Animating the Skullgirls Way

[JBFW088]

I wish Alex taught art classes.

[TommieV]

@JBFW088 Just buy a "How to draw manga" book. Same thing.

[JBFW088]

@TommieV I should look into that. Thank you!

[Redwolf6056]

0:53. TIIIINY AIGIS! So great.

[waterlowYT]

Aienkei !!

[TAY141P]

I remember my friend told me king of fighters 13 was hand drawn and it looks so crappy and this is really awesome!! THIS is hand drawn

[dantemustdie00]

@TAY141P Yeah, When I look at Blaze Blue and King of Fighters 13, then I look at how beautifully the Skullgirls animation looks, it's a BIG difference.

This is pure artist mastery here!

[TAY141P]

@dantemustdie00 BB i actually like, i like the bolded pencil edge they got going on, i'll admit compared 2 other 2d games its crappy but i like it 4 some reason

[kiyahocks]

I am impressed XD

(Severe understatement...)

[charizardAnthony94]

Holy crap....that is beyond amazing

[Incathelizard]

0:14 down in the bottom left, "I exist jon"

[MrExplodingBurrito]

Alex Ahad is my freakin' hero.

[artha14]

It would be cool to see more stuff about animation from you guys. I really want to know more about it. I've read all the blog posts on it and find it REALLY interesting.

[yksnimus]

is the cleanup also made in photoshop? Or its some vector lines made on top of the original lines?

[yksnimus]

WOW, when I saw about this game I said to myself it was animated in flash, because its so clean, dude, cant believe they did it the traditional way, Im amased

[hlc88pr]

Pause at 0:33

lmao!

"Keep that boobcurve tension SAUCY! @A@;"

[gigas81]

Well get it on the console anyway.

[HItsu14]

Nipples at 1:55?

[zleepydude224]

Is Skull Girls going to be a full retail release or a downloadable title?

[lishakara]

@zleepydude224 Downloadable for XBLA and PSN, with the intent to release on PC/Steam if all goes well.

[gigas81]

No PC version. deal with it.

folks are asking for more more 2d games? um there are are plenty. As for Skullgirls (I already pre ordered it), head over to skullgirls com. Its worth it.

[emilhult]

@gigas81 Reverge labs themselves have said there will be a PC version later on.

Deal with it.

[M30W3R]

I'M THROWING MONEY AT THE SCREEN BUT IT'S NOT GIVING ME A PC RELEASE ;A;

WHY GUYS WHYYYYYYYYYY

[Twitoftheyear17]

@M30W3R It`s coming out on consoles first, but the devs said they want to get a PC version out as soon as they can.

[JackOfSpades93]

0:14 Ms Fortune with Yoshi body.

D

L

C

[glovestrong48]

WE'RE NOT WORTHY! WE'RE NOT WORTHY! *bows in appreciation on hands and knees*

Seriously though guys, you have NO IDEA how glorious and revolutionary this is in terms of animation for 2D fighting games. It helps that the gameplay itself is amazing too! :)

Keep up the amazing work! *thumbs up*

[Krimson62]

all game fans love being kept in the loop. on every forum for every game people want to know what developers have to say. this behind the scenes stuff is perfect preview material. :D thanks for helping us appreciate it more even before it releases!

[CagedPhoenixThe1st]

how long would it take for this game to be made i mean he talkin about so many hours put into one character!>? looks amazing!

[Tiamat583]

Whoa, that must take long to make, it takes a lot of knowledge and skill to create something awesome like that.

Im looking forward to the game, as always.

[TheEchoSystem]

"SAUCY! @A@"

[ryarod]

Wow. This is amazing!

Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I'm always a sucker for Behind-the-Scenes stuff.

Keep up the good work!

[ThinksWithPortals]

three words:

THAT

BOOB

JIGGLE

[omgcandy16Kimicari0]

@ThinksWithPortals

KEEP THAT BOOB TENSION SAUCY @A@

[MrGruntsworthy]

This was a great insight into 2D animation for games; thanks guys. I'm a Game Dev student, perhaps I might join the skullgirls team one day!

[unit0918]

0:52 - AEGIS!!!

