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Skullgirls FAQ (Updated to not be ancient!)

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Last updated: 3/1/17

Since the FAQ on Lab Zero Games' website was woefully out of date, I decided to rummage through it and update it to reflect recent events. Some outdated questions were removed, some new relevant ones were added. I'll be updating it periodically with current info and more answers as I see fit. Hope it answers your questions!

Skullgirls FAQ
​
"When will...?"


- When will the Playstation 4 and Playstation Vita versions of Skullgirls Encore come out?
Skullgirls 2nd Encore for PS4 is out! Release on PSVita version is TBA.


-When will the physical Indiegogo tier rewards be shipped?
A months-long snow-in at Sanshee's Boston headquarters caused significant shipping delays, which are only now getting resolved. Because the soundtrack is not yet complete, bundles that include the OST won't be shipped until after Robo-Fortune's music has been composed and completed.

International shipping may take longer, and Sanshee has acknowledged delays. No worries, you will get what you backed towards!



General


- What's "Skullgirls 2nd Encore"?
Skullgirls 2nd Encore is the Playstation 4/Vita version of Skullgirls. This new release introduces several exclusive new game modes and features, such as:
  • Challenge mode
  • Combo trials mode
  • Survival mode
  • New trophies/achievements
  • Fully-voiced story modes for all characters
  • PS3/PS4/Vita crossplay
2nd Encore's versus game modes maintain parity with Skullgirls Encore, so PC and last-gen console players won't be competitively left in the dust.


- What's "Skullgirls Encore"?
In an effort to cut ties between Autumn Games and themselves, Konami requested that Skullgirls be delisted from PSN and XBLA on December 31st, 2013. Lab Zero Games went through the process of recertifying the game for both consoles as "Skullgirls Encore".

Skullgirls Encore is the new name of the PS3/360 versions of Skullgirls, which will be the version that will receive patches and DLC from here onwards. All owners of Skullgirls get Encore for free!

More info on this situation can be read here: http://labzerogames.com/skullgirls-encore-and-you/


-I heard Skullgirls is getting an arcade release?
You heard right, Skullgirls will be getting a Japanese arcade release! Paperwork is currently being signed between Lab Zero Games and interested parties in Japan, after which development will begin on the arcade conversion. Skullgirls will utilize Taito's NESiCAxLive system, allowing downloadable updates and networked fights across all of Skullgirls' Japanese arcade cabinets.

Mike has said that Skullgirls Arcade will likely not release until all of the characters funded by the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign have been completed, meaning Eliza, Beowulf, and Robo-Fortune.


-What's the deal with Lab Zero Games and Autumn Games? I heard something about a lawsuit?
Shortly prior to Skullgirls' release on consoles, Reverge Labs' publisher, Autumn Games, was brought into a lawsuit over unpaid loans for a game unrelated to Skullgirls. This incident made Autumn unable to pay Reverge, which eventually led to nearly the entire staff of Reverge Labs being laid off. The developers of Skullgirls reformed as Lab Zero Games, and continued work on the game on their own time. Thanks to your support, Lab Zero Games is able to work full-time on Skullgirls despite these unfortunate circumstances!


-What's GGPO, and how does it work?
GGPO is an online multiplayer networking solution tailored towards fighting games. In Skullgirls, GGPO can enable you to experience less input delay or smoother-looking gameplay in online matches, depending on how you decide to configure it. Here's a more technical explanation of GGPO, given by lead developer Mike Z:

Mike Z said:
GGPO suggests a delay that will make it so you mostly won't see any rollbacks because the input delay is long enough compared to the internet lag that the other inputs will usually arrive before they are needed. (i.e. if the game were written with input-lag netcode, the delay for this match would be set to that number + 1.)

The whole point of having rollbacks, though, is that you CAN choose delay 0 (or 1, which is basically the same) at all times, which means you FEEL no delay on your own character but the match still works. You will see more rollbacks depending on how bad the connection is, but you will not FEEL anything different from offline play on your own character. That's what makes rollbacks magic.

