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The Generically Named Thread Where We Come Up With Ways To Help Skullgirls

LKArtillery

LKArtillery

do you think this is a f*ing game
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I'm making this thread mostly because I am clueless and I don't know where to even begin to approach this stuff. Inspired by a short exchange with Mike in the Ask Ravidrath thread.

Now, we all know that the Indiegogo raised a lot of support, and that support is gonna carry Lab Zero through making several characters. But that money isn't going to last forever, and after that, who knows what could happen? We're all on this forum because we love Skullgirls, clearly. And none of us wants to see this game's development go stagnant for lack of development money.

So what can we do? Skullgirls needs investors, but its touchy situation makes it unappealing to other companies to invest in. No matter how good the game is, profit is everything. What we need to do as fans is to convince them that this game is a worthwhile commitment.

The problem I have? It's simply that I'm overwhelmed by this. Navigating the financial side of things has never been my forte. So what I need--we need--is input from you guys. Other fans. People who actually have a handle on this stuff. So the general goal for this thread would be:
  • Getting our facts straight about SG's financial situation, and coming up with a compelling argument (not just sentiment) as to why it's worth investing in
  • Finding and contacting companies that we believe could invest in Skullgirls, and give them reasons they can benefit from doing so
  • Organize a way for the layman (such as myself) to be able to take part in this effort. (Petition, emails, lovingly handwritten letters, what do we do)
  • Coming up with other ways to raise funds for SG just in general. (Merch sales? Events? An independent fundraiser? Anything really?)
I mean, come on, we have an insanely rabid fanbase on our hands, here. Mike said it himself, there's no reason we shouldn't be trying to advocate for Skullgirls ourselves. So, yeah, what's stopping us, anyway?
 
Didnt we have that one rant about our tournament scene did that ever get archived?
 
Convince a billionaire to pay for every dlc character out of pure philanthropy?
 
well that and another one about the tournaments, i think it was right after the IGG drive
 
Beuzer0 said:
You mean the topic from DaRabbidDuckie?
I can't remember, it was my first time at this site, that was probably it though
 
I don't see how building tournament numbers is going to do much for Lab Zero's financial state anyway. UMvC3 is probably one of the most popular modern fighting games to this day. That didn't stop Marvel from pulling the plug on the license for it and more or less confirming that a sequel or re-release is out of the cards at this point. Any game that's not either from the big 3 (Capcom, Namco Bandai, NetherRealm) or Melee don't pull in high enough numbers to get anyone really excited.
 
Disney is a pretty big jump from indie fighting game. Hell, if you want to get down to it, the only games that matter are Marvel, Street Fighter, and Smash.
 
could've sworn I've seen this type of thread already.
 
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hell im always trying to get it out here in Santa Clarita, but of course people dont take interest because
1. the game to them looks perverted and they think its just weird that its mainly girls fighting
2. The FGC around here is more or less focused on the more popular titles like SF4, MK9, Tekken. Hell Blazblue has not been selling well up here, Gamestop has not sold a good number of copies yet. Plus The FPS scene is bigger around here. the only place up here like UGC is Tapped out gaming, which really focuses on card games like magic the gathering, but has some little events for games like project m and what not

3. Some people are really hesitant to buy this game because they think they will have get involved in the community. they dont wanna take that leap of faith like i did with SG
 
We can't really say what the sales look like for Skullgirls but if I recall corect it did sell very well. The only problem is with the business aspects. I think the best thing to do is for us to come up with a set of good press (especially related to how much money future Lab Zero funding could make), logical arguments about why Skullgirls would be good as an investment, and finally a list of publishers etc to show this information to (for example emailing them, explaining why you like the game as a fan and telling them how to get in contact with Lab0). Realistically the fighting games industry consists of a small amount of devoted publishers and devs but there isn't really a reason for a new publisher not to break into the space, especially with a team with the unique expertise of Lab Zero. Fans of the game going to publishers to try to get Skullgirls noticed shows real interest in the game and the better possibility of a good return on their investment. If I read Mike's post right he is tired of acting as the only one trying to promote Skullgirls and telling big companies that lots of people like the game rather than having the community communicate its size and appetite for a new game/more content itself.


