Portrait of Joan Ruiz.

Available for freelance projects

Joan Ruiz. Software Developer & Task Automation.

I build mobile apps, fast MVPs, lightweight backends and games for startups and small companies. If you have something to build, I'm available for freelance work.

Selected work

Four things I've built.

01Android app · 2026 – present

WakeCast

A social alarm. Every morning, a friend's voice wakes you up.

Problem
An alarm is the same sound every morning, and nobody enjoys it. WakeCast swaps the ringtone for a voice clip a friend recorded for you.
What I did

Everything, solo: the idea, the React Native app, the Firebase backend and a native Kotlin module. I worked with Claude Code from start to finish: I decided what to build and designed the architecture, the agent wrote the code, and I checked what it produced.

What's in it: groups where one person records each day, missions like “sing them the hour”, ratings with comments and a monthly recap.

Stack
  • React Native
  • Firebase
  • Kotlin (native module)
  • Claude Code
Result
From idea to launch-ready in three months.
WakeCast on Google Play
  • WakeCast alarm ringing at 06:30 with a friend's photo, a snooze button and “swipe up to turn off”.
  • Screen revealing which friend recorded today's alarm, with the audio clip and a five-star rating.
  • Group screen for a six-member group showing who recorded today and who records tomorrow.
  • Alarm editor with a time picker set to 07:00, a label, a group and repeat days.
  • Alarm list with a notice that five people are waiting for you to record their alarm.
  • A mission delivered as a chat: “Sing them the hour”, with Decline and Accept buttons.
  • Ratings screen for a recorded alarm: 4.6 stars on average and comments from friends.
  • Monthly recap naming the group's early bird, with a chart of average alarm times.

02Research game · Umeå University · Apr – Jul 2026

Stable Bridge

A research game on spatial reasoning, for web and Android.

Stable Bridge level in a jungle: a miner with a lantern stands on a structure of stone blocks, with a crystal on the far side and hint, undo and pause buttons.
  • A level inside a lava cave with the miner, stone blocks and a crystal.
  • “Level 4 complete” panel showing hints used, total transformations and a 1 to 7 difficulty rating.
  • Level map: a winding desert path with numbered level markers.
Problem
At Umeå University's Department of Computing Science I worked on a game to study spatial reasoning. It had to run on web and Android, give hints from a tutoring agent, and record how people play.
What I did
  • Integrated the symbolic tutoring agent, which hints at which piece to use and where to place it.
  • Built the pipeline that turns the Python solver's output into around 300 playable levels.
  • Set up the Supabase (PostgreSQL) database that stores player moves and difficulty ratings.
  • Designed a custom pathfinding algorithm that simplified the game logic, with no special cases.
Stack
  • Unity
  • C#
  • Supabase (PostgreSQL)
  • Web + Android
Result
Around 300 levels, out on Google Play. I'm co-author of two papers: Advances in Cognitive Systems 2026 and Spatial Cognition 2026 (poster). The code is private.
Stable Bridge on Google Play

03Game · Bachelor's thesis · 2025 – 2026

Spaghettoni

A platformer about an artist and his workshop, suspended in space.

Spaghettoni: a tiny dark figure with bright eyes stands on a ledge among giant paint pots, brushes and the legs of an easel.
  • A cave passage in silhouette with a paint pot and brushes; the tiny figure walks along the floor.
  • A cavern lit in green, with the figure jumping over a glowing green platform.
  • A vertical shaft lit in red, full of floating shards, with a flask on a ledge.
Problem
Tell a bizarre story, an artist and his workshop floating in space, through platforming and exploration. And make it solid enough to present as my bachelor's thesis.
What I did
I designed and built it as a personal project in Godot with C#. A tiny figure among giant paint pots and brushes, and each area lit in its own colour.
Stack
  • Godot
  • C#
Result
Presented as my bachelor's thesis at Universitat Jaume I. Grade: 9.7 out of 10.
Spaghettoni on itch.io

04Game · itch.io

The Forest Heart

A pixel-art platformer in a purple forest.

What the screenshots show: you run, jump and aim your way through a purple forest, with a health bar, an energy bar, orbs to collect and one very large heart.

Problem
[PLACEHOLDER: what the game is about and why I made it (jam, coursework or personal project)]
What I did
[PLACEHOLDER: my role, and whether I worked alone or in a team]
Stack
[PLACEHOLDER: engine and language]
Result
[PLACEHOLDER: year and outcome (jam placing, grade or release)]
The Forest Heart on itch.io
The Forest Heart: a pixel-art purple forest with earth platforms, wooden walkways, purple creatures and glowing orbs; health and energy bars sit top left.
  • Start of level 1, with signposts teaching how to run, aim and jump.
  • A dark scene where a purple glow surrounds a tree and the character stands on a wooden platform.
  • A giant red heart set into the forest wall, with the character beside it.

Services

What I can build for you.

  • Mobile apps

    Apps built with React Native, plus native code when the platform asks for it. So far I've shipped on Android.

  • MVPs in a few weeks

    A first version small enough to finish and real enough to test with users. We cut the scope together, then I build it.

  • Lightweight backend

    The database, sync and server side a small product needs, on Supabase (PostgreSQL) or Firebase. Managed services, so there are no servers to look after.

  • Games

    Prototypes, small complete games, and games with a purpose such as research or teaching. Unity or Godot, in C#.

Contact

Have something to build? Write to me.

Tell me what you need in a couple of lines. I'm available for freelance projects, and I work in English, Spanish or Catalan.