This is also what 99% of the FGC completely misunderstands, because in videos rollbacks LOOK bad, so they assume they are bad. But when you're playing, they feel way better.
Try this: Pick a friend you have a moderate connection with, and play them on the suggested delay + 1, which should eliminate visual rollbacks but feel like it's underwater. That's what lag-based netcode feels like vs that person. Then play them on delay 0, and notice how the gameplay works vs how it looks.


-Can I submit a voice demo for the new characters?
Lab Zero is currently not taking any voice submissions for future DLC characters. Don't let that stop you from sharing your demo reels with the community, though!


-Will Skullgirls come out on Xbox One / Wii U / My-favorite-game-console-from-1985?
Mike has gone on record and said that a Wii U port is very unlikely to ever happen.

Skullgirls Encore is playable on Xbox One through backwards compatibility, though the bonus single-player features of 2nd Encore will be unavailable (as 2nd Encore is strictly next-gen).


-What's SALTY!?
SALTY! (formerly Salty Cupcakes) is a weekly tourament that takes place in SoCal on Friday nights, run by some members of the Skullgirls team at Lab Zero Games. While it is run by Lab Zero Games employees, and members of the Skullgirls dev team are almost always there, it is not necessarily an "official" Lab Zero Games event. It is intended as a community-building event, and is independent of the development of Skullgirls, but is a good way to give/receive feedback to/from the developers (if you can get their attention on stream) and sometimes see the very latest version of Skullgirls that's in development. You can watch SALTY! at the link below every Friday from 8PM PST:

https://www.twitch.tv/game_realms


-Where is SALTY! held? And when?
SALTY! is currently held every Friday from 8PM PST at the Game Realms arcade, located at:
137 N Victory Blvd
Burbank, CA 91602


-How long will SALTY! go on?
Until the end of time, as long as the people running it have the time to hold it!


-Which story mode in Skullgirls is the canon one? Will there be a canon story mode?
None of the character endings are canon, although some of them do contain "true events" from the overall story. There are plans to make a canon story eventually, but Alex Ahad has said that he needs Umbrella, Marie and Black Dahlia to be playable in order to make the first part of the canon story.


-Will the money that Autumn owes Lab Zero be used to make more characters?
No. This is money that the team is owed for work they have already done on the game. It is their money to spend as they wish.


-I want to apply to do animation or clean-up work for Lab Zero Games. How can I do that?
Lab Zero is not currently hiring any more animation or clean-up artists. If we need more contractors, we will announce it on stream, on our website, or though an official Skullgirls social media channel (@skullgirls, Facebook, etc).



Characters / DLC


-Will the DLC characters be free? How does that all work?
All crowdfunded characters will be free for three months after release. If you "purchase" them (for free!) during that time, you will not have to pay for them after they are no longer free. By purchasing them during the free period for $0.00, you will own them forever and thus, can download them at any time for free, even after the free period ends. If you purchase them after the free period is over, they will cost the standard $5.


-Will there be any more characters after Robo-Fortune? Can we kickstart more characters?
It depends on Lab Zero's situation at that time in the future. At the moment, everyone at Lab Zero is working at near-minimum wage, sometimes unpaid, to create the characters they promised in the IGG campaign; despite their love for the game and its community, this is not something they can continue to do. Asking for more money (at higher, non-minimum wages) in a hypothetical second kickstarter has been brought up as an idea, with mixed feelings from Lab Zero staff; Lab Zero doesn't wish to be exploitative with their community, and are hesitant to create a second Kickstarter.

As of May 2015, barring further funding by Autumn or other interested parties, the current plan for Skullgirls post-Robo-Fortune is to submit some final bug patches/balance tweaks some time after R.Fortune's release, complete any promised content (like voice packs), and then let the game stand as it is, polished to the nth degree over 3+ years.


