Check out the new Puzzle Mode! Backstage backers can play now!!
Hello everyone! We're long overdue to give a status update on the state of the game, but we've recently hit the big milestone we've been working toward these past few weeks. ...
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T. Ashley Jenkins
8 months ago
State of the Petal
Hello everyone! Time for another update - I'm sorry this one has been a long time coming!
Truth be told, I didn't want to make another update until we were ready to sha...
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T. Ashley Jenkins
11 months ago
Update: oof ow ouh ouch
Hello everyone!! It's me Ashley!!
We've been working on getting Petal 2 to a state where we'll be able to share it with the Backstage Pass backers, and hopefully it won't be...
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T. Ashley Jenkins
about 1 year ago
Another batch on the way!
Hello again!!
Just letting you all know I sent out another big batch of packages for the backer rewards! This one was primarily international backers, though I did get a few mo...
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T. Ashley Jenkins
about 1 year ago
Let's get shipping!
Hello everyone! Check this out: it's a big pile of boxes in my living room
Of course, this picture is a bit out of date, because as of today, that big pile of boxes is no long...
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T. Ashley Jenkins
about 1 year ago
More Surveys! More!!
The survey "smoke test" didn't reveal any issues over the long weekend, so we're starting to send out surveys to everyone now! Be sure to check your email and your BackerKit acc...
Hello everyone! We're long overdue to give a status update on the state of the game, but we've recently hit the big milestone we've been working toward these past few weeks. It's taken a bit longer than anticipated, so we went longer without an update than I'd hoped we would, but that update is now!
Petal Crash 2 is actually already available to play for backers that pledged at the Backstage tier or higher! If you pledged at that level, check your BackerKit survey - you should now have access to a Steam key and an invite link to the backstage Discord server. You'll get access to the score attack and local versus modes, as well as the feature we just finished - the Puzzle Editor, with Puzzle Mode with it!
We've made some exciting additions, allowing for an even wider possibility space for your Petal Crash puzzles. In the original game, there was only one goal - to clear all blocks of a certain type. Now, that's merely one of several goals you can pick - you might be tasked with clearing a chain of a certain length, or arranging a specific shape on the board. We've also got a new "rule" mechanic - alternative failure conditions for puzzles that make them even trickier! You might have to clear your entire goal in one move, or even avoid clearing blocks of a specific color.
We've also got a brand new system for sharing your puzzles - instead of the original's long puzzle codes, now you have puzzle cards!
Each card is a .png file that contains the entire puzzle in its metadata - you can send these images back and forth with your friends, dropping them into your puzzle folder to play them. Personalized with your chosen player color, character, and costume palette, these puzzle cards are a great way to show off your creations. Collect them all! (Disclaimer: New ones will constantly be made. You will never be able to collect them all.)
The State of Development
It's no secret that development is going a lot slower than I'd like - I'd hoped we'd already have the game in Early Access by now, but we've still got a ways to go. In general, UI related work is taking much longer than I thought it would, and that sort of work makes up a majority of what's yet to be done.
That said, we've also hit a lot of exciting milestones, too. All of the character animation, music themes, and backgrounds needed for Early Access are ready to go. We've got a lot of fun stuff waiting in the wings to get hooked in, like our system for unlockable player titles and character palettes. The game itself plays great, and has been well received by both newcomers and veteran Petal sickos in our Backstage server.
All that we have left to do before the game is ready for Early Access is to have our How to Play demos in, get the unlockable customization system up and running, make a bunch of built-in puzzles for the Puzzle Mode, and get a vs. CPU opponent up and running for an arcade-style versus gauntlet mode. I'm hoping that we can have the game up publicly for sale in Early Access by the end of the year - we'll be doing our very best to make that happen!
Hello everyone! Time for another update - I'm sorry this one has been a long time coming!
Pictured: Lilibri doing her fun little pose!
Truth be told, I didn't want to make another update until we were ready to share a playable version of the game with our backstage pass backers, but things got a bit knocked off the rails. After my medical emergency a few months ago, I've had to take time for getting my physical and mental health in order, and just when I felt that was sorted enough, I found myself occupied with a big, expensive move - both the effort of moving itself and the extra work I had to take on to pay for it.
