• As part of the relaunch of Skullheart, ALL previous threads have been archived. You can find them at the bottom of the forum in the Archives (2021) section. The archives are locked, so please use the new forum sections to create new discussion threads.

Shantae Series

'Tis the Season for Backers and Bad Guys!

Ho ho ho Tinkerbackers!!

We have a lot to share, but at this time of year we just have to say:

Happy Holidays!
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Everyone here at WayForward wishes you the happiest of holidays!

May you spend it with friends, family...pirates...er, squids...zombies, and the occasional baron or two!

And if you haven't heard, here's a special something from us to you this holiday season! Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is coming to the Nintendo Wii U eShop in North America on December 25th!! The game features HD Portraits, Off-TV play, and Controller Support (both the Wii Classic Controller and Wii U Pro Controller)!


And for all of our European and Australian fans, Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is expected to release on both 3DS and Wii U in late-January or early-February! We'll be sharing more details soon on Facebook and Twitter so get hyped!

Half-Genie, Full Funding (and then some!)
As you all know, we closed the PayPal store earlier this week to lock in the scope and finalize all of the content that will be included in Shantae: Half-Genie Hero. We want to thank each and every one of our Backers again for your support, both in the form of pledges and your overall energy and encouragement.

overall energy and encouragement.

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We had a funding goal of $400,000 to make Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, and being new to crowdfunding, we weren't sure if we'd reach it. Boy did you guys surprise and impress us. 18,558 Kickstarter backers pledged $776,084 in the first 30 days of our campaign, and things didn't stop there!

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We opened a PayPal store and linked Backerkit to our website bringing in another 2,974 backers and an additional $171,853!!

This brings our final total to...21,532 backers and $947,937!!!!

Our backers were able to fund more than double what we needed to make Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, and as a result we wanted to reward your amazing efforts with a game that is more than twice it's original size.

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We'll be playing through a total of 5 Chapters (instead of 3) plus Intro and Ending stages as not just Shantae, but as Risky Boots, Sky, Bolo, and Rottytops as well. And Shantae herself will have a Ninja outfit, Beach wear, and even a Patty Wagon Costume! Once again, thank you so very much!!

Fan Art Museum
Hope all of our Fan Artists are hard at work on your masterpieces! We're working the kinks out our file upload process on the site but keep on eye on your email inboxes as you should be hearing from us soon!

Enemy Designers
A handful of our Backers have taken on the awesome responsibility of designing an enemy for Shantae: Half-Genie Hero. That can include the general behavior, look, and method for attacking or blocking the player’s progress. There are many things to consider when designing an enemy, such as:

· Number of game states, like walking, turning around, stopping, falling, jumping, cartwheeling, etc .

· Size and complexity, what it looks like and which areas of the game it inhabits·

How it reacts to the various attacks from our playable characters

We will be there to guide the designer through each step in the process. We will advise, help keep it “on brand” within the Shantae universe and lore, and will create various sketches to help bring the idea into focus!

Here's a sample created by the WayForward team:

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We’ll post the highlights as we go, but please understand that in the end, these enemies will be considered part of the Shantae universe and they won’t receive a stamp of approval until they meet with the high standards you’ve come to expect. In other words, please be courteous to our honorary enemy designers as they dip their toes into the process!

We’ll begin by reaching out to these backers to open communication and get the “back of the napkin” idea of their enemy. We’ll consider these ideas, and how they can best be shuffled into our game worlds. For instance If we have, say, too many lava themed enemies then we’ll work with the designer to adapt the design. Next it’s lots of sketches, color compositions, temporary implementation into the game, and then a final, functioning enemy!

Here's that WayForward-designed enemy again, this time in a first pass rough cut idle animation, now ready to take a bite out of our Half-Genie Hero:

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We're finalizing the Enemy Designer pipeline but expect to start emailing each of you very soon, likely just after the holidays.

So keep an eye on your inbox!

We're looking forward to 2015 and hope you are too!!​
 
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Greetings and salutations Shantaerians and Tinkerbackers!

Say Hello to SlimeGal!

While for most of you it’s been a while since our last update (sorry about that), a smaller group of Backers has been working with the dev team intensely on backer-created content for several weeks now. Today we’d like to reveal the first of our Backer-Designed enemies, the SlimeGal!

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The SlimeGal was designed by backer A.J., with his idea being a slime-based enemy capable of changing shape. She’s not overly malicious, just a creature looking for her next meal. A.J. walked us through several design iterations, with him writing additional thoughts, moves, and adjusting to the game’s needs. We worked on dozens of possible designs and color schemes, with A.J. directing us towards the version you see here. We couldn’t be happier with the results, and feel that she fits wonderfully into the existing universe.

