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What are you doing to sell SkullGirls to your friends?

Evilweevle

Evilweevle

Of course i meant to do that!
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Ms. Fortune Cerebella Squigly
So some of you will remember this was a thread back on the old skullheart before it went down and we lost it all, so i figured i would bring it back so we could hopefully inspire each other to try and force the game down peoples throats enlighten people as to why they should give SG a shot.

Maybe you are taking the game to casuals or telling people about the IGG saga, perhaps you are showing people the masterful animation or buying the game on steam for people (you generous soul you), whatever it is, post it here and let your words inspire others to action!
 
I have a couple irl friends that are Street Fighter players, so they clung onto it rather quickly.
 
Dumped them to find new friends. Why waste time with a group of people who can't think for themselves and have to jump on w/e they see on streams?
 
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I play the game in front of them setting the bait. They eventually get interested and ask what the game is. I tell them what the game is and pitch how the game is a good fighting game. They try it and may or may not like it. If they like it they play too whenever I turn on Skullgirls. That it.
 
I've done all I can to convince them from artwork to gameplay and everything in between.

If they are not interested at this point then there is no getting through to them.
 
Remember kids, Ms. Fortune puns are the only true path to enlightenment. Be sure to pepper your everyday speech with them!
 
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I would tell them that this is the game with the character I obsess over buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut
 
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Confirmed that the only friend DDB has is Annie.

All I did was get hype during the IGG, anyone who seemed interested backed it. In the end I got 4 people toget the game, but none of them are really putting work in it like I am so playing wih them now is pretty boring.
 
i have been holding gatherings and have held tournaments in the past, but still have trouble getting people, even those who play the game, come to them
 
I basically talk to my best friend about the ideas I have for mechanics and what goes on in the community from time to time. He's a little interested in joining this site, actually. However he's that funny irony kind of friend and would most likely on purpose say the most rage inducing things possible.
 
Actually, my friend sold it to me. And now I'm at college, where finding people who play video games is hard enough, let alone fighting games.
Ironically though, the friend who introduced me to Skullgirls is at a college with a fighting game club, even though I play more(and better) than him at this point.
 
I would bring over my PS3 at out meet ups and pop in the game. I play characters I never touch to gave him a chance at winning so I can convert them. Only have one friend that's interested but he doesn't wanna invest because Peacock isn't viable solo (he isn't interested in the tag aspects of the game). I have another friend who won't even look at the game's direction until all the DLC characters are available. I need new friends.
 
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I'm not doing anything, I don't force people to play something they might not like.
 
Hawkingbird said:
I would bring over my PS3 at out meet ups and pop in the game. I play characters I never touch to gave him a chance at winning so I can convert them. Only have one friend that's interested but he doesn't wanna invest because Peacock isn't viable solo (he isn't interested in the tag aspects of the game). I have another friend who won't even look at the game's direction until all the DLC characters are available. I need new friends.


peacock isn't viable solo?


need to check out Infy play
 
Peacock solo is fine. When people say she's ass, I'm assuming they mean in comparison to using her with an assist. Solo works in this game (Post vanilla).
 
I try to see if their interested but then I just buy them a copy and be like "We can play this together!" (which will never happen because we still haven't played borderlands 2.)
 
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At this point I feel that if someone hasn't heard of SG yet, that person is not hardcore enough to play it. Recently I've started to feel that maybe I'm not hardcore enough to play it.
 
I've been pretty successful getting my friends to donate to the Indiegogo - and getting them to play now that they got a retail copy, though some of them are waiting for either spectator mode (for the more communal lobby experience like with other fighting games) or Big Band (because they'd like a male character to play as).

One method I found worked pretty well aside from just showing them the game was exposing them / getting them acquainted with the injokes and memes. Salty Umbrella probably did more to sell the game than anything else I did, lol.
 
