IT Games Website (2003)

This project was one of my earliest web builds, created in 2003, but it went far beyond a simple static website. It included a dynamic ASP backend connected to a retail EPOS system, allowing the site to retrieve and display live stock data from the shop.

The system was designed to synchronise with real-world inventory, pulling product information and availability from the EPOS and reflecting it on the website. At the time, this involved working with custom data feeds and integration approaches, long before modern APIs and standardised tooling became common.

The site also included an online ordering system with PayPal integration, enabling customers to purchase items directly through the website. This required handling product data, order flow and payment interaction in a much more manual environment than modern frameworks provide today.

The application was deployed on Windows Server 2003, requiring setup and management of the server environment alongside the application itself. This added another layer of complexity, covering hosting, configuration and keeping the system running reliably.

Looking back, this project represents an early introduction to full-stack development, real-world system integration and running live services, combining backend logic, external integrations and deployment into a single working system.

Built during a time when much of this functionality required custom solutions, rather than relying on modern frameworks and services.