The book Blood, Sweat and Pixels had some great stories about the development of indie titles like Stardew Valley and Shovel Knight. It takes an inhuman amount of drive to work the way indie devs do
Does it have to? With its growing resurgence and main eco stage feature alongside legacy titles, it could grow to become a legacy title in its own right. Long road ahead, but it's possible.
With the game depending on SGM's success, which is doing very well right now, there's still hope for SG on getting another Season Pass in the future! 🙏
@@olakpasa6486 the ingame tutorials are a really good place to start. I would say go through all of them so you have an idea of what each fighter does. The biggest thing to keep in mind though is your defense, people are fucking crazy at going in on this game or at least that's how i see it lol.
I bought Skullgirls on sale during late 2021. It was my favorite game I played that year. I’m so mad I’m late, but I’m so thankful I’m finally here. I got the season pass as a gift for Christmas, but I haven’t tried it yet. It’s on my post Christmas to-do list, though. It’s quickly become one of my top fighting games ever, right up there with DBFZ and Smash Ultimate. I absolutely cannot wait to see what comes next for this game in the future, as I know it’ll be fantastic. Here’s hoping we finally get that complete, canon story mode sometime eventually.
Skullgirls is like Medic from TF2. He's the most well-designed class in the game, but everyone seems to ignore him to opt to play other classes that they enjoy better, yet they still beg for a Medic on their team.
Seeing Skullgirls next to four legacy titles from franchises that have been dominating the scene since the 90's was amazing. The game absolutely deserves it.
Skullgirls absolutely deserves this and more. I always loved the idea of fighting games but was too put off by all the learning I'd have to do. Not only did this game make me love the grind, it also made me fall in love with the "juggling" and team subcategories of fighting games - both of which were very intimidating as someone who was new to fighting games.
I'm always saddened when I see steamcharts show how small players are on average, though I always take it with a grain of salt. I love the game, so I hope the new season's pass pulls in a new audience
That's pretty much the genre in general. Even though dozens of games have fairly active scenes and regular tournaments, every year there's only ever around 5 or so fighting games that can consistently pull in a 4-digit daily avg. player number on Steam. Those games are usually big IPs or new releases from a big developer, while many other fighting games are in the triple digits. Skullgirls is really one of the luckier ones that has managed to keep triple digit average for a whole decade, and is really the only indie fighting game to do so. Skullgirls and Blazblue have shared a similar curve over the years too, where a big sale or announcement will occasionally bump them up to 4-digits for a little while, (Skullgirls had a big spike last year from EVO+Season Pass, and then Blazblue got a huge spike in the last couple months from the netcode patch) but eventually things end up leveling-off around the triple digits again. Even the new Melty Blood shares this situation.
I mean, luckily with solid netcode you often don't need crazy player counts to have a solid experience. Really, you only need one person with a solid connection to you! And if you were to cycle through each of the ~50 or so viable connections you'll still be spending a lot of time fighting different players with different characters and playstyles! While it's a bummer sometimes that fighting games aren't more popular, they're also in a bit of a unique situation compared to team games or battle royales in that you don't necessarily NEED a ton of players to still have a great experience (but it's definitely a plus for sure) 🙂
It so fucking deserves a chance. I have played this game since almost it's release, because the art caught my attention, but when I played it, i could feel it's dedication in it's entirety, a world with it's story, stages and characters brimming with personality. I wasn't good at the game and I didn't care, i just wanted to try a fighting game for once and I'm glad i picked Skullgirls. EDIT: Also, fuck Mike Trashmont.
As far as fighting game story modes go (and the arcade type, not guilty gear movie type), I think Skullgirls has one of the best in terms of storytelling and presentation. It's written well enough to introduce the world of skullgirls, but its not overwritten with exposition. This really shows with the DLC stories (Squigly, Eliza, Big Band, Beowulf) they were amazing.
That's the exact same as me. This is easily my favorite fighting game even though I'm not good at it. The art, music, and characters grabbed me immediately and I've loved it since the beginning. To see it finally get a legitimate chance to succeed means the world. Also I'm so hype for Black Dahlia.
Imagine being both a disgusting creep and narcissistic to the point where you would make wild demands without any leverage, then dissolve the board and fire everyone... When there was literally nothing preventing those same people you fired to come together again and continue working on the game, now free of any ties from you. The poetic ending to the drama is great, Zaimont can go rot somewhere. I wish Skullgirls and Future Club the best!
People forget to mention that the problem wasn't that he was creepy, but that he was unwilling to change. Everybody knew that he is an autist who has troubles communicating after all The team did the right thing of course, but I hope that Mike learns from this in a healthy way, even though he should have done so a long time ago
Proof that if you love something enough and give it the love and care it needs to grow, success with it is inevitable. I'm truly blown away by how strong the SG community is. I hope they continue to grow
the only other problem is that the support for Indivisible died we were promised so many crossover DLC characters INCLUDING SHANTAE, ANIMATED BY THE LAB ZERO CREW I will never get to see that now...
seeing the title alone puts a smile on my face, my favorite fighting game endures despite its many setbacks. Just found your channel a few days ago and it looks dope, planning on binging your vids.
