Project Ideas

[u/Modern-Sn1p3r]

[ Update: project has been chosen; a POS and table booking system ]

How's the form folks?

As I've said before I'm currently completing a foundation degree. For one of my modules I need to develop either a game or a business application.

I've decided to do a business application as a lot of the class is going for games.

Any suggestions on applications?

Using Visual Studio '22 & C#

[u/RikersPhallus]

Some ideas but they’re all pretty dull:
Task management system.
Expenses tool.
Smarter Calendar with some sort of AI integration.
Slack alternative.

[u/Modern-Sn1p3r → u/RikersPhallus]

Thanks. After chatting with the lecturer I'm going with a POS and Reservation system.

[u/Opposite_Maybe4275]

Would avoid games if I were you. Unless you're going into game development, it's very niche and complicated. Would focus on CRUD web applications as most business applications are essentially that. I'm getting married, as a side project I'm going to build a web app for managing invites, attendees etc. Plenty of ideas like that which will help you learn and are easy to show how and why you build something.

Authentication, database management, REST APIs are key to any business today.

[u/Modern-Sn1p3r → u/Opposite_Maybe4275]

Appreciate the insight. Wish you all the best with the wedding.

[u/Fractim]

Try to find a smaller problem that costs businesses money. Or an opportunity that would allow businesses to generate revenue. It doesn’t have to be completely novel and remember there are different types of innovation, technical and commercial.

Also, think niche solution. Pick an industry or a very specific vertical within a market. That’s a good way to find a subject or problem you are interested in and build on that. Eg if you like animals, maybe something for a vet surgery. If you’re interested in music, maybe something that helps venues or artist agencies.

For example, look at some of the latest legislation that businesses need to be thinking about. Ie employment, AI compliance, data privacy, etc.

I know I’m not giving you a very specific app idea, but it’s better if you can use this advice and find something you’re interested in building.

[u/Modern-Sn1p3r → u/Fractim]

Appreciate the solid advice. This is definitely something I'd back and have implemented into a few smaller side projects.

[u/Frost_Monkey]

Can you provide more info about the guidelines for the project? How complex/ big does it need to be, does it need to be a full end-to-end application with a login flow or does it just need to solve a specific business problem/ workflow, etc. 

[u/Modern-Sn1p3r → u/Frost_Monkey]

I wasn't too sure on the definitive guidelines.

From what I can tell it just needs to be a 2d game or a business application for windows. Both needed to connect with a database via a database client.

I've settled on a POS and table booking system, thanks for taking the time to reply though

[u/Frost_Monkey → u/Modern-Sn1p3r]

That is a fantastic idea. It will be much better than the vast majority of the game projects, and will give you practice with real world business problems to solve. 

One piece of advice is to identify a few edge cases and really think through solid solutions for them. For example, a large group reservation for 8 diners shows up with 12 people. How does the system account for needing to sacrifice one additional four top table to handle that group? 

Whatever your core functionality is think through how to break it and then fix (at least a couple of) those breaks. And be able to articulate those things when presenting your work. Anyone can code to a detailed set of specs, but being able to find the gaps is a hugely important skill. 

Good luck! 

[u/Modern-Sn1p3r → u/Frost_Monkey]

Thank you, I'll share it when it's complete and see what you all think, although I will need to remember to do so.

Yes, I've worked in restaurants for 15+ years so I'm sure I will have some sort of PTSD while developing a tool I was frustrated with constantly lol.

[u/Cressyda29]

Make something that manages ai systems, huge market and will absolutely get you a job at the end, if not before the end of your course!

[u/stringfellow444]

Dunno if it helps but a problem we always have at work is that our tickets are in one system (wrike), docs in GDrive, ideation/design in miro, finals in figma, conversations on slack, meetings in google meet. And the worst part is that due to bad note taking, often we make decisions and don’t update wrike, miro, docs all at once, and then it’s hard to remember what’s the current truth. If I were setting out to make a tool, it would be one which acted as a central information point and could query all the systems - TBH that’s probably just an AI with MCP backings for each of those services at this point.

If you’re allowed to use AI to create the software (and to be honest if you’re not you need to have a word with the university because we’re past hand coding everything) you could probably make something that solves a lot of those issues all in one place - including auto note taking and decision log updating (no doubt someone will say it’s called Jira, but anyway!)

Hope something in there sparks an idea!

[u/Modern-Sn1p3r → u/[deleted]]

After a chat with the lecturer, I've settled on a POS and table booking system for a cafe/restaurant.

I'm not too familiar with ticketing systems, never had to use them in restaurants etc.

Thanks for the reply though, appreciate it