-What will/would (character) play like?
All potential DLC characters can be viewed on the official Lab Zero Games website (link below), along with descriptions of their background, playstyle speculation, and gameplay/design inspirations. Please note that no information on the page below is final, and is subject to change. Keep in mind that things listed under the gameplay inspirations sections can be anything from an entire playstyle to a single move, or even just a visual cue.

http://labzerogames.com/3rdcharacter/


-What's the deal with Juju?
Juju has been stuck in legal limbo for a long while. She's a character based off of a comment left on the Skullgirls Facebook page. Alex Ahad liked her concept and decided to do a character design concept of her. Due to conflicts with the original creator she was not available for voting during the DLC character voting polls. Shortly afterwards, a breach of NDA by the original creator necessitated her removal and retconning from Skullgirls entirely.


-I have an idea for a character for Skullgirls. Can I send it to Lab Zero for them to be considered?
No, just no. See previous question for Juju.


-Will I be forced to listen to voice packs my opponent has enabled when playing online?
No. It is actually easier to implement the voice packs in the way that only you, and not your opponent, will hear them when you own them and have them enabled. It is also less annoying for the other player.


-Characters appear pixelated/8bit to me, what's going on?
In the PS3/360 versions of Skullgirls and Skullgirls Encore, characters will rarely appear pixelated when tagging in and DHCing due to the time it takes console hardware to load a character's frames into memory. This is normal behavior and not something to be concerned about.

This behavior was removed for the PC release of Skullgirls; seeing pixelated characters in the PC version may be indicative of a malfunctioning build. In this case, right click on Skullgirls in your Steam library, choose Properties, navigate to the Local Files tab and click Verify Integrity Of Game Cache.



PC Version

-Will PC get 2nd Encore content?
Yes! Lab Zero are not currently sure when 2nd Encore content will reach PC, but it's certain to happen.


-Will there be 360-PS3-PS4/PC cross-platform play?
Lab Zero Games originally attempted to integrate PS3/PC cross-platform play via Steam, but Sony refused to allow Steam as a cross-platform middleman for non-Valve games. Lab Zero Games also looked into PC/PS4 cross-platform play; unfortunately, implementing such a feature would require time and resources that they don't currently have.

The 360 version will not feature cross-platform play of any sort.


-Does the PC version have cross-play between different operating systems?
Yes! There's no reason for it not to since it would all use Steamworks.


-Will the PC version run on my computer?
Mike Z can develop and run the game on his less-than-stellar laptop, so probably! Here are the minimum requirements:

  • OS: Windows XP - Windows 8
  • Processor: Dual-core CPU
  • Memory: 2GB RAM
  • Graphics: Intel HD3000
  • DirectX: Version 9.0c
  • Network: Broadband internet connection
  • Hard Drive: 2GB available space


-When will the High-res Sprite Pack be released?
Unfortunately, the High-res Sprite Pack was scrapped in order to fulfill other obligations in a timely manner. The Sprite Pack would require a very large amount of work and significantly increase disparity between the PC and console versions, something that Lab Zero wants to avoid doing when they can. Apologies to PC fans who have patiently waited for High-res Sprites, but Lab Zero hopes you understand.


-I am having issues with Skullgirls' controls, and I use vJoy. How can I fix my issues?
Right click Skullgirls in your Steam library, select Properties, and then select Set Launch Options. From here, type -vjoyfix into the box. This should fix any issues that occur as a result of you using vJoy.


-There are weird lines on the characters when I go ingame, how do I fix this?
This is most likely caused by your video card driver enabling antialiasing or multisampling, which Skullgirls does not play friendly with. Disable any post-processing effects in your video card control panel. For more info, read on:

Mike_Z said:
I guess I've never fully explained this, so I might as well do it here.
The characters are rendered as a series of blocks, like this
[][][][]
[][][][]
with the edges of each tile next to each other. (Games with large sprites have done this since forever for various reasons.) The math in the shader that determines where to read each sprite texture is very delicate, and therefore it is very easy to break.
If your graphics card or driver is set to antialias things or multisample things, it will smooth the edges of the tiles or offset the texture coordinates in them, which will create gaps between the tiles.
That's where the lines come from. Generally antialiasing will only offset the texture coordinates one way, which may create lines in characters only when they are on the left or right side, or only vertical/horizontal lines, or only when the camera is zoomed out.


