Skullgirls needs YOU!

[Skullheartsx]

Skullgirls is a fast-paced, 2D fighting game developed by Reverge Labs and lead by tournament champ Mike “Z” Zaimont and artist Alex “o_8” Ahad. Drawing on the best features the genre has to offer, Skullgirls is designed to be a tournament-grade fighter while remaining approachable and engaging for the casual player.

Skullgirls boasts the most fluid animation with each character being completely hand drawn and graphics enhanced with a special engine that allows 3D effects (such as real time lighting) with 2D visuals. The game uses the traditional 6-button style of play and allows players to choose a team of up to 3 characters to do battle, and even opens room for customizable assist attacks for standby characters.


Squigly’s about 1/3rd complete. We need your help to complete her and release her to the public. If people are feeling especially generous, we can add story modes, stages, and possibly even more characters to further expand the game and its world!

If we successfully fund Squigly and anything else, they will be released free to everybody, on all platforms for a limited time.



With your assistance, Lab Zero can resume its mission to make Skullgirls the best fighting game out there, and truly the only fighting game made by fighting game fans for fighting game fans.



Squigly is the last "surviving" member of the Contiellos, a famous line of opera singers and long-time clients of the Medici family.

Fourteen years ago, tragedy befell Squigly’s family when the Medici mafia came close to obtaining the Skull Heart. During this incident she became one of the Skullgirl's undead minions. Once the threat had been defeated, only Squigly’s body was recovered, and she was buried in a service provided by Lorenzo himself.

Fast forward to the present: Bloody Marie's emergence has awoken Squigly from her long sleep. As part of the Skullgirl’s undead legion, Squigly should have become nothing more than a mindless servant of the pale maiden. However, thanks to the powers of her Parasite Leviathan, she is spared this fate.

Squigly is graceful, calm and well-mannered, but tough and determined to complete her mission. Her past experience with a Skullgirl gives her a unique perspective and a greater understanding of the situation over most.

Having been passed through the Contiello family for generations, Leviathan is refined and dotes on Squigly like her father and previous host did. This long familial history has made Squigly's bond with Leviathan deeper and more fundamental than that of most Parasites, and allows them to work harmoniously both in and out of battle like synchronized dance partners. Their unique circumstance also seems to have given them abilities beyond this world, as well.

[Skullheartsx]

Squigly's play style is pretty unique, both for Skullgirls and fighting games as a whole. She's a ranged stance character, but of course she has some unique touches all her own.

Leviathan can stretch, giving Squigly some far-ranging normal attacks - especially when she’s airborne. In addition to her normals and special attacks, she can access additional moves by assuming two different stances. While in each stance, she’ll pose and gain access to new attacks and movement options, and the longer she stays in a stance before executing a move the more powerful it will be.

Squigly’s jump is floaty, her dashes take some time to build momentum, and her normals can’t reach across the screen. So how does she get close enough to do damage? By singing.


As an opera star, when Squigly sings all eyes focus on her, forcibly shifting the game’s camera towards her. This naturally moves the edge of playfield with it, dragging her opponent towards her. No other game has a move like this, and it should open a number of interesting tactical possibilities, especially when used as an Ensemble Attack.

We know that seeking money for DLC like this is a big request, so we’re trying to make this as functionally similar to a pre-order as possible.

Once Squigly’s complete, she’ll be released via a patch and made available using a character unlock. The unlock will initially be released free to everyone on all platforms, and the price will be increased to $5 three months later for anyone who hasn't picked it up yet. So don’t worry - if you get it while it's free, it'll stay free forever.

If you collectively decide to fund one or more DLC characters, we’ll release them one at a time so the game continues to grow. The release plan would be the same: download free to everyone for a period of three months, and once that time has passed, the price of the character will be increased to $5. Once again, people that already have the character won't have to buy them later.



Last June, much of the Skullgirls development team was laid off. This had nothing to do with the game or its sales; Skullgirls’ financial support was simply cut off as a result of a costly legal battle that was strangling our publisher, Autumn Games. These ongoing legal difficulties kept Autumn from being able to continue its support for the game. We always had big plans for Skullgirls, and hoped to keep growing the game and its community with new characters and game updates, but without funding, these plans unfortunately had to wait.

While we’ve been able to continue working on the patch and have recently made progress on the PC version with Autumn’s help, neither of these has been able to pay our extremely talented and dedicated art staff. So, in many ways, this campaign is also a last-ditch effort to keep the Skullgirls team together, working on the game we love so.



No doubt you’ve noticed the surprisingly large sum we’re requesting to finish Squigly. Believe it or not, this is actually cheap for a fighting game character, and the only reason it’s even this cheap is because she’s already partially complete, and our staff have volunteered to take pay cuts to try and increase the odds of meeting our goal.

