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Alec Brandt (Azteriisk) - Project History

This document is a single writeup of my project history across local repositories, unpublished prototypes, Unreal projects, SNHU coursework, and public GitHub work.

  • Some entries are prototypes, research studies, or design documents rather than polished commercial releases. I label those honestly because they still show meaningful engineering ability.

Snapshot

I am currently a student at SNHU, but most of my growth has come from building outside class across a wide range of technologies: Rust, C++, C, TypeScript, Go, Python, Unreal Engine, Vulkan, JUCE, Slint, Tauri, Next.js, Clerk, SpacetimeDB, Bevy, raylib, Slang, Strudel, and Matrix. Across these projects, a few patterns show up repeatedly:

  • I gravitate toward local-first and offline-capable tools. (mostly because servers cost money and I dont want to take up my computer's resources)
  • I like systems that are realtime, interactive, or performance-sensitive.
  • I move between product design, implementation, debugging, and documentation instead of staying in one narrow lane.
  • I am comfortable learning new stacks by building something concrete with them.

What This History Demonstrates

  • Systems depth: compiler experiments, graphics programming, DSP/audio work, realtime networking, native desktop applications.
  • Product thinking: design docs, replacement-system planning, UX-focused prototypes, offline workflows, admin tooling.
  • Breadth with intent: not random repo collecting, but repeated attempts to understand how software works under the hood.
  • Academic alignment: software design, testing, systems analysis, security, and technical communication all show up in the work.

Timeline

2024 - Foundations and deliberate exploration

  • May 2024 - Rust-HTTP-Server-Base A practice HTTP server in Rust. This was an early systems project that shows low-level curiosity and a willingness to learn backend fundamentals from the protocol level up. Main learning: ownership, request handling, and why "simple server" code becomes serious quickly once correctness matters.

  • June 2024 - Blazor-.NET-Test A short .NET and Blazor web experiment. Main learning: component-based frontend patterns in the Microsoft stack and how server/web tooling differs from the JavaScript ecosystem I later used more heavily.

  • August 2024 - HeliumCompiler A C++ compiler-learning project focused on accepting ASCII .he files and compiling toward assembly. Main learning: parsing, code generation, and how compilers force precision in language design and error handling.

  • August 2024 - VeryFunctionalCalculator A hackathon-style JavaScript project. Main learning: shipping a playful idea quickly under time pressure while still organizing UI logic and making the project presentable.

  • August 2024 - graplet A TypeScript block-programming concept centered on building apps and programs with interactive blocks. Main learning: visual programming interfaces, state management, and designing software for users who think structurally rather than syntactically.

  • August 2024 - django_tests A Django exploration focused on static site generation and integrated admin capabilities. Main learning: batteries-included backend frameworks, data admin workflows, and how much scaffolding a mature framework can remove.

  • August 2024 - VoxelGO and Voxall Early voxel-engine work in Go and C++. These are important because they show a recurring graphics/rendering interest that later continued into Vulkan, browser 3D, simulation, and custom engines. Main learning: spatial data structures, rendering pipelines, and the tradeoff between ambitious engine ideas and implementation complexity.

  • September 2024 - azterisk-net An early TypeScript web project. Main learning: modern frontend project structure and deployment-minded web development.

  • October 2024 - OneLastMission An Unreal Engine 5 project. Main learning: engine workflow, asset organization, and the realities of working inside a large commercial engine rather than a minimal custom framework.

2025 - Moving from experiments into stronger technical identity

  • January 2025 - MeshNet A browser-based 3D engine idea aimed at using the GPU while staying performant at scale. Main learning: browser graphics constraints and how web delivery changes engine architecture decisions.

  • February 2025 - SDLOdin A small game-oriented project built while learning Odin and SDL2. Main learning: low-level game loop structure, language exploration, and working without the abstraction layers common in web stacks.

  • July 2025 - ChadaTechClocks (SNHU CS 210) A C++ console application that displays synchronized 12-hour and 24-hour clocks with interactive time controls. Main learning: class design, encapsulation, formatted output, and input validation. This is straightforward coursework, but it is a good marker of disciplined C++ fundamentals and clear code organization.

  • July 2025 to February 2026 - World_Sim A Rust and Bevy Earth-system simulator aimed at geological, climate, and crop modeling. It includes multi-layer Earth systems, plate tectonics, procedural terrain, climate modeling, biome classification, and 3D visualization. Main learning: scientific-model decomposition, simulation architecture, realtime visualization, and how to organize a large technical ambition into layered subsystems.

  • September 2025 - free-bot A Discord bot in Python that announces temporarily free paid games on Epic and Steam, with region-awareness, admin controls, polling, and SQLite persistence. Main learning: external API edge cases, Discord bot ergonomics, lightweight persistence, and deployment-minded scripting.

