Danny Boy: The Web Game That Changed Everything
A frantic potato café, one determined kid, and a project that changed everything. Built with HTML, CSS, JS & jQuery, this interactive web game was my final university project—and the unexpected beginning of my love for creative coding. It even inspired my now-husband to become a software engineer.
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The Adventures of Danny Boy was my final project for the Interactive Production class during my time at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). This course focused on the creation of immersive and interactive computer-generated spaces, where both narrative and experimental stories could come to life in new, digital forms. What started as a creative assignment ended up being a turning point in both my personal and professional life.
The plot of the web game follows Danny, a quirky, determined boy trying to prove to his parents that he’s an independent adult. His mission? To hold down a job at the Potato Café—one of the most popular spots in town, infamous for its impatient, high-maintenance customers. The goal of the game is simple yet frantic: help Danny serve all the potatoes before his shift ends… or worse, before he gets fired!
One of the biggest challenges was building the game from scratch using HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and jQuery—without relying on any pre-made game engines. Every interaction, animation, and logic system had to be coded manually. This technical constraint pushed me to think creatively, not just visually, but structurally.
To bring the characters to life, I used Adobe Illustrator to design and vectorize all the game elements and Adobe Animate to turn those into expressive GIFs. Watching my hand-drawn characters react, move, and interact with the world I built was incredibly fulfilling—it was the moment I saw my love for storytelling and design merge with the logic and flow of code.
What I didn’t expect was how much I would enjoy coding. Working on Danny Boy completely shifted my perspective—it expanded my creative toolbox and inspired me to dive deeper into front-end development. I no longer saw coding as separate from creativity, but rather as a medium for it.
In fact, this project didn’t just change my career outlook—it changed my life. While I was deep in development, my then-boyfriend (now husband) helped me with the coding and development side of the game. That experience inspired him to change his career from Psychology to Computer Science. Today, he’s a successful software engineer based in NYC. Looking back, it’s incredible to think how this quirky little potato café game would end up shaping both of our futures.
The Adventures of Danny Boy wasn’t just a school project. It was a lesson in self-discovery, collaboration, and the power of storytelling through interactivity. It reminded me that creativity isn’t limited to canvas or paper—it thrives in code, in movement, and in the spaces where people connect with your work.
Play the Game 👇🏻