stardance has been extended another month! the new deadline is october 31 :)

You are browsing as a guest. Sign up (or log in) to start making projects!

Dexpate

@Dexpate

Joined August 18th, 2026

  • 5Devlogs
  • 3Projects
  • 2Ships
  • 1Votes
Ship Changes requested

It is a retro 100-octane garage portfolio and a playable 16-bit arcade racing game like OutRun. I built the entire thing with just vanilla HTML, CSS, and JavaScript without using any big libraries or npm packages!

What works & what did you build?

An ECU computer boot screen that pretends to test twin turbochargers and 100-octane fuel maps before revealing the site.

A real playable pseudo-3D perspective road engine on HTML5 Canvas where you use W/A/S/D or arrow keys to steer, drift along curves, and beat the 45-second timer.

Fixed a crazy bug where overtaking yellow traffic cars became giant boxes covering the entire screen!

Telemetry gauges, boost monitors, and showcase cards for my hardware and coding projects.

Uploaded everything cleanly to GitHub and hosted it live on GitHub Pages.

Try project → See source code →
Open comments for this post

1h 52m 58s logged

I made a super cool website called Cars for Speed! It has a giant car garage and a retro 80s racing game like OutRun, and I made the WHOLE THING myself with just normal HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. No giant boring libraries or cheats!Stuff I made and fixed:Cool Computer Boot Screen: When you open the page, a black hacker screen pops up that says it’s checking the turbo boost and putting 100 octane race gas in the engine before the game starts.Fake 3D Road That Doesn’t Make Your Tummy Hurt: At first, the road lines were moving weird and made me feel dizzy. So I did tricky math with perspective so the road looks like real 3D curving left and right into the sunset!Fixed The Giant Monster Car Bug: Earlier, when I tried to pass a yellow car, it got HUGE like a giant yellow box that covered the whole screen haha! I fixed the size numbers so it stays regular car-sized and zooms past my bumper.My Real Garage: I added boxes showing my other favorite stuff, like my 21-speed mountain bike with lockout and my computer boards with real wires.Put it on the Internet: I put all the code nicely into separate files, uploaded it to GitHub, wrote the instructions, and turned on the website so anyone can click and drive!

0
0
16
Open comments for this post

1h 39m 12s logged

Spent today fixing a bunch of annoying bugs that made the OS feel broken whenever I tried using it.

  1. The dock was totally messed up—the icons were invisible because of some dumb CSS hover and pointer-events bug, so I had no idea what I was clicking on. Fixed it so the emojis and app names actually stay visible at the bottom, and added little glowing blue dots under them so I know what’s open.
  2. Made minimize and maximize work properly. Before this, closing and opening windows would glitch out and reset their spots, which was super annoying.
  3. Fixed the window dragging. If I dragged a window too high, the header would get stuck under the top bar forever. Added a quick check in the code so it physically can’t go above 38px now.
  4. Added real sound to VibePlayer. I didn’t want to mess with broken MP3 links or CORS errors, so I used the browser’s built-in AudioContext to make raw synth beeps using oscillators. You can slide the pitch slider and it actually changes live.
  5. Had to fight Git for a bit because my local repo was out of sync with GitHub, but rebased it, pushed everything, and updated the README.

Feels way smoother to click around now!

0
0
18
Ship Changes requested

The Origin Story of V.A.Y.U.

Every great software begins with a spark of frustration or a wild “what if?” thought. For V.A.Y.U. the question was simple: Why must a portfolio or project showcase look like every other dull static scrolling website on the internet?

As a developer who loves low-level systems programming, clean web design and building things from scratch Dennis wanted something that felt alive. Not only a page of text. A living environment—a digital space that shows how a real programmer thinks.

So V.A.Y.U. (Personal Web Operating System) was born.

Phase 1: Laying the Foundations

The journey began with HTML5, CSS3 and Vanilla JavaScript. Than using heavy frontend frameworks the core architecture of V.A.Y.U. Was built from scratch.

The Desktop Environment: The first challenge was building a working desktop. A translucent blurred top bar (filter) was designed with a live clock to give it a real modern OS feel.

The Window Manager (z-index & Dragging): Creating windows was simple. Making them act like a real OS was hard. Dennis built a custom dragging system that followed mouse coordinates (clientX/clientY) and handled CSS transforms. With a z-index layering (biggestIndex) clicking any window or icon lifts it to the front so windows never hide behind the top bar.