I remember when I first loaded skullgirls with no fighting game experience, picked eliza (idk I mean look at her + she was new back then) and just mashed my way to victory against my friends Now, looking back at skullgirls I’m thankful it’s not dead yet, and it might as well live on
I'm so, so happy that this franchise is finally able to stand up after being kicked on the floor again and again since it came out. You may or may not like the gameplay, the style, the devs or even the franchise in general, but if there's one thing that everyone is forced to applaud is its resilience and sheer fucking will. For an indie title (and a very niche one at that), it has recieved many blows that an indie of its size just shouldn't be able to handle. But it did. Even though I don't play the game that much and I don't consider myself a part of the community, I was rooting for this game since the moment I discovered it around 2016. I'm really glad it finally can catch a break.
Skullgirls was one of the first fighting games I ever played as a kid and it's been crazy to grow up alongside the game. Lauch party still going almost 10 years strong!
never played this game but I'm truly happy for the community, the players and the devs alike (aside from the dirtbag left alone in his company of course). That's a really refreshing story and the game looks like it really deserves it
It make me so immensely happy to see Skullgirls 2nd Encore continue to change and grow despite its rocky history and the trainwreck that 2020 was. Congratulations to the game and everyone on board keeping the hype train at full speed, may all your wishes come true.
The game that "refuses too die" has now seemingly decided to die it seems current recent steam reviews are now overwhelmingly negative at the time of writing this comment
@@raycom201 Its more than just panties shots, its generally the censorship which were unnecessary since the game for a decade has embraced the fan service and lewdness, they hired porn artist ffs
@@shiawase8694 While I do agree that the censorship was unnecessary and kind of a waste since it was there for a decade, most of the changes are barely noticeable and hardly worth a fuss.
@@raycom201 the biggest problem is the precedent that this sets for the future, and the fact they removed and altered stuff from the paid artbook, including fan arts from guest artists (bc they didn't get the permission to alter those, so it's gone). Who's to say that the censorship won't escalate further in the future? If it really was something 'barely noticeable and hardly worth a fuss' then why would they remove it in the first place? It's even worse that they choose to do it now that the two 'brains' behind the idea and whole concept are gone.
I'm not too sure though, it's always been kind of niche to begin with, even amongst the fighting game community. I definitely get some of the changes by them but at the same time why change something to such a high degree that it would basically just waste your time?
@@ikedatike2533 it hurts a little, keeping a game alive through sheer support and earning prizes for that support only for it to be taken away when it isn't necessary anymore...
@@ikedatike2533this time is not because of having no money, or because they have a terrible publisher or even worse, one of them being a horrible person. This time they bite hand they feed them, their fans. I'm not saying some changes aren't justified, in fact some of them I'm ok with them, but some of them are just so backwards against the community that help them grow as much as they are now
It is terrific to see indie titles make a comeback - especially with the kinds of odds elaborated upon in the video. Looks like a solid beat-em-up - and I'm curious as to how good the netcode really is (and must be). Well covered as always.
Skullgirls' netcode is quite good using a modified version of GGPO which allows for solid connections between players in different regions of the world. However I do want to note that lobbies are at times unstable and can break if placed under too much loads with high ping connections.
@@Ninja-The-Red-Shinobi Good to know that this game's netcode is rollback-based (I guessed that it was but it's good to confirm). As for the lobby instability - fair enough.
GenreNazi here - this game is not a beat-em-up., as beat-em-ups are human player(s) fighting against multiple CPU opponents across scrolling stages that include boss fights and has pickups like weapons and health. The most famous examples of the genre being Final Fight, Double Dragon and Streets of Rage.
God, I remember buying Skullgirls for 5 dollars on Xbox 360 when it first came out...it's just so satisfying to see how far it's come despite all the hurdles
The Skullgirls story will go down in FGC history as the game that even if beaten down will always get up and bring more hype and life into the fight. I haven’t watched an EscapingtheWorkforce Stream in a long time, I think I need to go back to get entertained again.
Could someone explain it a bit more? The guy fired everybody, they started a new company without him, but somehow were able to get all of the game to continue development? How did he not retain the source code or prevent them from continuing development?
The game IP belong to the publisher Autumn Games, Labzero don’t have any voice at controlling this game source code anymore . So Autumn just gave the game to the old developers to continue the process while leave Mike in the dark
He's just the developer and the head of a small company in charge of developing a game but the game intellectual property (IP) holder, Autumn Games, was the big boi so they have everything even the source code.
Skullgirls IP is owned by Publisher Autumn games. Mike ALSO pissed off Said Publisher so when future club was formed, Autumn made them the game dev team and basically threw Mike Z and Lab Zero out.
Mike Z actually did nothing wrong, he was merely accused with no substantial proof that he sexually harrassed anyone. Everyone pretty much threw him under the bus without due process, and because he didn't just let himself get railroaded, everyone left Labzero Games. The only thing I've seen from what was presented to the public about the Mike Z accusations, is that he's an awkward guy who isn't good at talking to chicks. That BunnyAyumi (she's a fucking nutcase) situation showed me how crazy cancel culture is, and just how easy it is to accuse and brand someone a sexual harasser. Nothing in those texts between him and her were remotely sexually inappropriate. Awkward, yes, but nothing inappropriate. The community did something similar to INFILTRATION when he was accused of domestic violence (but later found innocent) against his ex wife.
This company behind skullgirls went through a lot just to make games, but the bravest thing about this company is that they spent all year making skullgirls alive without getting paid for one year.
