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Skullgirls Stage & Background Discussion

Cellsai said:
Yup. The only time you see the Canopy in story mode (aside from Fukua) is when Parasoul and Umbrella are talking there after they visit the prison.

Awesome, i once had a discussion with a friend about which would be Parasoul's stage, if either Glass Canopy or Streets of New Meridian, i kept telling him that Glass Canopy seems to fit her better, since sometimes you can see Umbrella and Adam in the background as well as other Egrets, but he kept telling me that said stage was Squigly's and that Streets of New Meridian was Parasoul's stage just because it's where you fight her in Filia's and Squigly's story modes, but i've always felt Streets of New Meridian suits Filia better, i know her homestage is supposed to be Maplecrest but i still feel like that stage belongs to Painwheel since she lives there and the background music is used in her trailer, same for Filia who has the Streets of New Meridian music in her trailer.

If i were to pair a stage or stages with a playable character it would be like this:

- Filia: Streets of New Meridian/Maplecrest
- Cerebella: River King Casino/Medici Tower
- Peacock: Lab 8/Lab 8 (Empty)
- Parasoul: Glass Canopy
- Ms. Fortune: Little Innsmouth/Little Innsmouth (Night)
- Painwheel: Maplecrest/Rooftops Assault
- Valentine: Lab 8 (Empty)/Grand Cathedral
- Double: Grand Cathedral/Grand Cathedral (Empty)/Gehenna
- Fukua: Nightmare Crest
- Squigly: Rooftops Assault/New Meridian Rooftops
- Big Band: Rooftops Assault/Under the Bridge
- Eliza: Bath of Tefnut/Bath of Sekhmet/Gehenna
- Beowulf: NMO Arena/NMO Arena (Empty)
- Robo Fortune: Train Stage [Meridian Area Rapid Transit]

- Annie and Umbrella: Final Destination, duking it without items to see who gets a second chance at being added as a playable character.

But this is just my opinion, i feel like some stages can be shared by some of the characters, and some characters have multiple stages to represent them, like Eliza or Double sharing Gehenna but having their own Homestages.
 
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when fighting Valentine in Fukua's story mode, where you fight everyone on their home stage, you fight Valentine at destroyed Lab 8
 
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North888 said:
when fighting Valentine in Fukua's story mode, where you fight everyone on their home stage, you fight Valentine at destroyed Lab 8
And that's why i put "Lab 8 (Empty)" on her, because, well, she's the reason there is a dead Avian in the background.
 
Oh, I read that wrong XD I guess I missed it skimming >_>
 
Dio Brando said:
Awesome, i once had a discussion with a friend about which would be Parasoul's stage, if either Glass Canopy or Streets of New Meridian, i kept telling him that Glass Canopy seems to fit her better, since sometimes you can see Umbrella and Adam in the background as well as other Egrets,
Umbrella, Adam and Panzerfaust are always present on the stage, but there's a bonus if neither player picks Parasoul:

EDIT: Now with animated version because why not.

formal Parasoul.png
formal-Parasoul.gif

Side note: I love Glass Canopy and it's a darn shame this bitchin' mural of Nancy is mostly hidden waaaay in the back.

nancy mural.png
 
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I did not realize that was parasoul until someone told me I always thought it was just a random woman the lighting makes her look like she has orange hair instead of red.
 
Hidgerknight said:
Also, @Cellsai, did you separate the stage layer by layer using SkullMod?
All the textures for the stages are just stored in big sprite sheets with dozens of different NPCs and stage fragments on them. Once you extract the stages they're easy to gawk through as standard art files. There's no separating the layers or any nonsense like that.
 
Cellsai said:
Yup. The only time you see the Canopy in story mode (aside from Fukua) is when Parasoul and Umbrella are talking there after they visit the prison.
I just noticed that the image they use in the Background is of Atrium Daytime, the original stage concept, rather then the actual background.
latest

latest

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I'm guessing that it's because the colors are less jarring. Still doesn't make much difference though since it practically looks the same barring the floor tiles and the time of day anyway.
 
evacino said:
I just noticed that the image they use in the Background is of Atrium Daytime, the original stage concept, rather then the actual background.
I'm guessing that it's because the colors are less jarring. Still doesn't make much difference though since it practically looks the same barring the floor tiles and the time of day anyway.