For comparison, Skullgirls' budget was around $1.7 million and, since Filia was complete at the time of signing, that covered production of the last seven characters.

Here’s the breakdown of how the money will be spent


$48,000: Staff Salaries - 8 people for 10 weeks

$30,000: Animation and Clean-up Contracting

$4,000: Voice recording

$2,000: Hit-box Contracting

$5,000: Audio Implementation Contracting

$20,000: QA Testing

$10,000: 1st Party Certification

$10,500: IndieGoGo and Payment Processing Fees

$20,500: Manufacturing and Shipping Physical Rewards



Should anything come in cheaper than expected or we can get the 1st-party submission fees waived, we will figure out something productive to do with that extra money, such as adding taunts or additional intro, win and lose animations.

This is a “fixed funding” campaign, meaning that if we don’t meet our goal, all contributions will be refunded: since we can’t complete Squigly without the full amount, there’s no point in keeping the money if we don't reach it.

One final note: IndieGoGo will deliver the first dollop of cash as soon as we meet our first funding goal of $150,000. So that means the sooner we reach that goal, the sooner we can get started on Squigly, the sooner we can show you progress, and the sooner we can release her. So if you intend to contribute, please do so at your earliest possible convenience!

[Skullheartsx]

We’d like to keep Skullgirls growing as long as possible, so here are what we’d like to do if we manage to exceed our initial goal.

$175,000: Squigly Stage and Story Mode

If we manage to raise $175,000, we’ll release Squigly’s story mode and a new stage. Find out how this ghost from New Meridian’s past will affect its future!

The new stage will, of course, feature an all-new track from Michiru Yamane.


$375,000: Big Band

If we manage to raise $375,000, we’ll create Big Band, Skullgirls’ first and most-requested male character.

Why is Big Band $200,000 instead of $150,000? Because we haven’t even begun to work on him, meaning he’s going to need at least an extra month of development time, as well as extra money to cover the additional rewards needed to fund him.

We’ll reveal more about Big Band if we manage to fund Squigly.


$400,000: Big Band Stage and Story Mode

If we manage to raise $400,000, we’ll release Big Band’s story mode and a new stage, telling the story of a grizzled veteran tackling a new threat.

The new stage will, of course, feature an all-new track from Michiru Yamane.


$600,000: Mysterious Character By Fan Vote

If we somehow manage to raise $600,000, as soon as we regain our composure we’ll create a third character, voted on by the community.

To spur you towards this goal, here’s a line-up of all the mysterious characters Alex would like to make for Skullgirls. He initially envisioned this roster filling out three full games, but has agreed to pull the curtain back a bit to garner interest in the game’s future cast and story.



For every $20000 we raise, we’ll reveal one character and, once the bar is full, we’ll have completed this goal and all of those characters will be eligible for the vote.


$625,000: Mysterious Character Stage and Story Mode

If we manage to raise $625,000, we’ll release a story mode and a new stage along with the Mysterious Third Character.

Like the others, the new stage will, of course, feature an all-new track from Michiru Yamane.

[Skullheartsx]

Click the link to see the full page!

[Rath-Kun]

They already met the goal within 24 hours.. haha.

Pretty awesome that the community loves the game so much.

I'm just waiting on lobbies..

[Solblade44]

Rath-Kun

They already met the goal within 24 hours.. haha.

Pretty awesome that the community loves the game so much.

I'm just waiting on lobbies..

And lobbies you shall receive!... in the PC version.

So excited to see that Squigly was funded so quickly. At this rate, we may possibly see Big Band join the cast.

[Sarahsuke]

I've definitely done my part. 3nodding

[Krazy-Chibi]

I can't wait to play as Squigly! back when the game was still in development I loved her design the most. heart

[Solblade44]

Krazy-Chibi

I can't wait to play as Squigly! back when the game was still in development I loved her design the most. heart

I was about to go on your profile and comment on your avi, but I already did!

[Grav!ty]

Actually knows somebody who did the 1K for a OC cameo. Kinda crazy.

Might put 30 down for the hat Steam release.

[Krazy-Chibi]

If they make it to the amount they need for a third character im voting for Leduc, mainly because i'd like more than one male character in the current roster, plus im curious as to how he would play.

[Krazy-Chibi]

Can't wait for Republican Double. rofl

[Mochi the Bewildered]

im trying to find ppl for SG online on my ps3 soo talk to me if ud lik to fight im not the best but I try

[Blaze the Fire Dragon]

I'm so hyped for Squigly, and I really hope we get Big Band. Also, you should link this in your first post.

[Rath-Kun]

Krazy-Chibi

I can't wait to play as Squigly! back when the game was still in development I loved her design the most. heart

Helllooooooooo Nurse!