Portfolio Projects - Complete Details
VisuWorld
Period: Bitcamp XI Hackathon
Description: Winner of Best use of Google Gemini, VisuWorld is a unique approach to generative 3D scene creation using LLMs and Google Gemini.
Detailed Information
**Winner of Best use of Google Gemini** at Bitcamp 2025 Hackathon! VisuWorld is a revolutionary approach to **generative 3D scene creation** using Large Language Models and Google Gemini. VisuWorld takes a unique approach to 3D scene generation by using a **GLSL** parsing layer to generate 3D scenes from a **natural language description** - rather than a traditional diffusion based approach. We gathered over **36,000** GLSL samples from online, which were embedded and fed into a **RAG pipeline** to show Gemini core concepts. We also implemented a public gallery to allow users to view other scenes, the prompts that generated them, and use them as a starting point for their own scenes.
This project got the attention of **Google Deepmind** and [Paige Bailey](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dynamicwebpaige/), AI Developer Relations Lead. This got our team invited to a **Google Deepmind Develope Showcase**, where we were able to pitch our project to the team and get feedback (and some free swag).
Not only was this project a huge success, but it was also the first travel Hackathon for Knight Hacks. As President, I was able to make history by bringing **25 members** of our club across the east coast to compete in the Hackathon. Our accomplishments were featured in a [UCF Today Article](https://www.cs.ucf.edu/2025/05/16/knight-hacks-wins-multiple-awards-from-bitcamp-xi/) for our grand success. Even though we were only **3%** of the total participants, we won nearly **25%** of the prizes - GO KNIGHT HACKS!
Highlights:
• **Hackathon winner** - Best use of Google Gemini
• **Invited to pitch** to Google Deepmind team
• **Innovative 3D generation** using LLMs and a **GLSL** parsing layer.
• **Real-time scene creation** with natural language input
Other Contributors:
• [Leonard Gofman](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lgofman/)
• [Richard Phillips](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rphillipscs/)
Technologies & Skills
- Gemini
- RAG
- GLSL
- React
- Next.js
- Tailwind
- TypeScript
- FastAPI
- MongoDB
- WebGL
- Three.js
CodeJoust
Period: February 2025 - Present
Description: CodeJoust is a platform made to help developers learn DSA by enabling them to practice with their friends in an real-time combat game.
Detailed Information
CodeJoust was developed by a group of **7** for the University of Central Florida's COP4331C Web Development course. While the requirements for the project weren't necessarily high, we used them as an opportunity to build CodeJoust. We built a **real-time combat game** using **WebSockets** to handle game state, game room management, and online matchmaking.
We were able to setup a custom **Leetcode OAuth** flow, so that users could login with their Leetcode account. This way, problems submitted through CodeJoust would also be recognized on a users Leetcode profile. We also implemented a full **weighted elo system** for matchmaking, so that users would be matched with others of similar skill level.
Highlights:
• **Real-time multiplayer** coding challenges with friends
• **Gamified learning** with points, leaderboards, and achievements
• **LeetCode integration** for comprehensive problem sets
• **WebSocket communication** for live competition updates
• **Elo system** for matchmaking
Other Contributors:
• [Leonard Gofman](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lgofman/)
• [Luke Cullen](https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-cullen-319701305/)
• [Max Grabov](https://www.linkedin.com/in/max-grabov/)
• [Raudy Brito](https://www.linkedin.com/in/raudybrito/)
• [Mohammed Mamdouh](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohmamdouh/)
Technologies & Skills
- WebSockets
- LeetCode
- JWTs
- React
- Tailwind
- TypeScript
- Express
- MongoDB
- Resend
AirJam
Period: HackUSF 2025 Hackathon
Description: AirJam is an AI-powered music exploration tool that helps users make music, anytime, anywhere. Play up to 30 instruments with just your webcam.
Detailed Information
AirJam is an **AI-powered music exploration tool** that let's you be a one man band, anytime, anywhere. We built this project for HackUSF 2025 after wanting to experiment with some **real-time computer vision**. By streaming frames from your webcam to a **YOLO pose detection** model via a **WebSocket**, we were able to detect hand gestures and map them to different instruments.