Console versions


-When will consoles get lobbies?
The Playstation 4 and Playstation Vita versions of Skullgirls Encore will have lobbies on launch in mid 2015. The PS3/360 versions won't be getting lobbies before Robo-Fortune's patch.


-When will consoles get the art gallery?
Like lobbies, the Playstation 4 and Playstation Vita versions of SGE will have the art gallery on launch. Expect news on art galleries for the PS3/360 closer to Skullgirls Encore's PS4 release.


-Will 360/PS3 get 2nd Encore content?
Skullgirls 2nd Encore won't be releasing on 360/PS3; Lab Zero Games doesn't have the time or resources to release these features on last-gen consoles.

Fortunately, 2nd Encore's versus game modes will maintain parity with Skullgirls Encore, so last-gen console players won't be playing "an outdated version of the game"; only one which lacks a few single-player game modes.
 
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Stickied.
 
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Flotilla said:
-I heard Skullgirls is getting an arcade release?
You heard right, Skullgirls will be getting a Japanese arcade release! Paperwork is currently being signed between Lab Zero Games and interested parties in Japan, after which development will begin on the arcade conversion. Skullgirls will utilize Taito's NESiCAxLive system, allowing downloadable updates and networked fights across all of Skullgirls' Japanese arcade cabinets.
DAMN THEE JAPAN! You always give me like ten reasons to like you then give me one reason to envy/hate you!
 
Flotilla said:
Steamworks is not an approved middleware for cross-platform play

Ugh... it would be great for the community to have the entire community.

More reason to hate consoles I guess...
 
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Updated to reflect the current situation with Squigly's console patch, and Big Band's ETA.
 
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Updated to include up-to-date information about the Linux/Mac ports and to remove venue information pending further developments. R.I.P. Frootsii.
 
Flotilla said:
Updated to include up-to-date information about the Linux/Mac ports and to remove venue information pending further developments. R.I.P. Frootsii.
What happened with Frootsii? Is it closing down, or did they decide they didn't want the Salty crew in there anymore?
 
Something about how on Thursday nights the other non Salty Cupcake customers don't stay there anymore because the place is packed. Mike Z described it as "We got too big for the place now". They are looking into other options and Super Arcade was one of them, but that has positives and negatives.

The positives is naturally other people at the venue could get interested in the game. The negatives is that the Frootsi regulars may have to travel farther to Super, T-Shirts from EightySixed shirts won't be promoted effectively, other streaming issues, and of course no more food when you pay your entry fee. Mike did say though they are looking into two other promising venues though.

This of course resulted in the next Salty Cupcake event being cancelled, but EightySixed will still show off new shirt via twitter.
 
Good to know. Thanks.
 
Updated to include information on Salty Cupcakes' new name (Decided by Mike Z himself), venue and time! Be there or be square.
 
Updated to reflect the current console patch information and Big Band's release date which is right now!
 
Was there any specific information on PS4 port? AFAIR Mike wanted to do it, but there aren't any concrete plans, correct?
 
Updated to include the very unfortunate news about the console versions. Reworded some Big Band-related stuff as he nears completion.
 
Added news about Valentine's taunt.
 
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Hey, I'm just curious. Is there a way Squigly will be on the Xbox 360? I'm having trouble finding an answer on the internet.
 
Norata said:
Hey, I'm just curious. Is there a way Squigly will be on the Xbox 360? I'm having trouble finding an answer on the internet.

She will be released alongside Skullgirls Encore sometime next year. I'll update the FAQ to include this now.

EDIT: Updated the FAQ to include information on Skullgirls Encore, the delisting situation, and the dissolution of Cyberfront. Also updated Big Band's ETA, since it would be a Christmas miracle for him to be complete before 2014.
 
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Thank you so much. I feel honored to have my question in the FAQ. She'll be in only Encore version?
 
Norata said:
Thank you so much. I feel honored to have my question in the FAQ. She'll be in only Encore version?

