The Black Box

I've said it before. I play my cards close to my vest. I'm a slow scripter, very slow.. and I often take a lot longer to finish products to my own satisfaction. I've often worried that if I publicized what I was working on, my competitors would be able to beat me to market with a better product before I'd finished mine.

Well I've also said that I feel ER has fallen behind. As such, I figure I've got not too much to worry about, as many have beaten me to market with this functionality already. So let's take a peek inside my workshop, shall we?

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="252"] Memory Discs on the Black Box[/caption]

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present the prototype for the ER locking attachments of the future.

I've been working on this script for a couple of weeks now, and it's finally beginning to take shape. The early stage of scripting this was difficult to stick with. In fact, the exercise reminded me vividly of long nights crying in exhaustion as I tried fruitlessly to complete grade-school homework assignments hours after even my parents went to bed. Finally, after arguing with Bunni (my wife) over how much time this was taking, how much it was frustrating me, and how little I was getting done, I locked myself away on an alt, and stared at the script til I found a way to work on it.

Progress over the last few days has been swifter, and with each day, the script has gained more functionality, and edged closer towards completion.

But what's it supposed to DO?

The Black Box as I've called it, is in essence, about 40% of the functions of a basic collar, housed in a single script.

• Multiple owners, not single keyholders - When it's completed, it will have the ability to add, remove, and remember up to 9 owners. Multiple owners is the #1 most requested feature.


• RLV Lock -  Any locking attachment should have the functionality to lock in place, and become unremovable when the wearer uses an RLV enabled viewer. If the item is somehow removed while locked (when not using RLV for example), the owners will be notified.


• Timelock - Another of the most requested features is the ability for "set it and forget it" timelocks. With the number of endurance subs out there, this is a very commonly requested function.


• Support for plugins - This is really more of an in-house need, but the script will have a basic ability to talk to and control other scripts that can be added as needed on a per product basis. An example again being a "Blindfold" button that then activates menus from a secondary blindfold plugin script.

A lot of developers already have these features. I'm sure at some point in the past, some open-source scripts were handed around and many people learned how to do these things. I've had to figure them out a bit at a time. WHile I understand the mechanisms behind how each function works, I've never built anything quite this complex before.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="512"] Diagram detailing proposed menu flow. Completed section in green[/caption]

Generally speaking, the script behind the black box is about 70% complete at this point. I'm working on the RLV switching code tonight, and tomorrow will probably find me working on the Timelock functionality. After which point it will be time to address the "access gating" in the menus, the part that decides if you're allowed to see the "Unlock" button for example, or if you're allowed to get a menu AT ALL.

There's no outright timeline for when this project is slated to be completed, or when you'll see updates to the ER products you already own. I'll work on it as much as I can, until I have all the functionality needed. Since I have a clear idea of the functions needed in existing products, that's where I'm starting.

Obviously, as this script makes it's way into product updates, some of the ways you use ER products may change. Hopefully the added features will make the effort of learning the new way of operating those items worth it. The eventual ability to expand the available colors is certainly worth the work for me.

And the idea that I might have to spend less time scripting in the future, is downright tantalizing.

I just wish the long hours of solitary work and isolation from friends, playmates, and loved ones, wasn't so damn crushing. I'll get through it. I may not be able to see it yet, but I know with each finished function, I'm getting closer to the goal.