Awesome. This game is beautiful and looks amazing, never would have guessed it had such a troubled history. Glad it seems to be ending on a very high note. Excited for the upcoming tourney!
This game really was the game that made me get into fighting games and I'm glad it's still going and refuses to go down! This game will always hold a special place in my heart. Let's go Skullgirls!!
I should buy this game but everything that Mike Z had did kind of killed my interest that I pushed it off in the back. I was still an active FGC member when this was announced way back then and thoroughly impressed how long this has lasted. I'll see if there's a Steam version later on this weekend.
There is! getting the steam version is the best idea because you will be able to play the future dlc characters for free while they are being developed in the open beta, and your feed back can help the game.
Mike Z's bullshit also put me off the game until Future Club and Hidden Variable took over. Future Club is a worker co-op so they're a lot less likely to have the same issues, and the lead programmer(?) at Hidden Variable is Liam, who's a long-time pro player and community member. The game's in a good spot right now.
let's not forget that what happened to the studio also canceled development on their other game Indivisible. because development was cancelled all of the Kickstarter goals would never be put into the game like guest characters and backer made characters. no one cares about Indivisible though unfortunately.
Man I wish indivisible could be saved, such a cool game. I think the issue is that the IP is owned by 505 games, who are a bigger publisher than autumn and have very little incentive to either continue supporting the development or to sell the IP to someone who will. The only consolation I can think of is that Future Club has projects in the works, and they contain basically the entire art team from Lab Zero, the best we can probably hope for is a spiritual successor.
Honestly if any of the big three were smart they would enter a contract with the company as an indie headline exclusive to officially make a Skullgirls 2 while keeping the current one alive for multi-platform.
sorry, by big three you mean platform? as in Sony, Microsoft, ninty? Somebody should absolutely hop on funding an exclusivity deal, hopefully Sony since playstation seems to be the best platform for fighting games for a while now
Only reason why I got this game was because of that big dude with the musical coat. Now I know his name is big band and I don't regret getting this game ever since.
I’m glad they still continued on even after that drama with mike and I’m so happy that they’re still pushing our characters to this day They recently just announced black dahlia as a new upcoming character after umbrella
I'm just honestly glad that I got to join this wonderful community. Although I'm on the Mobile version one but yeah the community is way too wholesome. Even though it has its ups and downs you can never stop the games Hype Train!!!
@@unintentionally_edgy5867 @Unintentionally_ Edgy @Unintentionally_ Edgy Nah, it wasn't the wrong move. His company wanted to fire him or have him resign, and he agreed to do so if certain terms were met that benefited him. Those terms werent accepted, so he pulled rank and did things his way. It's HIS company. You can't fire a guy from his company for unsubstantiated allegations. You can't blame him for protecting his interests. Put yourself in his shoes? Would you quit your company if you were accused of sexual misconduct, yet it was unsubstantiated? Wouldn't you then fire and layoff anyone who was against you? Common sense.
@@shinbakihanma2749 …okay, I’ll bite. So even if there was no harassment, which given a lot of factors would appear unlikely, and even if it was a smart idea to layoff everyone “against you”, it still was such an unpopular decision a lot of people quit, and joined up with those laid off. That’s not even bringing up that saying “terms that benefitted him” sound like he wants to make off with more money instead of being recompense for the damage to his image. I’d love to see how you spin that fact into somehow defending someone who doesn’t even respect coworkers and after not getting his way, taking power and firing people for what, to my little knowledge of laws, sounds like illegal reasonings. Edit: oh yeah, and that’s after conceding I don’t know if those allegations were true, but you immediately said they were false
@@unintentionally_edgy5867 First off, I'm not trying to "defend" Mike Z in anything. I'm not his keeper. I'm just making my point of view known due to what was said in this video, because I feel he was unfairly thrown under the bus with no due process. But as far as this topic is concerned, your response is nonsensical. What I'm saying is why would Mike Z. think about anyone else's wellbeing when those same people aren't thinking about his? These same employees were accusing him of multiple instances of sexual misconduct, and were trying to oust him from HIS company, yet there was nothing to ever substantiate these accusations. It's not unreasonable to understand why he would fire everyone. Why would he keep and be concerned about employees who accuse him of sexual misconduct, and are ready to throw him under the bus? Put yourself in his shoes, you'd do the same thing. Now, what makes me question the validity of these accusations, is the text messages between Mike Z and BunnyAyumi. That's what kind of kicked everything off. I read those texts when the accusations first surfaced, and I was dumbfounded with how many people were saying that his texts were sexually inappropriate, when they were clearly not. Not to mention that BunnyAyumi (who has a history of playing victim) initiated contact with him, and now all of sudden she posts these texts claiming he said sexually inappropriate things to her in them. The reactions from the FGC when they cancelled him, made me realize that everyone is out of their fucking minds. My common sense while reading into it as it was happening told me something was off. Mike Z is an awkward nerd dude who isn't used to talking to chicks. That isn't a crime.
