Lab Zero, the team behind the wonderful 2-D fighter Skullgirls finished out their IndieGoGo campaign yesterday. The result? Thanks to the generous donations of fans, Skullgirls managed to raise an eye-popping $829,829.00 to continue developing new characters, stages, and story arcs.
So, where exactly is all that money going, you ask? Well, according to the IndieGoGo page, the breakdown is as follows:
$150,000: Initial goal to create the new female character Squigly. Squigly comes complete with original animations, fully voiced dialogue, and a custom moveset tailored specifically to her unique abilities.
$175,000: Squigly Stage and Story Mode- New character Squigly will be joining the fight and will receive her own unique story mode adventure. She will also have her own themed stage, complete with original music by Skullgirls composer Michiru Yamane.
$375,000: Big Band- The first male character to join Skullgirls playable roster, Big Band, will be developed. As with Squigly, Big Band comes with his own moveset, voice work, and combat animations.
$400,000: Big Band Stage and Story Mode- Big Band will also receive an accompanying stage and story mode to introduce him to the world of Skullgirls. Likewise, new original music will be composed so that Big Band feels like one of the original gang.
$600,000: Mysterious Character By Fan Vote- Since fans managed to raise far more than the team ever expected, a third additional character will be added to the roster. This time, fans will get to choose from over 20 character designs drawn by Design Director Alex Ahad. Originally, Ahad intended to use these characters over the course of three games, but given the current state of Skullgirls, he’s decided to let the fans choose which ones get to see daylight even if Lab Zero is never afforded the opportunity to develop a Skullgirls sequel. The designs can be seen on the IndieGoGo page linked above.
$625,000: Mysterious Character Stage and Story Mode- By now I’m sure you get the idea. After having reached this funding goal, Lab Zero will give whichever character fans decide upon their own unique stage and story mode seamlessly integrated into the original campaign. Original music will also be composed for the stage.
$725,000: Playable Robo-Fortune- Ms. Fortune is already a playable character in Skullgirls. Her character also came with a unique voice pack that made her sound more robotic. Now that donations have surpassed the $700,000 mark, Lab Zero intends to turn Robo-Fortune into her own unique character. While she will share many of her organic counterpart’s original animations, the team promises she will have a combat style all her own as well as “other touches” to help differentiate the two.
$750,000: Playable Robo-Fortune Stage and Story Mode- Robo-Fortune will also be getting her own unique story mode and original stage, complete with new music.
$825,000: 2nd Mysterious Character- As with the first mysterious charater, fans will get a second opportunity to decide which new character will be added to the Skullgirls roster. The character will have a unique moveset, but will not have an accompanying stage or story mode entry.
That’s everything that was funded. Unfortunately, the final stretch goal of $850,000 was not met, so unless Lab Zero can come up with some extra cash, the second mysterious character will only be added to the versus mode.
Just so you have a handle on exactly what was funded, it should be noted that Skullgirls originally shipped with only eight playable characters, so adding an additional four nearly doubles the game’s roster. This is an incredible achievement for the team and the community as well. I’m really glad everyone pulled together to help Lab Zero create an even better Skullgirls experience. In case you didn’t read my earlier articles about the campaign. The reason the characters are so expensive to create is because Lab Zero currently has no publisher backing, so they are funding the entire development completely on their own. That means paying developers, voice actors, designers, artists, and the music composer all for their time. On top of that, they are creating completely original content so they don’t have the luxury of reusing any assets and must create each character and their movesets entirely from scratch. All in all, this is a unique and fairly groundbreaking result in regards to the fighting game genre.
Are you folks happy to see Skullgirls find the success it was hoping for? Has this campaign inspired you to pick up the game for the first time, or come back to it after a brief hiatus? Finally, are you looking forward to playing as the new characters? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
