zVods
2022
The project was my first real contact with web development. I started by building just the front-end styling, then consuming data from the back-end. Over time, as I gained more knowledge, I also built a back-end and a database on the project, as well as learning a lot from managing a real website.
How did the project come about?
Well, the project emerged to meet a need of the community of some live content creators, this need is to watch past broadcasts. Normally, these content creators do not leave their videos available because they are too long and receive copyright claims on music, videos, among other things. As a result, these contents are usually deleted at the end of the broadcast, thus losing several hours of content. With this, we decided to solve this problem.
How was the problem solved?
What we did was create a system that stores the video content and chat during the broadcasts. Technically speaking, when a streamer starts a broadcast, an application is checking if the content creator is online. When they start the broadcast, this content is saved directly on the machine running the server, so we save both the chat and the video. At the end of the broadcast, this application uploads the video to YouTube, saves the content information in a database, and saves the chat messages in another database. With this done, it becomes possible to list all the content on the site. My responsibility on the site became maintaining the web applications, including systems like clips, comments, likes, account creation and management, among others.
About the experience.
Being my first project and the first opportunity to show my dedication and work, it is a very special project. The project was not built with the intention of making a high profit, but rather to help and learn. I lead this project together with a friend, Zack_SB, who has been working on the project with me since 2022. We have plans to simplify and try to make it profitable. The project has been a great way to learn to deal with various types of production solutions, as well as to meet new people and build a community around it. Currently, in 2024, we have saved content from 3 channels, saving more than 750 pieces of content. In addition, with the platformization, allowing profile creation, we have more than 200 registered users on the platform.
Current state of the project.
Currently, in June 2024, I continue working on the project, developing a new version where we will remove the platformization and make the site simpler, with the aim of expanding and trying to make it more profitable. The current images are of this platformized version and not of the newer, more simplified versions. Previously, we used Next.js, Chakra UI, and Node with Prisma on the back end, all in a single repository hosted on Vercel. We are currently migrating to have one application for the front end, one for the back end, and to separate other future applications of the site into different repositories. The site also has translations, so we intend to expand to English and other language content. I have been working on it for two years, and it remains a hobby and a fun way to learn and explore new things.