Willy actually gave both a day and night treatments of the stage when it was initially rejected as a stage despite them only using the day version in game for cut scenes:

WillyHwang-SG26Atrium003.jpg


@silentbrains 's website has some more concepts for unused stage designs, including the many ideas Little Innsmouth went through before he arrived at what we have in game.
 
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Cellsai said:
@silentbrains 's website has some more concepts for unused stage designs, including the many ideas Little Innsmouth went through before he arrived at what we have in game.
That's amazing! It's great how there is so many design assets made public if you know where to find them. I'm glad it got picked up in some form eventually since it's one of my favorites! Honestly all the details put into the stages show just how much effort goes into them.
 
Cellsai said:
Also, someone was asking a while back if there was ever a map of the Skullgirls world properly laid out.

Of course there was.

Such majesty.

Ah yes, what a majestic view indeed, but i gotta ask, what's the big hole in the middle that has some falls in it? and is that building with the skull on it the anti-skullgirls lab? And those Onion-looking buildings at the far right has me wondering.

(This map will also help me on my conquest of the Canopy Kingdom, soon this will be the CanoDIO Kingdom! but not yet.....not yet)

This post has been edited by Cellsai. Please do not quote images.
 
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Do not quote images, @Dio Brando . I've edited your post to remove it.

The falls probably lead to the Black Tree cavern under Canopolis, the skull is likely Golgotha and the onion buildings are the Onion Village.

It should be noted that all of the above information and map is hilariously old and not canon/accurate any more. (And the above was probably just what the stage select was going to look like in game and not an actual representation of what the world looks like)
 
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Cellsai said:
Do not quote images, @Dio Brando . I've edited your post to remove it.

The falls probably lead to the Black Tree cavern under Canopolis, the skull is likely Golgotha and the onion buildings are the Onion Village.

It should be noted that all of the above information and map is hilariously old and not canon/accurate any more.

Sorry, i always get myself in a confusion about image posting and stuff like those at forums.

I didn't think the map was so old, another thing that called my attention were those giant gates and the wall going around the kingdom, i guess those were supposed to be the only entrances to the kingdom besides airlines and by sea, it's also funny to think that, Gehenna probably covers about 30% or more of the map since it's in the suburbs and it's underground.
 
Since Final Atrium has mostly settled down I thought I'd post some before/after pics, along with the mockups I shared with the IRC/Lab Zero.

2015-03-28_00004.jpg
Final Atrium as it appeared pre-update.

34EF08D6416AAABFB60F61CAD2FE46FA57352935


The first SkullMod mockup I made, just to see if Atrium's colors could be "toned down" with a minimal amount of work. Took five minutes, was very messy and I did little more than crank saturation to zero on a few textures.

AB39F5726C7DF5FB554F430A8BF618112798BE33


For a semi-serious attempt, I tried tinting the stone statues blue to give the impression of being lit by the energy strands. Also completely desaturated the pee fog. This pass ended up looking too blueberry.

8A0FD2FEB463B1D9F73296F441A9AFA2FC851FD5


The blue tinting was made a lot more subtle, and now more closely matches the strands. Pee fog returns, I forget why.

6C60426DFDF7B3A627F2B2655113FD31B3D304CF


Experimented with desaturating the fog without making it completely colorless. This was the last mockup sent LZ's way.

2015-03-21_00005.jpg


The first official pass at a prettier Final Atrium! Willy made the floor a lot more vibrant, which makes it pop way more than in any of the above mockups. You'll notice that he added some hand-drawn detail to several areas, most obvious in the new blue strands covering the statue pieces. Also, dat dere dynamic lighting.

2015-03-28_00006.jpg


The most recent pass, which everyone saw at Salty yesterday. Some of the background statues have been darkened, others were given a coat of grime, and highlights were made more prominent. Willy poured a ton of effort into prettying up this stage, and without a doubt it paid off.
 
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Flotilla said:
Since Final Atrium has mostly settled down I thought I'd post some before/after pics, along with the mockups I shared with the IRC/Lab Zero.

