Frank Moricz

Development languages include: C#, .NET, GTKSharp, Java (& SQLite), PHP (& MySQL), Javascript, jQuery, and GML (GameMaker Studio)

Public Repositories:

• GitHub - Here are a collection of projects, proof of concepts, and published examples of work in various languages. While most of my GitHub projects are private while in development, anything released here is free to use as described. :)

Web Development Projects:

• GamingIrresponsibly.com - Video game review website - Utilized internally created PHP plugins in conjunction with a wordpress base.

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  Gaming Irresponsibly (now rebranded) originally began as a birthday wish. The owner, Josh Knowles, had asked me to help him create a website where he could do simple video game reviews. As such, I began with a wordpress layout and quickly got everything up and running. Over the next year, neither of us had any idea of how big it would become. We slowly expanded into interviews and articles that became wildly popular, and we began to bring in new writers to cover the demand that began to form. At it's peak, the site became incredibly demanding server-wise and boasted 20k unique hits per day, which required a dedicated server due to the content we were trying to provide.
  
  Running a dedicated remote linux server (through godaddy) was interesting and taught me quite a bit. Where I had dabbled with linux previously, this forced me into learning quite a bit more about server administration. I was also excitingly able to work closely with the ESRB, helping to design a wordpress plugin via php in tandem with their proprietary API, allowing our game reviews to have consistently updated ESRB ratings in the event of changes - ours was the first wordpress based site to have dynamic ratings, and I was able to share this plugin to the gaming community.
  
  From the very beginning, however, the site was meant to belong to Josh. We made him the Editor in Chief, and I helped as much as I could to improve the site while building various tools to help keep us running. I made a lot of great connections in the gaming community, even including a large number of developers. The more I got involved, the more inspired I became to work on my own programming skills and become more like one of the awesome developers we had worked with. When Unity technologies allowed us usage of a Pro licence version of Unity3d, I was able to learn more about Unityscript, javascript, and C#, and fell in love.
  
  I did eventually cut ties with the development of Gaming Irresponsibly once I felt it could be truly self-sufficient, but not before creating a large tutorial series known as Megabite (which is also the name of the associated Android application). This venture is one of the largest reasons that I have been able to delve into so many different computer arts and remain inspired when things become challenging.
  
  

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• RevIceCream.com - From e-Commerce site to restaurant menu. Built upon a custom database framework and is administrated through a custom portal.

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  Revolution Ice Cream Co. is the brainchild of an ex co-worker by the name of Bill Workman. For potlucks and special occasions at work, he would bring in strange ice cream combinations that were unlike anything else on the market.
  
  While the outward web appearance is simple, what I opted to build for Bill was a completely custom content management system with an extremely simplified toolset which could manage a menu, a complete shopping cart utility, special orders, and even customized dynamic combinations of ice creams. To a user, the cart would build any type of order they liked. For Bill, the system would allow him to change anything he liked on-the-fly without any preexisting web knowledge. This was an ideal system for the time, but the site needed a redesign with the announcement of the first storefront opening.
  
  The new design of the site was done with creative input from my wife, and I am proud of the way it looks today. While it is still in the process of a proper standalone mobile version, it does display graphics differently to optimize for phone and tablets so that everything is visible and beautiful.
  
  The shopping cart still exists in code, but it is disabled due to the new business model. With a retail location, there is no more need for delivery options unless things are changed with how the business itself functions.

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Game Development projects:

• Stellar - 2012 - JavaScript + Unity3d, modeling done via 3ds Max

  Description

  

  Stellar was a standalone game for PC/Mac that combined procedural generation with the base-building elements from games like Command and Conquer with the flight and fighting systems from Subspace/Continuum.
  
  While I had a lot of fun developing the game itself, it didn't seem to have the mass appeal that I might have thought it would, and development for the "campaign mode" was scrapped in favor of working multiplayer, but at times I wish I had stuck to my original vision. Creating and publishing it showed me the immense need for marketing and community building before a project should release as well.
  
  The project is on hiatus while I focus on other areas, but there is a good chance I will eventually go back and finish what I started. This project was one of the largest scale projects that I had ever worked up to this point, and I picked up a ton of great knowledge along the way. Though it may not have made me rich, that was never my intent.
  
  Developers will sometimes say to develop the game that you yourself would love to play. For me, that was Stellar.
  

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• GIR-type - 2012 - JavaScript + Unity3d, created as a tutorial series for GamingIrresponsibly.com.

  Description

  

  G.I.R-Type was a simple project that started as a side-scrolling demonstration of procedural 2d generation and gameplay that was vaguely similar to R-Type. The concept of the game was certainly not to be anything spectacular, but simply showcase what Unity could do at the time. It was a project of learning and teaching, as I wrote the game code I was writing the "Megabite" series of tutorials for GamingIrresponsibly.
  
  With each new feature added, I would write a tutorial that showed users how to do things like integrate web-based Unity with PHP/MySQL to allow a web-based high score table, or integrate custom camera controls, etc.
  
  Eventually I threw together a cheesy a 3-dimensional mode as well :)
  
  I admit that the game itself isn't the most creative or fun thing out there. I embedded it here so anyone who wants to can give it a shot though.

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• Overbored - 2019 - GameMaker GML and DirectX standard shader language. Proof of concept procedural generation prototype.

  Description

  
  
  

  OverBored is a work in progress, but a backburner project in need of some massive revisions before it can be better fleshed out. Right now a prototype thrown together in GameMaker 2.0 with GML and using incredibly basic shaders and programmer art. Currently the game loop is stuck between two different potential paths, and before I can move forward I want to flesh out the right direction to take the game in.
  
  Of course my main concern is that it will be fun to play - in either case the premise is the same: start with a randomized character with a randomized backstory, and each playthrough experience will be completely unique. Every string composed in the game (from character names to events) generates through a large number of possibilities with ranges, and luck will play a major role in success.
  
  Once the direction is settled, I will likely be using Unity for the game itself, and of course adding "real" game art/sound for a complete experience. The GML source is available in my GitHub.

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• GoneViral - 2019 (current) - C# and Unity3d, Colony Management/Pathfinding game to be released for Widows/OSX/Linux.

  Description

  
  
  

  GoneViral is still very pre-alpha, but I'm incredibly proud of both the direction and progress of the game. It has a completely custom built/working pathfinding and job management system for colony management, and while the pictures don't do it a ton of justice right now, the HLSL shaders I've been learning to work with function as amazing overlays to display data such as oxygen levels, viral load, and temperature amongst other things.
  
  The premise is a mix of Rimworld colony management/storytelling combined with the physical science and minor human needs (bathroom facilities as an example) of Oxygen Not Included. Players will need to balance on a knife's edge to keep their colonies oxygenated while actively battling the virus which comes in along with the air from the outside world.
  
  I won't go too far into detail yet, but this project (on paper) is fleshed out and balanced well - I'm very excited to see it grow as time goes on. This was originally prototyped in GML and GameMaker, and the source is available in my GitHub for review. The release version will be a completely different code base and shader language.

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