Honestly, this game is just TOO GOOD. The characters all slap. I have the opposite type of character crisis for this game that I get for smash. Where it feels like I wanna play Half the skullgirls cast because they all slap. Probably my favorite fighting game that isn’t named CVS2. It is a tough spot since it’s also having Guilty Gear +R and Street Fighter 4. Great video and keep up the content. Amazing analysis of the game’s lifespan so far
Ill never let this game die! No matter the man, nor the company, as long as this game has one fan, Its got a fanbase. Its one of those indie games that was built to last and fire could never squander. To the animations to the music, all love placed was in this game and its characters. Skullgirls will always have a place in my heart
Haters and setbacks such as funding and lab zero may cause problems but the pure passion of the team working on the game keeps it running God I love this game
the story are well written, and all character and thier back story are unique and not repetitive except Filia with "Hair" power concept, which kinda common. but this is first time i see a hair talking in fighting game, so its still unique. 😂
Filia is the joke combination of Milia Rage and Zato-1 from Guilty Gear. In fact a majority of the references in Skullgirls is tied to other fighting games like Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, and Marvel vs Capcom.
I thought it was just a weird porno game, but it’s actually good. It also reminds me of my “default” art style as an artist, so I decided to experiment with it more.
Everyone: "How are you not dead?"
Skullgirls: "I have no idea!"
Skullgirls is just Heavy on Ubercharge
@@GamingCreed47
*The Medic salutes you*
I realise just like team fortress 2
Skullgirls refuses to die
@@mikeratomn3475 yeah but overwatch and paladins is on nick or neck on who goes dead first
@@mikeratomn3475 ive compared sg to tf2 alot in terms of community tbh, we actually get alot of overlap between the two
This entire game's history is a comeback story, like a true anime protagonist it just wont give up
The game has a harem but the entire harem is just composed of diehard fans
Despite it being a dead discord fighter..
@@ButchLesbianSolBadguy Dead?
@@lucylu3342 yep, can hardly find good connections without discord
@@ButchLesbianSolBadguy Uh...I don't think you running into a bunch of people with shoddy internet connections means that the game is dead.
It’s surprising how tenacious indie games can be
The book Blood, Sweat and Pixels had some great stories about the development of indie titles like Stardew Valley and Shovel Knight. It takes an inhuman amount of drive to work the way indie devs do
And more so if the game in question is GOOOD
INDIES WILL NEVER DIE
I find AAA multiplayer games so soulless when both the players and publishers pump and dump multiple titles each year
i mean, there's still an active following for FTL, and it's been over 10 years XP
Indie games are _very_ sturdy once they get going.
The thought of a Skullgirls "Finale" when the game ultimately meets its end genuinely makes me sad.
Does it have to? With its growing resurgence and main eco stage feature alongside legacy titles, it could grow to become a legacy title in its own right. Long road ahead, but it's possible.
Could get a season 2, hopefully
It's season pass is literally called "Season Pass 1".
With the game depending on SGM's success, which is doing very well right now, there's still hope for SG on getting another Season Pass in the future! 🙏
If any thing i feel like with the following its getting and all the new content they can add we might eventually get a Skull girls 2
This game basically pulled a "My death was...greatly exaggerated" every year since its debut and I respect the devs for that
Exactly more respect of of the top responsibility they put on
Not anymore
Not this time..
It's death is unfortunately not exaggerated this time...
Unless the Old Devs get the geame back via lawsuit.
@@_-Lx-_what happened
THE SKULLGIRLS RELEASE PARTY NEVER ENDS BABYYYYY
2012 to infinity, afterparty in the next universe baybee
Hell yeah baby!
The party was dying down, only because the party people were leaving to get more drinks to bring in more hype!
Any useful tips for a new player pls ?
@@olakpasa6486 the ingame tutorials are a really good place to start. I would say go through all of them so you have an idea of what each fighter does. The biggest thing to keep in mind though is your defense, people are fucking crazy at going in on this game or at least that's how i see it lol.
Whoa, I wasn't expecting to see footage of myself in there. Thanks for covering everything that happened since the last Skullgirls video!
Why not Mr European champion?
Congratz, GL next :)
I bought Skullgirls on sale during late 2021. It was my favorite game I played that year. I’m so mad I’m late, but I’m so thankful I’m finally here. I got the season pass as a gift for Christmas, but I haven’t tried it yet. It’s on my post Christmas to-do list, though. It’s quickly become one of my top fighting games ever, right up there with DBFZ and Smash Ultimate. I absolutely cannot wait to see what comes next for this game in the future, as I know it’ll be fantastic.
Here’s hoping we finally get that complete, canon story mode sometime eventually.
Smash is not even a fighting game lol
@@popo237 Shut up.
@@Mystic-Aidan Sure, but how would that stop me from typing things? Smashers be like
@@popo237 You can have your opinions, but don’t be annoying about it.
@@Mystic-Aidan Man I don't opinions. I got facts
This game really deserves more. Everyone talks about it, but it still feels like nobody actually plays the game
“Everyone talks about it”
Who?
@@sullivans2004 many people really. Might've been living under a rock mate.
To be fair, the game is incredibly hard to get into and try to play competitively
In other words, it's the Melty Blood of the 2010s lol
It's soooo hard
Skullgirls is like Medic from TF2. He's the most well-designed class in the game, but everyone seems to ignore him to opt to play other classes that they enjoy better, yet they still beg for a Medic on their team.
Fuck that Skullgirls is like having a 3 val varients in one team that just revive each other if one is taken down.
Medic is hard but a rewarding class!... yeah just like skull girls!
Seeing Skullgirls next to four legacy titles from franchises that have been dominating the scene since the 90's was amazing. The game absolutely deserves it.
It's been almost 10 YEARS? Jesus. I remember getting SG day one on PS3 back when there was no move-list in game lol. Time absolutely flies.