[Lioyd1rving]

I really love that shadowmap/colormap idea. Makes for a lot more available space for sprites, colors and palettes.

Now if only it wasn't all wasted on porn.

[Lioyd1rving]

@Lioyd1rving Crap, didn't realize I hadn't already commented. My statement still stands, though. Fighting games are infamous for sucking even harder at female characters than the rest of the industry and this isn't helping one bit.

[londonbon]

Damn so much work. Is that why 2d fighting games aren't made anymore?

[mas8705]

No one makes good looking 2d fighting games like this anymore... Truly 2012 can't come soon enough...

[HamalSharatan]

I think this is very cool. I just don't like the art, the characters look a bit on the midget size, heads are too big, hips too wide. The characters are very disproportionate.

[TheOriginalTwichty]

@HamalSharatan its just a concept not everything cant be anime

[TheBoyInBlack]

@HamalSharatan you seem to be forgetting that their bodies are exaggerated and cartoony. proportions are relative. change the size of their heads and everything else looks way too big. shrink their hips and suddenly you're wondering how they can even support their upper bodies.

[HamalSharatan]

@TheBoyInBlack I am not forgetting, I know they are exaggerated and that's why I don't like the design. I rather have another kind of cartoony.

[DemeanorYT83]

This game looks absolutely FANTASTIC, fighters-wise only Arcana Heart 3 has given me the vibe this gem does. Day one no matter what.

And THUMBS UUUUP for that Chibi Aigis!!! :D

[DekaBlz]

Wow.. i can barely wait...! I am a great appreciator of animation!

So I appreciate those 20 seconds! ^_^

[DaeronRedFire]

These guys are mi ultimate heroes!

They do great animations and the art style its awesome

[TheOriginalTwichty]

0:53 :| paul robertson? please tell me that's him because of that slimey thing

[coldshoulder14]

Wow this is incredibly impressive, really like the art style and animation!

Any estimate as to how much it may cost on XBLA?

[supasphoje]

so a single minute of animation=100hrs of work, thats kind of like developing an art gem from a certain point of view

[wickersham]

0:53 gurren lagann figure? this game is in good hands

[Pivotman1]

@wickersham Because Gurren Lagann is the best anime ever. XD

[TheGreatReptar]

@wickersham I wish I had that Nia figure =\

[TommieV]

@wickersham Some may see that as a bad thing.

[Brianguyanddude]

Even If this game didnt have awesome gameplay, I'd still get it because of the amazing designs and animations :P

[ad45376]

ah when is this coming out i want it :<

[Mastermax345]

this game looks like pure fan service.

[Kamek20xxExtra]

0:50 - 0:53 Someone's a fan of Gurren Lagann and Dragon Quest. I'm gonna like Skullgirls since it's created by people with such great taste in certain anime and video games. Anyways, fantastic work you guys. :)

[TheOriginalTwichty]

holy crap that was amazing

[gauntnoir]

o_8 IS THE MAN!

[tuber52]

i heard mike z say at ect 3 that there are weekly play tests, would any of these happen to be recorded to watch or get streamed anywhere? also cant wait for this game

[demonkeyoblivion]

Definitely getting this game on the first day

[texaswerewolf]

awesome vid! I always like behind the scenes stuff for animated projects. I will definatly get this!

[Incrediblejeff]

Very Cool Animation.

[Jasupi911]

Questiion. ok this might sound weird but when you were young, what subjects did u do to get where you are now? cuz i Love to draw and i would love to do somthing in animation. and im 16! it seems extremely fun! XD

[Extersis]

I would love to see those model sheets in full at some time.

[kokocipher]

Is there a skullgirls forum for fans?

[SkullgirlsGame]

@kokocipher Best way to follow Skullgirls is @Skullgirls on Twitter or by Liking us in Facebook.

[NuMrGreen]

@kokocipher Actually I'm working on one, if you want I could link it to you when it's finished

[kokocipher]

@NuMrGreen please send me the link after you're done :D

[NuMrGreen]

@kokocipher Sure, it's going to be very well done, so expect a good level of quality

[aer0blue]

@kokocipher @kokocipher @kokocipher Try DustLoop dot com's Skullgirls section.

