Chris King

VanWalks

VanWalks is my brainchild. I conceived of a walking tour app of Vancouver while using similar apps in other countries. I took a working vacation to Mexico to build to the prototype, and had plenty of time to finish and launch the project during the pandemic. I'm currently iterating and developing the sales channels for the app.

I led a small team of freelancers, who helped with the Branding, UI, Research, and Content Writing. Having worked with most of them on previous projects, I was able to really dial in their skills for the needs of VanWalks.

VanWalks started as a React Native app using Expo, but I switched it to be web only in 2023. The back-end for the app uses AWS Serverless, specifically API Gateway, Lambdas and DynamoDB. I tried, as much as possible, to use Rick Houlihan's Advanced Design Patterns for the DynamoDB data structure.

The marketing site, VanWalks.ca is a dynamically generated static site using Gatsby. It pulls from the same data source as the app, so it's always up to date. When there are content updates, I simply publish a new build that has the newest content.

Supporting Projects: A map admin app, a photo editing and uploading tool, and a sales rep admin site for keeping track of sales and commissions

Torn

A wildly popular, text-based, crime MMO game, Torn had already been around for 20 years when I started working with them. I was tasked with updating their player admin panel, replacing some pages that had been in use for the full 20 years with a modern, responsive front-end.

I also streamlined some critical data flows related to player management. The first was reducing mutiple different types of player reports, cheating etc, into a unified reporting system. This allowed the mods to research and investigate player complaints and make punishment decisions much faster.

There was a similar issue with the tools related to investigating players using multiple accounts. Many different pages and tools had been developed over the years to gather information, such as IP address and login times. I combined these into one flow so admin could select targeted players, save the evidence, and determine punishments on one screen.

Shards Game

As a modern and forward thinking web developer, I started using Claude Code mostly so I could have an opinion about AI based coding. I immediately enjoyed the experience. After a few wins making scripts and a web extension for my music school, I decided to undertake a harder challenge.

I have been brainstorming for a while a game that combines elements of idle gameplay with neighbourhood-based real-world collaboration and combat. I decided to take a crack at it with the help of Claude, and bit of Codex. It's been a pretty wild ride so far. Sometimes things click into place almost immediately and replace hours of research and typing, other times I burn a whole usage window just trying to make some objects move correctly.

So far my main take away from AI guided coding is that the ownership of the code is critical. The AI generated code will handle the logic properly, but will often forget about the project structure and place all the new code in the currently open file. I suspect this is because, to a computer, one long file or 5 shorter files are functionally the same. My strategy to mitigate this is to use Merge Requests and Issues to keep the scope under control. I have the final say on what code is added to the codebase.

The game is pre-alpha at the moment, but you can enjoy these screenshots and gameplay video.

Philanthropi

I was the first full-time developer for Philanthropi, a fintech startup building a charitable donation platform that focused on Donor Advised Funds. Initally, I worked on all aspects of the platform, including the front-end, back-end, and integrating with the banking platform.

AWS Backup

I joined a team of AWS employees and contract workers to launch the new AWS Backup service. Using React and Typescript, we build a slick platform that lets you select your AWS assets and start backing them up on a schedule of your choosing.

Bonzai Intranet

Primary developer for Bonzai Intranet, an enterprise intranet solution built on Microsoft Sharepoint, serving 600,000+ daily users

We used a mix of React, AWS serverless and numerous Sharepoint APIS and libraries

Pleasant Mountain Music

After saving up my developer pennies for many years, and learning that my two bandmates both had full teaching schedules, we decided to embark on a new chapter. The three of us got together and opened our own music school. We opened our studio in Vancouver, March 2022.

The website is a custom Wordpress setup that publishes a static site to an AWS S3 bucket to keep costs low.

Ultimate Photo Battle

An online photography competition. It used CRON jobs to automatically update winners and start new battles. Had a rotating selection of battle categories based on popularity. Winning photos, new battles and high scoring submissions were posted automatically to Facebook and Twitter. The winners got certificates that were generated dynamically on demand. I also set up algorithms and IP tracking to prevent vote stuffing. Moderators approved all photos before they were visible.

Not currently active.

The Oh Wells

A website for local indie-pop band The Oh Wells. It was built on a custom Wordpress theme to allow the band members to post news, events and photos. Featured a sticky music player and right hand sidebar.

The Maneuver

A website for local party funk band The Maneuver. It's built on a custom Wordpress theme to allow the band members to post news, events and photos. The site has achieved front page Google results for "The Maneuver" (beating out the Heimlich Maneuver), as well as "Vancouver Funk Band" and "Party Funk Band".

Serverless To Do List

Building on its predecessor, Superior To Do List, Serverless To Do List was a project I envisioned to learn the AWS Serverless stack.

The website is all static React code, with calls to AWS using API Gateway, Lambdas and DynamoDB.

The Elixxxirs

Website for the Vancouver band The Elixxxirs. The opening sequence used jQuery animation and failed gracefully if javascript was disabled or on slow connections. There was also a backstage area for the band to update gigs and news automatically.

Startup Clicker

An idle clicker in the vein of Cookie Clicker or A Dark Room. Built with React and Redux. Saves the game state to local storage every 30 seconds.

Idle Breakout

An idle game based on the classic Breakout game. Uses pixi.js and phaser.js

Only a proof of concept, but fun to play

Hexes

Learning how to make hex based grids for game layouts. Uses pixi.js

Arduino

I've been tinkering with Aurdino for a couple years now. I've built a LED drip clock, a robot halloween costume, a sunrise simulator lamp, a light up bass and a failed quadcopter. I'm planning on making a digital handpan/synthesizer.