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We had a ton of fun working with A.J. but we’re not done yet! Animation will continue to draw up key poses while the programming team proves out her base behaviors. Then we’ll get her working in actual environments designed to maximize her move set. And when that’s over, visual effects and sound design team will step in to perform their magic. A.J. sends his regards, and hopes you’ll love SlimeGal as much as we all do! Thank you A.J!

Your Face in Game & Your Art in Game!

We’ve been making progress on “Your Face in GameBacker NPCs as well, although we do need your help! We’re still missing photos from two of our backers. If you backed at the “Your Face in Game” Reward Tier and did not receive an email, please check your spam filter or email us at support@wayforward.com!

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Yesterday was also the deadline for our "Your Art in Game" Backers to submit their fan art for the in-game Museum. We're still missing a large number of submissions from our artists so if you haven't submitted your art, please submit it ASAP. We're extending the deadline until 3/16/2015 at 11:59 PST, but after that we can't guarantee your art can be included. If you backed at the “Your Art in Game” Reward Tier and did not receive an email, please check your spam filter or email us at support@wayforward.com!

Desert World Concept Art!

The team has left Mermaid World behind to work on the Desert World, the Race World, and some revisions needed for the Intro section of the game. The underwater areas have been given a lot of attention in the past months and look absolutely stellar! Here are a handful of images to enjoy.

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WayForward turns 25!

Lastly we’d like to invite you to celebrate WayForward’s 25th birthday, which just landed on March 1, 2015. We’ve been doing this for a quarter of a century and love making games for you. To help spread the love, we’re holding some epic sales in the coming weeks on fan-favorite games. Prices range from FREE (this is for you, Vita owners!), to 25%, 50%, and even 75% off. Some sales are restricted to certain territories, so check out our Facebook page for more details. As backers you’ve done plenty for us already, so we’ll say it here – DON’T MISS THE FREE STUFF!!

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I for one approve of our Slime Girl overlords.
 
I've been holding off on getting Pirate's Curse despite all the great things I've heard about it and loving the bit of it I played at my friend's place. I'll be grabbing it once it goes on sale this Thursday.
 
Fucking Hell, they're going full on monster girl with this damn game? Whatever, still looks like it's gonna be fantastic. Will it be Wii U exclusive? fI it is then that's gonna suck for me 'cause I'm not buying one.
I've been holding off on getting Pirate's Curse despite all the great things I've heard about it and loving the bit of it I played at my friend's place.
I haven't played it in a long time but it's been a lot of fun so far. Get it.
 
I think it's all platforms, not just Wii U.
 
the game will out for pretty much everything.

I'm getting it for Vita.
 
Fucking Hell, they're going full on monster girl with this damn game? Whatever, still looks like it's gonna be fantastic.
I honestly didn't expect Skullgirls' forum to be a place where I hear someone dislike Monster Girls; I usually hear nothing but praise of them, and it's amusing.

I don't care either way as long as they don't end up very annoying to fight.
 
Yo, push Shantae super hard for Smash guys. She deserves it.
 
Didn't Nintendo say they were only considering Nintendo characters, though?
 
No, they didn't have restrictions, though I imagine it would be the usual "they needed to be on a Nintendo platform for at least one game, and debuted in video games"
 
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Didn't Nintendo say they were only considering Nintendo characters, though?

She originated on the Game Boy Color and has had every entry title on a Nintendo platform.

Shantae - Game Boy Color
Shantae Risky's Revenge - Nintendo DSi
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse - 3DS & Wii U

She has every right to be entered.
 
Still haven't beaten Pirate's Curse, I got bored.




I'm voting for Rayman.
 
I voted for Shantae but I'm not holding my breath because there's people who would vote for Ridley and Snake instead.
 
I voted for Shantae but I'm not holding my breath because there's people who would vote for Ridley and Snake instead.
Snake coming back would be fuckin' SICK.
 
She originated on the Game Boy Color and has had every entry title on a Nintendo platform.

Shantae - Game Boy Color
Shantae Risky's Revenge - Nintendo DSi
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse - 3DS & Wii U

She has every right to be entered.

I didn't say she shouldn't be in. I was under the impression that they were only considering Nintendo owned characters.
 
In that case, they'll shove daisy for no f*ckin' reason again.

I Miss geno, but i think he's square property
 
Then there's those idiots who vote goku. I will take k. Rool before goku

Anyway back to Shantae there's a smash thread if we want to talk about this more.
 
"Out of the Running" and Assist tropheis not counting
The fuck?
this is bullshit.
*sano's salt mine pours*
 
Thank's I'm working on the second line art by Neglim too.
 
Thank's I'm working on the second line art by Neglim too.
I can see from the shading and lighting, it's very much you.
That's a compliment.