Does anyone have anything to add to this list or any feedback for my idea?

Arguments:
Devoted fan base
Many fighting games become long standing and profitable franchises

Facts:
The publisher has made money (Skullgirls is profitable business)
Fans raised $828,768 for extra characters https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/keep-skullgirls-growing

Publishers:
Devolver Digital
http://www.devolverdigital.com/games/page/

  • Famous for publishing weird games
  • Great at publicity
  • Should have enough money (they have published 20 hour long fps which I think wouldn't have a smaller required budget than what the Skullgirls devs are looking for)
 
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Oh my gosh, thank you! This is exactly the kind of helpful advice I was looking for, so thanks so much for posting it. I might add this to the OP, if that's ok?

Let's see... As a big lore fan of Skullgirls, I'd also add as an argument that the nature of the game's artwork, story and characters is a big draw to more casual players who wouldn't otherwise be interested in Skullgirls due to it being a fighting genre title. A considerable part of the fanbase is in it due to its eye-catching presentation.

Also, I do recall that when it was first released, the game sold well. But likewise can't remember any of the exact numbers to save my life. As far as acquiring those sales figures go, would it help to message one of the developers about that information? Ravidrath, maybe? They've been very open about pretty much everything thus far.
 
I thought Marvelous AQL was also interested in taking over publishing duties for Skullgirls at one point, when it seemed possible that Autumn's legal troubles were going to kill them off.

...since Lab Zero apparently doesn't, who owns the Skullgirls IP anyway? Is it Reverge Labs (which I thought completely died) or Autumn Games?
 
LKArtillery said:
Also, I do recall that when it was first released, the game sold well. But likewise can't remember any of the exact numbers to save my life. As far as acquiring those sales figures go, would it help to message one of the developers about that information? Ravidrath, maybe? They've been very open about pretty much everything thus far.

As far as financial details are concerned that's normally privileged information for a private company like Autumn. He'd probably get sued or at least slapped with whatever penalties are in his NDA if he gave us any hard numbers (if he even has them).
 
Jason said:
As far as financial details are concerned that's normally privileged information for a private company like Autumn. He'd probably get sued or at least slapped with whatever penalties are in his NDA if he gave us any hard numbers (if he even has them).

That's what I was afraid of. Well, exact numbers for everything are probably impossible in that case, but given that there's general information about the game's sales and reception publicly available on, say, the Wikipedia page, I think it wouldn't be unreasonable to ask for something nonspecific.

e.g. ask "How well did SG sell upon console release", "How have PC sales compared", "Has SG consistently sold well since" or something along those lines and let him give the answers he's able to?

In any case, I suppose for our purposes we wouldn't necessarily need super specific to-the-exact-sale amounts or anything. Just a relative figure we can give that says "hey this game is actually worth putting money into". As far as sending a message, it's something to bolster credibility. The aim here is more to put this game out out there and say "hey look at all the loyal fans it has there's money here" than to be super hardline ourselves.
 
I think the main question is - How do we send a positive message to publishers (twitter, email, facebook, what?) and who do we send said message to?

Ravidrath has said he's doing whatever he can to ensure SG has a future beyond the IGG funds but we don't know which companies he has approached or anything like that.
 
OK so here's the plan, we kidnap several mainstream celebrity superstars and we force them to promote Skullgirls on Twitter, thereby increasing it's popularity exponentially, it's foolproof.
Gin_Rummy_5262.jpg
 
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Denizen said:
OK so here's the plan, we kidnap several mainstream celebrity superstars and we force them to promote Skullgirls on Twitter, thereby increasing it's popularity exponentially, it's foolproof.
Gin_Rummy_5262.jpg
Brilience! But not the way I spell it!
I think...NO!, I KNOW we need to kidnap every A-List Fighting Game Champion and the very creators of the fighting game community, and force them to say nice thinks about Skullgirls on stream.
But seriously, we need to find a way on the map! Maybe we don't ever need to be a main game in EVO if were on the main stage everywhere else. I mean, EVO's ain't that much the shit.
 
