Skullgirls = Fighting game PLUS Boobs MINUS Infinites (You heard me right)

[ViperAcidZX]

Michael McWhertor — If you like your fighting games strictly on a two-dimensional plane and with just a single gender, you might want to start paying attention to Skullgirls, a new independently developed fighting game coming to "high-definition home consoles."

Skullgirls is the work of Reverge Labs, lead by ex-Pandemic developer and fighting game expert Mike "Mike Z" Zaimont. It's a combo-laden girl-versus-girl brawl, pitting girls with deadly hair and short skirts against each other in mortal combat. And now, after making a few appearances at fighting game tournaments and conventions, Skullgirls is coming to consoles.

The game's distinctive art style comes courtesy of artist Alex Ahad, whose work can be browsed on deviantART.

Skullgirls roster features characters like Valentine, a nurse ninja; the demon-haired Filia; a girl who wears hulking arms for a hat, Cerebella; and zombie cutie Squigly.

Expect Skullgirls to hit Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this summer, even if those consoles haven't been officially announced, with our first proper hands-on preview happening next month.

To see early video of Skullgirls in action, enjoy some pre-release footage.

Skullgirls will be published by Autumn Games.

Source: Kotaku

Official site: http://www.skullgirls.com/home
Alex Ahad's dA: http://oh8.deviantart.com/

Penny for anyone's thoughts?

[Gaia]

All I have to say is, really nicely put together. It reminds me of the Vs Capcom, Darkstalkers (and blazblu somewhat) fighters and yet the art style really shows more of the western feel to it (I.E. Some of the better 'toons out there, Wakfu and the origional Avatar: The Last Airbender for instance). The font kinda takes be back to Sonic 3 too~

If this pulls off well, I can see there's a bright franchise-ical series for this game. *puts on the game-to-do list*

[Jericho]

I've been watching this one (and the artist behind the characters) for months now. Game looks really interesting mechanically, especially with the approach to scaling back and countering infinites.

[Solar]

Didn't care much about it when I first saw it, but after actually learning about it now I'm interested. Besides it'll be using GGPO. GGPO FTW.

It reminds me of the Vs Capcom, Darkstalkers (and blazblu somewhat) fighters

Seeing that Mike Z is working on this it should be natural (he's one of the best Tagers IIRC).

[Gaia]

Met him online in BB once?  

Sounds like he could play a rather mean morrigan too. Funny thing is, I've been waiting for a game like this for months now. I might see it as a downloadable game, but I don't know for sure in the marketing direction yet..

[Protoman Blues]

I played this at PAX East. It's pretty fun.

[ViperAcidZX]

The artstyle and how they handle visuals (being a 2D game with all the dice of a 3D engine) really does interest me. The game kinda reminds me of Vanguard Princess but more of Tatsunoko VS. Capcom.

[Rad Lionheart]

I love the artist's work.

[Gotham Ranger]

This has piqued my interest. No infinites? Awesome.

[ST Jestah]

I must say, I wasn't expecting much when I came to the thread, but this game surprised me and has got me very interested. Mostly because of it's artstyle and over the top looking, cartoony characters. Now I just need to save up for a 360, or PS3, still undecided on which one to get though.

Also interested in the shading and lighting of the sprites effect. (Though I honestly thought they would have made this sort of visual effect for 2-D games by the mid-life of this generation's consoles. Of course if I am missing and/or forgetting about a game that has already done this.)

I now wish to mother the artist's babies.

[Krystal]

I've liked the art style for a while but ~♪

The girls are also so jiggly. /unneeded comment

[Jericho]

Also interested in the shading and lighting of the sprites effect. (Though I honestly thought they would have made this sort of visual effect for 2-D games by the mid-life of this generation's consoles. Of course if I am missing and/or forgetting about a game that has already done this.)

There was a developer walk through posted recently that explained how this worked. Basically, each character is a flat shaded polygon that responds to the lighting engine they have in place in a 3D manner. For an even more basic idea of what this means, its the same effect used for all the 2D in the Paper Mario series except with the addition of a dynamic light engine like you'd see in your standard fare 3D game on the 360/PS3. There are a lot of "tricks" like that in play with this game, most notably with the hit sparks (3D polygonal effects flat shaded to look 2D) and they all give off a cool Street Fighter Alpha 3 on PSX kind of vibe.

[RetroRespecter]

I had no idea there were Skullgirls fans in here of all places!

[VixyNyan]

I've been following this for a couple of months and I like it. ^^

[RetroRespecter]

Then you'll be ahppy to know about this:

http://shoryuken.com/content/skullgirls-using-ggpo-netplay-4129/

[Gaia]

Looks like the homepage is up.

GGPO eh? Sounds like we have ourselfs a possible lag-free game when it goes online (I for one never used GGPO). If internet should lag, that's your connection going bad on your part~

[ViperAcidZX]

I figured I should share these..

[spoiler=Skullgirls concepts and art dump]











[/spoiler]

[Gaia]

Well, I might have to say that I've seen those on Deviantart once. Here's a funny thing though, remember when Lilirulu drew a girl with a mouth for her gut before this game was announced? Although, a scale reference chart of each girl would be nice though to have as a reference.

[ST Jestah]

There was a developer walk through posted recently that explained how this worked. Basically, each character is a flat shaded polygon that responds to the lighting engine they have in place in a 3D manner. For an even more basic idea of what this means, its the same effect used for all the 2D in the Paper Mario series except with the addition of a dynamic light engine like you'd see in your standard fare 3D game on the 360/PS3. There are a lot of "tricks" like that in play with this game, most notably with the hit sparks (3D polygonal effects flat shaded to look 2D) and they all give off a cool Street Fighter Alpha 3 on PSX kind of vibe.

I see. Now that you mention it I think there were some of those lighting effects in TTYD. Should check it out again, and thanks for telling me a bit of how it's done.

[ViperAcidZX]

Here's Reverge Labs' official site: http://revergelabs.com/ ^^

Lots of neat art from the artists of Reverge Labs and the fans. This one is my favorite thus far.

[Acid]

Just go here

http://pub.tenkuu.net/

Image archives back to 2003

Was I the first on RPM who knew about this?

[Jericho]

Announcement video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0KoKdiUuOg

Sample track

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV8uYpvMYWQ[/QUOTE]

How awesome? So awesome.

[Waifu]

Man, the heroine has legs!  So does her friend or rival.

[ViperAcidZX]

Man, the heroine has legs!  So does her friend or rival.

The artist has a lot influences from a bunch of stuff, both Eastern and Western. I can see some Chun-Li with some old-school cartoons and Western comics with Filia's design. Although the one who looks the most cartoony now is Peacock.

-EDIT-

Announcement video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0KoKdiUuOg

Sample track

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV8uYpvMYWQ

How awesome? So awesome.

Hole. Lee. [parasitic bomb]. I could never get this song out of my head, but now that I've heard THIS, I can't wait for the entire soundtrack! That sample was sexcellent (I'm probably gonna get shot for using that catchphrase, aren't I?)! Good to know that she's alive and well.

[Satoryu]

Michiru Yamane!? I was already interested in this game, but now, gyatdamn.

The grappler must be B tier at least.