Welcome!

What You Can Access in the Portfolio:

My Professional Background
My Skills & Work Experience
My Sample Project(s)

What is the Ice Cream Maker?

The Ice Cream Maker is a custom title that I, Lucas Rodriguez, made to pledge in creating smooth and creamy programs to the best of my abilities. As a freelancer, I aspire to use my skills and creativity to solve problems with several organizations while maintaining flexibility.

What Can You Make?

Currently, I can make:

Websites with jQuery
JavaFX Applications
Unity Games

I am continuously learning and refining my software development skills. You can check my skills on the Skills & Experience tab and any personal projects that I created on the Projects tab for updates on my skill set.

Is There Going to be a Cost for your Services?

Yes, but it is negotiable and on a daily rate. Consecutively, any necessary training for skills not mentioned in the Skills & Experience section will take at least one day before properly applying skills to the project.

Did You Take These Pictures At The Bottom?

Yes! On the top, the two pictures on the left and right are snapshots of code I made in the Algebra Solver project while the top middle picture is the character created using Microsoft Paint 3D.

The bottom pictures are all from the Capture the Flags game. From left to right, they are a editor for one of the game's obstacles; sample code of the game manager; and the animation's editor.

About Me!

I was fascinated with technology starting at a young age, exploring the many computers and devices that exists in this century. It was when I was in the middle of high school that I found a passion for coding. At first, I explored a few programming languages through interactive tutorials to learn the basic fundamentals starting with JavaScript and the web's HTML & CSS. Then, my passion rose after taking computer science courses and an internship. It felt satisfying solving problems and succeeding through code. With creativity, creating programs had also felt like creating art, except the art can move.

I am currently working on new projects, both for myself and anyone or group who I contribute to, for learning and practical purposes respectively. While I prefer to create applications, I am also willing to create websites that best utilizes my skills. That would require mastering the algorithms and frameworks that comprise computer interactions. In addition, I am developing relationships with the tech community in a helpful and fun manner. Also, I am attending Florida International University for a bachelor's degree in computer science. Overall, it takes self-improvement and effort to reach a compromise of value.

What I hope to achieve in the future is to become a software engineer for a reputable company. After obtaining the bachelor's degree, my goal will be to assist in solving at one of the world's problems at a very large scale. Whether it involves augmenting robots or making an entertaining video game, That decision remains to hold. However, more experience can hopefully shape the specialty of the software. Finally, I will still contribute to the social aspects of technology.

Projects

Algebra Solver

The application, created using JavaFX, would allow the user to solve any algebra problem just by typing it. As an aside, an ice-cream character accompanies the app while you interact with the input. Currently, the app accepts simple expressions and linear equations with simplification, integers, decimals, and fractions. Also, the Dark Mode setting is still in the works.

From the bottom, the development started with planning on how to solve the most simple equations beginning with x + 1 = 2. Then, gradually, the code got more complex after testing with harder equations and debugging for any strenuous bugs. The layout of the application was created with experimenting along with the bottom-up process as graphics were involved in the process. The result led to a main menu with the start, settings, and exit buttons as would many applications.

You can access the project by clicking here or the image above.
Note: You may have to install java from here and run the batch file (.bat) after extracting the zip file.

Capture The Flags

The game was inspired by the Capture The Flags game created during the ShellHacks 2022 hackathon. There, I collaborated with a partner and learned the Godot engine in order to help create the game. To accommodate my partner's skill set, I flexibly went through the Python basics along with the engine's tutorial. This had sparked my interest in creating games as a part of applications.

After improving myself in the hackathon, I took the opportunity to continue and ultimately remake the game on the Unity engine. The engine switch was essential in order to use the C# language and better platform support.

The initial development process of the Unity game was entirely based on the Create with Code course. This meant creating the world floor, prototype models and movement, game mechanics; GUI, then audio. After the tutorial, I added extra features including the difficulty system and fixed any bugs present during the development. What was considered for future updates included support for multiplayer.

You can access extra game info and downloads on itch.io or on the image above.
You can also access the Godot game in the hackathon submission page here.