Team Beef 2023 Plans / Vote Scheduled

Firstly, a very Happy New Year from Team Beef. If we don't do it enough, we wanted to thank you again for all your support in 2022. You're the reason we get up in the morning and often the reason we don't go to bed at night. 

Since opening the Patreon in October 2022, things have been fast and often furious, so much so that often Dr. Beef will call me in the middle of the night, say "Its all about Patreon Family" and hang up. 

We started with the development versions of Bendy VR and JKQuest. We've seen a playable version and updates to WrathQuest and Dr. Beef dropped a surprise Christmas present of an early alpha of RazeXR. 

Since BendyVR is now publicly released and in post-release support mode, we thought it was good opportunity to outlay our plans for at least the next 3 months. There are actually multiple projects all happening concurrently and also the first ever Team Beef Patreon Vote for BaggyG's new VR project. 

Ongoing Work

BendyVR

I'll be pushing out an update with a few changes and fixes this week which should help Valve Index and Pico 4 users as well as anyone with install problems. 

JKQuest (Jedi Outcast - JKO)

Things are relatively stable and playable on Meta Quest, Quest 2, Quest Pro and Pico 4. 

There are still a few things to fix and new functionality to be added before this can be released to the public. Most core programming issues can be found on the Trello (https://trello.com/b/DJvYSZjw/jkquest). Alongside Dr. Beef working on this, BaggyG will also be putting together the Companion App for Mod downloads and auto-installation. 

JKQuest (Jedi Academy - JKA)

Since there is some concurrency and shared responsibilities Dr. Beef will be pushing forward with this alongside JKO work. There are some challenges in Academy that were not there in Outcast, such as dual wielding sabers, and the fact this game had no 1st person view to begin with. We expect patrons will see a playable development version over the next month or so. 

WrathQuest

WrathQuest is a bit of an odd one as we are still waiting for the full release from Early Access and we know there are changes to the engine, which we will need to edit our port to accommodate. Since 3DRealms have not released anything they have also not updated their published code (a requirement when releasing). However we are aware there are some issues in our current build and now BendyVR is in post-release support we would like to fix sooner than later so expect these to drop pretty soon. Visit the Trello for our todo list: https://trello.com/b/Zktxb7g5/wrathquest 

RazeXR

Dr. Beef casually dropped RazeXR in our laps, a very early alpha VR version of the Raze Engine capable of playing Duke3D, Blood, Shadow Warrior, Redneck Rampage and many more. It's a limited development version featuring head-aim at the moment. We know there are a few problems to fix such as graphical glitches when transitioning from shadowed to lit areas, HUD and motion controlled aim (not an easy task in a faux-3D engine). Dr. Beef will be leading this as a side project to the Jedi games when a break is needed. 

Provolver - Protube Support / Unity Haptic App

Doom 3 already supports Protube (via an partially hidden service app) and we have bHaptics support in a few ports. We are working on a Unity VR app which will be a generic service launcher for all haptic devices for Team Beef games so that all ports can support multiple haptic devices. If you have any other devices that you think would be a great fit for our games, please do suggest them to us. Once this is complete we'll be adding Protube to RTCW plus some other games. When we get to that point we've also been working with Protube to get some promotional prices for Team Beef patrons. 

QuestZDoom Launcher + Total Chaos

The long-awaited update to the QuestZDoom Launcher is half way done. As well as updating the options based upon changes to the engine, the main thrust of development is in the Profile system, whereby you can have profiles of different wads and mods alongside a custom config file. and saves. 

This is also being updated for Pico 4 and Total Chaos (an excellent horror total game conversion) will be looking to join the Launcher mods. 

Doom 3 DLCs

We held off working on the DLCs as Discord member Defunkt is working deep within the engine to see what is possible for standalone VR. This work still continues and we didn't want to discourage that by stepping on his toes. 

We are hoping to soon bring in some of the many fixes he has done and add official Team Beef DLC support (and beyond... nudge nudge wink wink). 

Pico 4 Support

Development versions of JKQuest are playable on Pico 4. We have also updated QuakeQuest and are looking to release that imminently. QuestZDoom is also complete and we just need the QuestZDoom Launcher update to release this. As time allows we will be working on the rest of the ports. Furthermore all new standalone ports are in OpenXR and will therefore support Pico 4 from the outset (including RazeXR). WrathQuest will also be moved across shortly. 

THE NEXT VR PROJECT

As if the above wasn't enough to keep us busy and socially isolated, now BendyVR has been released, BaggyG has an empty slot in his roster for a new VR project. 

We will therefore be holding the first ever Team Beef Patreon VR Next Project Vote #1 (snappily titled TBPVNPV1) . Voting will open Friday 13th (gulp) morning at whatever time I get up CET. Voting will conclude Sunday evening at 9PM CET. That means you still have 3 days to suggest titles to appear in the vote. You can see the current list of suggestions here: https://trello.com/b/F2AnS1Cn/team-beef-patreon-trello-board 

You can read what constitutes a good suggestion on this post: https://www.patreon.com/posts/team-beef-future-74729405 

Either comment on this post or that one, or hit us up in the #patreon-game-requests section on Discord. 

We'll post more about how the vote works on Friday. We're eager to see what you all want most (crosses finger please not horror, please not horror)

Until next time loyal Beefers!