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Skullgirls gets third 'mystery character,' more from Indiegogo drive
With just hours to go, Skullgirls' massive Indiegogo funding drive has hit $725,000, blowing past the $600,000 required to fund the addition of a third "mystery character" as downloadable content.Previous goals unlocked Squigly, Big Band (with their own storylines and stages), and additional voice packs. Also unlocked at $725,000: a free copy of the Skullgirls "Z Engine" for the Fighting is Magic team, and another character, Robo-Fortune. At $825,000, another new mystery character will be added as DLC.The "mystery character" or characters will be determined through a voting campaign by backers. There are ... 32 different choices.
Skullgirls dev may license engine to Fighting is Magic team for free
Skullgirls developer Lab Zero Games announced plans to provide former MLP: Fighting is Magic developer Mane6 with a free license of its Skullgirls engine should Lab Zero Games' Indiegogo campaign reach $725,000. Lab Zero Games launched its crowdfunding campaign in late February to fund new characters for Skullgirls with an initial $150,000 goal that it reached in just 24 hours.As for Mane6, its ambitions to create a fighting game based on the My Little Pony property were halted by Hasbro in early February due to Mane6 not having the rights to develop the game. Mane6 has since noted its desire to continue development on its game, now using new characters in a new setting. Lab Zero Games' Indiegogo campaign is currently at just over $427,000 with 11 days left before it closes.
Skullgirls pencils in Linux port, Squigly to be voiced by Lauren Landa
Mike Zaimont, the creator of the fighting engine powering Skullgirls, has revealed that a Linux port is currently in the works. Word came via Zaimont's Salty Cupcakes tournament series, which he's been hosting on a weekly basis in Los Angeles and streaming through Twitch.Skullgirls is currently seeking donations through Indiegogo, having already successfully funded the DLC characters Squigly and Big Band. During his weekly stream, Zaimont also revealed that Squigly will be voiced by Lauren Landa, the voice actress perhaps best known for her voice work as Kasumi from Dead or Alive. Squigly's sidekick Leviathan will be voiced by Liam O'Brien, who has belted out lines as Rig in Dead or Alive 5 and himself every other time he says anything.
Skullgirls secures funding for second DLC character, Big Band
Skullgirls developer Lab Zero Games has announced its Indiegogo pledge drive has earned enough for a second DLC character, the first male fighter to make his way onto the roster: Big Band. With 14 days remaining, the Skullgirls Indiegogo page rests at a comfortable $380,000.Initially the Indiegogo campaign was to fuel a single DLC character – developer Lab Zero Games asked for $150,000, exceeding that goal in a brisk 24 hours. If you find yourself wondering why it costs so much money to come up with one little old DLC character, know the process requires more work than you'd think.
Skullgirls' $150,000 Indiegogo goal met in less than 24 hours
Skullgirls developer Lab Zero Games has not only succeeded in raising the $150,000 required to design, develop and implement the game's first DLC character, but in doing so has also delivered crowd-funding platform Indiegogo's fastest and most-funded gaming project to date.The fundraiser met its goal after 22 hours, and is sitting just above $184,000 as of press time, with 29 days of funding still left to go. This means that the project's first stretch goal, a new level and story mode campaign for Squigly, the new character, has also been completely funded. If the fundraiser reaches $375,000 before its completion, Skullgirls' first male character, Big Band, will also be created.Once completed, Squigly will be made available at no cost on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.
Skullgirls character crowdfunding breakdown: What that $150K is for
When the developers responsible for Skullgirls were laid off from Reverge Labs last summer, they reformed as Lab Zero Games and pledged to continue working on the franchise, in November announcing that the first DLC character was "indefinitely delayed" while the studio found its footing.Now Lab Zero is ready to get rocking on Squigly, its first DLC character, but it needs $150,000 to make that happen. Lab Zero set up an Indiegogo campaign to get the cash via crowdfunding, a move that puts the amount of money under a public microscope. Some potential players are outraged at the cost of making a single character – Lab Zero CEO Peter Bartholow tells Joystiq he doesn't expect people to understand the budget, but it is "reasonable with all the relevant information."Bartholow breaks down the Squigly budget as follows: $48,000: Staff Salaries – 8 people for 10 weeks $30,000: Animation and Clean-up Contracting $4,000: Voice recording $2,000: Hit-box Contracting $5,000: Audio Implementation Contracting $20,000: QA Testing $10,000: 1st Party Certification $10,500: Indiegogo and Payment Processing Fees $20,500: Manufacturing and Shipping Physical PerksOriginal Skullgirls characters cost $200,000 - $250,000 apiece and the game's total budget was $1.7 million. The salaries in Lab Zero's Squigly budget are reduced, as well, Bartholow says."So, as you can see, over two-fifths of the money is spent on all the stuff we need to do just to get to collect the money and get her onto people's systems," he says. "This is just the reality of crowdfunding and independent console development right now. And also probably why more games don't do what we're attempting, too."