Phase 2: Building the Native App Ecosystem

A desktop is nothing without apps to run on it. Over iterations Dennis expanded V.A.Y.U. From a simple welcome screen into a feature-rich operating system:

V.A.Y.U. Logs (Notes App): A dynamic notes manager that fills itself from JavaScript objects with a clean interactive sidebar.

Tech Stack Showcase: A window that lists developer architectures, system tools and project goals.

Terminal CLI (>_): A command-line interface that handles real system commands such as help, bio, skills, projects and clear.

Sketchpad App: A tribute to his love of drawing with an HTML5 canvas where visitors can sketch directly inside the OS.

VibePlayer (Music & Video Apps): media players with custom audio and video streams, progress bars and volume sliders.

StickyPad: A scratchpad that uses browser memory (localStorage) to auto‑save temporary code ideas.

Code Playground & StardustMiner: A multi‑language snippet sandbox (JavaScript, Python, C++). An interactive hacking minigame where users mine “stardust” points.

Settings Control Center: A hub that cycles wallpapers, shows system specs and toggles between classic looks and a futuristic Neon Mode.

Phase 3: The Philosophy Behind V.A.Y.U.

V.A.Y.U. Is not a set of code snippets inside window divs; it reflects Dennis’s journey, as a student and builder. Balancing school, board exam prep and late‑night coding V.A.Y.U. Shows disciplined execution. Each feature was added deliberately pushing what plain web technologies can do without weight.

Today, V.A.Y.U. Stands fully realized: a glassmorphism‑styled interactive operating system that runs right inside the browser. It shows that with logic, creativity and steady pace a blank screen can become an entire digital universe.

Try project → See source code →
Open comments for this post

15m 37s logged

During this project I built V.A.Y.U. From the ground up. V.A.Y.U. Is an operating system that runs right in your web browser. I used HTML5, CSS3 and Vanilla JavaScript to make V.A.Y.U. Feel like a desktop. It has windows you can move icons you can click and apps that work like a real computer.

Desktop. Top Bar: I made a desktop grid that keeps all the icons lined up neatly. There is a top bar at the top of the screen that uses a blur effect. This top bar has a clock, a way to change the wallpaper and a button to switch to Neon Theme Mode.

Window Management System: I worked hard on the window management. I added layers so windows sit on top of each other correctly. I also added custom drag mechanics and smooth animations moving apps around the screen feels natural.

Complete Native App Suite:

V.A.Y.U. Logs (Notes App): This is a notes app. It uses JavaScript to pull in notes and shows them in a sidebar.

Projects Showcase: This window lets you see my tech stack and what I want to build

Terminal CLI: This is a command-line tool. You can type commands like help, bio, skills, projects and clear to make it work.

Sketchpad App: I built a drawing tool using an HTML5 canvas so you can sketch things out.

VibePlayer (Music & Video Stream Apps): These are media players. You can play music or videos using custom controls, volume sliders and progress bars.

StickyPad: This is a scratchpad. It saves your code notes to your browser memory so you do not lose them.

Stardustminer: The Playground is a sandbox where you can see code snippets. StardustMiner is a hacking game that you can play.

Settings Control Center: This is the control panel. You can use the Settings Control Center to change how the system looks, cycle, through wallpapers or check system diagnostics.

0
0
28
Open comments for this post

20m 20s logged

During this batch I built V.A.Y.U.—a browser‑based personal operating system that I coded from scratch with HTML5, CSS3 and Vanilla JavaScript.V.A.Y.U. Goes beyond a portfolio. V.A.Y.U. Creates a real desktop feel with custom windows, movable UI parts, a clock in the top bar and apps that look and act like real ones:Desktop & Top Bar: A clean dark‑mode desktop, a translucent blurred top bar that uses backdrop‑filter, a clock that stays up‑to‑date and a wallpaper changer.Window Management System: I added z‑index layers and custom event listeners so windows glide smoothly come to the front when clicked and open or close without a glitch.Custom App Suite:V.A.Y.U. Logs (Notes App): A notes manager that builds itself from JavaScript objects with a sidebar.Tech Stack Showcase: A window that shows my tech stack and the structure of my projects.Terminal CLI: A working command line that accepts commands such as help, bio, skills, projects and clear.Sketchpad App: An HTML5 drawing canvas that lets me sketch and prototype, on the fly.Settings Control Center: A main panel where I can change the look set wallpaper cycles and check OS diagnostics.

0
0
14

Followers

Loading…