We implemented over **30 different instruments** via **WebAudioFonts**, spanning across a variety of different groups (percussion, strings, woodwinds, etc). We also implemented a repetition feature, so you can create a rhythmic beat for your main instrument. This project was a lot of fun, and was built in a **24-hour** Hackathon (my team and I are used to 36-hour hackathons).
Highlights:
• **Computer vision-powered** instrument control
• **Real-time hand tracking** with MediaPipe
• **YOLO object detection** for gesture recognition
• **WebAudioFonts integration** for authentic instrument sounds
• **30+ instruments** supported through gesture recognition
Other Contributors:
• [Leonard Gofman](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lgofman/)
• [Luke Cullen](https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-cullen-319701305/)
Technologies & Skills
- OpenCV
- YOLO
- Mediapipe
- WebAudioFonts
- React
- Tailwind
- TypeScript
- Python
- FastAPI
VoiceBoard
Period: Shell Hacks 2024 Hackathon
Description: Winner of Google's Social Good Challenge, Voiceboard AI makes whiteboarding accessible to all by using speech-to-diagram technology.
Detailed Information
**Winner of Google's Hack for Social Good Challenge** at Shell Hacks 2024! VoiceBoard AI makes **whiteboarding accessible to everyone** by converting speech into diagrams in real-time. We were able to send transcribed speech to a **Google Gemini** backend, which used the current state of the board and the users request to generate/modify diagrams using **Mermaid.js**.
Highlights:
• **Accessibility breakthrough** for users with motor disabilities
• **Speech-to-diagram conversion** using advanced NLP
• **Real-time diagram generation** with Mermaid.js
• **Google Gemini integration** for intelligent diagram interpretation
Other Contributors:
• [Leonard Gofman](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lgofman/)
• [Luke Cullen](https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-cullen-319701305/)
Technologies & Skills
- Gemini
- Speech Recognition
- Mermaid
- React
- Next.js
- Tailwind
- TypeScript
- tRPC
Forge
Period: July 2024 - Present
Description: Forge is the Knight Hacks monorepo, and contains all of our organizations core infrastructure. Built and maintained by the Knight Hacks team.
Detailed Information
Forge is the **core infrastructure monorepo** for Knight Hacks, and has a LOT of different projects and moving pieces. With every new elected executive team, Knight Hacks would often discard last years codebases and start again. We built Forge to centralize all of these lose projects to help with onboarding, maintenance, and data retention. We are also proud to state that Forge is almost **entirely SaaS free**, instead opting into **Open Source Services**. We focused on owning all of our core infrastructure to make hand-off easy - no more managing 10 different SaaS logins and services. Here are some of the cool projects I've helped build on Forge:
**Blade** - the centralized monolith application for all Knight Hacks projects. Before blade, we had a different database for each year, separate auth providers, and separate deployment systems. With Blade, we moved all **functional** logic for any web app into a single application to standardize data storage and authentication.
**Knight Hacks VIII** - the frontend marketing website for the Knight Hacks VIII 2025 Hackathon. This was a super fun UI/UX focused project, doing our best to make a thrilling impression that will get hackers excited to register. All backend logic was built directly into blade, and this was our first experiment of the multi-tenant architecture (it was a success).
**Guild** - sourcing user profiles from Blade, the Guild Collective is a webring project that allows users to connect with other users in the Knight Hacks community. This project was also built to help connect external users, like alumni, recruiters, or sponsors with current members.
**Club Site** - the frontend marketing website for the Knight Hacks organization. This is our top search result for the Knight Hacks organization, and is the first thing people see when they search for Knight Hacks. We use this site to showcase our programs, passion, and mission - bridging the gap between the classroom and the tech industry.
**T.K Discord Bot** - themed after our AI-robot mascot, T.K, this Discord bot helps with user engagement by sending out frequent reminders about our upcoming events. It also can be chatted with via commands, and sends daily memes and animal pictures to start some friendly conversation.
Highlights:
• **Monorepo architecture** for unified development workflow
• **Core organization tools** and management systems
• **Coolify deployment** for streamlined infrastructure management
• **Type-safe APIs** with tRPC for reliable data communication
• **Self-rolled CI/CD with Coolify** for streamlined deployment
• **Self-rolled Authentication** with NextAuth.js
• **Self-rolled S3 Storage** with Minio
Contributors: [Forge Repository](https://github.com/KnightHacks/forge/graphs/contributors)
Technologies & Skills
- Monorepo
- UI/UX
- User Management
- TypeScript
- React
- Tailwind
- Next.js
- Coolify
- tRPC
- Drizzle
- PostgreSQL
Lootcode
Period: February 2024 - May 2024
Description: Winner of the Knight Hacks Projects Program, Lootcode aims to make learning DSA fun and engaging with a fantasy D&D-esque campaign.