[Doberboy218]

Oh man, watching this makes me want to go into animation even more! It's been one of my dreams for some time now.

[ShadowR27]

Amazing. :D

[Brianguyanddude]

0:54 that pose looks sexy 8D

[kokocipher]

sometimes the uncleaned sketchy lines are actually kind of cool.  I'd definitely recommend using that for dramatic effects

[Doberboy218]

@kokocipher I know what you mean and feel the same way to a degree. My favorite comic book artist Fred Perry, creator of the Gold Digger comics, uses a sketchy style in his art and it looks awesome. Still the finished works look of Skullgirls fantastic!

[MiDSinister]

And this is why 2d will always be fucking awesome!

[morpheus8624]

"2000 man-hours of work you're watching in 20 seconds." I wonder what the comparison is for using 3D models in a FG?

[balak]

this looks fantastic, guys!

[bahijd]

@balak haha Balak! man nice to see you here!

[BonLaVu]

Hi, what did you say at time: 1:39?

What palette editor are you using to do this?

[DaELFGokulio]

Man, I worked hard on the test to be considered as one of the clean-up artist. Now, I know my skills wasn't enough, these guys are a whole `nother level. This is so unbelievable, I can't wait for this game!

[DarkonekoHellsing]

I wish there were subitltes, can't understand spoken english.

[baldulf2024]

Excellent animation, a true heir to the classics of the 90s.

But I found the new shading layer a bit too thick, doesn't it mask most of the character details?

[lizard81288]

<:'(

No Nintendo Console support.(Wii, DSi, 3DS, or Cafe)

[michiyoyoshiku]

@lizard81288

True gamers don't care about Nintendo anymore

[omgcandy16Kimicari0]

@michiyoyoshiku

PC pirating games for free to play on a $1500 computer master race reporting in.

[michiyoyoshiku]

@omgcandy16Kimicari0

That doesn't even make sense

[ShuHibiki]

@omgcandy16Kimicari0 "Hey guys, I'm supporting my favorite platform by pirating all the games for it. This will totally strengthen developers' interests in it for the future."

[omgcandy16Kimicari0]

@lizard81288

To be fair, Nintendo is rather frosty when it comes to dealing with 3rd party devs that aren't shovelware.

Take Meat Boy for example.

[chau2k5]

I apologize for previously ragging on Skullgirls. I'm looking forward to be playing it.

[truendymion]

Are they using photoshop for cleanup?

[Shippoyasha]

The animation actually kind of shames BlazBlue's even. Stunning!

[sompret]

@Shippoyasha

Arc System Works has a bit of a checkered history when it comes to sprite quality. Sometimes it's good (Makoto's sprite), sometimes it's... really wonky (Litchi's sprite).

Also, dammit, I thumbed you down by accident. My bad.

[EnzoCroft]

This will be one of my two Free PSN games, Thanks Sony!

[ARMIV4]

Oh my, this game looks gorgeous! 

[DaUsher]

Can't believe people are bitching about the art direction games go. Seriously, I'm laughing as I'm typing this. Fighting games are fun, end of story. It's the players who are the asshats out there.

And did I mention I lol'd?

[NoSpoonForYou]

This video alone is enough to make me want to buy the game.

[AKImeru]

As a digital designer (You will laugh at the shit I currently have on my channel though because it's so bad, but that's besides the point) I can tell the artist really knows their stuff about animation, design and pallet limitations on a 2d game.

And the animations are great! It's so awesome, it made me a "girl fighter hater" wish to see more about the game.

[newdoom3]

thighs and sex appeal: the game.

No thx man, I play fighting games to fight, not look at a little girl's thighs because hurdurr virgin.

Back to tekken I go.

[YayaIWin]

@newdoom3 Stay insecure, yo.

[UncleGary01]

@newdoom3

Yeah, because there's no TnA in Tekken... None at all.

[newdoom3]

@UncleGary01 >SKULLGIRLS

>game about girls

>thighs larger than a bucket

I play Eddy and King.

[UncleGary01]

@newdoom3

Oh, so you prefer the cock.

[newdoom3]

@UncleGary01

See this people? Fighting games aren't about fighting,. They're about expressing your Sexual Identity!

Gee, who would've known. Dipshit.

