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Skullgirls 2nd Encore News

Beta Mode Patch [2021-03-05]

Hello, Liam here.

Today's update focuses on bug fixes and some extra tuning before the weekend.

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[h3]Linux[/h3]
  • In case you missed it, the Linux build was released late last night and should be available for all! If you're running into any issues with the Linux build, let us know in our Discord in the #2e-retail-bugs channel.

[h3]Beta Mode[/h3]



Added a new option to switch between Beta and Retail in the Help & Options menu to make switching even easier. As a reminder, you do not have to buy the Season Pass to try the new Beta changes!

[h3]Sound Stage 15 (Annie's Stage)[/h3]
  • Now properly plays Annie's stage theme, "The Stars and Stage are Set!" composed by the brilliant Vincent Diamante!
  • Added a 2D background variant for those playing with 2D backgrounds on.

[h3]Annie[/h3]
  • Fixed a bug where her outtake VFX could get stuck on screen if she was hit out of it at the perfect time.
  • Fixed a bug where Annie could call assists during her taunt.
  • Fixed a bug where the landing recovery of Destruction Pillar would activate preblock.
  • Fixed a bug where JMP was only adding 5 Undizzy during Star Power combos.
  • Removed the ability to DHC out of Star Power activation. This is likely to see more tuning in the future and possibly return, but it has been disabled for the weekend.
  • sHP's 2nd hit launch trajectory and hitstop have been tuned to allow for almost universal conversions into Re Entry in the corner. (It will still drop on Peacock)

[h3]Cerebella[/h3]
  • JdMP no longer forces the combo stage to stage 3.

[h3]Double[/h3]
  • Cattelite Lives, as a DHC, has half the amount of time to command the heads compared to when it is used normally.

[h3]Eliza[/h3]
  • Fixed a bug where Eliza could revive after dying if she fell into a blood drop. This also fixes a soft lock that could occur during the downtime between a health bar reset in a solo vs solo match.
  • Eliza's blood drops now vanish when she dies.
  • Fixed a bug where Sekhmet would not fly backwards and bounce of the wall when hit with an outtake.
  • Fixed a bug where Sekhmet would not transition into Eliza form if she was hit with an armor breaking move while crouching.

[h3]Move List[/h3]
  • Fixed a small localization issue with Trichobezoar in Filia's move list.

[h3]Ms. Fortune[/h3]
  • Fixed a bug where a Gold burst spark would appear during the first hit of Nom Nom Nom even if you didn't trigger IPS or Undizzy.

[h3]Peacock[/h3]
  • (L) George is thrown at the old height when used while the opponent is in hitstun, to keep her combos the same as before.
  • (L) George assist now has Peacock arrive in front of the point character FOR REAL this time, the previous build didn't have this change despite listing it, but this one does!

[h3]Robo-Fortune[/h3]
  • Systemic Circuit Breaker's timer counts down at the same rate, always, regardless of whether the opponent is in hitstun.


(Build version 3.1.3)

Skullgirls: Annie goes up in Beta along with the Season Pass and a Linux support update

Ready to beat 'em up? Get ready for a fight as Skullgirls 2nd Encore now has the Annie DLC available in Beta along with the Season Pass and Linux users can get in on the fun.

Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/03/skullgirls-annie-goes-up-in-beta-along-with-the-season-pass-and-a-linux-support-update

The Season Pass 1 First Day Update

Hello, Liam here.

Welcome to the first Early Access Annie patch!

This patch includes Annie, and the first round of changes for the upcoming balance patch. You can play with all of these changes in the BETA version of the game. The main (retail) version of the game is unchanged right now.

For more details about how the beta mode works, check out the previous Hidden Variable post.

MAJOR CHANGES

[hr][/hr]
  • Updated hurtboxes on the ant spawned from Peacock's cMK to be more accurate.
  • The ant spawned from Peacock's cMK can now be destroyed by Robo-Fortune's cMP, and her Air Theonite Beam (L).
  • Fixed a bug where Peacock's ant spawned from cMK would vanish before it was fully off camera.
OTHER CHANGES

[hr][/hr]
  • Added Annie.
LINUX SUPPORT UPDATE

[hr][/hr]We are so close to getting Linux fully operational again, but unfortunately the build is not quite ready for this release.

We expect the Linux build to be released very soon, and we'll post again once it's ready. Thanks so much for your patience!

GENERAL BALANCE & TUNING - DAY 1

[hr][/hr] Please note this is NOT the entire balance patch, this is literally just the first day. The prioritization of which changes were implemented first is mostly related to what changes are going to be the most contentious that need the most time to test and go through the standard Skullgirls beta feedback and tuning cycle.

Just because a character received (or didn't receive) changes, it doesn't mean they're not receiving tuning later for this update.

