Status Update 1/8/2024: Welcome Newcomers! More projects! Bounce 2 Experimenting

Hello Everyone! Its time for another status update on what Tofu is cooking.

I wanted to start this off by welcoming all my new patrons! I am BEYOND thankful for the insane amount of new subs I've gotten over the past month. I feel grateful and also energized to keep working to bring everyone the best modpacks and content I can.

For those that are new to who I am, Im TofuToons! I created the BounceSMP modpack and server that many streamers played a little over a year and change ago. I am a minecraft creator focused on modpacks, block + cosmetic assets, and just recently mods! Im super passionate about my work and want to bring the best of the best with everything I release. Thank you so much for your love and support!

With the release of the beta of VShojocraft, I had decided to put access to the beta on my Tier I sub to give easier access to the pack. However I wanted to reformat and clarify some of my sub rewards alongside this. The major change is that Tier I will continue to get beta access to all my NON-BOUNCESMP related modpacks. So any modpacks I craft for streamers or small modpacks I make for fun or a video will be able to be accessed on Tier 1. However when time comes for the release of Bounce 2, in the distant future, beta access to that will still be kept to my Tier II patrons. Hope that clarifies that since I originally had just put "modpack early access" on my Tier II.

Also, in the small slivers of time I have between working on Bounce 2 and these smaller modpacks, Ive also been slowly working on making videos for my youtube channel. These videos will be in the same vein as mod spotlights, but something much much more. I bring this little side project up, because Tier I's will also be able to have access to these videos early when they are ready to drop, so stay tuned! Okay to summarize:

Tier I:
- Early Access to Non-BounceSMP Modpack Betas
- Early Access to All TofuToons Youtube Videos
- Discord Channel Access
- A general THANK YOOOOU!!!

Tier II:
-Early Access to BounceSMP Modpack Betas
-Access to all Asset Packs (Custom Blocks, Cosmetics, Emotes, etc)
-Access to the BounceSMP Patron Server

With all that out of the way, lets get into the NEWS!

VShojocraft Beta Updates and Release

I continue work on fine tuning and adding content to the VShojocraft modpack. VShojo has been the absolute best beta testers in the world haha. And have helped me to locate a lot of bugs, but also request some great content that works well in the pack.

My current plan is to finish up the Beta-3.0 update and then after that its the finishing touches and prep for the public release! No ETA on the public release, but aiming to have it out before the end of the month.

The version Beta-3.0 of the modpack is looking to have a few nice additions:
-The Minecells mod has been updated to include 3 new dungeon type dimensions and a new boss!
-Im developing a datapack for the bounty board to add a LOT more custom bounties for the various content found in the pack, along with adding some content that can ONLY be acquired in the bounty board.
-Adding the Aquamirae mod to bring a brand new dungeon type area with new bosses and creatures
-And many more small features!

A NEW Modpack on the Horizon

Along with VShojocraft, I have also been recently commissioned to develop a new modpack for another group of indie vtubers. This modpack will also be on 1.20.1 Fabric. However with this modpack, Ive chosen to change focus to experimenting with dungeon looting, RPG leveling systems, and quests!

These small modpacks have been incredible testbeds for ideas I have for Bounce 2. Theres no greater way to test and idea than to execute it and have it tested by players. This modpack will be a chance for me to play with some basic progression ideas, but in clean, accessible, and easily understood by player way. What I focus on a lot with my modpacks is making sure the player isnt overwhelmed and that everything feels cohesive instead of 200 mods stapled together.

So stay tuned for more info on this modpack! Im already having a lot of fun working on it.

Status on BounceSMP 2 Development

And finally, lets talk Bounce 2! For those who are new, Bounce 2 is my follow-up to BounceSMP. With this modpack, Im looking to go a little more ambitious, but not too much. Basically here in early development, I am working on some key content tools that will allow me to craft a much more engaging, custom, and exciting experience.

My current mod project is BounceIndex. A very simple mod that will allow me to lock and unlock recipes per player. A set of recipes will be locked by default for all players and players can unlock new recipes through the discovery or reward of a recipe card. This mod will allow me to craft a much more engaging and unique progression system in the game and allow for opportunities for different players to specialize in different areas, creating a feeling of community and collaboration. Work continues on this mod and Ill have more to show soon!

