Projects
This is a compilation of all of the projects produced or being produced by me (a.k.a. my work with the Nerd Herd Network). This page serves as a general overview of each of those projects.
Games
I have self-developed and published 2 mobile games and I’m currently developing my first Steam game. These games are either under development or released.
Castle Wars
Castle Wars (Working Title) is a networked multiplayer first-person sword combat game. It is based on the Halo Reach game mode of the same name. Castle Wars is a simple networked multiplayer game where two teams fight to control the other’s castles. It will be published on Steam and is primarily a PC game (though if it finds success, expansion to other platforms is on the table).
Launch My Dog
Launch My Dog is a physics-based puzzle game where you launch a hot dog into a bun, but I put a bunch of obstacles in the way. I wanted to release this game back in 2018, but it wasn’t up to my standards, it wasn’t fun or polished enough to release. The issues were with its core mechanic of launching. I restarted it in early 2020 and slowly worked on it until it was complete. There’s some fun programming in here like projectile trajectory prediction, even through different mediums, and even portals. Launch My Dog was released on July 10th, 2021. It is available on both the iOS App Store and Google Play.
Poke My Balls
Poke My Balls started as a project called Tap2Kill. It’s a simple game where different colored balls fall and you have to tap all of one color, but none of the other colors. My Father came up with the name one day and it stuck (for better or for worse). I used this project as a way to consolidate my programming abilities and dive into the Unity engine. I have come back to it over the years to implement concepts I have learned in university, and on my own. Most recently, I used a class/subclass structure and polymorphism to make the game modes load as if they were game cartridges being put into a game console. There is one system that handles loading, and storing data (The “console”), and another that handles all the behaviors of the game (The “cartridge”). Poke My Balls was released in August of 2016, and had its 2.0 update in the Summer of 2018.
Prototypes
MetroidvaniASCII
MetroidvaniASCII is a metroidvania where to player gains the ability to see the world through different “views”. Objects appear or disappear when the player swaps between normal and ASCII views. I was able to make some interesting puzzle and platforming sections.
Knockback Arena
I set out to make a first-person shooter where weapons don’t do damage, they knock enemies back. I built an arena shooter in which up to 4 players can fight waves of enemies with guns, grenades, and traps. This was a blast to make.
Misc. Programming
CSGO Prop
The CSGO Prop is a Raspberry Pi-powered box that acts as a prop C4 from the game CSGO. Built entirely in Python using the Pygame library, the CSGO Prop allows the user to play CSGO in real life with Nerf Blasters. It has multiple game modes. There is a CSGO game mode, of course, but also King of the Hill from Halo, as well as Secure Area from Rainbow 6 Siege.
Website(s)
I (Frank Podraza) developed both this website and the Nerd Herd Network website. This website is my portfolio and the Nerd Herd Network website is for the entire organization.