409 said:
I'm not doing anything, I don't force people to play something they might not like.

trying to force people to play anything is never going to work. taking a more passive approach is the way to go tbh.

ive had moderate success basically just putting on the game at casuals and going back and forth between training mode and playing people online if the connection is good. ive fallen off the wagon a little since evo, mainly because i havent been playing any fighters since if finished, and also feel that since a massive change patch is due on xbox i dont want to put people off learning the game twice.

but usually people will at least take an interest in what i am doing/trying to figure out, usually they will share some insight as to why they dont play (which is a good time to point out any misinformation they might have heard) tell them about all the free DLC and updates the game will be getting and all that stuff etc.

the main thing is to be patient and understanding as to why people havent given the game much time (fighters are a big commitment after all), and people will appreciate you arent trying to strong arm them or force it on them.

one of my guys i play with (who previously has expressed to me that no one would be willing to play skullgirls) actually picked up a copy of the game himself only because i was willing to educate and he respected my enthusiasm for the game. He also went on to say that i was the best kind of ambassador for the game, which in turn has given me more motivation to show the game off to more people (just as soon as squigs patch turns up)

you most likely wont get worthwhile results immediately. it will take patience and persistence. luckily the game is getting a steady flow of content for the next year so it should give everyone an excuse to try every 6-7 months or so.
 
The entire concepts behind Big Band and Beowulf has been a seemingly successful way to spark interest. However, the people I talk to seem to be way more interested in characters like Stanley, Andy Anvil, Panzerfaust, or Isaac for the interesting concept of time travel fighting.
Essentially, I show them the indiegogo character list and they ask me why all of those characters are not playable.
 
lets see i; explain who valentine is every time i wear this shirt in my profile pic when someone asks, they see my valentine garage kit, me playing SG, when someone asks about finding a fun game, etc. i make sure they ask first though because i don't feel its necessary to shove things down peoples throat. i got quite a few people when i brought my ps3 over at a local gamefest. only downside is a lot of people are always wanting to play the next new thing and tend to forget but hey at least i and this community is faithful.
 
Me and Winnie haven't gotten any friends on it tbh.

I just remember Winnie got me onto it one day. He said...
"It's a MVC2 styled game with tits and Peacock's a little bitch."

That sold me. That was like day 2 too.
 
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I sent somebody a PC-beta code.
He played the tutorial and never touched the game again.
 
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Evilweevle said:
you most likely wont get worthwhile results immediately. it will take patience and persistence. luckily the game is getting a steady flow of content for the next year so it should give everyone an excuse to try every 6-7 months or so.

Serious question, how many people have you gotten to join you and really play? Not being an ass or anything, I really want to know because it sounds like you've put a lot of effort into it.
 
View619 said:
Serious question, how many people have you gotten to join you and really play? Not being an ass or anything, I really want to know because it sounds like you've put a lot of effort into it.


not gonna lie, it hasnt been as much as i d hoped really. ive had one guy play for a few hours in training mode where he expressed he really likes the feel of the game an he loved all the training options, but it hasnt translated into a buy yet.

one guy did buy the game and he has been dabbling with Val but he feels he isnt ready to play the game seriously yet.

TBH i have been finding it hard to even play the game myself right now since i dont have access to the PC version, else i would be on that shit all the time. Its the same situation i was in 6 months ago while waiting for the SDE patch where i didnt want to try and get people learning a game that was due to change massively, so im really hoping that the changes in MDE are the last of the big ones and that subsequent updates are mere tweaks and dont introduce entirely new systems like undizzy etc.

ill likely pull the game out at casuals tomorrow again but im mainly waiting for the patch to drop on 360.
 
Nothing, I won't even try. My superior taste will be wasted on people like them.
 
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Evilweevle said:
ill likely pull the game out at casuals tomorrow again but im mainly waiting for the patch to drop on 360.
YOU FOOL! Do you not remember the last time that phrase was spoken?!?
 
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I got four people to buy the game, and I actually bought it for one person, so I think I did well.
 
Considering that a game's financial success is mostly dependent on casual players, Skullgirls is quite a hard sell for the following reasons. BTW I love this game.

1. LabZero isn't a major company (aka Capcom, Namco, SNK, etc.), but rather an indie new company. Indie games are all the rage these days but that is mostly with other genres. With fighting games brand name seems to make a huge difference. Also that most fighting games are Japanese made will also hurt it.

2. Currently only 9 selectable characters. Especially considering this is mostly a team game, it's going to seem very small when compared to UMVC3, or SF4, KOFXIII, etc.

