rixlayer
I build things that work great and look great. Usually because something bothered me enough to fix it properly.
Open for commissions
The maprixlayer
I build things that work great and look great. Usually because something bothered me enough to fix it properly.
Open for commissions
Pick a group to jump in, or just scroll.
Start scrollingStart with the problem. Finish with the details.
I care about excellence. For me that means a solution has to do its job well and be good to look at while it does. If it works well but looks ugly, why even bother?
Most of what you'll find here started as a small frustration of my own. Too many apps to answer one question. Software that cost a lot and still missed the people it was built for. A piece of hardware with far more potential than anyone was using. I like pulling a problem apart, and I like the craft of putting the answer back together.
I've spent years on both sides, development and design. That mix of problem solving, an eye for aesthetics and hands-on build experience gives me a well-rounded view of the product or solution you need, from the first sketch to the release.
What's the best I can do with data anyone can get?
Flights, buses and fuel prices are all published openly. The data is rarely the problem. The interface is. These three are explorations in taking public data and putting it into interfaces I can visually tolerate. None are polished products yet, and they've been so much fun to make.
What's the best I can do with data anyone can get?
Flights, buses and fuel prices are all published openly. The data is rarely the problem. The interface is. These three are explorations in taking public data and putting it into interfaces I can visually tolerate. None are polished products yet, and they've been so much fun to make.
Altiscope
What's flying over me right now?
A flight and satellite tracker for Android. Hold the phone flat for a radar view, then tilt it up and the view lifts into the sky to show what's above you. It runs entirely on free, public aircraft data.
- Role
- Design and development
- Platform
- Android
- Status
- Exploration, version 0.5
Zarc Transit
South East Queensland public transport, live and in 3D
Live buses, trains and ferries for South East Queensland on a 3D map, with a journey planner and a ride-along mode that visually screams at you when to get off. There's no server in the middle: the phone reads the live feed itself and plans the trip on-device.
- Role
- Design and development
- Platform
- Android
- Status
- Exploration, early builds
Servoscope
Is the cheaper fuel actually worth the drive?
My personal favourite at the moment. Fuel price apps tell me what each station charges, but never whether the cheaper one further away is worth driving to, or which stop costs me the least detour when I'm already headed somewhere. Starting with Queensland.
- Role
- Design, brand and development
- Platform
- Web and Android
- Status
- In development
"If the stars were made to worship, so will I"
That Hillsong line comes back to me every time I stargaze. I love it out there, even though I know so little about it. Being in the dark and in awe is a very humbling experience. These two projects came out of wanting more nights like that.
Noxpose
A long exposure camera for the night sky
Noxpose sits on the frontier of my comfort zone. I believe the cameras on our phones are capable of astrophotography, and the software just isn't there. So I set out to write my own long exposure camera app.
- Role
- Design and development
- Platform
- Android, Nothing Phone (3)
- Status
- In development, image processing in progress
Xenith
Should I go stargazing tonight?
I made Xenith so I didn't have to browse four different websites and apps to find a dark spot, see how cloudy it was and check where the moon's at. It gives one stargazing score for each hour of the night. Still a work in progress, but already functional to me.
- Role
- Design and development
- Platform
- Web
- Built with
- React, TypeScript, Vite
A little circle of pixels with a lot of untapped potential
The Nothing Phone (3) has a small round dot-matrix display on its back called the Glyph Matrix. When I got mine, plenty of apps had fun animations for it, but the practical stuff was bland. Boring clocks. No music visualisation. Much love to for shipping an SDK, because I couldn't let all that potential go to waste.
Where my other apps meet the matrix
Altiscope draws a heading-up radar of the planes around you. Noxpose shows capture progress while the screen stays dark. Zarc Transit counts down your stops on a ride, so the phone can stay face down in your pocket.
A little circle of pixels with a lot of untapped potential
The Nothing Phone (3) has a small round dot-matrix display on its back called the Glyph Matrix. When I got mine, plenty of apps had fun animations for it, but the practical stuff was bland. Boring clocks. No music visualisation. Much love to for shipping an SDK, because I couldn't let all that potential go to waste.
