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Skullgirls 2nd Encore News

Retail Update [04/03/2024]

Today's update is a small patch to address a few issues on Steam since Marie's full release.

If you are still experiencing the issues described below, you can report bugs in our official Discord or on our official forums.

Discord: https://discord.com/invite/skullgirls

Skullheart Forums: https://skullheart.com/

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ACHIEVEMENTS
  • Fixed an issue where achievements were not unlocking for Steam.
  • Verified achievements should be re-triggerable.
    • Most achievements track progress in the game's save file. Doing the action associated with the achievement should prompt it to unlock if the criteria have been met. EG: If you should have "The Kitchen Sink" achievement unlocked, hitting an opponent with Peacock's "Shadow of Impending Doom" once should retrigger the achievement.
    • Some achievements don't track progress in the save data and must be completed again. We apologize for the inconvenience.
STORY VO
  • A specific situation with legacy Steam DLC could cause Story VO not to play. This issue has been fixed.
PERFORMANCE
  • Optimized performance for some new graphical effects that were implemented in the last update. Even further optimizations are arriving in one of our next updates.

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(Build version 3.6.10)

Marie Release Update Notes

Hey everyone,

It has been a LONG road, but the final character of the Season 1 Pass is finally here. Marie makes her grand official release simultaneously on all systems TODAY Tuesday 26th March!

Read on for the full details of this release, including features that were previously only available in the Beta builds on Steam, and updates on the remaining contents of the Season 1 Pass.
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MARIE

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

If you own the Season One Pass, or purchase Marie’s DLC individually, here's what you get:
  • [h3]NEW STAGES[/h3]
    The Skullgirl herself arrives with not one, but TWO new stages!


    Hilgard’s Castle is the former home of Marie, but its once majestic walls have crumbled and been overtaken by nature.


    The Nightmare version of the stage reimagines the stage in unsettling shades and is haunted by the ghosts of Marie’s past.

  • [h3]NEW MUSIC TRACKS[/h3]
    Each of the new stages comes with their own music. Hilgard’s Castle is accompanied by “All That Remains”, and the Nightmare stage wails with the guitars of “All That Endures” Both tracks were composed by Darren Malley and can be listened to on our Youtube channel.

  • [h3]STORY MODE[/h3]
    The impossible has happened: the Skull Heart has been destroyed while Marie has been spared. Where will Marie's new lease on (un)life lead...?

  • [h3]PALETTES[/h3]
    A maid of Marie’s high standards can’t just have one outfit - she comes with 29 color palettes!

  • [h3]TUTORIALS/TRIALS[/h3]
    Become a master of the undead in Marie’s personalized tutorials & combo trials.

[h2]SEASON ONE PASS EXCLUSIVES[/h2]
For those who have purchased the Season One Pass you also get:
  • [h3]ALTERNATE "GOTH MARIE" VOICE PACK[/h3]
    Let the bodies hit the floor with this exclusive alternate voice pack!
  • [h3]SEASON ONE BONUS PALETTE [/h3]
    An extra bonus palette is available for Season One Pass holders.
OTHER CHANGES
  • [h3]NEW PALETTES[/h3]


    New palettes first introduced in Skullgirls Mobile have been added to 2nd Encore with this update!
    Double, Robo-Fortune, Cerebella, Squigly, Parasoul, Filia, Annie, Umbrella, Ms. Fortune, Peacock, Valentine, and Beowulf all get new colors.

  • [h3]STAGE UPDATES[/h3]

    Over the years many stages have been added to 2nd Encore, including alternate versions of existing stages. To make it easier to scroll through the full stage list, stages that share the same music but with slight visual differences are now selectable by pressing UP or DOWN on the stage selection screen.


    Speaking of alternate stages, to celebrate the launch of the Skullgirls Championship Series 2024, a new stage has been added!

    Additionally the stage "SGCS Arena (2021)" can no longer be rolled when using RANDOM to select a stage. You can still select it manually by going to the NMO Arena Stage and using the new Up/Down buttons.

  • [h3]NEW SOVIET ANNOUNCER VOICE PACK[/h3]
    As a replacement for a voice pack that was removed last summer, enjoy a brand new “Soviet Announcer” voice pack by none other than the voice of the TF2 Heavy himself - Gary Schwartz!

  • [h3]SOUNDTRACK AND DIGITAL ART COMPENDIUM[/h3]
    The Soundtrack has been updated with the new track "All That Endures", from Hilgard’s Castle (Nightmare). You can get the soundtrack here:
    https://store.steampowered.com/app/1542600/

    The Digital Art Compendium has also been updated with all of Marie’s thousands of animation frames, concept art and other production art. We recently made the Compendium completely free if you own Skullgirls 2nd Encore on Steam, so download your copy today!
    https://store.steampowered.com/app/1549100/

COMBAT
  • Added new visual effects to "Push Block Guard Cancels" to indicate when a PBGC window is possible, and when it is successfully activated.
    Watch out for the green shield flash here:
  • Fixed a bug where some characters were not using idle hurtboxes during landing frames. The following characters are impacted: Beowulf, Big Band, Eliza, Annie, and Umbrella.
  • Updated VFX for Valentine's Vial Hazard special move to now use different art for the three debuff types.
  • Adjusted visual effects and lighting when characters are impacted by palette adjusting VFX, such as Parasoul's fire effect, Annie's galaxy space dust effect, Robo-Fortune's electrification effect, Black Dahlia's freeze effect, etc, to no longer be impacted by stage lighting conditions. Flickering lights involved with these effects should be less distracting.
  • Integrated some previously unused voice lines for old characters when fighting against Marie, both for her boss form and her playable form.
  • Fixed a bug where Black Dahlia would not flinch like other characters when being hit during some throw attacks, like Cerebella's Pummel Horse.


