Intro
Welcome, my name is Rich Nelson and this site is a portfolio of my work.
As a rich internet applications (RIAs) developer, I seek exciting projects using the latest front-end technologies and techniques. Building websites with engaging interactive experiences for both desktop and mobile devices is a passion as I am thrilled to develop in these spaces.
Projects
Depaul Street Stories
This website for Depaul was created to promote awareness about the young homeless while raising funds for the charity selling limited edition prints from famed street artists. With each scroll movement or press of the arrow keys, the site slides from section to section. A key creative goal was to have each section fill the browser window regardless of the dimensions, while keeping the grid fully visible. The site was developed to work on both desktops and mobiles devices using a shared code base.
Oral-B 156,000 Dentists
This website leverages the HTML5 Canvas element to animate dozens of sprite sheet characters into various shapes. Utilizing the CreateJS library suite, I developed the site to take the characters and animate them according to coordinate data aligning them into shapes. I also created tools for the designers to plot out the shapes and create the sprite sheets for each character.
Apple Kabopple
Apple Kabopple was the third game I created independently. Migrating from Flash ActionScript 2.0 to ActionScript 3.0 was my primary challenge as well as streamlining my art production to use mostly 2D assets rendered in a 3D style.
Publicis UK Website
As the lead front-end developer for the Publicis UK website, it was my responsibility to take designs and convert them into a single page web experience. The site uses Responsive Web Design (RWD) techniques so that all the content is available to vistors regardless of their browser platform. Additionally, I had to assist with integrating the front-end to a back-end PHP content management system while continuing to udpate and maintain the site.
Ninja Gardener
Ninja Gardener was the second game I created completely independently. The gameplay is loosely similar to missle defense style games, where the player must defend the garden from seed poaching birds.
easyJet Route Map
The easyJet Route Map was an interactive flight browser. Visitors could click on any of easyJet's airports to see what routes where available. By using the sliders in the top navigation, visitors could refine their search criteria more specifically. All content is XML driven, so the app could be updated with new airports and routes as well as transcreated to other languages.
Counting Cows
Counting Cows was the first game I created for Android tablets and phones. A simple game that teaches children how to count, it use Adobe Flash AIR for Android. One of the biggest challenges was getting the all the assets to render fast enough to perform well on multiple devices. The app was my sole creation including all art, sound, design, and programming.
Tempo Time Capsule
The Tempo Time Capsule was an interactive app that would capture a visitor's Facebook data, save it on a server, and then it would be revealed to them at a later time. The app makes use of 3D coordinates and perspective made available in Flash Player 10 to create an impressive animation displaying the correlated data. The biggest challenge on the project was working with the Facebook API. The Facebook API is always changing and as a result the app often needs maintenance.
Fanta Fruit Frenzy
Fanta tasked our agency with quickly creating a game for outdoor interactive touchscreens with prerendered assets from a mobile game created for them previously. Working closely with the creative team, I came up with a game concept loosely based on the wack-a-mole style of arcade game. The design team was able to adapt the prerendered art to work with the new game, and then it was my responsibility to develop the game as an Adobe Flash projector executable. Additionally, I took on the responsibility of sourcing and editing sound effects for the game.
Experiments
WebGL Birds
This demo was to train and learn the capabilities of WebGL with the popular ThreeJS library. I created a simple animation of a bird in Blender3D and exported them for use with ThreeJS. Each bird is suppose act as a button, that when clicked plays a video. The video is displayed on a plane in the 3D space. Requires Chrome.
Web Sockets Breakout Game
This breakout style game was my first NodeJS experiment. Using HTML5 Web Sockets via NodeJS, I passed accelerometer data from my phone browser to my desktop browser essentially making the phone a wireless controller for the game.
Asteroids
With this experiment I recreated the arcade classic Asteroids in HTML5 without the use of the Canvas element. Through the use of CSS3 transforms and a custom JavaScript framework I was able to make the game function by manipulating DOM elements. Requires FireFox.
Scrolling Ninja Site
I wanted to try and recreate the bonus level from Sega's Shadow Dancer for the Genesis console. By using the keyboard arrow keys you can move the grey ninja side-to-side and down the page. While unfinished, the red ninjas move appropriately as you scroll down the page kicking the walls against a parallax scrolling skyline. Requires Chrome, FireFox, or Internet Explorer 9+.
Guild Wars 2: W.A.C.K.
As a fan of the MMORPG computer game, Guild Wars 2, I wanted to create a tool for looking up specific statistics via the game's new public API. It was a good opportunity to learn AngularJS, a popular MVC framework for front-end development. I also wanted a web app that would look good on both desktop and mobile devices, so I used Responsive Web Design (RWD) techniques. The experiment was so successful, I released the site publically. The Guild Wars 2 API is currently in beta. As a result this experiment may not always be working as intended.
About
For nearly 20 years, I have been designing and developing websites. It started as a hobby creating HTML websites based on my interests in the mid '90s, then professionally with interactives and games in Flash, and now into advanced web applications using HTML5. My thirst for technology and programming began when I was 8 years old and wrote my first program for the Commodore64, a game written in BASIC, and saved on a tape drive! I have always had a strong enthusiasm for technology and the internet. Continuing my career I would like to keep making compelling web sites and interactives.
As an avid PC gamer, I play quite a few games in my free time. This includes everything from first-person shooters and MMORPGs to casual and card games. The interfaces and reward mechanisms are marvellous and can transcend into non-gaming websites and interactives through gamification.
Additionally, I play guitar and compose music as a hobby. I have always been a big fan of all kinds of rock music as well as some techno/electronica. Whenever I get the opportunity to use my musical talents in a professional project, it is an absolute thrill!
Contact
Please check out my LinkedIn profile for more about my professional history and education. For code examples, please visit me at GitHub. My thoughts and techniques on development can be read on WordPress. Additionally, you can contact me at my email address .