Status Update 11/24: Holidays, Modpacks, Bounce 2 Plans, and Learning

Hello Everyone! I've been very busy with a LOT of different things and so I thought now was a prime time catch you up on everything. There is a lot to cover so buckle up! To end off this post, I will be giving a brief overview of my plans for Bounce 2 like I promised, so stay tuned until the end for that. Alright lets get into it:

Modpacks:

The first big detour I've made in the past few months was collaborating with VShojo on making a modpack for them! We worked together on crafting a modpack that would work best for them and add a lot more interest to their current Minecraft server. I filled the pack with lots of different features and content that will be fun to see on their streams. I also spent time creating a UI resource pack for the modpack to add some VShojo flair to the pack.

Its honestly a great pack that's focused on cosmetic blocks and biome variety. If you and your friends enjoy building cute neighborhoods and places more than RPG type elements, then this pack might be for you!

The pack is available for patrons as an early access beta until I release it on Curseforge. Im planning on releasing it publically sometime after I get it set up on the actual VShojo server and its looking like a might be a bit until that happens. So stay tuned and enjoy the pack!

I also helped set up a server for the VChiban crew! I didn't craft a modpack for this one, but I helped them set up the ATM9 modpack on their server and hand picked some extra mods to add on for them. Im also playing on that server lately, so you might see me on their. Its been a lot of fun experimenting with the latest mods and getting ideas for Bounce 2!

Lastly, I also helped RubberRoss set up a new server, which he'll be talking about soon. I built a pack for this server as well, but its mostly a pack that has the basic Bounce highlights like Emotecraft, BounceStyles, and more. Its also freely available on Curseforge. Check it out if you'd like!

Learning:

The next big thing I've been focused on that's a bit hard to show in a patreon release, is that I've been dedicating a LOT of time to teaching myself the needed skills to accomplish my vision for Bounce 2.

For the most part, I am very experienced when it comes to server moderating, event planning, event running, modpack creation, modpack debugging, modpack designing, datapack creation, and just a lot of other experience in the small things that come from running a server like BounceSMP. However, where I've lacked the most knowledge for a long time is in the coding and modding side of things. For BounceSMP, I relied a lot on some of my close friends for the coding and modding front of the project. I managed the project, but the actual coding work went to people like RyanV, DenimRed, Ryytikki, Layl, JakeSmythUK and many other great friends and coders.

And while all these individuals are still on board to provide their talents to the Bounce 2 project, I felt it was important that I step into the fray and dedicate my time to learning the need modding skills to make some incredible things happen.

So I've been in my zone lately, learning the ways of Java, Gradle, and a lot more. My brain hurts, but I'm excited about what more Ill be able to create with these tools on my belt!

Bounce 2 (What's the plan?):

And finally, let's get to the important stuff, what my plans are for Bounce 2. My design doc on it is currently pages and pages long, so for today, I just want to give you all some highlights. I plan to go more in-depth in the future with all these, but for now I just want to get the general picture out there.

-Bounce 2 will take, what I call, a "unique progression" approach to each player. What this means is that a lot of the included content and features will be locked and hidden from the players from the start. For the most part, the players will start out in a mostly vanilla world. But as they progress, players will unlock recipes and content in a path unique to them. So one player might unlock the recipe to craft a cool sword, while another discovered the recipe to make a pool table.

What this focuses on is a feeling of importance on the server for each player. The player who unlocked the recipe for a new sword, could then focus on making that sword and then selling it to other players in their store. (Also making the economy side of Bounce more important)

Now the progression will be a mix of this sort of random approach, job specific progression, and also universal progress. So there will be progression trees, quests and much more to dictate what content is unlocked by the player.

I will say that a lot of your core content that's essential will more likely be earned through a more universal means then a random means. But the "unique progression" provides a way to balance seasoned veterans and newbies. This way a newbie could come in, unlock a recipe or content that no one else has, and then immediately feel like they have a purpose on the server.

-With the new approach to unlocking recipes, I also plan on doing an overhaul of the main inventory screen. With it, I want to include an organized recipe browser that displays all the recipes the player currently has unlocked. With the recipes a lot more organized then your standard JEI and REI mods.  This overhaul would also include some basic 3x3 crafting inside the inventory and mass crafting.

-Jobs will also return but in a way with much more depth. Jobs will again have unique content and recipes specific to the job. This exclusive content will be much more designed and may even include some vanilla elements locked to a job.

We had 5 jobs in Bounce 1, but in Bounce 2 there will only be 4 jobs. At first it may seem weird to have LESS jobs this time around, but my plan is to have each job have a branching progression tree that allows players to curate their specialties when it comes to that job. Effectively choosing subclasses along the way.

-Races will be receiving a major overhaul and will be getting several new ones as well. I want to do away with a lot of the dietary restrictions and also incorporate abilities that feel more beneficial and immersive.

-Emotes will be making a return, but me and my team are hard at work in expanding the ways emotes can be used on the server.

-Custom Content tools will continue be a major focus of the pack and we are continuing to expand on mods like BAMO, BounceStyles, and Emotetweaks.

-One of the biggest projects for Bounce 2 is what we call BounceVentures. What this effectively would let us do is dictate any sort of custom map or save as a "Venture" for the players on the server to play through. So we could add something like an old Minecraft adventure map as a "venture", players would go up to a Venture Board, select the venture, organize a party, and then be able to play through an instance of that map. Once the win condition is met, the players receive an award and return back to the overworld.

This opens up the gate to SO much content we could create on the Bounce 2 server. Allowing for things like, story quests, boss fights, minigames, timed shops, special mining/resource runs, and so much more. Its really endless the possibilities we could do with a tool like this and so Im so excited to see what we brew up with it.

You can even see a mockup of how the menus may look in the sneak peek channel on the discord!

-In Bounce 2, how creators and people join the server will be much different and will require the work of the players on the server. The starting group will be small, but will expand quickly over time.

-NPC shops will make a return, but Im going to be executing an idea I had for Bounce 1 that I didnt have time for. Basically, I want the shops to be unlocked through server wide goals. Players will collect resources together to reach a goal that will unlock new shops in the spawn town. These goals will be very big, so that it requires the work of everyone on the server.

-Mining will no longer be a job, but instead will be a universal progression tree for all players. I felt mining was too important to MINEcraft that it shouldn't be locked to a job.

-In terms of the content creator server, my goal is also to go more into it prepared with tools needed to assist in the creators in creating their lore and stories. Allowing ways to enhance alliances and groups.

-Lastly, I will be dedicating a lot of time to making almost ALL of the recipes in the pack for immersive and crossed between many mods in the pack. The biggest problem many modpacks have is that every mod needed to be designed to work with JUST vanilla, so every mods recipes usually just use vanilla resources. I want to spend a lot of time designing a datapack that will make all the recipes in the pack feel more cohesive and make many different modded resources feel more important.

And with that, that is what I have to share about my plans for now. I will be sharing more and more as I make progress.

Again, thank you ALL for your support. It means so much to me and allows me to make something I am extremely passionate about. So thank you! <3