This page is for any other miscellaneous stuff I'm working on, or just random insights into my psyche.
Trekstrap – HTML LCARS-Based UI Set
I've always loved the LCARS interfaces on Star Trek: The Next Generation and beyond. So much so, in fact, that I started a Bootstrap-like library for LCARS-based web layouts using nothing but CSS.
I call it Trekstrap, and hopefully it gets to a stage where I can release it soon.
JSTrek – EGATrek Clone
I used to love the game EGATrek growing up as a kid in the MS-DOS days. So I was inspired to create a web-based version using nothing but HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Thus, JSTrek was born. So far it doesn't do anything, at least not yet. This is more to show off the UI that I designed for it.
Logic Puzzle Solver
Oh, I'm proud of this one.
This is a complete tool to solve nearly all grid-based logic puzzles, the ones with categories and items in each category that must match up to another item in each of the other categories. I broke down typical clues into five basic types:
• Equality (e.g., "Alice lives in Eastport")
• Inequality (e.g., "Dave is not the one with the blue backpack")
• Distinction (e.g., "The four people are: Erin, the person born on a Tuesday, the person with 3 gold coins, and Dave")
• Less/Greater-Than (e.g., "Bob was born exactly 3 days before Alice", "Alice was born on a day sometime after Dave")
• Either/Or (e.g., "Between Alice and Dave, one was born on a Monday and the other has a purple backpack)
From there, it was a matter of pure, simple... logic. 😏
Star Map API Test
I needed a quick tool to serve as a proof-of-concept for an API I was building for a game idea I had.
Enter the Stars API Test tool. It features a draggable map, zoom features, and star visualization... all using just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (and PHP for the Slim-backed API that tool communicates with).
DVD Logo Bouncing in a TV Screen
Inspired by The Office and the cold open to the first part of the "Launch Party" episode, I created this simple DVD logo bouncing within a simulated TV screen.
There's this cube on the screen, and it bounces around all day, and sometimes it looks like it's heading right into the corner of the screen. And at the last minute, it hits a wall and bounces away. And we are all just dying to see it go right into the corner. Pam claims that she saw it one day when she was alone in the conference room. Okay.... I believe she thinks she saw it...
Equatorial-to-Cartesian Coordinates Converter
I love space. Some say it's the final frontier. Well, I say that while using the equatorial coordinate system to locate distant stars makes sense, I needed X/Y/Z coordinates for an interactive star map I was building in Unreal Engine. Here is the tool I used:
You can check it out here.
MineTrek Procedural World Explorer
An entirely procedurally-generated world using Perlin-based noise fields with randomly placed "nodes", done entirely in JavaScript? Oh yeah.
Check it out! You use WASD to move, and... well, that's about it. Those brown, green, and gray boxes represent trees, bushes, and rocks, respectively. And they block you from moving through them. Pretty simple, but it utilizes procedurally generated noise, something I've been fascinated with since the launch of No Man's Sky way back in 2016.
Random Maze Generator
This one's a little simpler:
It's a maze generator! And it exports the maze data in a format I kind of invented — where pairs of maze squares are stored as bytes, 4 bits for pathways in each direction (0, 1, 2, 4 as the bit values for each edge of the square) — and saved as a .maze file. Give it a try!
Absurdly High Number Converter
Ever wonder what 47 followed by 28 zeros (47x1028) was called? I didn't think so. Well, I've got you covered anyway:
It's 470 octillion. Yeah, that's right, I looked up the naming convention for orders of magnitude above "trillion", "quadrillion", etc. and found out how to name any number up to 1 centillion (1 followed by 93 zeros, or 1x1093) and beyond. Try it out for yourself!
Closest Fractional Equivalent Calculator
Another nerd alert coming at you, where I've created a tool that takes a decimal value and provides you with not only the fraction that is closest to the given value, but the difference between the given value and the actual decimal value of the fraction shown.
This tool starts by taking all the numbers from 1 to 1,000 and, using each as the denominator, stores the decimal value for each fraction (skipping multiples of already-found fractions, to avoid unnecessary duplicates). Then, a sorted version of this list is used to look up the given decimal value. Give a try!
Cryptogram Tools
I'm also a huge fan of codes and ciphers, so I created a random text cipher generator and encryption tool.
This tool not only generates a random text ipher (by shuffling an array of the letters of the alphabet each time) but lets you encrypt and/or decrypt text using the displayed cipher. Check it out!