During a 5 week period under my specialization course in school, I decided to take on the challenge of creating a network system and designing the website you are currently looking at. Throughout the process, I learned a great deal about networking, web development, and project management.

To provide more insight into the process of making these two projects, I have added two separate segments where I talk a little more in-depth about my journey and the lessons learned.

Network System

My goal was to develop a networking system for my game engine that could work seamlessly across different platforms. To achieve this, I aimed to create an abstraction layer that would enable support for multiple networking APIs. Using Unreal Engine's replication system as a source of inspiration, I set out to develop a simpler version of their design specifically tailored for my game engine.

Structure: My goal was to create a simple yet efficient structure that would be user-friendly and easy to work with. To achieve this, I looked to Unreal Engine's source code for inspiration. I based my project structure on their approach, using a socket builder class to define the desired socket settings. The result of the socket builder is then passed to either SocketSender or SocketReceiver, each of which utilizes a separate thread to increase efficiency. For those interested in learning more about how to use these components, I have attached a couple of images at the bottom of the page to provide a better understanding.

Abstraction layer: Having watched The Cherno's game engine series on YouTube, I gained valuable insights into how to structure a game engine for maximum flexibility and scalability. I learned how to avoid limiting myself to a specific tool or workflow and instead create a system that could easily adapt to changes. Applying these principles, I set out to develop a networking system that could support multiple APIs, providing me with an opportunity to expand my knowledge and experience in this area.

Website Development

As for the design and development of my website, I made a conscious decision to create it on my own, without relying on online editors like Wix, SquareSpace, or Webflow. My motivation for doing so was rooted in a desire to learn new technology and expand my skills beyond C++ and game development. I saw this as an opportunity to dive into web development and broaden my knowledge in this area. I found the process to be highly rewarding, as it allowed me to push my boundaries and gain valuable insights into a new field of technology.

Design: To design my website, I opted to use NextJS with Typescript and TailwindCSS. My decision to use NextJS was driven by my previous experience working with JavaScript and a desire to explore the possibilities that this framework could offer. I chose to work with Typescript instead of JavaScript for two reasons: first, my familiarity with using types in C++ made the transition to Typescript relatively seamless, and second, the added safety checks provided by Typescript made it easier to catch potential issues early in the development process. Lastly, I chose TailwindCSS as my styling framework due to its user-friendly and intuitive design, which made it easy to create a consistent and visually appealing website without the need for extensive custom CSS.

Deployment: To deploy my website, my initial plan was to use Google Cloud Platform (GCP) as it was something I had been wanting to learn for a while. After successfully deploying my website to GCP, I realized that I still needed more time to experiment and learn more about their tools before feeling completely comfortable with using their services. Therefore, for the time being, I decided to containerize my website using Docker and host it on my own server at home. To streamline the deployment process, I also set up a simple CI/CD pipeline using GitHub Actions which allows me to easily deploy new changes. In the future, I hope to give GCP another try once I have gained more experience and knowledge with their platform.