Skullgirls dev wants $150,000 in crowdfunding for new character
Mike Zaimont and Peter Bartholow of Lab Zero Games recently unveiled plans during a Twitch.tv stream to crowdfund a new character for Skullgirls, Shoryuken reported. Zaimont and Bartholow's goal is to raise $150,000 starting February 25 to develop the "Squigly" character, her story and stage, in addition to stretch goals for two other characters."I know that $150k sounds like a ton of money, and it's only that cheap because we're taking huge paycuts to try and make it happen at all," Bartholow told Shoryuken. "A full cost breakdown will be provided so that people can see how their money will be spent."Once the Squigly character is completed, she will be available free for three months on all platforms, regardless if players have contributed to the developer's crowdfunding efforts.
Skullgirls PC moving forward through new deal with Marvelous AQL
Development of the long-awaited PC version of indie fighter Skullgirls is set to begin in "the coming weeks," thanks to a funding/publishing deal between existing publisher Autumn Games and Japanese publisher Marvelous AQL.The agreement, which is in its "final stages" according to Peter Bartholow, CEO of developer Lab Zero Games, will allow Skullgirls to be ported to the PC with "expanded multiplayer functionality" as compared to the console version. Bartholow expects the porting process to take "around four months" to complete, with more information regarding the port's new features, as well as details on a public beta, to follow as development progresses.Meanwhile, Skullgirls' quest to raise the most money for breast cancer research (and therefore become the eighth official EVO 2013 selection) continues. Limited edition posters (left) are now available for pre-order, with 50 percent of all sales going directly to the fundraiser.
Skullgirls XBLA patch in limbo due to file size
Despite landing on the PlayStation 3 back in late November, Skullgirls' Slightly Different Edition update has yet to make its way to Microsoft's console. The delay is due to the file size of the update itself, according to XBLA Fan's translation of a tweet from the official Japanese Skullgirls account.While Microsoft limits XBLA updates to just four megs, the fighter's Slightly Different Edition patch weighs in at 590 megabytes. Being granted an exception to the rule is apparently possible, though subsequently time consuming. No announcements have been made regarding an expected completion date for the whole deal.Though dubbed Slightly Different, the patch changes an impressive number of details for each character in Skullgirls, in addition to adding further modes and UI improvements. It's also supposed to decrease load times, though the patch itself seems to be suffering from quite a long one.Update: We were contacted by Lab Zero Games' Peter Bartholow, who clarified the situation a bit further. "We've been working with MS developer support and have managed to reduce the size of the update significantly," Bartholow said. He went on to inform us that the size of the update itself is "still in flux," but that Lab Zero is "hopeful that the size reduction will help speed up the submission process."
Skullgirls team forms new studio, continues work on series
The team behind Skullgirls will continue work on the game under a new banner after being quietly laid off from Reverge Labs this summer. Shoryuken lays out the odd tale that finds the team being let go in June, but then reforming as Lab Zero Games and continuing work on the franchise."Not being able to tell anyone about these rather significant developments has almost been as bad as being largely unemployed and unable to continue our work on Skullgirls," an introductory letter on Lab Zero Games' site reads. "We have always strived to be as open and transparent as our business and legal obligations will allow, but we feared news of these events would discourage our fans more than our conspicuous silence would. Being able to finally fill everyone in on everything is a huge relief, and we hope you understand our reasons for keeping quiet until now."We've reached out to Lab Zero for more details. In the meantime, the developer says the circumstances of the summer have delayed work on the PC version of Skullgirls and "indefinitely delayed" the first DLC character. They haven't given up, they're just busy trying to get back up.