3. Apparent touch of death combos. These aren't true touch of deaths usually, but usually with resets can feel like it to new players. Seeing your health go from full to zero in one touch can be very frustrating, and it will be awhile before players can start to spot and defend against resets.

4. Mike Z constantly comparing the game to MVC2. This can give the illusion that it is an MVC2 clone, which it is not. However MVC2 still has a huge playerbase so people who think that, will just stick with MVC2.

5. All female cast. Many gamers avoid doujin games for this very reason, they feel the game is more about sexy fanservice than gameplay.

A few things that can be done to help promote the game...

1. Keep throwing out that the music composer is Michiru Yamane of Castlevania SOTN fame. Most fighting games nowadays aren't so great musicwise, so Skullgirls really stands out in this regard.

2. Point out how different all the characters are from each other, this should diminish peoples' concerns with cast size somewhat.

3. Point out that 4 more DLC characters are on their way (some of them male), and possibly more after that.

4. Point out how much of an impact fans have in influencing the game.

5. Promote that it uses the coveted GGPO online system, the closest u can get to offline without actually being offline.
 
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I just embrice being the known fanboy in a another forum I follow, and if someone asks what game this avatar/pic/video comes from, then I will give them a very little pitch about it.
 
Fighting game buddies were easy to sell, just explained some of the game's features, history of the game, emphasis on tourney play/balance, and said "art's better than Guilty Gear."

Others were mostly me either buying the game for them or them playing it on my computer.
 
As a casual gamer who fell hard for SG, let me share the things my friend focused on while pitching me the game. Things to note about me - I've never gotten into any fighting games before. The arcade style has always been appealing but the *apparent* requirement of a joystick and commitment to training always deterred me.

My friend, a casual gamer who likes fighting games (plays a decent Chun-Li apparently), hyped this game up so hard around the time of the Steam release. He focused on:

Smoothness of gameplay/animation
Balanced fighting
Artwork
Character backstories
Music

What kept ME playing was the ability to use my keyboard for inputs. Moves make a lot of sense and inputs are simple enough that I don't ever feel at a disadvantage using my keyboard. The game also gives such satisfying and instant feedback for everything from jumping in the air to pulling off a long combo. As mentioned above, the characters are also (generally) balanced, and unless you're going up against a pro, there tends to be no super easy combos which can bring your health from full to zero. The game has to be practiced like any good fighter, but especially satisfying in this game to see your practice pay off.



tl;dr - bold words
 
I gathered beta buddy codes from people who had no one to give them to and distributed them to players willing to give the game a try.

Tried to get a friend who liked Guilty Gear XX interested with some trailers, but no success so far.

I also kept a Skullgirls-themed thread going on another forum I attend to. Eventually lost motivation for that when it became obvious I'm just talking with myself. People have to taste.
 
The major problem with getting people to try SG is that they love to be the problem solvers and look for issues with the game before they even touch it. The closest I have ever gotten to getting a new person interested is getting him to sit in training mode for five minutes and immediately announce that he "doesn't like the feel of the game", even though he never played a match! Another guy claimed to be interested in starting something up, but always dodged when it was time to play and eventually claimed that since his friends weren't going to join in, he wasn't going to bother with it either. Your best bet imho is just to find the friends online and get a community started with them. It's not worth the time, money or effort to push the game at people who look at it and immediately think they know everything about SG.
 
Got one friend to buy it and another one to get interested with the beta buddy key. To bad he has lots of game to buy, but he should get around to do it at some point. :P

I also push the game on a gaming forum I mod and it spread the word to one or two people who bought it. Gonna push again when Big Band comes out.
 
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Ever since the PC release I've been bringing the game to local sessions and tournaments. I just mess around in training mode until someone comes over, then I just start talking to them about the game. So far, I only know of two people who have bought the game after playing it with me at these gatherings. But there are a few Smash players that continue to come back and are interested in playing the game.
 
Lately I've simply been bringing a set up once a week to college, during the designated fighters day, plop down into training mode for a little while or play with a couple of friends who can barely keep up and people start asking. slowly but surely, I'm working it in. Not everyone can buy it because of pretty bad computers and no PS3/360 so their only practice is dependent on me for now, but they are showing interest and have taken to asking me if I'm bringing it each week to be sure.

All in all, I'm pretty glad with my progress, but hoping it keeps going forward.
 
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