Surprise update! Nova's been working hard to polish off Petal Crash Online, which is now at version v1.1.1, fixing a few outstanding issues and making some additions to smooth out the experience. Changes:

• "That would have worked in Petal 2" lobby chat message
• More leniency when attempting to spectate on someone who hasn't accepted their challenge yet; now the game will wait a short amount of time for the challenge to be accepted
• Changing the "turbo" setting will now require re-confirming that you're ready to start, if you've previously marked yourself ready
• Kicking a user who is actively in a match will now end the match
• When the player list changes (due to someone leaving or joining) while you have the player list displayed, it will now refresh
• Cabinet interactions in lobbies are now done in a more robust way that should help prevent problems

• Fix softlock that could happen when mashing the spectate button
• Many fixes relating to putting your board on the right side of the screen, including having this affect menus for consistency
• Fixed a desync that could happen on the match options screen via changing board walls
• Fixed a problem where a refresh rate above 60 Hz could cause some menus to run faster than they should
• Fixed a race condition involving exiting the game while character graphics are loading

It's time! Petal Crash 2's crowdfunding campaign is starting on Tuesday, Feb. 20th!
If you help our new game bloom, you'll get access to backer-exclusive rewards:

• New merchandise, like a Petal 2 poster and Lilibri & Yosoti enamel pins!
• Another chance to get the original Petal Crash poster and sticker sheets!
• Backer-exclusive ingame titles and cosmetics to use online!
• A spot in the credits, with an animated sprite to represent you!
• If you're a tech millionaire you can make your fursona or whatever playable!

For Petal Crash's 3rd release anniversary, we have a very special announcement - a sequel, Petal Crash 2, is in development! [previewyoutube=rGzKLOC-Mc8;full][/previewyoutube] Keeping everything great and unique about Petal Crash, while polishing the mechanics to a perfect shine, Petal Crash 2 is set to refine and elevate our original arcade puzzler! After 3 years of seeing Petal Crash enjoyed by an active community, we're ready to take the next step! Petal Crash 2 will feature:

• New arcade-style graphics, with an aesthetic firmly planted in the Sega Saturn era!
• Refined gameplay mechanics, smoothing over old 'corner case' problems with diagonal movement!
• The return of all the original game modes - including the original story, with new, VN-like cutscenes!
• A brand new adventure mode, featuring its own unique rules and mind-boggling special attacks!
• Built-in online play in the game itself - and yes, it'll have rollback!

Petal Crash Online has updated to version 1.1! In addition to lots of polish additions and bugfixes, the game now has a few exciting new features:

• A new setting for Board Walls lets each player put a pattern of unmovable walls on their board - each player can have a different pattern, so this can provide a fun challenge for expert players who want to be able to play with less experienced opponents on equal footing!
• A brand new Rematch Screen lets players and spectators communicate between matches - negotiate the rules for your next game, or call dibs on the next match from a place in the stands!
• The new Player List menu allows you to moderate your lobby, kicking or banning players you don't want in there anymore!
• Petal Crash Online is now Steam Deck Compatible! Now you can enjoy online play on the go!

Thank you so much for the wonderful launch! We've been watching people play and listening to feedback, and we're happy to bring you a little feature update to make matching with other players easier!

• Increased lobby size from 10 to 16 to allow room for more spectators. There are still only 5 available cabinets per lobby.
• Added optional name badges as a way to show others in a lobby why you're there. Current badges are Beginner (to help new players find each other), Spectator (for when you're looking respectfully), Tournament Organizer (so tournament players know who to listen to), and Competitive (for when you're done playing casual matches and you're out for blood).
• Added the Social Options screen which allows for configuring badges, name hiding, and spectator hiding. This will automatically show once for everyone the first time you play this version and can be accessed later via the options menu.
• Fixed a problem with Tilt Controls sometimes not letting you push if you have selected the four-button or WASD button scheme

To celebrate the release of Petal Crash Online, the online play client for Petal Crash, we're putting the game on sale for 30% off this weekend! Now's never been a better time to start playing - with a vibrant community of players on the Friend & Fairy Discord and frequent active lobbies, you'll always be able to find someone to Petal Crash with! And if you already own the game, the discount makes a great opportunity to gift it to your puzzle-loving pals! The Petal Crash Online client comes bundled in with Petal Crash, so there's no extra steps to take - just click 'Play' in Steam, select 'Petal Crash Online', and get ready to take your puzzle skills across the globe! Long distance is no problem - with rollback netcode, even people on high latency connections can play Petal Crash with no input lag whatsoever! Now's the time! Grab a friend and get Petal Crashing!!

