get 4 or 5 full ships outfitted, complete with hardware controls and props, and then stick them in to 6 person Motion Simulators tied to the game, and throw those in the back of a LARP cafe ( #spaceLARPCafe )

Remember #spaceLARPCafe?

That's my dumb idea of a LARP coffee shop where you can crew spaceships and interact with folks.

It came up today in conversation about hovercraft.

And then I found Space Nerds in Space (#SNIS #SpaceNerdsInSpace) https://smcameron.github.io/space-nerds-in-space/

This is a bridge simulation game. FLOSS. Written in C, with scriptable missions written in LUA, and support for multiple ships in one universe.

... I don't know what to do with this information, but I'm glad to have it.