First off, I just want to say: thank you all again for your incredible outpouring of support! I've been stressing about this crowdfund for so long, but now that we've succeeded AND ensured that I'm going to have a chance to make the game my primary focus for a good while, I've finally been able to relax a bit! Where once I was tightly wound, I have now melted into a warm puddle of faerie material.
We've got one more major stretch goal ahead of us before the campaign ends: the return of Libbie and Baz! For those not familiar with the two and why they're in Petal Crash, here's a little bit of backstory!
Libbie and The Baz's original appearance in Petal Crash
Who's Libbie?
Libbie is a mascot character designed by Tyson Tan, originally made to represent the open source office software library LibreOffice. Tyson is a well-known proponent of open source creative software, and has designed mascots for many open source projects - including Godot, the game engine that Petal Crash 2 is built in!
While Libbie was originally made as part of a mascot design contest for LibreOffice, and was the clear frontrunner to be the contest winner, the whole operation was botched somehow and the mascot contest was canceled, so Tyson released Libbie into the public domain. Did you know anyone can use Libbie for anything? Use Libbie in your next project! There's nothing stopping you!
So, how'd she end up in Petal Crash? Well, you may have noticed that the highest backer reward in the current crowdfund lets a backer design their own hidden player character - and the crowdfund for the original Petal Crash had such a reward as well! Befitting her public domain roots, though, no single person contributed the full amount required to get Libbie in the game - instead, GalaxyTrail community member Jason "Scootles" Scott organized a mini crowdfund to raise the money needed collectively.
Contributors to the Libbie fund, as credited in Petal Crash
Did you know? Libbie also appears in Freedom Planet 2 as Mayor Zao's personal secretary. There's even a reference or two to her appearance in Petal Crash in her animations and dialogue!
Who's the Baz?
I must confess, I had barely any idea who the Baz was when he was originally pitched to me as a hidden character for Petal Crash. I had some vague idea that he was some kind of collectively owned in-joke character among the fighting game community, having made his major playable debut in DiveKick. Probably his best-known appearance was as a guest boss in Shovel Knight, where he's continued to appear as a supporting character throughout the series.
It turns out, Baz has kind of a fascinating history! Initially based on a rejected character concept for a Street Fighter 2 character, he was given a name and some rather expansive lore as a joke by the proprietors of the (now-defunct) game video channel Super Best Friends Play. He was imagined as an eternal reject - first rejected for a spot in Street Fighter 2, and then subsequently rejected or unable to fit in everywhere else he would try to appear, largely due to his wretched and immature personality.
I was initially hesitant to include Baz in the game because he didn't at all fit in Petal Crash, but once I did my research and learned about his character, it became immediately clear - that's exactly the point! He doesn't fit in anywhere!
By this point, both of the hidden character slots in the crowdfund were taken, but I agreed to make an exception and add a third for Baz. Just like with Libbie, Baz was added to the game via another community fund, this time organized by Timestamp Guy & Celio Hogane under the name "The Baz Everywhere System".
Contributors to the Baz Everywhere System
The Baz isn't technically explicitly released into the public domain the way Libbie is, but his creators have expressed that they're completely okay with people using Baz in any of their projects. I did make sure I had permission before including Baz in Petal Crash, though!
Libbie & Baz Return?
Because of Libbie and Baz's unique status as community-owned characters, there's really nothing keeping me from just putting them in Petal Crash 2 as well - I don't need to get permission from anyone! The major consideration is that adding extra characters now takes a lot more resources than it used to - every character in Petal Crash 2 has a stage background and full-body character portraits in addition to their own theme song, and the new sprites take more work to complete, being so much bigger, smoother, and more detailed.
Considering this alongside the fact that Petal Crash 2 will have new hidden characters appearing, I don't think it'd be unreasonable of me not to include Libbie and Baz in Petal 2, though I know they're both quite beloved characters, and have carved out a place for themselves as members of the Petal cast. I'd like them to return! That's why I made their reappearance a stretch goal - with this bit of extra funding, we'll have the resources to get them back in the game!
After that goal is met - who knows? I don't anticipate we'll get much more beyond $55,000, and that's quite all right with me. Really, the number one thing I want is for this game to get made, and we've already ensured that! Though, if we do get a surge of last-minute support, I'll definitely consider ways to reward everyone!
Thank you again, everyone, for all your support. I hope you're as excited to play this game as we are to make it!