With that I wanted to end of this report on Bounce 2 with something that seems like a weird thing to do on my Patreon thats focused on my own work, talk about OTHER peoples mods. I am a modPACK creator after all and the key to my work is using the work of others and elevating it to its highest state. Seamlessly merging the work of hundreds of creators into a cohesive experience.

My focus however will be on spotlighting some mods that arent made for the players, but are made for ME! Mods that add tools to my tool belt and all me to create amazing experiences. These are data driven mods that open up oppurtunities to make some very cool things. Today im only going to cover a few and what ideas I have using these mods in my work. Lets get into them:

DungeonZ by Globox1997

DungeonZ is an incredible data-driven mod that allows for the creation of custom randomly generated dungeon dimensions. These dungeons are ones that I can hand build the pieces of and then when a player joins an instance of the dungeon, it will randomly generate the dungeon using those pieces I made. Because they are in a new dimension, it allows for block breaking and placing rules that can make the dungeons a lot more challenging. It also has settings for mob spawning and so much more.

As a builder myself, using this mod excites me and opens up a lot of fun experiements I can try. Whether thats crafting straight forward dungeons or experimenting with puzzles and so much more. I can even think a little outside the box. How about a archeology expedition with some mummies chasing you? Or a cooking challenge where you need to cook specific foods in a short amount of time to progress? Just endless oppurtunities for content.

This mod is also very similar to a mod we've been concepting for Bounce 2, Bounce Ventures. While this mod is a little more stripped down than Ventures, using this mod is a great opportunity to experiment and see what works.

Bountiful by ejektaflex

Bountiful is a pretty classic mod thats been around for a while now. It adds a bounty board that generates bounties for the player to complete and rewards for those bounties. The more bounties the player completes on a board, the higher the reputation grows and the better the bounties are that generate. Decrees allow for boards to generate specific bounties, such as a fishing decree generating only fishing based bounties.

While this mod has been pretty well known for a while, one thing I havent seen done a lot is use its data-driven features. This mod allows anyone to develop a datapack adding their own bounties and decrees. You can even add new tasks using any scoreboard trigger! Basically allowing the bounty board to become its own version of dailies!

I see the Bounty Board as an incredible oppurtunity to add some casual dailies to the game. A fun way to get basic items, but also an incredible way to introduce the player to new items. For example, with Vshojocraft, there are a LOT of different cosmetic items. So many that the player may never even learn about several of them. The bounty board is a great oppurtunity to introduce these blocks to players and possible even as a way to gate exclusive items too!

Im planning on putting together a datapack for VShojocraft, so stay tuned for that and we'll see how it players out.

Revolutionary by DaFuqs

Revolutionary introduces new ways to control the players progression in the game. Through it, you can control what blocks and items can be seen and used by the player and the criteria they need to fulfill to reveal that content. Blocks in the world can be disguised and act as other blocks until that player has unlocked it. So for example, if I didnt want players to have access to certain ores or resources until theyve accomplished something, I could hide those ores and resources.

Tools like this are INCREDIBLE to use when forming a sense of progression in the game. Minecraft kinda throws everything at once at the player and in modded settings, that can really be too much too quick. Whether its overwhelming the player and the player getting end game content WAY too quickly that it diminishes the middle and early game.

Pairing this with BounceIndex, I will be able to create a much more interesting feeling of progression in the game. You could be playing the game for days and there would be new content to discover just nearby you home.


And with that, those are 3 really cool tools im excited to use both in Bounce 2 and also in my small modpacks. There are many more tools at my disposal and Im excited to share what I do with them in the future.

Back to Work

Thats all for now. I have a modpack to prep for release, another modpack to design and create,  and Bounce 2 to keep chipping away at! Thank you all again for your incredible support. It means so much to me and allows me to continue to make these experiences for you. I continue to hear heartwarming stories about the memories and friends that have been made playing my modpacks and servers. I want to continue to develop stages for those memories to be made.

Love you all and keep being awesome! You all are incredible!!!