[UncleGary01]

@newdoom3

You are bizarre.

Facetiously calling someone gay on the internet = making DEEP statements about the psychological drives behind fighting games, and showing twenty pixels of skin on like two of the three characters they've shown makes SG a loli raping pedo fluff game.

Stay delusional yo.

[newdoom3]

@UncleGary01

You take things too seriously. Enjoy your pedophile loli fighting game simulator. Casual.

[garlicbug]

@newdoom3 "Casual."

Hahahahahhahhahahahahahahahaha­hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha­ha

[Grimmomega]

@newdoom3

Just because a fighting game shows tits and ass doesn't mean it's not focused on fighting. For instance, all females in Mortal Kombat have J cup tits. That doesn't stop it from being a groundbreaking fighting game, does it?

[zenzybar]

@UncleGary01 Not that much to be honest, and if it is it's not anywhere near being a selling point.

[UncleGary01]

@zenzybar

Denial, how does it work?

[zenzybar]

@UncleGary01 Tekkens selling point has always been it's gameplay. Most of the female cast have standard breasts. Nothing like DOA or SC.

The game modes are limited to that of the actual game as well. Tekken relies very little on gimmicks or novelties.

Seriously have you even looked at tekken before. The most whorish character (nina) doesn't even look nice. The rest of the females don't look hideous by any amount, but they aren't bimbos or have massive breasts.

[ShuHibiki]

@zenzybar Nina doesn't look nice? And most whoreish? Compared to Anna? Are you freaking kidding?

The game modes are "limited to that of the actual game"? What the hell is scenario campaign then?

Hey, guess what, Guilty Gear is way more fan-servicey than DoA.

And it kicks DoA and Tekken's asses.

[zenzybar]

@ShuHibiki Guilty Gear is more Fan Service-y than DOA? Dude you fucked up right there.

DOA has Beach volleyball games and that nonsense PSP game. It's a game MADE for fav service. Soul Calibur is following suit with the breast getting bigger and the clothes smaller.

I doubt you can even play guilty gear properly.

I don't know what you're trying to defend or push. Tekken relies, much like street fighter, on gameplay. Guilty gear and Blazblue are the same.

Scenario mode is just story mode.

[DaShonuff]

@zenzybar Actually Namco has a Breast size chart that designers have to follow to the T. So it does'nt actually get bigger, at least not since 3.

[demonkeyoblivion]

@newdoom3 You haven't even played the game and your complaining about gameplay? C'mon bro, atleast see gameplay and try out the game before you criticize it for no reason.

[pulsr]

I've always been very impressed with the animations in this game, great work guys.

[danmonster28]

Amazing work.

[luisisskating]

Im Gonna Buy The Game As Soon As It Comes Out! ^_^

[apanst]

on another note it's really sad to see spritebased 2dfighters and handrawn animation in general to slowly become replaced with 3d.

3d is just pure lazyness at work and it never really looks quite as good as a well animated movie/game.

[HotDogMarchant]

@apanst Sorry, but I don't agree. Yes, hand drawn sprites have their charm, but modern games just look so much better than the older 2D games. MvC3 in my opinion is the best looking fighting game of all time, and SF4 (minus some dodgy face designs... *cough*Ryu*cough*Ken*cough*) is certainly up there. And although it may be easier to animate 3D models, it is much harder to design the original model.

But I do think that 2D games have their place. Blazblue is a beautifully drawn game.

[xRisingForcex]

@HotDogMarchant they both have their place and it's bigoted to believe otherwise. to draw a parallel, anime will persist no matter how realistic cg gets

[HotDogMarchant]

@xRisingForcex Yes, I definitely agree, but I think it's wrong to say 3D is lazy and can't be appreciated, like apanst seemed to be suggesting.

[xRisingForcex]

@HotDogMarchant good man

[neon6]

@HotDogMarchant Do you know any Call of Duty players that have a win/loss ration above 50% in SF4?

[HotDogMarchant]

@neon6 Uh, I'm not sure what this has to do with what I said, but I guess myself and my friend count. We both play Call of Duty and have win ratios over 70%.

