Skul: The Hero Slayer News

Hello Everyone,

It’s been a crazy year to say the least, but we’d like to take this opportunity to reflect on all the changes that have been made to Skul in the past year and highlight some of our favorite moments. It goes without saying that the best thing to happen to us this year is this community and it’s still sometimes hard to believe that so many people have decided to give Skul a shot. We couldn’t be more thankful for this and can’t wait to introduce our game to even more people going forward.

But without further ado, here’s a quick recap of 2020 for Skul.

How We Got Here

[h2]February[/h2]

[h3]Starting Early Access[/h3]


"The hardest journeys always begin with a leap of faith!" - quote from The Skull Will Conquer


[h2]March[/h2]

[h3]The 1st Round of New Skulls[/h3]


Skeleton-Bomber: We knew this skull was gonna be a hit. I mean...who doesn’t love to blow things up?


Skeleton-Shield: Nothing more satisfying than shoving some soldiers onto the spikes.


Carleon Recruit: The rookie ain’t too shabby.


[h2]April[/h2]

[h3]The 2nd Round of New Skulls[/h3]


Archlich: When it comes to style points, no skull can match the Archlich.


Aqua: When overwatering is a good thing.


Sneak: A thief that throws money? If it works, it works.


[h2]May[/h2]

[h3]The 3rd Round of New Skulls[/h3]


Living Armor: Raging on ‘em.


Alchemist: Good things come in small packages.


Ent: Fist of Fury. Bruce Lee would be proud.


[h2]June[/h2]

[h3]The Dead Cells Crossover[/h3]


WePlay 2019 in Shanghai last December. Was this an omen of what was to come?


This was an absolute blast to do with Motion Twin. Who should we do the next collab with?

[h3]Skul's Marked Improvement[/h3]


We've all been there, but Chapter 1 was a struggle back in the day.


Now even the Chimera is no match for Skul.


[h2]July[/h2]

[h3]Community Contest[/h3]


We were absolutely blown away by the level of participation and quality of the submissions we received for this contest. It’s something that we can’t wait to do again soon!


This wasn’t even submitted for the contest, but it’s too darn good not to showcase it once more :)

[h3]The 4th Round of New Skulls[/h3]


Archmage: The asteroids might be a little overkill, but we’re not complaining.


Rockstar: The power of Rock ‘n’ Roll exemplified.


Ghoul: The Ghoul’s bag of tricks is as big as its appetite.

** And must we never forget the most entertaining bug of the year, a.k.a. the “Ever-growing Ghoul”.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]August[/h2]

[h3]The Inscription System[/h3]


Adding this system was a huge undertaking, but we’re glad that we did it because it adds a lot more depth to the game. We hope you have enjoyed it as well.

[h3]The Gamescom Awesome Indies Showcase[/h3]

Showing Skul to such a large audience on a stage like that alongside other amazing indie games was a dream come true for our team.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]September[/h2]

[h3]Dev Blog #0[/h3]

The first major reveal of the skull upgrade system.

[h3]Dev Blog #1[/h3]

A more in-depth look at what’s waiting for you in Chapter 4.


[h2]October[/h2]

[h3]Dev Blog #2[/h3]

A sneak peek at the Adventurers’ slick new moves.


[h2]November[/h2]

[h3]Dev Blog #3[/h3]

The mysterious Arachne and a breakdown of the Ninja Master!


[h2]December[/h2]

The launch date for the 1.0 version of Skul has been set for January 21st! We’re almost there! We promise the wait will be worth it :)

What's Coming Next

[h2]January[/h2]

[h3]Trading Cards[/h3]

We'll be adding 34 trading cards at launch, but here's a couple to give you an idea of what they'll look like.



[h3]Badges[/h3]

We have 6 different badges coming your way as well.



[h3]Steam Achievements[/h3]

The 1.0 patch will also bring with it the much-anticipated Steam Achievements! Around 50 or so will be ready to be claimed at launch, but who will do them all first?



