Hugo Hernani Ferreira da Silva

During my exchange program in Budapest, I collaborated with a team of back-end developers, a designer, and a product manager to create a math-oriented game app for children. Using the Unity3D engine, we developed a virtual pet-like character that helps children learn math basics while keeping the virtual pet healthy.

The game incorporated physics dynamics, such as gravity and speed, into the gameplay. The virtual pet had vital bars for hunger, health, sleep, and fun, and the user was challenged to solve simple math problems, such as addition and subtraction, to keep the virtual pet healthy. Each correct answer increased the corresponding bar, and the fun bar was specifically raised through math-based stages, such as a pyramid of numbers.

This project was part of an ambitious startup venture, aiming to create an engaging and educational game that promotes learning through play. It was a valuable experience that allowed me to collaborate with a diverse team and contribute to developing a meaningful educational product.

I built my portfolio page using React to serve as a professional showcase of my skills and experience. The homepage serves as a digital business card that introduces me to potential clients and employers, offering links to my social media profiles, a downloadable version of my latest CV, and even a cover letter from a previous employer. It was deliberately built without using any CSS framework.

The section dedicated to displaying my projects is still a work in progress and will not be accessible on the homepage until it's complete. Once finished, it will allow visitors to see detailed information about my past projects, demonstrating my abilities as a developer. The projects section fetches markdown content using Axios to communicate with the Rails API on the back end. Once brought to a project details page, users can see sections and a table of contents for these sections. The section was built with performance in mind, minimizing re-rendering.

I built a virtual world focused on classrooms, using the Unity3D game engine, LeapMotion AR technology, and a Django server for API management. The project involved creating a virtual environment with physics rules, allowing objects to behave as expected through collision and gravity effects. Users had their avatars, enabling them to interact with the environment more immersively.

Teachers registered on the front-end app and uploaded presentable documents. Once logged into the virtual environment, teachers could select and present their uploaded lectures using a virtual whiteboard. This device could be interacted with using LeapMotion technology, allowing teachers to use their hands to select and control the presentation.

Students could enter the virtual classroom using a "portal" and interact with each other. They could watch and listen to the teacher's presentations.

The front end was built using old Google Polymer technology and handled the app's authentication/authorization by communicating with the Django server's API and lecture uploading.

The project, available at https://github.com/orgs/elte-augmented-classroom/repositories, enabled an immersive experience for teachers and students.

I built this tic-tac-toe game using Ruby, leveraging TDD from the beginning to the project's current stage. The codebase currently has 65 written tests covering all the different aspects of the game.

The game has multiple modes; players can adjust the computer's difficulty level. There is room for further customization:
• I could remove some displaying responsibilities from the board model to make it less coupled.
• Players could be allowed to choose their sign.

The game uses a family of interconnected classes, including Board, Line, Slot, Game, GameControl, GameSetup, GamePlayer, Player (with two subclasses: ComputerPlayer and HumanPlayer), PlayerSign, and GamingSetup::Mode and GamingSetup::Strategy. This allowed me to design a flexible and adaptable software solution. I kept external dependencies to a minimum, using only a few testing gems and the "colorize" gem.

I believe that this tic-tac-toe game is an example of my ability to design and implement software architecture from scratch. It showcases my knowledge of OOP principles, resourcefulness, and ability to work with core technologies. It could become even more versatile and user-friendly with some additional improvements.