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
4 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
6 months 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
6 months 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Of course, this picture is a bit out of date, because as of today, that big pile of boxes is no long...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
7 months 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...
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T. Ashley Jenkins
7 months ago
Surveys are starting to go out!
Hello again!!
We're starting to send out surveys through BackerKit now! Right now, we're just doing a "smoke test", sending surveys to a small percentage of backers to make sur...
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!
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 account on the website to see if your survey has come in!
I'm more or less ready to start shipping out rewards, so as the finished surveys come in, I'll periodically 'lock' them in batches to get cards charged for shipping and additional addons. Then, rewards will start going out! Exciting!!
Digital rewards like the Backstage Pass invites, game keys, and cosmetics will be distributed separately from the physical rewards. I'll post an update when those become available!
I'll keep everyone posted, but in the meantime, enjoy a world of "petal" in it!!