Skullgirls absolutely deserves this and more.
I always loved the idea of fighting games but was too put off by all the learning I'd have to do.
Not only did this game make me love the grind, it also made me fall in love with the "juggling" and team subcategories of fighting games - both of which were very intimidating as someone who was new to fighting games.
I'm always saddened when I see steamcharts show how small players are on average, though I always take it with a grain of salt. I love the game, so I hope the new season's pass pulls in a new audience
That's pretty much the genre in general. Even though dozens of games have fairly active scenes and regular tournaments, every year there's only ever around 5 or so fighting games that can consistently pull in a 4-digit daily avg. player number on Steam. Those games are usually big IPs or new releases from a big developer, while many other fighting games are in the triple digits. Skullgirls is really one of the luckier ones that has managed to keep triple digit average for a whole decade, and is really the only indie fighting game to do so.
Skullgirls and Blazblue have shared a similar curve over the years too, where a big sale or announcement will occasionally bump them up to 4-digits for a little while, (Skullgirls had a big spike last year from EVO+Season Pass, and then Blazblue got a huge spike in the last couple months from the netcode patch) but eventually things end up leveling-off around the triple digits again. Even the new Melty Blood shares this situation.
I mean, luckily with solid netcode you often don't need crazy player counts to have a solid experience. Really, you only need one person with a solid connection to you! And if you were to cycle through each of the ~50 or so viable connections you'll still be spending a lot of time fighting different players with different characters and playstyles!
While it's a bummer sometimes that fighting games aren't more popular, they're also in a bit of a unique situation compared to team games or battle royales in that you don't necessarily NEED a ton of players to still have a great experience (but it's definitely a plus for sure) 🙂
@@KillYounglings 100%
It so fucking deserves a chance.
I have played this game since almost it's release, because the art caught my attention, but when I played it, i could feel it's dedication in it's entirety, a world with it's story, stages and characters brimming with personality.
I wasn't good at the game and I didn't care, i just wanted to try a fighting game for once and I'm glad i picked Skullgirls.
EDIT: Also, fuck Mike Trashmont.
As far as fighting game story modes go (and the arcade type, not guilty gear movie type), I think Skullgirls has one of the best in terms of storytelling and presentation.
It's written well enough to introduce the world of skullgirls, but its not overwritten with exposition.
This really shows with the DLC stories (Squigly, Eliza, Big Band, Beowulf) they were amazing.
That's the exact same as me. This is easily my favorite fighting game even though I'm not good at it. The art, music, and characters grabbed me immediately and I've loved it since the beginning. To see it finally get a legitimate chance to succeed means the world.
Also I'm so hype for Black Dahlia.
I do agree the game is one of the best.
@@warrenbradford2597 nanana fuck that, it is THE best.
Guess what
Imagine being both a disgusting creep and narcissistic to the point where you would make wild demands without any leverage, then dissolve the board and fire everyone...
When there was literally nothing preventing those same people you fired to come together again and continue working on the game, now free of any ties from you.
The poetic ending to the drama is great, Zaimont can go rot somewhere. I wish Skullgirls and Future Club the best!
I mean it can't be that hard for you to imagine.
People forget to mention that the problem wasn't that he was creepy, but that he was unwilling to change. Everybody knew that he is an autist who has troubles communicating after all
The team did the right thing of course, but I hope that Mike learns from this in a healthy way, even though he should have done so a long time ago
@@dunkelwelpling unlikely. The dev know when is the line between harmful fanservice and gross erotism.
This aged poorly
Yeah, this aged badly
Proof that if you love something enough and give it the love and care it needs to grow, success with it is inevitable.
I'm truly blown away by how strong the SG community is. I hope they continue to grow
the only other problem is that the support for Indivisible died
we were promised so many crossover DLC characters
INCLUDING SHANTAE, ANIMATED BY THE LAB ZERO CREW
I will never get to see that now...
just bought it over Christmas its so good mad I'm late
I’m high af rn and idk what this means
I missed the deal D: guess im just gonna buy it normaly
@@jgg4719 he is going well 🙂
seeing the title alone puts a smile on my face, my favorite fighting game endures despite its many setbacks. Just found your channel a few days ago and it looks dope, planning on binging your vids.
I remember when I first loaded skullgirls with no fighting game experience, picked eliza (idk I mean look at her + she was new back then) and just mashed my way to victory against my friends
Now, looking back at skullgirls I’m thankful it’s not dead yet, and it might as well live on
When I finally come back to Skullgirls this is what I see. I love the games community and everything about it. I’m glad it’s still alive
Honestly what i love is the design philosophy of this game since rarely you see this Type of art style
This game's history could be an anime plot
Also, the mobile version is just as good as 2nd encore for consoles and PC. Give it a try, it won't disappoint
It's not just as good, but for a mobile fighting game its amazing.
this game is as undead as half its cast. will never die
I'm so, so happy that this franchise is finally able to stand up after being kicked on the floor again and again since it came out. You may or may not like the gameplay, the style, the devs or even the franchise in general, but if there's one thing that everyone is forced to applaud is its resilience and sheer fucking will. For an indie title (and a very niche one at that), it has recieved many blows that an indie of its size just shouldn't be able to handle. But it did.
