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What is "Dreamspace President"?

v[5, 2017-02-04 13!00 UTC]

So far, this is a one-man software studio focusing on empowering utilities and inventive distinguished-audience games. Since that's a mouthful, the tagline just reads "PC games and utilities you haven't seen before". It's what "PC master race" means in that parallel reality where the term hasn't been made useless by jokes, memes, and bad attitude: Have a good idea for what should exist or be different in the IT world? Then sit down at your omni-machine and make it happen! It's all bits, after all, and basically everything ever in the IT world was created on a desktop computer.

The creation of Dreamspace President was a natural consequence following 35+ years of IT experience, years that began with hex editing boot logos on a TRS-80 for fun (exploring what can be done with a computer) and later doing all kinds of things on Amiga (e.g. using Motorola 68000 assembler to create music boot blocks (less than 1KB) that continue booting the AmigaOS disk while the music plays, or creating a MIDI controlled sample player (and sample editor with realtime effects)), then spending two decades in the office programming (e.g. Perl webshop in the late 1990s, publishing database in the early 2000s feeding into multilingual six figure print production), doing administration/ support, photography, DTP, etc., while private IT life consisted of exploring, audio work, programming, etc., and there was of course gaming, gaming, gaming.

Eventually, free thought lead to unconventional ideas and application and game prototypes. For example, here's a billion dollar idea for free: We still have tons of phone lines with a recorded text speaking about the existing number-pressing options. Those should first digitally transmit a bit of computer readable text, allowing devices with a screen (e.g. smartphones) to display a menu. The usability boost on average would definitely even translate to lives saved. Phone lines today use audio compression that is optimized for human speech, but that doesn't mean a digital transmission standard can't be devised that can still make its way through at low transmission rate. I mean, how much text do you really need for a 5 item menu.

Given the gigantic amount of affected phone lines worldwide and the steps needed to make this happen, there's overall billions of dollars to be made. It's in there somehow. But even if it weren't, then just put it in! Because who says that only phone lines with key-press menus should benefit from this screen content transmission bonus? :) Really, have our telephony systems arrived in the age of smartphones yet? And that's out of the box thinking.

In the likely case that you have no means to make this happen, but you still want to take something home, what about this: A Ph.D. thesis is waiting to be written on the phenomenon that almost all computer game sound volume sliders are broken and what the actual reasons for this oddly perpetuated problem are (at which I can only guess). The fix is simple: Assuming value ranges from 0 to 1, raise the user input to the power of Euler's Number (~2.7) before applying it to the sound. So, what's going on here, why does almost nobody do it? Since this is a significant phenomenon, is playing out in plain view of everybody, and affects many people on everyday life level, he/she who solves this conundrum is sure to cement their name in a small way in scientific history.

Aaaand another one, because why not. While developing SlaloM (The ugly Swiss army knife that beats all other game library managers while not even trying.), I had the following thought, and tell me you know that it wouldn't work: For a game store to compete in this market, it doesn't take yet another game client. Instead, they should try to create a game manager (and client) that allows users to comfortably manage PC games from all other sources (Steam, Uplay, etc.), because people do not want yet another client, yet another game library island. There are too many, and there should be only ONE. A gamer does not want to hop client when choosing a game, they just want to choose the god damn game, period. So, if a company that would usually create a game client like the others to aid their store sales would instead make one that gives a gamer a home that they never have to leave ... that would be an incredible force of attraction! Don't you want to see companies compete with each other about that kind of product? "Why would GOG make a client that lets you play Steam client games?" Because then people are not mentally glued to Steam or whatever their majority-library client is. They are open to buy GOG games because it doesn't matter any longer that the game is not on Steam.

Anyway, Dreamspace President is the label under which some of these things that are accumulating in the back of my mind will now see the light of day. Also ... I happen to know a few things about the inevitable future of Dreamspace President and its place in the world, and it's as hard not to reveal it as it would be unwise to do. Let's just say that it's basically impossible not to underestimate what's ahead.

But most things begin small, so here we go.

"If the Universe did not exist, it would be necessary to invent it."
-Dreamspace President