GenAI

Overview I love markdown because it is frictionless. That is also the problem. Ideas become ideas.md. Then ideas-2.md. Then a folder called poc-notes/. Then a README inside a toy repository. Then a half-written architecture note I forgot existed. After a few months, the information is technically mine but practically lost. What I wanted was not another general-purpose chatbot. I wanted a second brain for my own material — markdown notes, proof-of-concept writeups, architecture sketches, project journals, rough drafts that are still useful even if they are not pretty. ...

Overview I have accumulated the usual digital junk drawer over the years: manuals for appliances I never remember how to reset notes from talks and courses markdown snippets from side projects receipts and invoices I swear I will organize properly one day little technical writeups saved with filenames like final-v3-real-final.md What I wanted was not full-blown enterprise search. I wanted something much smaller and much more useful: semantic search over my own documents, with a cost profile that does not feel absurd for a personal project. ...

Overview When I presented Kroz at the AWS Summit 2024 in Milan, it was a fascinating but simple prototype: a text adventure dynamically generated by AWS Bedrock, with procedural rooms and basic game logic. The demo worked, people were intrigued, but I knew it was just the beginning. The game had potential, but it lacked depth, coherence, and the kind of carefully crafted experience that makes players want to keep exploring. ...

Introduction Text-based adventure games were among the earliest forms of digital entertainment, immersing players in interactive storytelling through simple text commands. Inspired by these classic games, I set out to create my own using AWS Bedrock, Amazon’s managed GenAI service. This article details how I leveraged generative AI, AWS infrastructure, and modern development tools to build and deploy my game, Kroz, bringing an old-school experience to modern cloud-based architecture. What is described in this article is also available here in form of slides - also, in a more available way! If you want to skip straight to a next-to-bedrock powered game, go instead here ...