Detailed Information
Lootcode is what I consider to be my first **real** project. I have worked on a handful in the past, but none have gotten me as excited, dedicated, and passionate as this one. Lootcode was a shared vision of myself, Leonard Gofman, and Luke Cullen. We teamed up to build Lootcode for the **Knight Hacks Projects Program** in 2023, which we won!
I wanted to make another fantasy/TTRPG themed project, Leonard wanted to experiment with code-grade servers after getting into ICPC, and Luke wanted to do something gamified. Lootcode started as a pun based off the DSA platform **Leetcode**, and we ran with it. And it worked! We were actually able to create a secure, isolated code grade server using **Docker** and **Zx Shell** that supports **7 programming languages** - C, C++, C#, Java, Python, Rust, and Go
Embark on an **82 problem** journey through **Algorion**, a narratively rich world in ruin - that only you can save. We received recognition for Lootcode by the **Linux Magazine for Free and Open Source Software** which was a huge honor for us. We got a journalists attention after getting over **55,000** page views from soft promotion on Reddit. In total, we have **over 2,000** users with over **750 hours of playtime**.
Highlights:
• **Gamified learning experience** with rewards and progression
• **Interactive DSA challenges** with real-time feedback
• **Linux-based execution environment** for authentic development experience
• **Docker containerization** for consistent and secure code execution
• **Zx shell integration** for powerful command-line operations
• **Containerized execution** for safe code running
• **Real-time feedback** system for immediate learning
• **Type-safe APIs** with tRPC for reliable data handling
Other Contributors:
• [Leonard Gofman](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lgofman/)
• [Luke Cullen](https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-cullen-319701305/)
Technologies & Skills
- Linux
- Docker
- Zx Shell
- TypeScript
- React
- Next.js
- tRPC
APA-Scan + AS-Quant
Period: March 2024 - August 2024
Description: Built for my research position, the APA-Scan and AS-Quant pipelines use parallelized Python to assist in the analysis of large genetic datasets.
Detailed Information
I built APA-Scan and AS-Quant for my research position at the [University of Central Florida's Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Lab](http://genome.ucf.edu/cbb/new_look/pages/software.php). Funny enough, I had actually never taken a biology class before this, so I had to learn a lot about the field. While biology isn't exactly my thing, I was able to learn a lot about the field and use **parallelized Python** to speed up their pre-existing tools by a whopping **75%**.
Highlights:
• **Parallelized processing** for handling large genetic datasets
• **Managed data** with Pandas and NumPy for efficient data manipulation
• **Optimized performance** using Cython for computational bottlenecks
• **Integration** with standard bioinformatics tools like Samtools
Technologies & Skills
- Python
- Multiprocessing
- NumPy
- Pandas
- Samtools
- Cython
Wildspace Web
Period: December 2023 - February 2024
Description: Wildspace Web is an AI-powered worldbuilding SaaS tool for dungeon masters that creates immersive and engaging worlds.
Detailed Information
Wildspace Web is a continuation of the **Project Wildspace** project, but built as a **SaaS** instead of a desktop application. I wanted to take the ideas from Project Wildspace and expand to a web application with shareability in mind. Distributing a web application was as easy as sending a link, and character data would exist and be shareable across many different clients.
Wildspace Web also included two new big features for world generation - context-aware **image generation**, and context tagging for multi-layered generations. This way, you could generate a new character, while passing in context of someone else to serve as a sibling, rival, or partner. Wildspace Web was also built with **LangChain** to enforce schema parsing (something quite difficult at the time).
