Echoes of Pharloom

Inspiration

Silksong, the long-anticipated sequel to Hollow Knight, finally came out, and I was completely hooked. The game brought back all the nostalgia from my childhood, and I found myself totally immersed in both the gameplay and the atmosphere. I started finding "study with Hornet" videos on YouTube, these pomodoro-style study sessions set to various Silksong soundtracks, and they were so immersive. That's when I realized I wanted to create my own study app around this. The very first thing I built was the study page that plays the soundtracks while I coded the rest of the project.

What It Does

Echoes of Pharloom is a customizable study app with automatic break scheduling, focus-loss detection, and session history. You can choose from different Silksong soundtrack areas to set the background atmosphere while you work. A streak system helps you stay consistent and motivated over time.

Tech & Architecture

I wanted to learn infrastructure as code and get hands-on experience with AWS, so I chose to build with services I hadn't used much before. The frontend is React and TypeScript, using local state for instant interactions and smooth timer control. For the backend, I went with a serverless stack: API Gateway, Lambda functions, DynamoDB for storage, and Cognito for user authentication. I also added MSW mocks during development so I could test the frontend rapidly without waiting for backend changes.

Challenges

The biggest challenges were hooking up Cognito properly with a custom domain, setting up cloud storage and DynamoDB tables to interact correctly with logged-in users, and implementing the streak logic to sync between local and cloud state. Getting timers to feel reliable and fluid took more iteration than I expected.

Accomplishments

I'm really proud of delivering a smooth, responsive study app with sub-10ms refreshes. The soundtrack selection tied to in-game areas turned out great, and I successfully implemented secure user login with cloud persistence. The whole experience taught me a ton about AWS and serverless architecture.

What's Next

I want to add more UI polish, introduce social features for sharing streaks with friends, and build a mobile-friendly version for studying on the go.