Put On Your Brave Face. There's a new pet on the counter, and he's a toaster. Not a smart one. A chrome two-slot off somebody's kitchen counter, with a red lever, a cloth cord for a tail, and the firm belief that he is the bravest thing in the room. He is scared of nearly everything and will tell you he isn't. Meet T0@$TY.
T0@$TY. Go to the TOASTERS background, pick one of the chrome toasters flying past, and tap it three times, quick. It drops out of the flock, and from then on he stands beside Squachy, on the pets' line, keeping watch. Every catch is a threat to be faced: his lever goes down, he braces, and a slice of toast pops out in that device's colour and flies straight to Squachy, who eats it. ("Nom.") Serious catches come out burnt, with a wisp of smoke. One slice in fifty is golden, and Squachy dances. The little dial on his front shows how worried he is about the last thing you caught. About once a minute he has something to say ("I'm not scared. Are you scared? I'm not."), and Squachy answers back now and then ("Stop calling me Master."). Throw Squachy past him and he panics on your behalf. He hops. He has no arms. He'd die for you. Settings > Pet switches between him, C1iPPY, VAPOR SHAGGY and the yeti, and the master unlock gives you all of them.
Throw him, though. Everybody is going to throw him, so he lands like a toaster: one thud, crumbs everywhere, a loose slice falling out, and barely a bounce. A hard throw leaves him on his back ("Little help?") for a few seconds before he rights himself and hops home. He has thirteen things to say about a landing and six about lying on his back, and C1iPPY got the same treatment: fourteen landing lines of his own ("It looks like gravity. Would you like to turn it off?"). Keep throwing and they start counting. From the third throw in a minute, every other line says the number: "That's 6. I'm counting." / "Throw 7. I'm filing a complaint." And if a pet lands on Squachy's feet, he jumps and lets you know: "Hey! Watch the feet."
The buttons, readable. The XP counter buttons from last release had white letters that ran together on the glass. Now they're black, with a clear pixel between every letter, on a blue that runs from light down to the channel's #0099FF. The StickS3 and Cardputer get a third row of buttons on a crowded day, and Squachy gives up that row's height only while it's in use.
Flasher. The usual 2.8" ST7789 board now gets the 80 MHz build by default; the box is still there if yours wants it off. The flasher also knows the ESP32-32E boards by the codes on their backs (E32R28T and friends), and the white-screen help says to untick 80 MHz before trying the other screen driver. The browser emulator tells you which version it is.
The actually-useful part
Added
- T0@$TY, a new pet: tap the same flying toaster three times on the TOASTERS background. Toast on every catch in that device's colour, eaten by Squachy; burnt toast and smoke for serious catches; a golden slice one time in fifty; a browning dial; hops, throws, and an upside-down landing. Squachy hints at him on that background.
- A dozen or more landing lines for each throwable pet, a throw count that shows up from the third throw in a minute, and Squachy flinching when a pet lands on his feet.
- The master unlock covers every pet, and a board that already has it picks up new pets at boot.
- Console
TOASTERunlocks him on the bench; emulator--pet 4.
Changed
- XP counter buttons: black letters, a pixel between each, no drop shadow, blue from light to #0099FF. The 135-pixel boards take a third row when two won't do.
- Flasher: 80 MHz on by default for the usual ST7789 2.8" CYD, off for everything else; board codes for the ESP32-32E family; clearer white-screen help.
- The browser emulator shows its firmware version.
Fixed
- A black line was left under a pointed speech bubble after it moved.
- Six counter kinds on the StickS3 ran into the corner icon.