[h2]REVERSAL WINDOWS (EXPERIMENTAL!)[/h2]
  • When exiting hitstun or waking up from a knockdown, the reversal window (which only impacts Specials, Supers, and Throws) has been increased from 3F → 4F, back to its original value before it was changed in 2014. That's a 4F buffer, plus the 1F where you gain control, for a total of 5F.
  • Heavy normals now have a 3F* reversal buffer from hitstun and wakeup. For medium normals, it is a 2F* buffer. For light normals, it is a 1F* buffer.
  • When exiting blockstun or performing a PBGC, the Special, Super, and Throw reversal buffer has increased from 1F to 2F.
  • All normals have a 1F* buffer from exiting blockstun or performing PBGC, up from 0F.

*If you are holding any up direction the normal will not be buffered, to make jumping buttons out of hitstun or blockstun the same as before. Remember, for same frame jump + button, jump has priority.

[h2]VFX[/h2]
  • "Stab" hitsparks (the straight line one) are now randomly rotated slightly.
  • When exiting hitstun on the ground or in the air, the recovery spark is more pronounced and easier to see. In addition, characters now flash white briefly.
  • When ending a pushblock with blockstun remaining, characters will faintly tint green to point out the PBGC window.
  • Any burstable hit which is always safe to burst after (a projectile, or 90F has passed since the first burstable hit started) will now be GOLD instead of green or red.

[h2]BURSTS[/h2]
  • Bursts taken 90F after the first burstable hit started (which are always safe) will now keep your Undizzy instead of clearing it.

[h2]FILIA & PARASOUL[/h2]
  • First pass at implementing "lenient button dashing" has been done for Filia and Parasoul. During the first frame of any (P) normal, you can press another (P) to cancel into a dash as long as you would normally be able to dash using the previous logic.
  • Numerous bugs and exploits have been taken care of up front, including meter gain being moved to frame 2 instead of 1 for affected normals, plink dashing being impossible, etc.
  • If this implementation has no bugs or issues, I'll do it for all characters. Please let me know if you come across any exploits or differences in dash behaviour for these two!

[h2]PAINWHEEL[/h2]
  • In the spirit of the above lenient button dash changes, Unfly now has 1F leniency when hitting PP as well.

[h2]CEREBELLA[/h2]
  • Fixed a bug with Diamond Deflector where the projectile would pass through opponents without hitting them.
  • Diamonds are Forever is now post flash blockable on DHC by clearing hitstop from the opponent on DHC if they are not attacking, blocking, or in hitstun.
  • Added a buffer for the first follow up punch in JLP, making it feel like other chained normal cancels.
  • JdMP always goes through its start up before going active, removing a bug where J2MP could come out in a single frame if done too close to the floor.
  • JdMP advances the combo stage to stage 2, making the follow up hits stage 3.
  • JHP's forced damage scaling (75%) has been removed and restored to 100%, but it is now a mid hit.
  • Normal throw leaves Peacock and Valentine closer to Cerebella.
  • Pummel Horse hitbox slightly lowered to hit all characters OTG reliably.
  • Note: The previous two changes give Cerebella universal midscreen normal throw conversions. Throw → Pummel Horse connects on everyone.

[h2]ELIZA[/h2]
  • cMP recovery reduced by 4F. -6 → -2 on block. 0 → +4 on hit.
  • Osiris Spiral (M) metergain greatly increased.
  • The 2nd hit of sMK is a restand rather than a knockdown.

[h3]SEKHMET (GENERAL)[/h3]
Sekhmet (and related mechanics) have received some big changes. I realize this may come as a shock to some, but this "rework" is intended to make Sekhmet feel more interesting to play with, and against. Hopefully, Sekhmet now feels more like a complete tool in Eliza's kit. Please approach it with an open mind and give it time. I expect further tuning will be required.
  • Sekhmet no longer drains meter over time when attacking. Instead, she drains life over time, and loses chunks of health when using attacks.
  • Her life drain over time starts small but ramps up the longer Sekhmet is active. Hitting the opponent with any Sekhmet attack resets the drain back to its minimum value.
  • As an assist, she will always lose life at the fastest rate, and this also locks her assist out for longer as if it was hit.
  • Any hit from an armor breaking move (Sweeps, Cilia Slide, etc) revert Sekhmet to Eliza form and put her in a special trip state that allows combos. This also applies to her assists.
  • The recall to anchor input is now QCB only, instead of QCB or QCF.