Even though I don't play the game that much and I don't consider myself a part of the community, I was rooting for this game since the moment I discovered it around 2016. I'm really glad it finally can catch a break.
The game is too stubborn to die so much that Akshon Esports had to make another video of it
Skullgirls can't be killed. Give the game a try folks!
Look out on Xbox.
It was cancled
@@icerres1067 what but I have it?
I did I got WRECKED
Ya'll it's still alive
How l would like to see other devs have this amount of passion like Skullgirls developers have with their game
Skullgirls be like: Do you think murdering me is enough to kill me?
Censorship law: yes, we are removing your sexiness for uh modern audience
Skullgirls was one of the first fighting games I ever played as a kid and it's been crazy to grow up alongside the game. Lauch party still going almost 10 years strong!
One Year later...
2 years later
never played this game but I'm truly happy for the community, the players and the devs alike (aside from the dirtbag left alone in his company of course). That's a really refreshing story and the game looks like it really deserves it
Skullgirls is in my opinion, one of the most stellar games or all time. The story of the game is litterally an anime.
It make me so immensely happy to see Skullgirls 2nd Encore continue to change and grow despite its rocky history and the trainwreck that 2020 was. Congratulations to the game and everyone on board keeping the hype train at full speed, may all your wishes come true.
The game that "refuses too die" has now seemingly decided to die it seems current recent steam reviews are now overwhelmingly negative at the time of writing this comment
Nah, that’s just a bunch of man children throwing a tantrum because they can’t look at fake asses and boobs anymore.
@@raycom201 Its more than just panties shots, its generally the censorship which were unnecessary since the game for a decade has embraced the fan service and lewdness, they hired porn artist ffs
@@shiawase8694 While I do agree that the censorship was unnecessary and kind of a waste since it was there for a decade, most of the changes are barely noticeable and hardly worth a fuss.
@@raycom201 the biggest problem is the precedent that this sets for the future, and the fact they removed and altered stuff from the paid artbook, including fan arts from guest artists (bc they didn't get the permission to alter those, so it's gone). Who's to say that the censorship won't escalate further in the future? If it really was something 'barely noticeable and hardly worth a fuss' then why would they remove it in the first place? It's even worse that they choose to do it now that the two 'brains' behind the idea and whole concept are gone.
"Good news, we're not gonna die! We're gonna live forever!"
-a jumpy rocketeer
Skullgirls recently feels like a brand new game
Brand new 10 years old game
This aged both poorly and very accurately.
The old game is gone as of a few days ago...
yeah....about that
After the newest update, i'm afraid that comes to an end this time.
I'm not too sure though, it's always been kind of niche to begin with, even amongst the fighting game community. I definitely get some of the changes by them but at the same time why change something to such a high degree that it would basically just waste your time?
@@ikedatike2533 it hurts a little, keeping a game alive through sheer support and earning prizes for that support only for it to be taken away when it isn't necessary anymore...
@@ikedatike2533this time is not because of having no money, or because they have a terrible publisher or even worse, one of them being a horrible person. This time they bite hand they feed them, their fans. I'm not saying some changes aren't justified, in fact some of them I'm ok with them, but some of them are just so backwards against the community that help them grow as much as they are now
Me when they remove nazi imagery they dont want in their game and remove one (1) panty shot. The game is dead.
Skullgirls is like Squigly, it always set to revive itself no matter what
Inspiring words
3:28 Quotes marked to be from Brian Jun are marked Brain Jun.
I got into skullgirls last year and addicted to it. I'm glad to see this series survive to much and now in a happy position
As someone who started to learn this game between these videos and has a group of friends they’ve gotten into it, seeing this was a trip
It is terrific to see indie titles make a comeback - especially with the kinds of odds elaborated upon in the video. Looks like a solid beat-em-up - and I'm curious as to how good the netcode really is (and must be). Well covered as always.
Skullgirls' netcode is quite good using a modified version of GGPO which allows for solid connections between players in different regions of the world. However I do want to note that lobbies are at times unstable and can break if placed under too much loads with high ping connections.
@@Ninja-The-Red-Shinobi Good to know that this game's netcode is rollback-based (I guessed that it was but it's good to confirm). As for the lobby instability - fair enough.
GenreNazi here - this game is not a beat-em-up., as beat-em-ups are human player(s) fighting against multiple CPU opponents across scrolling stages that include boss fights and has pickups like weapons and health. The most famous examples of the genre being Final Fight, Double Dragon and Streets of Rage.
@@Copperhell144Ah. Thank you for the correction! Makes perfect sense when one thinks of shoot-em-ups.
God, I remember buying Skullgirls for 5 dollars on Xbox 360 when it first came out...it's just so satisfying to see how far it's come despite all the hurdles
Amazing an indie game has a whole ass tournament series and support from its devs. This the passion project every dev strives for.
The Skullgirls story will go down in FGC history as the game that even if beaten down will always get up and bring more hype and life into the fight.
I haven’t watched an EscapingtheWorkforce Stream in a long time, I think I need to go back to get entertained again.
YAY I’m glad u revisited this game your channel got me into it and it’s very fun to watch you go back
Could someone explain it a bit more? The guy fired everybody, they started a new company without him, but somehow were able to get all of the game to continue development? How did he not retain the source code or prevent them from continuing development?