I think you're missing the point in that Tournament Attendees are a very small part of a Fighting Game's sales and Publishers only care about sales and profits.
 
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I think we really need a crazy, yet realistic plan.(those two words in the same sentence) Maybe we can try out budget free advertisement and show it on local TV because not everyone owns cable, but everyone has a TV. If that doesn't work, then well possibly use bus benches or... billboards? This is crazy, but ambitious!
 
what videogame ever used billboards to advertise? what budget do they have to do that
 
This question may actually be rude or inappropriate but...
How much money does Lab Zero have in the bank in the first place? I mean, like right now?
 
I have a great crazy idea! EXTEND THE IGG. the problem with that is Mike and Alex doesn't want to do another or even extend the one they have. I think if we come up with unrational ideas, eschew the realism, maybe we'll hit the gold nugget!
Also, Skullgirls machines in the U.S. they'll sell constantly in coins!
 
Only problem with Skullgirls Arcade in America? NESiCA only works in Asia.
 
and nobody goes to arcades in america :(
 
Probably due to a combination of consoles and all of the good arcade games staying in Asia. I mean, I've literally seen a crappy attempt at a UMvC3 cabinet at an arcade once. When you have to turn that into an arcade game, you got problems.
 
WrestlerGuile said:
I have a great crazy idea! EXTEND THE IGG. the problem with that is Mike and Alex doesn't want to do another or even extend the one they have. I think if we come up with unrational ideas, eschew the realism, maybe we'll hit the gold nugget!
Also, Skullgirls machines in the U.S. they'll sell constantly in coins!
Mike's already gone on record that they really don't want to do another round of crowdfunding. I can't really blame them though, they had to cut costs big-time the first time.
 
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Id say invite some big names from the MvC2 player base to come and give the game a go post tournament, then record them having fun and upload to the interwebs for publicity. Call it cheap but considering no money was given to them to say good things, and all their (preferable) reactions are genuine, id say we could earn some rep among that community and perhaps even have some of it dip into the UMvC3 fanbase.

( Also the fukua thing seemed to have attracted some attention from the SF4 Community, both Ono's approval and the video itself, so you could say that publicity from big names is a good thing.
 
I'm sure the out-there suggestions are... well-intentioned, but please don't try to derail the topic. I'm looking at you, WrestlerGuile. You can take your obnoxiousness to another thread.

We really do need to be looking at this in a more serious light. Call me crazy, but I don't really trust Skullgirls' track record with good luck when it comes to finances. (Gypsy curse and all that. 2spooky.) Lab Zero unfortunately cannot just magic money out of nowhere, so when the IGG fund dries up, the game could very well dry up with it if no one does anything. The Skullgirls community has shown before that it's willing to put its money where its mouth is and if we want to see this game stay afloat, then we really ought to be making sure relevant parties hear that message from us.

This thread isn't about getting more players into the community, per se. That's important, but that's not what we're focusing on here. Just shouting at people "go to a tournament!" isn't actually doing anything to convince publishers that they should be supporting this game. I'm not gonna go saying it's a bad thing to be encouraging tournament attendance or anything, of course not, but for the purposes of this topic it's not the aim. Unless we can make it concretely relevant to the argument at hand.

Jason also brings up a good point--do we know who LZ has approached or how much resistance they've been met with in their attempts? If there's a company that's flatly ignored or been unapproachable to the idea of funding SG it might be best to focus on others. Compiling a list of publishers to potentially try and contact and ones to avoid may be a good idea.
 
Getting more people into the competitive scene will do next to nothing in terms of directly helping L0 financially. You would have to see LoL/Starcraft 2/Dota 2 level of entrants/spectators regularly for the possibility of that happening where even SF or Marvel can't even touch. Playing the game is important and more so with other people at gatherings, but that isn't the sure kill solution we are hoping for if we are to solve this dilemma from our end.