[h3]SEKHMET (NEW MOVES)[/h3]
  • Sekhmet can now backflip to safety during any normal that makes contact (hit or block) with a backdash input. This drains a huge chunk of life, but can be used to keep her attacks safe. (Play Sekhmet neutral for as long as you want, but the longer you go without getting a hit, and the more your hits are blocked and cancelled into backflip, the more life you'll lose. If that's not your style, just using Sekhmet moves to bait opponents is safer at the cost of health.)
  • Sekhmet has a new Lv1 Super (QCF+KK) that performs a jumping hitgrab neck bite, crumpling the opponent, creating blood, and healing for the damage dealt. It also repositions the anchor nearby so she can convert into Eliza combos even if she was far from the anchor previously.

[h3]SEKHMET (BLOOD MECHANIC)[/h3]
"A" Blood Mechanic, but perhaps not "The Blood Mechanic"
  • Any Sekhmet attack involving her red blood weapons creates blood if it hits a character, which flies somewhere behind them. Blood can go off camera, but not off stage.
  • Only 25 blood drops can be out at once, and each one lasts for 15 seconds. Collecting a blood drop restores 200 health to Eliza. (Tips: Use LLL and M to make a lot of blood to create health positive combos and situations at the cost of damage and granting meter to your opponent. Opponents, try and stop her from getting to the blood to heal!)
  • Eliza's taunt pulls all blood in front of her for easy collection, as long as it's within 1400 units. All other taunt effects are removed.

[h2]PEACOCK[/h2]
  • Lonesome Lenny's hitstop doesn't carry over on DHC anymore.
  • While Lonesome Lenny is active and Peacock is the point character, meter gain is reduced to 33% like Painwheel's Hatred Install, Robo-Fortune's Systemic Circuit Breaker and Double's Cattelite Lives.
  • The Hole Idea (H) will become The Hole Idea (M) and teleport in front if used while any of Peacock's assist are on screen attacking, removing cross-up teleports for all assists rather than only keeping it for slow ones.
  • Bang! (M) recovery increased. It's now -17 on block, previously -9. Knockback on block reduced. Knockback on hit slightly reduced.
  • Bang! (M) hitbox lowered to prevent characters low profiling it.
  • George (L)'s very good hitbox reaching far behind only appears for 1F when George spawns. If the opponent is in hitstun, the good hitbox stays out to keep her combos (ex: GDO loops in the corner) the same as before.
  • George (L)'s lob height slightly reduced. As an assist, Peacock spawns in front of the point character instead of behind.
  • Fixed a bug where Peacock's bombs would only vanish if they hit something, not when they are hit. Most notably, this fixes a bug where two bombs couldn't be destroyed by a single projectile.
  • Peacock's Air Throw leaves the opponent slightly closer for more consistent and stable conversions.

[h2]ROBO-FORTUNE[/h2]
  • Robo-Fortune has a two frame double jump lock out when jumping, this removes her "Instant Double Jump Cancel" overheads. (This change will come for other characters as well later)
  • Increased Magnetic Trap's hitstop before active frames from 4F → 6F. Opponents can't act before the active frames now if it's released immediately.
  • Danger! (M) will stagger when it is used outside of a chain, like Beowulf's sHK or Cerebella's sMP.
  • Danger! (M) is now -17 on block, previously -12.
  • Danger! (M) has bonus hitstun against assists, allowing them to be hit by Catastrophe Cannon after.
  • All hits of Danger! (L) knockdown now.
  • Grounded (L) Theonite Beam, and ground and air (M) Theonite Beam are 25% wider.

[h3]SYSTEMIC CIRCUIT BREAKER[/h3]
Similar to Sekhmet, Systemic Circuit Breaker has received some big changes. The design direction for Circuit Breaker is now more "all in" towards accomplishing an offensive gameplan with appropriate strengths and weaknesses. Again, I ask that you please approach these changes with an open mind and give it time. I expect further tuning will be required, as Circuit Breaker Robo-Fortune is extremely powerful right now.
  • She loses access to her double jump but gains access to an air dash.
  • Her remaining time until detonation is displayed on new art over her head.
  • Once per combo, Magnetic Trap will floor bounce the opponent for a combo opportunity, and she no longer automatically explodes at the end of it.
  • L and M Beams (Ground & Air) have less recovery and tuned frame data.
  • L and M Beams (Ground & Air) have special hit properties once per combo, similar to Painwheel's Hatred Install Buers.
  • Fixed a bug where one second on her timer was 70F instead of 72F.
  • Circuit Breaker's timer counts down at half speed if the opponent is in hitstun, reflected by the slower animation on the timer. (I suspect this will be too much, but we'll start with it.)
  • The explosion vacuums opponents towards Robo-Fortune on hit, instead of knocking them away.
  • IPS and Damage scaling are reset on her explosion if she's hit out of the recovery, but Undizzy is still frozen.