The game IP belong to the publisher Autumn Games, Labzero don’t have any voice at controlling this game source code anymore . So Autumn just gave the game to the old developers to continue the process while leave Mike in the dark
He's just the developer and the head of a small company in charge of developing a game but the game intellectual property (IP) holder, Autumn Games, was the big boi so they have everything even the source code.
Skullgirls IP is owned by Publisher Autumn games. Mike ALSO pissed off Said Publisher so when future club was formed, Autumn made them the game dev team and basically threw Mike Z and Lab Zero out.
@@quangtran-rc9bk Thank goodness
Mike Z actually did nothing wrong, he was merely accused with no substantial proof that he sexually harrassed anyone. Everyone pretty much threw him under the bus without due process, and because he didn't just let himself get railroaded, everyone left Labzero Games. The only thing I've seen from what was presented to the public about the Mike Z accusations, is that he's an awkward guy who isn't good at talking to chicks. That BunnyAyumi (she's a fucking nutcase) situation showed me how crazy cancel culture is, and just how easy it is to accuse and brand someone a sexual harasser. Nothing in those texts between him and her were remotely sexually inappropriate. Awkward, yes, but nothing inappropriate. The community did something similar to INFILTRATION when he was accused of domestic violence (but later found innocent) against his ex wife.
This company behind skullgirls went through a lot just to make games, but the bravest thing about this company is that they spent all year making skullgirls alive without getting paid for one year.
I feel bad for Bunnyayu. She played Zaimont's game on stream, and he repays her with insults.
Just don't go thanking developers for putting lesbian bdsm in their game. Literally not that hard to not to.
@@popo237 Beowulf best girl
New Dahlia thumbnail goes hard
RIP Dahlia thumbnail
This game has such a anime backstory I’m proud to have it as my favorite fighting game
Yo im in this video twice! Great video!
Skullgirls launch party still raging, baby!
Oh the misery
Everybody wants to be my enemy
Smell the sympathy
Skullgirls release party never ends, baby~
**intense brain scratching**
Awesome. This game is beautiful and looks amazing, never would have guessed it had such a troubled history. Glad it seems to be ending on a very high note. Excited for the upcoming tourney!
Even 10 years later, the launch party still goes on, baby
Weird feeling, to watch an old documentary that highlights a big future tournament you didn't know about was happening TODAY.
Just bought this game in the recent steam holidays sale just for the amazing art and gotta say not disappointed at all
This game really was the game that made me get into fighting games and I'm glad it's still going and refuses to go down! This game will always hold a special place in my heart. Let's go Skullgirls!!
I should buy this game but everything that Mike Z had did kind of killed my interest that I pushed it off in the back. I was still an active FGC member when this was announced way back then and thoroughly impressed how long this has lasted. I'll see if there's a Steam version later on this weekend.
Steam is where most of the community is, and the base game goes on sale pretty regularly
There is! getting the steam version is the best idea because you will be able to play the future dlc characters for free while they are being developed in the open beta, and your feed back can help the game.
Mike Z's bullshit also put me off the game until Future Club and Hidden Variable took over. Future Club is a worker co-op so they're a lot less likely to have the same issues, and the lead programmer(?) at Hidden Variable is Liam, who's a long-time pro player and community member. The game's in a good spot right now.
@@sleepinbelle9627
This aged poorly....
One of my favorite fighting games and honestly one of my favorite indie games man the game and the devs have had a long journey.
I love it when you put fighting games in the spotlight, they can always use a little more love
Welp...
Bought it recently, it was worth it
Man, I really need to get back into this game.
Where are my big band mains at?
I still play this game whenever I get chance and still like it
let's not forget that what happened to the studio also canceled development on their other game Indivisible. because development was cancelled all of the Kickstarter goals would never be put into the game like guest characters and backer made characters. no one cares about Indivisible though unfortunately.
Man I wish indivisible could be saved, such a cool game. I think the issue is that the IP is owned by 505 games, who are a bigger publisher than autumn and have very little incentive to either continue supporting the development or to sell the IP to someone who will. The only consolation I can think of is that Future Club has projects in the works, and they contain basically the entire art team from Lab Zero, the best we can probably hope for is a spiritual successor.
Honestly if any of the big three were smart they would enter a contract with the company as an indie headline exclusive to officially make a Skullgirls 2 while keeping the current one alive for multi-platform.
GENIUS!
sorry, by big three you mean platform? as in Sony, Microsoft, ninty? Somebody should absolutely hop on funding an exclusivity deal, hopefully Sony since playstation seems to be the best platform for fighting games for a while now
Only reason why I got this game was because of that big dude with the musical coat. Now I know his name is big band and I don't regret getting this game ever since.
Same
they made a fighter with 2d animation when people werent doing those... and they werent popular in mainstream, cudos to them.
I’m glad they still continued on even after that drama with mike and I’m so happy that they’re still pushing our characters to this day
They recently just announced black dahlia as a new upcoming character after umbrella
I hope this game keeps improving and growing, bucause man, I just buy the game like 3 months ago, if it dies my money dies
I'm just honestly glad that I got to join this wonderful community. Although I'm on the Mobile version one but yeah the community is way too wholesome. Even though it has its ups and downs you can never stop the games Hype Train!!!
This certainly aged like milk left out in the sun.
Thanks for your great work and quality videos.
What a terrible man. Wonderful for everyone else to not only stay together but continue working on such a deserving game
What did he do that was terrible?