[h3]Language Support[/h3]

We're also extremely excited to announce that we'll be adding the following languages to Skul.
- French
- Chinese (Traditional)
- Russian
- Spanish
- Portuguese
- Polish

[h3]And last, but certainly not least... another couple upgraded skull teasers.[/h3]


You can't hit what you can't see.


They never saw it coming...


'Beast Mode' Activated

See you next year.

SouthPAW Games

Hello everyone,
We’ll just get straight to the point.

We’re planning to release the 1.0 version of Skul: The Hero Slayer on January 21st.

This is sure to come as a surprise and major disappointment since we had long-planned to launch this month, but it was absolutely not a decision that we took lightly. As we’ll explain below, we felt that this was our only option and ultimately what is best for both Skul and this community.

First of all, we’d like to sincerely apologize for not being able to follow through on our promise to release the update this year. We gave it our best effort, but ultimately fell short of our goals and it is killing us not being able to share what we’ve been working on with you before the holiday season. Simply put, we underestimated the amount of time it would take to fully implement and test all of the changes and additions that we’ve made to the game. As we referenced in earlier posts the 1.0 patch will be pretty massive, so it was hard to accurately predict our development timeline.

That being said, you’re probably wondering what we’ll be doing until launch. With the addition of the final two chapters, several cutscenes and a ton of new skull upgrades, we’ll be focusing on further polishing everything and balancing the game as much as possible. We only get one shot at launching the 1.0 version, so we want to do everything in our power to make sure that it goes off without a hitch and that we deliver the best version of Skul that we can. Because at the end of the day, you deserve nothing less than our best and we expect that of ourselves as well.

We’d also like to thank you all once again for supporting and sticking with us through this extended gap between updates. It means the world to us and we couldn’t be more grateful to have you by our side.
This truly has been the ride of a lifetime for us and we’re just getting started…

- SouthPAW Games

Hello Skul Squad!
This Development Blog will introduce one of the coolest things about the upcoming 1.0 Version of Skul: The Hero Slayer, the upgraded skulls!


As you already know, Skul can swap his skull to take on the form of one of his fallen demon brethren and make use of their special powers.
But due to his inexperience he wasn’t able to take full advantage of their abilities.


However a spider demon called ‘Arachne’ is looking to help each skull reach its full potential.
Nobody knows why she has agreed to help, but her eight legs are imbued with magic silk that can breathe new life into skulls and transform them in magical and interesting ways.
"It’s a pity how those skulls ended up in the hands of a weakling skeleton such as yourself. There’s so much untapped power within those skulls..."

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
That video gave a quick overview of our thought process regarding the skull upgrade system.
We also think that every single aspect of our game deserves our fullest attention, so we did a lot of research to make sure that each upgraded skull stayed true to the original but also was a ton of fun to play.
This allowed us to succeed in transforming the playstyle and visuals for each skull through the upgrade system.
Just like in the video, you can see that the Skeleton-Spear can be upgraded from its base “Common” form and amplify its special ability to charge forward.
You may then be wondering, how about “Unique” grade skulls that are already quite extraordinary? How will the upgrade system affect them?



Let’s take the Ninja for example. The nimble Ninja is the only skull that can triple jump or dash which makes it an aerial combat artist of sorts.
But when upgraded to the ‘Ninja Master’, it becomes more agile than any other skull in the air which gives it a big advantage when going against the Adventurers.



We actually removed the Ninja’s ability to triple jump.
Instead the Ninja Master will have a new ability called ‘Substitution Jutsu’.
When using this ability while jumping, an exploding log is summoned and the Ninja teleports in mid-air.
Rather than just simply working on the triple jump, we thought it would add a more strategic layer to the fights overall if done this way.



The Ninja Master can zip around in any direction you want, but only once in a row for each.
Not only does this significantly boost the Ninja’s mobility, but it allows for some pretty sweet combos that can deal more damage in short spurts.
But we don’t think that this makes the Ninja Master an ‘Aerial Attack Ace’ so to speak ;)

Just like the base Ninja skull, the Ninja Master can have a maximum of two skills. But here’s where it gets interesting…. its arsenal of skills changes when it’s in the air!