Thanks for the comparison, the new Final Atrium is way much better, i played it today against Marie in Hard Arcade Mode with Beowulf (still can't beat that ungodly spam with Beowulf, i keep getting boned) and loved how it works so well to give an ominous feel with the darkened background and tuned up blue lights, but i also tought it was pretty damn funny how the new stage colors makes Marie look even paler than she already is, a feat i tought was impossible.
 
I just played the beta for the first time in a while and I have to say I'm not a fan of the pylons in the train stage, gets in the way of the view. I'd rather it just be an open space.
 
Grangach said:
I just played the beta for the first time in a while and I have to say I'm not a fan of the pylons in the train stage, gets in the way of the view. I'd rather it just be an open space.

I don't have much problem with them, but i can understand. But since they serve as positioning marker when there's aerial play, they're necessary i guess. In all cases it's impossible to please everyone with that stage.
 
why would you need reference for aerial positioning just look at your character
 
Grangach said:
why would you need reference for aerial positioning just look at your character
With any other stage your character's positioning relative to the backdrop lets you know how far away from the ground and how close to the corner you are. With the train stage once you leave the ground it's basically impossible to know those things because New Meridian is constantly moving in the back.

The combo route I do is very dependent on where the opponent will end up so it's really important to know exactly, or close to exactly where I am in any stage.

The other moving stage (Medici Tower) lets you know positioning by way of the gigantic elevator doors.
 
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I just noticed something: on class notes Miss Victoria casts a 3D shadow but the chalkboard & desk do not (they have shadows that are drawn so they appear at different angles)

is it a bug? probably not. but it is weird to me.
 
Just heard the new music for the bloody vesion of 'bath of tefnut'(i forgot a new one was planned!) in the last Salty, it's quite cool and fitting with the overall mood!
 
K.Radical said:
Just heard the new music for the bloody vesion of 'bath of tefnut'(i forgot a new one was planned!) in the last Salty, it's quite cool and fitting with the overall mood!
Wow can I hear it somebody record it
 
Just go to the latest salty, the updates are always in the first few minutes and you can hear it without sound effect going on. It's probably around the 8 minute mark.
 
Cellsai said:
Or you could just look on Youtube.
I like this track A LOT. It's probably Yamane's most Castlevania-esque theme on the soundtrack.

Also I wouldn't mind if it gets used for Gehenna too as either replacing or got a remix version with the spooky ambient noises.
 
Well, if it ever get cut down, i hope the full version will be available in the OST, it's really good!
 
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Holy shit the intro, damn epic, sounds like something you could hear in a Fire Emblem game, and man, i can already imagine myself fighting nightmare Filia and Squigly in Eliza's story mode to this, really gives the "the real final fight" feeling, since well, Filia and Squigly are her final battle.
 
I love that songs in this game have long intros
if you change it I will be upset and it has no need to be changed thanks :3
 
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i don't know why but in my mind's eye the second half of the bath song sounds like it could fit in for a theme for the Elite Four in a Pokemon Game. :/ maybe i've been playing too much Pokemon crystal again.
 
leetnoobify said:
I hope An Oasis of Blood's intro gets cut down, a minute of buildup is nice and all but you can end a match before the tempo speeds up.

The song's just over two minutes total before it begins to loop, and you want to remove an entire minute of it? No thanks.
 
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Cool stuff. I think I've asked this before, but I don't remember if it was answered:
Are some stages more netplay friendly than others? I haven't noticed a difference between the simple Class & a more complex one with tons of detail/animation. This is a thing in Arc games, but I'm not sure if it applies to this game.
 
I'm wondering if that 'Filia' in the train ins a reference to that old cutscene storyboard of Painwheel attacking Filia while she's riding on a train.
 
indieanimator said:
Are some stages more netplay friendly than others? I haven't noticed a difference between the simple Class & a more complex one with tons of detail/animation. This is a thing in Arc games, but I'm not sure if it applies to this game.
I recall that a while back when we were going for some games with a friend, we experienced Lab 8 causing noticeably more performance issues compared to other stages.

Note that this was 6+ months ago, with a transcontinental connection, vs a player who had generally bad internet and a non-stellar PC, so take that for what it is.
Setting backgrounds to 2D might have helped + I suspect it was more about the hardware than connection, so it shouldn't be an issue on consoles?
 
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