  • September 2025 - CRM-Term A terminal-based CRM written in Go. Main learning: business-software thinking in a constrained UI, speed-first design, and cross-platform CLI/TUI style workflows.

  • September 2025 - Netflix-Visualizer A data visualization project where particles represent viewer clusters around Netflix titles using public Top 10 data. Main learning: turning datasets into narrative visual interfaces and balancing technical implementation with visual storytelling.

  • October 2025 - Vulkan_Tests A heavily commented Vulkan 1.3 mesh viewer and learning playground using GLFW, Assimp, ImGui, shaders, and cross-platform build scripts. Main learning: modern graphics APIs, build system discipline, shader/toolchain integration, and the value of writing code that can teach the next reader.

  • November 2025 - terminal-emulator A web terminal built with Next.js that simulates commands, themes, and a filesystem entirely in the browser. Main learning: interaction design, command parsing, UX polish inside a constrained interface, and how to turn a portfolio concept into a memorable product surface.

  • November 2025 - quickswitch-ui A Next.js showcase with multiple radically different UI templates driven by shared content. Main learning: separation of content from presentation, design-system flexibility, and building frontend architecture that can support experimentation without duplicating data.

  • November 2025 - CodeVox (local, unpublished) A Go-based offline voice-driven coding assistant using Vosk and PortAudio, with command mode, dictation mode, and low-latency local ASR. Main learning: speech tooling, desktop-oriented audio plumbing, offline UX constraints, and the engineering details needed to keep realtime voice systems practical on commodity hardware.

  • December 2025 - PseudoIDE A Tauri desktop IDE that turns pseudocode into code using local LLM inference, with React, TypeScript, Monaco, Rust, and side-by-side execution workflow. Main learning: AI-assisted tooling, desktop app architecture, bridging frontend and native code, and building privacy-focused local developer tools rather than thin wrappers around cloud APIs.

  • December 2025 - Reclamation (local design document) A full game design document for a large multiplayer settlement/economy/combat game with procedural worlds, politics, crafting, and long-form progression. Main learning: systems design, economy balancing, progression loops, and communicating a complex technical/game vision in a structured design artifact.

  • December 2025 - epstein_files A satirical asymmetric deduction game concept. Main learning: rules design, framing mechanics for social interaction, and writing mechanics clearly enough that others could implement or playtest them.

2026 - Integration, realtime products, audio, and engine work

  • January 2026 - MoreDynamic A replacement-system specification for legacy Microsoft Dynamics order entry, targeting Android and Windows with strong offline support. This is systems analysis and product planning rather than finished software. Main learning: translating messy business requirements into a structured architecture, thinking about sync, quote state, audit logs, product catalogs, and admin workflows.

  • January to April 2026 - SpectralSubtractor A JUCE-based VST3 plugin for realtime spectral subtraction noise reduction, built as both an audio tool and a DSP study. Main learning: FFT-based DSP, overlap-add reconstruction, thread-safe audio/UI architecture, realtime visualization, and plugin lifecycle engineering. This is one of the clearest examples of me going deep technically instead of just assembling frameworks.

  • January to March 2026 - Unreal Engine prototype series Local projects include UEIntroProject, TopDownTemplate, TopDownRPG, 2D-Template, Iso2D, CozyRosie, MetaHumanTest, and PlatformingTest. Main learning: rapid prototyping in UE5, template modification, top-down and platforming controls, isometric presentation, level prototyping, asset integration, and broad engine familiarity. The value here is not one finished title but repeated contact with real engine workflows.

  • February 2026 - gamechat A native desktop chat application in Rust using Slint and Matrix, positioned as a lower-bloat Discord alternative. Main learning: native UI architecture, protocol-backed messaging, session persistence, role/channel administration, and how to recreate familiar social UX without defaulting to Electron.

  • February to March 2026 - makerspace A Next.js App Router site with Clerk auth and a SpacetimeDB-backed member dashboard for storefront, education, repairs, community, and admin flows. Main learning: full-stack product integration, auth flows, realtime data, generated bindings, admin access design, and building a system that feels like a product rather than a demo page.

  • February 2026 - pxlengine (local) A Rust pixel-engine sandbox using pixels, wgpu, winit, egui, rayon, and rodio, with world state, entities, GUI/editor modes, and audio hooks. Main learning: custom engine structure, low-resolution rendering pipelines, tool overlays, and how to compose simulation/editor ideas in a native Rust graphics application.

  • February 2026 - slasher (local) A Rust engine experiment using winit, wgpu, rapier3d, hecs, glam, and nalgebra. Main learning: ECS-oriented structure, rendering + physics coordination, and the bootstrapping work required before "gameplay" even exists in engine code.

  • March 2026 - spacetimedb-shared-canvas A realtime collaborative canvas built with React 19, TanStack Router, Clerk, and SpacetimeDB, including admin-only snapshot and wipe controls. Main learning: realtime collaboration, auth-gated ownership rules, multiplayer state synchronization, and turning backend subscriptions into an intuitive shared UI.