@@shinbakihanma2749 even if those allegations were false, forcibly taking over and firing a bunch of people is absolutely the wrong move
@@unintentionally_edgy5867 @Unintentionally_ Edgy @Unintentionally_ Edgy Nah, it wasn't the wrong move. His company wanted to fire him or have him resign, and he agreed to do so if certain terms were met that benefited him. Those terms werent accepted, so he pulled rank and did things his way. It's HIS company. You can't fire a guy from his company for unsubstantiated allegations. You can't blame him for protecting his interests. Put yourself in his shoes? Would you quit your company if you were accused of sexual misconduct, yet it was unsubstantiated? Wouldn't you then fire and layoff anyone who was against you? Common sense.
@@shinbakihanma2749 …okay, I’ll bite. So even if there was no harassment, which given a lot of factors would appear unlikely, and even if it was a smart idea to layoff everyone “against you”, it still was such an unpopular decision a lot of people quit, and joined up with those laid off. That’s not even bringing up that saying “terms that benefitted him” sound like he wants to make off with more money instead of being recompense for the damage to his image. I’d love to see how you spin that fact into somehow defending someone who doesn’t even respect coworkers and after not getting his way, taking power and firing people for what, to my little knowledge of laws, sounds like illegal reasonings.
Edit: oh yeah, and that’s after conceding I don’t know if those allegations were true, but you immediately said they were false
@@unintentionally_edgy5867 First off, I'm not trying to "defend" Mike Z in anything. I'm not his keeper. I'm just making my point of view known due to what was said in this video, because I feel he was unfairly thrown under the bus with no due process. But as far as this topic is concerned, your response is nonsensical. What I'm saying is why would Mike Z. think about anyone else's wellbeing when those same people aren't thinking about his? These same employees were accusing him of multiple instances of sexual misconduct, and were trying to oust him from HIS company, yet there was nothing to ever substantiate these accusations. It's not unreasonable to understand why he would fire everyone. Why would he keep and be concerned about employees who accuse him of sexual misconduct, and are ready to throw him under the bus? Put yourself in his shoes, you'd do the same thing.
Now, what makes me question the validity of these accusations, is the text messages between Mike Z and BunnyAyumi. That's what kind of kicked everything off. I read those texts when the accusations first surfaced, and I was dumbfounded with how many people were saying that his texts were sexually inappropriate, when they were clearly not. Not to mention that BunnyAyumi (who has a history of playing victim) initiated contact with him, and now all of sudden she posts these texts claiming he said sexually inappropriate things to her in them. The reactions from the FGC when they cancelled him, made me realize that everyone is out of their fucking minds. My common sense while reading into it as it was happening told me something was off. Mike Z is an awkward nerd dude who isn't used to talking to chicks. That isn't a crime.
Love this Game. The art style and mechanics blend so well that i find it most visually appealing among fighting games
Skullgirls is the TF2 of fighting games, but this one have developers
Im happy to see people comparasing my both favourite game as similar but kinda sad reading the last part
You know what they say, come for the booba, stay for the heart
I got some bad news on a game I haven't herd from in years
"The game that refuse to die"
Huh,where did I hear this before?
Literally me watching this after the new woke devs got skullgirls canceled.
God, I love this game's artstyle, characters and animations. That alone sold me on this game.
This aged like milk
RIP Skullgirls
What happened
@@shezyam460 The ESG update dropped
@@goldensaiyan4 rip lmao
@@BlightestBlight bold claim, basically saying that this game contains CSAM for a decade. Do you think, buddy?
@@shiawase8694 filia is literally 16
Honestly, this game is just TOO GOOD.
The characters all slap.
I have the opposite type of character crisis for this game that I get for smash.
Where it feels like I wanna play Half the skullgirls cast because they all slap.
Probably my favorite fighting game that isn’t named CVS2.
It is a tough spot since it’s also having Guilty Gear +R and Street Fighter 4.
Great video and keep up the content.
Amazing analysis of the game’s lifespan so far
Not only is it one of the best fighting games it has the best fighting game music I've ever heard
This video is totally a lesson to us it means do not give up in what ever you do no matter what this is a great comeback
2:13
Very accurate profile pic
Ill never let this game die! No matter the man, nor the company, as long as this game has one fan, Its got a fanbase. Its one of those indie games that was built to last and fire could never squander. To the animations to the music, all love placed was in this game and its characters. Skullgirls will always have a place in my heart
Are you sure about that?
Haters and setbacks such as funding and lab zero may cause problems but the pure passion of the team working on the game keeps it running
God I love this game
3:46-4:13 Firing employees who helped made game is not the best solution to Mike Z's problems. That is as nicely as I can describe his decision.
It was lose-lose for him at that point. Either the mob gets its way, or he burns it all down on his terms.
the story are well written, and all character and thier back story are unique and not repetitive except Filia with "Hair" power concept, which kinda common. but this is first time i see a hair talking in fighting game, so its still unique. 😂
Filia is the joke combination of Milia Rage and Zato-1 from Guilty Gear. In fact a majority of the references in Skullgirls is tied to other fighting games like Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, and Marvel vs Capcom.
I thought it was just a weird porno game, but it’s actually good. It also reminds me of my “default” art style as an artist, so I decided to experiment with it more.
I only played the mobile version b'cuz I'm broke but man I feel in love with it and I want to play the actual one.
Skullgirls launch party (2011 - Still ongoing)