Even with me being indisposed, I thought we could still get a playable version of the game to backers out by the end of the year, but unfortunately that isn't looking like it'll be the case - almost everyone else is behind, too. Aside from the animation work I haven't been able to finish, we're still missing some music and backgrounds. Even if we proceeded without those, the coding work for the necessary menu and UI stuff has been stretching out many times longer than I thought it would and still isn't ready.
Once the holidays are over and I can finally give Petal Crash 2 my full attention, I hope I can do what I can to get development rolling smoothly! I'll be challenging myself to get all the character animation work done by the time everything else is ready for the backstage preview version - a couple of the characters are basically finished, which is an exciting milestone.
I've also got something else in the works - I had a lot of fun making Petal Crash enamel pins, and even during the Petal 2 crowdfunder, I was already thinking about doing another crowdfund just to get pins made of the entire cast. I'm trying to gauge interest, so if that's something you'd like, let me know!
Missing your favorite? They'll be back... in pin form!
I know that doing another crowdfund while the thing I've already crowdfunded for isn't done yet seems kind of suspect, but it'd help me a lot to make up for lost time if it's a success - plus, I did successfully deliver on the merch portion of the Petal 2 crowdfund already, so I hope that proves I'm ready to send out another batch of physical goodies just as promptly! I'm currently planning to hold it sometime early in 2025. If you get any money over the holidays as a gift, save it! To give to ME
That's all for now - hopefully next time, the game will be ready for a bunch of you to get your hands on it. Thank you so much for your patience and all of your support!
We've been working on getting Petal 2 to a state where we'll be able to share it with the Backstage Pass backers, and hopefully it won't be too much longer. A lot of the work we're doing is not very exciting to look at, like new universal systems for menus, music playback, and other things that are necessary but not super interesting in an of themselves.
Most of my own work has been wrapping up the crowdfund rewards, catching up on commissions, and coordinating with our collaborators - we've got a bunch more music and artwork coming down the pipeline that I can't wait to share. The 8 starting characters all have full-size character portraits, and most of them even have their theme music ready to go. It's coming together really well!
I do wish we were a bit further along, but I've been having a bunch of health problems - I just got out of the hospital for surgery to get my gallbladder removed, which has definitely been the most dramatic of them - and I'm taking a while to relax and recover. I'm really grateful that there's still lots that can get finished without me while I'm all laid up!
I'm hoping it isn't too long until we have something that backers can get their hands on. Thank you all for your patience!
Just letting you all know I sent out another big batch of packages for the backer rewards! This one was primarily international backers, though I did get a few more domestic backers in here and there. BackerKit lets me group backers' packages based on their contents, so backers who got more common combinations have gone first, since it was easy to do all of them at once - now that I've got the big chunks out of the way, mostly I just have to do the unusual combinations and the stragglers who came in after I sent out the first bunch.
I've been seeing photos of people getting their backer rewards, and it's been... well, rewarding!! It was a bunch of work getting all these things manufactured and put together for shipping, but it's also been a bunch of fun. By the end of this, I should have a bunch left over, so I may open up BackerKit's pre-order store to let late backers get their hands on them, once I have everything squared away and have taken inventory on how many extras of everything I have left over. I'm definitely going to be keeping a few of the extra enamel pins for myself though! What if they fall off my bag? I want spares!!
Thanks again for being such a supportive community! I'm really blessed to have such wonderful, generous people looking out for us. Until next time, happy petaling!
Hello everyone! Check this out: it's a big pile of boxes in my living room
A big pile of boxes in my living room
Of course, this picture is a bit out of date, because as of today, that big pile of boxes is no longer in my living room - it's at the post office!
This batch includes domestic backers (in the US), mostly people who got the complete merch package (with signed or unsigned posters) - those are the big boxes - and people who only got the enamel pins, which are in the little parcels there in the box on top. I'll be working on getting the international backers their rewards soon, along with those who got unusual combinations of merch (like just the poster, or extra enamel pin sets).
If you haven't filled out your survey yet, don't fret! I'll be checking back in periodically and sending out batches as they come in. Better get on top of that, though! Also, a few people haven't locked their addresses, or their cards have been declined - if you're unsure of the status of your order, you may want to double check!
Getting this merchandise made and shipped out has been a bunch of fun. Down the line, in like some months or a year or something, I might even do a crowdfund campaign just for more Petal merch at some point. Let me know what sort of stuff you'd be interested in!
Looking forward to seeing you all get your rewards - if you put the pins on a bag or something, take a picture and show me! I'd love to see it!