  • March 2026 - steam-launch-optimizer A Python scripting project for Linux game launch optimization. Main learning: automation for real user pain points, scripting repeatable fixes, and documenting operational workflows that many people do manually.

  • April 2026 - stage A browser-based live-coding environment linking a Strudel music runtime to a GLSL shader runtime through a reactive binding layer. Main learning: cross-domain runtime synchronization, reactive systems design, and high-performance browser rendering for audiovisual synthesis.

  • April 2026 - sslb A turing-complete shader transpiler with a high-precision interactive 3D runner. Main learning: language transpilation, compiler theory applied to shaders, and designing flexible runners for modern high-density visual engines.

  • April 2026 - raylib-sim-tests A C and raylib cellular automata sandbox with data-driven block definitions, runtime tuning, custom input bindings, and specialized growth/merge behavior. Main learning: simulation architecture in plain C, data-driven behavior registration, rendering discipline without heavy frameworks, and keeping a graphics/simulation codebase modular.

  • April 2026 - RCWExpertHauling A premium commercial website for a local debris hauling service. Built on Next.js with unified Royal Blue and dark mode themes, it features an infinite-scrolling service gallery and local SEO location mapping. Main learning: optimizing client-facing pre-rendering architectures, mobile-first design system scaling, and production deployment pipeline engineering.

  • May 2026 - CareerReport (resume-builder) A full-stack professional networking platform and high-fidelity resume builder. Features a horizontal scrollWidth-calculated pagination engine, an invisible structured ATS & AI metadata injection layer (with double-layer plain text and JSON-LD), custom Next.js self-hosted font bundling, and a Google Gemini API zero-cold-start PDF parser, backed by Clerk authenticated PostgreSQL Supabase Row-Level Security and a collaborative social suite (posts, comments, quote reposts, follower mechanics, and real-time private direct messages). Main learning: resolving complex web-to-PDF print styling boundaries using layout-affecting zoom and absolute scaling mechanics, mapping cross-platform authenticated JWT tokens to granular PostgreSQL RLS rules, and maintaining real-time reactive data consistency across high-density interactive views.

Academic Work at SNHU

I am currently studying at SNHU, and that work matters because it reinforces the engineering habits visible in my independent projects:

  • software design and systems analysis
  • data structures and algorithmic thinking
  • testing and quality awareness
  • security and secure software practices
  • written technical communication

Visible local and GitHub evidence includes ChadaTechClocks and multiple portfolio repositories tied to CS coursework such as CS-210, CS-230, CS-250, CS-255, CS-300, CS-305, and CS-320. Even when those repos are private or not fully mirrored locally, they reinforce that my project history is not purely hobby-driven; it is also being sharpened in a formal academic setting.

Open Source and External Code Exploration

Not everything in my folders is original product work, but those repositories are still part of my growth:

  • Valdi - exploration of a native-performance cross-platform UI framework and its CLI/install workflow.
  • demand - inspection of a Rust prompt library.
  • Odin, vcpkg, dia, and related mirrors/dependencies - used as learning references, tools, or upstream code, not presented as my own authored projects.

This matters to employers because reading, debugging, and navigating other peoples' code is a separate skill from building greenfield projects. I have done both.

Technology Breadth

Languages I have used in meaningful projects:

  • Rust
  • C++
  • C
  • TypeScript
  • Go
  • Python
  • C# / .NET
  • Lua
  • Odin
  • Slang
  • GLSL

Frameworks, engines, and tools that recur across the portfolio:

  • Next.js, React, Vite, Tailwind
  • Supabase (PostgreSQL + RLS)
  • Google Gemini API
  • Bun
  • Tauri
  • Slint
  • JUCE
  • Vulkan, GLFW, Assimp, ImGui
  • Bevy
  • raylib
  • wgpu / pixels / winit
  • Unreal Engine 5
  • Strudel
  • Clerk
  • SpacetimeDB
  • Matrix SDK
  • SQLite

Overall Assessment

The strongest pattern in my history is not just "I know many languages." It is that I repeatedly pick technically demanding problems and build enough of them to understand the real constraints: offline-first behavior, performance, synchronization, visualization, DSP correctness, engine architecture, and admin/product workflows.

For academics, this portfolio shows curiosity, self-direction, and a willingness to learn difficult material by implementing it. For employers, it shows range, initiative, and evidence that I can move between product-oriented software, native systems work, realtime interaction, and formal coursework without needing to stay inside one stack.

If I were describing my profile so far in one sentence, I would say:

I am a student developer with strong self-directed systems curiosity, growing product judgment, and a portfolio that already spans frontend, backend, native desktop, graphics, audio, simulation, and game tooling.