Chris King

VanWalks

VanWalks is my brainchild. I conceived of a walking tour app of Vancouver while taking vacations in other countries pre-pandemic. Just before the pandemic hit, I took a working vacation to Mexico to build to the prototype. Upon arriving home, having the world shut down gave me plenty of time to release the first version. I'm currently iterating and developing the sales channels for the app.

VanWalks started as a React Native app, more specifically Expo, but I switched it to be web only in 2023. So far I've done all the programming myself. I've had some help with a small team of freelancers, most of whom I've worked with previously. They helped with the Branding, UI, Research, and Content Writing. The rest is all me, baby!

The back-end for the app uses AWS Serverless, specifically API Gateway, Lambdas and DynamoDB. I tried as much as possible to use to use Rick Houlihan's Advanced Design Patterns for DynamoDB.

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.

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

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.