Highlights:
• **AI-powered world generation** with customizable parameters
• **Comprehensive worldbuilding tools** for DMs
• **Database-driven content** with Prisma ORM
• **MySQL backend** for reliable data storage
• **Stripe integration** for payment processing
• **Context-aware image generation** with DALL-E 3
• **Context tagging** for multi-layered generations
• **LangChain schema parsing** for better data handling
Technologies & Skills
- OpenAI
- Stripe
- Next.js
- TypeScript
- React
- Kinde Auth
- Tailwind
- tRPC
- Prisma
- MySQL
Project Wildspace
Period: Knight Hacks VI Hackathon
Description: Predecessor to Wildspace Web, built as a desktop app using PySide and Qt for the Knight Hacks VI Hackathon.
Detailed Information
Project Wildspace was a continuation off the idea I tested with **DNDTTK** at Shell Hacks 2023. I wanted to take the idea of a **D&D character generator** and expand it to a full **AI-powered worldbuilder**. The last application was not generative - it just randomly selected pre-determined fields. It was also only focused on characters.
We implemented a **desktop application** built with **PySide** and **Qt** that allows users to generate **immersive worlds** for tabletop roleplaying games using **Generative AI**. Built with **LangChain** on top of the **GPT-3.5 API** (a marvel at the time...) We also were able to implement many different types of generations - NPC, Building, Town, Encounters, Groups, and Dungeons from an inputted World File.
Highlights:
• **AI-powered world generation** using LangChain
• **Desktop application** built with PySide and Qt
• **Proof of concept** for AI in tabletop gaming
• **Professional packaging** with Inno Installer
• **Prompt engineering** for better contextualized world generation
Other Contributors:
• [Leonard Gofman](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lgofman/)
• [Vlada Bondarenko](https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladyslavabondarenko/)
Technologies & Skills
- PySide
- Qt
- LangChain
- Python
- Inno Installer
UCF Activities Bot
Period: November 2023 - December 2023
Description: A Discord bot that scrapes the UCF Events Calendar and posts events every morning. Viewed daily by over 3000 UCF students.
Detailed Information
The UCF Activities Bot was a **Discord automation tool** I built my freshman year at UCF after being frustrated with the lack of a centralized way to find events on campus. I wanted to make a bot that would scrape the UCF Events Calendar daily and post upcoming events to multiple Discord servers. Over a month, I learned **web-scraping with Selenium**, how to develop a **Discord bot** with **Nextcord**, and how to deploy a **Raspberry Pi** to keep the bot running 24/7. Scattered among a handful of different servers, these alerts are now a staple for many students to find events on campus.
Highlights:
• **3000+ UCF students** served across various Discord servers
• **Daily event updates** automatically posted every morning
• **Web scraping automation** using Selenium for reliable data collection
• **Raspberry Pi deployment** for 24/7 operation
Technologies & Skills
- Python
- Selenium
- Nextcord
- Raspbian
DNDTTK
Period: Shell Hacks 2023 Hackathon
Description: My first Hackathon project, DNDTTK is a Dungeons and Dragons themed character generator built with Tkinter.
Detailed Information
DNDTTK was made at my very **first** Hackathon, Shell Hacks 2023. The story of its development is actually quite funny. Initially, I had a team of 4 with some people from Knight Hacks - we wanted to build an AR app in Unity (terrible idea). It took us the first 12 of 36 hours just to set up the GitHub repository, so we gave up and did our own things.
I saw a quick **Tkinter** video on **LinkedIn Learning**, and learned all I needed in the remaining 24 hours to make something. While it is not pretty, and no where near optimized, it was a fantastic learning experience (and I actually used it in my D&D games before making Project Wildspace, and Wildspace Web).
Highlights:
• **First GUI application** using Python and Tkinter
• **D&D character generation** with authentic game mechanics
• **Hackathon project** for ShellHacks 2023
• **Underdog project** after wasting 12 hours on Unity...
Wordle Desktop
Period: August 2023 - September 2023
Description: A clone of the popular game Wordle, and my first desktop application built with Qt in C++. Built for my first GUI-based project.
Detailed Information
Wordle Desktop was my **very first desktop application** built with **Qt** in **C++**. About a year into software development, I was getting annoyed with being confined to the CLI - it felt mundane, and unimpressive. Since I took a few C++ classes, I reached for a C++ native GUI framework, and Qt was the first one I found.
Highlights:
• **First GUI application** using Qt and C++
• **Wordle game clone** with complete game mechanics
• **Qt Creator IDE** for modern C++ development
• **Cross-platform compatibility** through Qt framework