Scenarios I see that will solve this issue from our end. Fair warning it won't sound cheerful at all.

1. If a handful of SG fans have a wealthy relative/close friend/associate that wouldn't mind donating/investing/wasting a few million together into an indie fighting game full of cartoon females.

2. One of us winning the mega ball/ridiculously large amount of prize money and donating a generous portion of the winnings to L0 is another scenario. So theoretically for doing "our part" each of us buy lottery tickets every week where being struck by lightning is a greater chance of happening then winning.

3. We create our own united "donate" well (links to L0 account) with a progress bar of total earnings with goal thresholds. This will be a much slower and difficult undertaking since this literally a "hey SG fan spare whatever coin you have". This won't work unless theoretically every possible SG fan under the sun unites under this banner and wouldn't mind donating a percentage of their weekly/bi weekly/monthly salaries to SG development.

Ignoring the silliness of this scenario of everyone of us seriously being united, in this economy where money can be tight I doubt a good chunk of people will regularly donate money for a hobby investment where there is no guarantee that a character will be produced. The IGG campaign worked due to several contributing factors that wouldn't be present with this idea.

4. Probably the most likely scenario would be if anyone of us used to, currently, or in the future have the right connections where we can get Lab 0 into the door to meet the right people and possibly give them the opportunity they need to develop more content

Yeah I know these are highly improbable scenarios, but this is what happens when a community of disorganized fans have to deal with the cruel reality of corporate America instead of a business with reserves of capital meant for investing.

There is also this which is probably the most used method in the community. [What I'm doing]

5. Kick back, relax, and play the game. Stop with the constant worrying it won't help the situation. Pray for some miracle to happen in the meantime from L0's end before Robo Fortune is done.
 
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LKArtillery said:
I'm sure the out-there suggestions are... well-intentioned, but please don't try to derail the topic. I'm looking at you, WrestlerGuile. You can take your obnoxiousness to another thread.
I'm not trying to be stupid or obnoxious! I really want to help L0 make more money, but I found out that's not what it's about anymore.
LKArtilery, if you want a realistic post, then here:
The reason we can't focus on how L0 needs to make money is because it's really about sales. It's about how many digital copies of Skullgirls are sold. Autumn Games feel like SG is an investment, but it's a dubious investment. They want to trust that L0 can make money for them. Because L0 has hit average sells, they are giving them an average amount so that Autumn can make their cut of the pie. Autumn is still dubious of L0 capabilities to sell their product, so they're getting more piece of the pie than L0 is. I don't think billboards, benches, or even Youtube can work good enough. I should add that over 80,000 views of Fukua has put L0 on the map--for now--however there are those screaming clone or lazy.
L0 has to work like a corporation in order to convince Autumn to give them a larger piece of pie. They have to find the most safest, least wallet-breaking way to advertise. What they should first present is the games actual name. Everyone think Skullgirls is a nasty, perverted game because they think it's an all-girl cast and it serves as fanservice, so the chivalrous men or over-feminist women will refuse to buy the game. In order to present the name and why it's named Skullgirls, the advert should include the lore. In fact, L0 has to add whatever's a benefactor to Skullgirls like being an inviting experience for newcomers--this is how I got even more into fighting games, anyway--, having a great online experience, etc. Maybe a personal testimonial from one of us and how our experience is in the SG scene.
If they're taken this seriously, one of the greatest benefits are main spots in the FGC scene and recognition.
Since Skullgirls Encore is technically a new game, I feel reviewers need to come back and look at the game again.

So, no more silly, dumbass posts. What do you think of this idea, because it's literally the only one we actually have, no matter how many angle we look at it, and it's the only truly realistic one.
 
Not a bad idea, I mean a few sites re-reviewed Double Dragon Neon when it came out on Steam, and the main draw from that version was the addition of online co-op.
 
I should also add that Iron Galaxy should be a publisher for L0. They seem to really love fighting games, plus they have Killer Instinct in their tool belt, so yeah. I just looked at Autumn's website, they're not on the updated side so much.
 
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