A comprehensive e-commerce simulation for music CDs. Built so well that my professors thought I had cheated.

The Motivation: A Final Challenge

Sound City was my degree's thesis project. While my teammates focused on the business architecture, documentation, and organizational logic, I took full responsibility for the design and technical development of the application.

The goal was to build a fully functional virtual store that replicated the experience of any major e-commerce platform in Chile—from user registration and product catalogs to a complex shopping cart system.

The "Professor-Tested" Validation

A highlight of this project was the final evaluation. My main professor and judge was so surprised by the polish and functionality of the app that he repeatedly questioned if I had actually built it myself. He suspected I had paid someone else or downloaded a template from the internet.

While frustrating at the time, I now look back at it as the ultimate compliment: the code and UI were so solid they exceeded "student project" expectations.

The Project

Sound City is a complete e-commerce simulation. Although it doesn't process real money (the payment gateway is simulated), it handles the entire user journey and administrative flow.

Key Features

• Full E-commerce Flow: User authentication, profile management, and persistent shopping carts.
• Product Management: A dedicated admin panel to add, edit, or delete inventory.
• MVC Architecture: Built following the Model-View-Controller pattern for a clean separation of concerns.
• Responsive Design: A custom-designed interface built with Bootstrap and vanilla JavaScript to ensure a smooth shopping experience on any device.

Technical Deep Dive

• Backend: Developed with PHP, handling complex logic for sessions, database queries, and state management.
• Database: MySQL for robust storage of users, products, and order history.
• Frontend: A mix of Bootstrap for layout and Vanilla JS for dynamic interactions (like adding items to the cart without refreshing the page).

A Note on Realism

Everything in Sound City—from the "banking" feedback to the order confirmations—was designed to mimic the exact behavior of Chilean retail sites. It’s a simulation, but one that could be turned into a real business with a single API integration.

Code Availability & Demo

Due to academic integrity and intellectual property policies related to my degree's thesis, the source code for Sound City is currently kept in a private repository.

The video below provides a comprehensive technical walkthrough, showcasing the application's logic, state management, and end-to-end user experience.