Problem
Hackathon organizers need to track participants: who is registered, on which team, with what details, and the tooling is usually a shared spreadsheet. The brief was to build a purpose-made desktop manager, and to do it inside competition time limits.
Process
The app is a Universal Windows Platform application in C# and XAML. Participant records persist to local storage, so the app works offline in a venue with unreliable wifi. The UI went dark editorial on purpose: high contrast, generous type, and fast keyboard entry, because the person using it is juggling a live event.
Key Decisions
- UWP over a web app: instant startup, native windowing, and offline persistence mattered more than reach for an on-site tool.
- Local storage as the source of truth: no network dependency during an event.
- Scope discipline: under time pressure, the cut line was participant CRUD done well rather than half of five features.
Outcome
The app shipped within the competition window and handled participant management end to end. It remains my reference for building focused desktop tooling fast without letting the UI turn into a form dump.