Yes, Squigly will only be available for Skullgirls Encore. If you own the PSN version, you will get Encore for free. If you own the XBLA version, Skullgirls Encore will be a patch to the original game and not a new game.

You won't need to buy a new game to get her!
 
I unfortunately have only a PS3. The Xbox, is an Xbox 360. So the original Skullgirls on 360 will never have her?
 
Norata said:
I unfortunately have only a PS3. The Xbox, is an Xbox 360. So the original Skullgirls on 360 will never have her?
On Xbox 360 Squigly will be available once you do the download that upgrades you to "Skullgirls Encore"
 
Thank you very much for telling you me. I appreciate it. The Skullgirls Encore will be in the new year I believe I read correctly?
 
Updated to reflect current physical goods situation... and change the tentative date for Encore's release to February.
 
Will Replay Mode (along with the YT upload feature that 3SOE/DSR has I guess) or *insert whatever other cool feature Mike may have mentioned in the past* ever be implemented into the game?
 
Updated to remove the information about Big Band's ETA since he's out! Added a bit of info about Eliza's ETA, edited the wording on the Encore question since it's now released for PSN and very close to release for XBLA.
 
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Here's a not so frequently asked question -- why is the LOTR:WitN Team credited in the special thanks section?
Did they contribute some sort of software? Did somebody just really like that game? I can't seem to find any sort of answer online.
 
8-Bit Templar said:
Here's a not so frequently asked question -- why is the LOTR:WitN Team credited in the special thanks section?
Did they contribute some sort of software? Did somebody just really like that game? I can't seem to find any sort of answer online.


Mike Z worked in that game, he said it in one of the streams last year.
 
When will the newer stages' tracks be added to the digital download section for the indiegogo contributors? I'm new here, so sorry if I'm asking this in the wrong place.
 
Olimar12345 said:
When will the newer stages' tracks be added to the digital download section for the indiegogo contributors? I'm new here, so sorry if I'm asking this in the wrong place.

I believe either Render or Ravidrath said in a few days.
 
Will/Can you guys update the soundtrack on Spotify?
 
Updated to include info on Salty's (not so) new bi-weekly status, Rebel Up, new info about the Skullgirls Arcade release, updated tenses since Big Band is already out, and other stuff.

EDIT: At Mike's request, added a question about potential future characters after Robo-Fortune and Skullgirls' fate past that point. Also added in a question about the high-res sprite pack.
 
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So I can stop second guessing my memory; was Lab Zero able to successfully address the memory limitations on PS3/360 that caused Big Band to be sized down? Will the the game be able to handle characters like Panzerfaust, Molly w/mech, and Scythana?
 
PaperBag_Sniper said:
So I can stop second guessing my memory; was Lab Zero able to successfully address the memory limitations on PS3/360 that caused Big Band to be sized down? Will the the game be able to handle characters like Panzerfaust, Molly w/mech, and Scythana?

The answer of this question its for @Mike_Z
 
@PaperBag_Sniper @Wenzel
Well, he's out on PS3 isn't he? :^)

Yes, I did a bunch of crazy crap, big characters would fit on console*.
Big Band was sized to 95% early on for not-memory reasons - they preferred him at that size on the screen when compared to the rest of the cast. That stayed, so in-game he's 95% as big as he originally was drawn in the, like, one or two drawings of him that existed before we started on him for real. Nothing else was done to him shrinkage-wise - things were done behind the scenes to reduce his memory footprint (art compression was reworked three times, etc) but that did not include resizing his frames again.

* not that any of them are getting made. ;_;
 
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At Mike's request, added a question about GGPO.

EDIT: And now a question about vJoy issues and how to solve them.
 
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Just as a clarification on the GGPO bit: is that why I'll sometimes hear the audio for "character hit", but everything on screen shows a block?
 
Updated to include information on the PS4/Vita versions of Encore, remove outdated information about the Konami splitup, update ETAs for promised content, add SGE's JP release date, and add new information about lobbies for consoles.
 
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Updated to include a question about pixelated sprites, edit Eliza's ETA, and remove ETA for Skullgirls Encore's JPN PSN release (it's out!).
 
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