It's time to Petal Crash around the world with Petal Crash Online, brought to you by NovaSquirrel and lastwing! Petal Crash Online is a special game client built from the ground up to support online play, featuring rollback netcode for perfectly in-sync matches with no input delay. Hop into a lobby or make your own, and throw down in puzzle battles with players across the globe! The Petal Crash Online client is bundled with the game on Steam as a free update - when you launch the game, you'll have the option to launch either the base game or Petal Crash Online. Currently, Petal Crash Online is only available on Windows and Linux, though there may be a Mac release in the future. Petal Crash Online features all the gameplay modes of the base game, including Tug-of-war, Trash Attack, Clear Contest, and Co-op (complete with rankings!) - but it also features custom rules beyond those available in the board game, such as board size, number of block colors (up to 6!) and even game-changing "chaos options" such as pushable garbage blocks and "tilt controls". Every character in Petal Crash is available in Petal Crash Online from the start, even the hidden and unlockable ones, and all characters feature a greatly expanded color palette and long list of costumes. Pick your favorite character, costume, and player color to give yourself an instantly recognizable signature look! Communication in lobbies is handled by selecting from pre-made lobby phrases, letting you challenge players, negotiate rules, and even schedule meeting times for future sessions! If there's nobody around, check out the Friend & Fairy Discord server - there's almost always someone willing to play if you ask, especially with new players! It's been a whole year since Petal Crash has come out, and a wonderful community of supportive puzzle fans has sprung up around the game - I'm looking forward to seeing it grow and seeing what else the future of Petal Crash brings! Thank you so much for all your support!

Now you can play Petal Crash with your pals all over the world - Petal Crash Online is now entering public open beta! There's still a lot of little bits left to finish, but there's more than enough to enjoy fierce Petal Crash matches online without fiddling with remote streaming or input lag. Petal Crash Online features:

• All the characters in the base game, with dozens of new costume colors!
• Play with mouse, keyboard, gamepad, or touch screen!
• Control your character directly in a fun, expressive game lobby!
• Every multiplayer game mode from Petal Crash, including 2P Co-op!
• Rollback netcode keeps your games perfectly in sync!
• Challenge others to matches, or spectate games in progress!
• Add your own custom music to the game's music folder!

Petal Crash v1.1 is now live on PC!

New Characters

• Penny & Deony Individually: Pick a twin for a sibling showdown!
• Nova the Squirrel: A special retro homebrew guest star!
• Milla Basset: Everyone's favorite hover-hound from Freedom Planet!

New Game Modes

• Chain Trial: Arrange the biggest chains you can out of pre-set boards!
• Trash Trial: Hold out as long as you can under an onslaught of garbage!
• 2P Co-Op: Score as high as you can with a friend, but watch out for accidental attacks!

More Puzzles

• 70 more puzzles in Puzzle Mode, made by the community!

Greater Challenges

• AI difficulty levels up to 15!
• Unlockable Grand Master story difficulty!

Quality of Life Changes

• Save your custom block selection!
• More that I can't remember

People in the US are starting to get their Covid-19 stimulus checks - while many will be spending them on bills and essentials, it doesn't hurt to spend a little bit of it on something fun if you can! Now's a great time to try out Petal Crash! Once you get that $1400 check, why not consider spending 0.6% of it on a brand new puzzle game? Petal Crash will be 20% off through March 22nd! This is also a great time to buy the game for a distant friend - with online play in the works, you'll need all the time you can get to prepare to do puzzle-battle on the Petal Crash world stage! Please buy it! Thank you, - Petal Crash

The upcoming version 1.1 update is getting close to ready! The update will include 10 new puzzles on each character's puzzle board, bringing the total number of puzzles up to 175 - and that can include your puzzles, too! In the new update, all puzzles will have their title and author displayed, crediting every puzzle to its creator:
If you're interested in having your own custom puzzles included in the game, please use the ingame Puzzle Editor and fill out this survey form with your puzzle submission! To those of you considering contributing - thank you so, so much!

Petal Crash is now available on Android devices via Google Play! Not only does the game feature a touch-optimized portrait-style layout for mobile devices, but the original landscape 'Console Mode' orientation is available too! You'll be able to play all of the game's single player content, including all of the Story Mode paths and puzzles, as well as play versus mode against the AI in phone mode - the mobile port even features the fully functional Puzzle Editor, letting you make and share puzzles with your friends, even sharing puzzles between the mobile and PC versions with the same puzzle code system!
Check out Petal Crash for mobile devices on the Google Play store here! A version for iOS devices is in the works, as well, so stay tuned!

UPDATE v1.0.9 AI TWEAKS: - Ore Kid: play speed reduced slightly - the reduction is more prominent at higher difficulties - All: Change made to block growth thresholds, should reduce accidental overgrows Most of this patch's major changes have to do with the phone mode, which is inaccessible in the PC version - please look forward to the mobile release soon!

UPDATE v1.0.8 BUGFIXES: - The "restart" option should no longer disappear from the pause menu when going into Options and back from Solo Play - The correct option should be highlighted when returning to the main pause menu from Options - Touch controls now disabled on OSX; should solve the touchpad being registered as a touch player - A bug where block spawners would start out advanced by one step if a puzzle was reset mid-chain has been fixed CONTROL TWEAKS: - Selecting the "reset" button in Puzzle Mode now requires an extra directional tap if the button was held - Analog control thresholds have been adjusted, should feel less slippery - When using "quick swipe" or "aim & release" push styles on gamepad or keyboard, the cursor will not move while the push button is held down over a block SCRIPT CHANGES: - A missing ellipsis in Daize's story has been fixed - Strelitz's type changed from "Tiefling" to "Fiendkin" to avoid potential copyright issues AI TWEAKS: - Ore Kid: play speed increased and move randomness reduced - Strelitz: move randomness reduced slightly - Penny & Deony: move randomness in Penny Mode reduced slightly - [SECRET] (Lilibri story): play speed increased slightly - [SECRET] (Other story): play speed reduced slightly