[h3]WARRANTY EXTENSION[/h3]
Robo-Fortune has also received a new move, "Warranty Extension" that helps her maintain Systemic Circuit Breaker's benefits for a longer time, at the cost of health and heads. Being a "Systemic Circuit Breaker specialist" requires you to find time (or build team compositions) to create Heads, and sacrifice life, heading towards a "glass cannon" paradigm.
  • QCB + P during Systemic Circuit Breaker will make Robo-Fortune consume one head and self inflict 750 damage.
  • Each consumed head adds 6 seconds to her detonation timer. The detonation timer cannot exceed 20 seconds.
  • LP / MP / HP determines the number (1 / 2 / 3) of heads consumed at once.
  • Robo-Fortune's meter gain penalty (x0.33) increases towards x1.0 by 0.15 for each head consumed. After consuming 5 heads, her meter gain penalty will be fully removed for the remainder of Circuit Breaker.


[hr][/hr]
There you have it, day 1!

If you're looking to talk about the update with other Skullgirls players, I recommend you join the official Discord and look at the various channels there - I'll be around. If you have a bug to report, you can post it in the #2e-beta-bugs channel.

Looking forward to everyone's thoughts!

- Liam

Season 1 Pass Release Details & Future Club Announcement

Hello from all your friends at Hidden Variable!

You guessed it, the Annie DLC release is almost upon us! As such, we’re excited to share some big news and updates...

[h2]RELEASE TIMELINE[/h2]
[hr][/hr]
We are currently planning to release all of the new DLC (Season 1 Pass, Annie, Digital Art Compendium, and Soundtrack) before the end of the week! Stay tuned Thursday/Friday for more information.

When you download that update, one of the first things you’ll see is a brand new logo...



At long last we’re excited to formally announce that we are working with Future Club on the development of Annie along with all the upcoming characters/content included in the Season 1 Pass. Future Club compliments Hidden Variable’s core development team with a seasoned array of artists and designers brimming with years of Skullgirls experience. We couldn’t be more excited about all of the incredible stuff we have in store!

If you haven’t already, be sure to give them a follow on Twitter and Instagram.

[h2]HOW DOES THE BETA WORK?[/h2]
[hr][/hr]
As a reminder, the old “Skullgirls ∞Endless Beta∞” game on Steam has been retired and is no longer being updated. This go around, you can access the beta from inside the main “Skullgirls 2nd Encore” game!

When launching Skullgirls, you’ll be asked which version of the game you want to play:



Select Play Skullgirls Beta (Annie Early Access) and hit PLAY and you’re good to go! You’ll see “BETA” text on the top of the screen to remind you which version you’re on. You can switch your version by launching the game again.

NOTE: Players on the Beta version can’t match with players on the main retail version.

[h2]HOW DO I PLAY WITH ANNIE?[/h2]
[hr][/hr]
To play with Annie, you need to own either her Character DLC or the Season 1 Pass, and you have to be in the Beta version of the game. If you try to pick Annie in the main retail version of Skullgirls, you’ll have an option to switch to the Beta as long as you’re not in an online fight.



[h2]IS THE BETA BALANCE PATCH ARRIVING WITH ANNIE?[/h2]
[hr][/hr]
Yes! Annie will arrive in the Beta version alongside the first round of balance changes. As a reminder (or if you’re new to the Skullgirls balance patch process), many of the changes you see in the Beta will be experimental and subject to change, and the Beta version WILL change often.

The balance patch notes will be shared at the same time the Annie update is released here on Steam. All balance patch notes after that will also be posted on Steam.

Since Annie is much further along in her development compared to previous Beta character releases, this Beta period will be much shorter than usual so we can hit our target PS4 release date in May. Hold on tight - we’re moving fast!

If you’re looking to discuss the balance patch with other Skullgirls players, share feedback, or report bugs, check out our official Discord. (#2e-beta-bugs, #2e-beta-discussion)

[h2]WRAPPING UP[/h2]
[hr][/hr]
We can’t wait to hear your thoughts on Annie as soon as she is available! Thanks so much again for all of your support, and stay tuned here and on our social media pages (Twitter, Facebook) for the announcement when the update is live. The Skullgirls Launch Party never ends!

All of us at Hidden Variable and Autumn Games

Small Bug Fixes [2021-02-26]

Hello, Liam here. A small update for today...

This update does not contain Annie or any balance changes.

[h2]MacOS[/h2]
[hr][/hr]We've identified a rare crash that can happen on loading screens which impacts a small number of Mac players. We're temporarily disabling loading screen art on MacOS to get these players back in the game ASAP while we work on a proper long term fix. Once the bug is fixed properly, we'll re-enable the loading screen art on Mac.

Note: You will now see the game "hang" on the screen it's showing whenever you need to load the next one - apologies for the inconvenience.

[h2]Other Changes[/h2]
[hr][/hr]• Fixed an issue where Ms. Fortune's 18th palette was missing.


(Build #18106)