[neon6]

@HotDogMarchant Besides switching to 3D models to save on costs, you already know of Capcom's goal of westernizing their IPs in order to better appeal to American audiences even though one could propose their games were already doing that before this generation. You've seen it in RE5, DMC4, and now SF4 which have all been successful. I personally believe it's a dumb idea because they're appealing to the wrong crowd (the type that does no OTG, use X-Factor when the round starts...

[neon6]

@neon6 ...or even a combo above 8 hits without super) for the moment and it will deteriorate their quality to the point that they won't be thought of as fondly like the old games which got them where they are today (when they had Inafune, Mikami, Inaba), but be remembered in the same vein as spin-offs like REGaiden or SFEX. Capcom probably assumed they'd think of their games as a massive gathering of faggots just like SRKfags/Eventscrubs think of BlazBlue/Tekken/any fighting game Capcom didn't..

[neon6]

@neon6 ...make after losing a considerable number of times. But those are just my thoughts on the matter. To be perfectly honest, I love Capcom's games, I wish the best for them, and I don't want to see them go out like what Activision did to Guitar Hero.

[SqueeksoAo]

@neon6 Don't care if it wasn't directed at me, I have a 2.4+ k/d on MW, MW2 and BO, a 90%+ win rate on SF4 (1000~ matches played) and Super SF4 (600~ matches played), and 146 matches won 11 lost on MvC3. The fuck does playing Call of Duty have to do with anything?

[neon6]

@SqueeksoAo Because Call of Duty became the most popular video game series in the world shortly after it's new Modern Warfare reboot. I believe it's directly responsible for motivating Capcom to westernize their franchises in order to compete with them.

[apanst]

0:52 cool nia fig you got there :3

[Mightfox]

Awesome!!

[LitoJ]

Shout outs to 2D fighters

[vgbe]

That was a pretty nifty watch.

Also, ALL OF MY DOSH.

[Leviathanryder]

God, looks amazing!

[Deth280483]

shut up and take my money!!!

[OnePlusTuque]

Hablaguahgh.

I think I speak for everyone.

[thejohnsondesign]

if i ever make a game like this it's gonna be rickety tweening like all those castlevania bosses made in faux 3D. mostly because i'm too laxy to draw this hard. in short my game'd be super shitty compared to this one. good stuff skullgirls team!

[Chibisavv]

ok... i dont know at last what artstyle do your use... HD pixelart or common images (like a flash game)

[CheezyWEAPON]

They make it look so fucking easy. -.-; Burning envy aside, I can't say no to the spiritual predecessor to Darkstalkers. I look forward to it.

[SlamtasticX]

@CheezyWEAPON Successor.

Predecessor refers to something that came BEFORE.

[KikiDaiso]

I hope Capcom make enough money from their FG crop to do something at least half as good as this for SF V!

[AkumetsuLord]

@KikiDaiso That is if Crapcom wish to start doing 2d games...they probably won't but who knows

[neon6]

@KikiDaiso That was a really funny joke.

[omgcandy16Kimicari0]

@KikiDaiso

Better yet, buy Reverge Labs.

[bwoboo]

tits aren't big enough

[DubCTales]

A nice look behind the curtain on the game's animation process. The game is very pretty to watch in motion.

[sl021]

So hyped for this game. Can't wait!

[Jurdaan]

Now you just gotta release the track from this video on the channel, go on.

Please?

[Lioyd1rving]

It's almost like it's not porn!

[DimitriLionheart]

FGOTY!

[Astrotrain78]

2D fighting games forever!!!

[Spheris]

This game looks AWESOME, keep the hard (and brilliant) work!

[Harumikuyuki]

i cant wait for this game looks so amazing

[DMitsukirules]

Holy shit, I'd pay money just for a book full of concept sketches and shit.

[girligirl2341]

@DMitsukirules Oddly enough, before Skullgirls got picked up, Alex Ahad used to sell artbooks full of sketches of both Skullgirls and other stuff at conventions. Don't know if he still sells them. :/

[Coatl360]

@DMitsukirules I feel lucky then, I bought the sketchbook at fanimecon last year. Signed too.

[Trevthehedgehog7]

@DMitsukirules That's most likely gonna happen with the special edition--wait, Isn't this going to be for XBLA?? ...DAMMIT!