Glyph Matrix creations
Clock faces, games and visualisers for the Glyph Matrix
Felt like a digital potter puppeteer with a magical portal of clay pixels on strings. I built a watch face that mimics a mechanical skeleton watch, with a balance wheel and a 3D tourbillon. Then a few games and some music visualisation.
- Role
- Design and development
- Platform
- Nothing Phone (3) Glyph Matrix
- Made so far
- Skeleton watch face, games, music visualisation
I could just put these up for anyone to install, the way Android always allowed. Unfortunately, the broligarchy of Google tech lords have other plans. From 2027, Google blocks every app whose developer hasn't registered with them, signed their contract, paid up and handed over government ID. The block arrives quietly through Play services, so your phone gets it without anyone asking you. Small, free apps shared between people are exactly what it hits. If that matters to you, have a read.
Read more at keepandroidopen.orgI could just put these up for anyone to install, the way Android always allowed. Unfortunately, the broligarchy of Google tech lords have other plans. From 2027, Google blocks every app whose developer hasn't registered with them, signed their contract, paid up and handed over government ID. The block arrives quietly through Play services, so your phone gets it without anyone asking you. Small, free apps shared between people are exactly what it hits. If that matters to you, have a read.
Read more at keepandroidopen.orgImposter Protocol
One word. Someone is lying.
I know there are a hundred imposter word games out there, and they're rarely very different from each other. This is my own take, and my first Android app nearing release. I can invite you to join the official test release today. No ads, and a big set of words that doesn't keep repeating.
- Role
- Design and development
- Platform
- Android, plus Telegram play
- Status
- Official test release
Lyri
Lyric presentation for multilingual churches
Smaller multilingual churches have a real gap when it comes to quality lyric presentation software. That gap has been marinating in the back of my head as a product problem for more than a decade. Lyri is my answer, and it's in progress.
- Role
- Product, design and development
- Platform
- Web app, offline-first
- Status
- In progress
Life Church Checklist Internal release candidate
A checklist app with dashboards, for one church team
A checklist app with a few extras and dashboards, built for a team at Life Church. Sign-in is single sign-on through Telegram.
Small names, whole worlds
Narrative games built around decisions and their consequences, a quiet little simulator, and the Unity games where it all started.
Pathox pathox.rixlayer.dev ↗
Found a startup. Try not to break it.
A story-driven management sim about running an IT company. Every turn is one choice between two options, and each one nudges your cash, morale, client trust and stability. Some consequences you see straight away. Others catch up with you later.
Doxa doxa.rixlayer.dev ↗
Say what you believe. Then stay consistent.
You're interviewing to become an International Judge. Answer the questions, state your beliefs, and don't contradict yourself. Slip up and you land in the interrogation room. Slip up there and it's over.
Orinex In development
Choose your own adventure, and find out who you were
A storyline-driven adventure engine. You take a role through a seven-stage story, and your choices shape the world around you. At the end you get your ending, plus an archetype and personality type drawn from how you played.
rixgol
A minimalist Game of Life simulator
Conway's Game of Life with nothing in the way. A full screen of cells, no buttons, no chrome. Click and drag to paint, then watch what happens.
Radkrieg & Reforger Unity · 2016–17
Unity game development, where it all started
Reforger is a cross-platform third-person 3D game set on a university campus I modelled myself in SketchUp. Radkrieg is a LAN multiplayer car racing game with weapons, on a track that stretches across three terrains.
Shared vision
The same care, pointed at someone else's problem. Sites and tools for businesses and teams who want something that works well and looks like them.
House Call Physiotherapy housecallphysiotherapy.com.au ↗
A fluid website for a mobile physio practice
A website that moves as one piece: page changes that hand over instead of cutting, a ring of type that peels off into a floating enquiry badge, and scroll-linked sections. Built in under three weeks, with a dated change record for every round of feedback.
XTrain xtrain.rixlayer.dev/lb ↗
Training tools for a pizza delivery team
Stuff I made for the team while working at Domino's as a delivery driver. Leaderboards for training challenges across the store groups, and an address generator with a stopwatch for cross-training runs. Small tools, but the first time I treated a problem at work as a product.