The Ninja’s swap skill has also changed from ‘Phantom Drive’ to ‘Fire Style: Fire Breath Jutsu’.
When swapping with the Ninja Master on the ground, it breathes out fire and finishes it off with several explosions to make it even spicier.
If swapping in the air, it uses the ‘Water Style: Sludge Bomb Jutsu’ skill and launches poison-laced projectiles towards enemies on the ground.







’Flash Slash’ is a skill focused on mobility and charging forward.
The Ninja Master takes it up a notch though by being able to change direction up to 3 times when using the skill.
If used while in mid-air, the Ninja Master teleports behind the closest enemy and absolutely slices them to shreds with a lightning-fast combo.







The ‘Numerous Blades’ skill is all about throwing good old fashioned shurikens, but it can leave the Ninja open to attacks from the back and long-range.
The Ninja Master is able to overcome these weaknesses though.
If used while in mid-air, the Ninja Master throws 3 exploding knives. This skill can also be charged several times and if the cooldown time is managed well the amount of damage dealt can be maximized.







The ‘Phantom Drive’ skill is all about dealing heavy multi-hit attacks along with your clone. However just like ‘Numerous Blades’ it leaves you vulnerable to attacks from behind and ranged attacks.
The Ninja Master can attack multiple enemies within a set range by summoning several clones of itself.
And if done in the air, it summons 8 of itself and can hit enemies in a large radius.







The ‘Wheel Shuriken’ skill sends out huge shurikens that penetrate enemies and is great for dealing with mobs.
But the Ninja Master’s shurikens are even bigger and can pull nearby enemies closer to it.
If used in the air, 3 wheel shurikens are summoned that revolve around the affected area.


The Ninja Master is difficult to control and if a mistake is made, it can result in getting swarmed by enemies and not being able to use a skill when you want to.
However once you get the hang of it, you’ll truly become an aerial combat force to be reckoned with.
Like we said previously, we’re doing our best to make sure each new upgraded skull is fun to play but stays true to its original/base form as well.
That being said, we do have another good piece of news to share with you.



Skul: The Hero Slayer was selected as the “Best Overseas Game” at the ‘IndiePlay 2020 Expo’ and also the “Top Indie Game” for ‘Korean Games 2020’.
It really means the world to us to see how many people enjoy playing our game and these awards are just the icing on the cake.

Originally posted by author

Also, you may have seen that the Steam Awards is currently taking place. We’d really appreciate it if you could vote for us as the “Sit Back and Relax” Award ;)https://store.steampowered.com/steamawards/nominations/76561199006886376?k=11209032490807525876

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
We’ll keep doing our best to create the best game that we possibly can.
Thank you!

Hello Everyone!
The day you’ve been waiting for is almost here...
We’re getting closer and closer to finishing the Early Access period and releasing the full version of Skul: The Hero Slayer! The last couple of weeks we’ve been putting in long hours to make sure it’s a smooth transition that meets your expectations. And we know you’re ready, but the wait will be worth it!
That being said, we’d like to give you another quick sneak peek of what you’ll see/experience in the full version.

And what better way to start off than discussing some never-before-seen Demon comrades!




The Carleon Empire has been indiscriminately kidnapping countless Demons to serve their dastardly purposes.
Even now many of Skul’s Demon brethren are crying out in pain while trapped and on their way to the Black Lab in Carleon Castle.




We hope you’ll lend them a helping hand if you happen to come across them.
If you’re able to free them from their captors, they’ll be sure to pay you back for your good deeds.
Their rewards could prove to be decisive in helping Skul to attack Carleon Castle and ultimately save the Demon King.




But like you would expect, there is someone standing in your way...




Skul’s rival is dead-set on taking Skul down and has really stepped up his game.




The other Adventurers have also leveled up and grown a lot stronger since you last saw them.
But they aren’t the only ones. Skul has also gotten much more powerful through the experience of countless deaths.
We personally can’t wait to see how the supercharged battles unfold and if you can overcome the upgraded enemies.

That does it for this Development Blog! See you again soon!