MISC
  • Added a new section to the Art Gallery for Marie, with new unlockable art.
  • When declining a match in Quick Match, or recently finishing a match with a player, you will no longer match with that player again for a few minutes.
  • Kicked players can no longer rejoin the lobby that they are kicked from.
  • Adjusted the position of the timer on character select when playing online, to prevent it from covering up Marie's newly added square.

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THE FUTURE

As we mentioned in the 2024 Roadmap Post, with the SG2E Season 1 Pass winding down, the obvious question is - what comes next? While it’s tempting to dive right into a Season 2 Pass - we’ve instead opted to pause for a moment to step back and recalibrate our efforts a bit. What does that mean exactly?

[h3]ADDITIONAL VO[/h3]
In addition to what’s already been released (including free bonus voice packs for Umbrella, Black Dahlia, and Marie), there is still a significant amount of VO that we were planning to include in the Season Pass that has not been added yet, including:
  • ANNIE ALTERNATE VOICE PACK (English)
  • SEASON PASS CHARACTER STORY MODE VO (English)
  • SEASON PASS CHARACTER COMBAT VO (Japanese)


As it turns out, the logistics for all of these has proven to be a bit more involved than we had originally anticipated. As such, in order to ensure that everything is done to the quality level that we (and the community) expects, we unfortunately are NOT planning to release this content in 2024.

Nonetheless, while the timetable isn’t what we originally hoped for, we take our commitments seriously, and we are still planning to release it in 2025. As always, we appreciate your patience, support, and understanding!

[h3]FREE SGM PALETTES[/h3]
As noted earlier, some palettes first introduced in Skullgirls Mobile have been added to 2nd Encore with this update. While the release timing is a little up in the air, we are planning to provide future Mobile palettes FOR FREE to every Skullgirls 2nd Encore player too!

[h3]BALANCE PATCH[/h3]
Now that Marie has been released we’ll be taking a look at some of the rest of the cast and making some balance adjustments. Keep an eye out for updates to the Beta build on Steam soon!

[h3]NEW FEATURES / CONTENT / CHARACTERS[/h3]
Although we don’t currently have news on what to expect on this front at this time - just know that we are still intending to support both the console and mobile versions of Skullgirls for years to come. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months!
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SKULLGIRLS CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

The Skullgirls Championship Series 2024 is fully underway!

Compete in online regional events to qualify as one of the 8 lucky competitors to be flown out to Combo Breaker 2024 to compete in the Grand Finals!

Check out start.gg/sgcs2024 and be sure to register for one of many events in your area! Interested in hosting an SGCS point earning event? Check out the site for details - it’s easier than you might think!


LIVE EVENTS & GIVEAWAYS

We are currently planning to attend two live events this year – Combo Breaker (Chicago area, May 24-26) and Evo (Las Vegas, Jul 19-21). If you’re planning to attend, be sure to swing by the Skullgirls booth to meet us in person and score all kinds of FREE booth exclusive giveaways and prizes. We hope to see you there!
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Just in case you missed it, we recently announced that brand new characters will be added to Skullgirls Mobile this year as Guest Stars - summonable Assist type characters that can help out in fights. The first of these Guest Stars will be the adorable Minette!

Rough animation of one of Minette's Guest Star attacks.​

Guest Stars are currently planned for SGM only, but there’s always a chance they may make their way to SG2E one day!

It’s been an incredible journey, but after 3 years the final character in the Season 1 Pass is complete! We absolutely could not have hit this milestone without the support of our fans and players. A sincere thank you to everyone who’s stuck it out with us for 12 years of Skullgirls! Here’s to many more!

Stay tuned on our social media pages (Twitter, Facebook) for the latest info on all things Skullgirls!

- All of us at Hidden Variable Studios and Future Club
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(Steam Build version 3.6.9)

Beta Mode Update [02/29/2024]

Today's update is a very small patch to address an issue regarding online spectating on Steam.

If you feel you are still experiencing this particular issue, you can report bugs in our official Discord, or our official forum in the Marie section.

Discord: https://discord.com/invite/skullgirls

Skullheart Forums: https://skullheart.com/

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SPECTATING
  • Fixed an issue where spectating online would sometimes disconnect abruptly before a match ended.

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(Build version 3.6.8)

Game Update [2/6/2024]

To ring in the new year, we’re excited to share these FREE gifts for everyone in the community!

NEW SOVIET ANNOUNCER VOICE PACK
As a replacement for a voice pack that was removed last summer, enjoy a brand new “Soviet Announcer” voice pack by none other than the voice of the TF2 Heavy himself - Gary Schwartz!

The new announcer pack is now available in both versions of Skullgirls 2nd Encore available on Steam (Retail & Marie Alpha), and will be coming to console platforms with Marie’s full release.

NEW PALETTES
Many of you have seen some of these palettes in Skullgirls Mobile, now you can enjoy them in Skullgirls 2nd Encore!

The new palettes are in both versions* of the game on Steam (Retail & Marie Alpha), and will be coming to console platforms with Marie’s full release.

* For now, the new Double and Filia palettes will only be available in the Marie Alpha due to technical limitations.
NEW STAGE - SKULLGIRLS CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES 2024

In celebration of the Skullgirls Championship Series starting up again in 2024, the NMO Arena is now gilded in gold! Try out this new stage first in the Marie Alpha build along with a small update to the stage selection system - stages that share the same music are now grouped in the stage selector, and you can press UP and DOWN to select from different variants of the same stage.



DIGITAL ART COMPENDIUM
Many players (including those who purchased the Season Pass on other platforms) have asked us about how they can get access to the DAC.

We've decided to make the Digital Art Compendium on Steam FREE for all players!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1549100/Skullgirls_Digital_Art_Compendium/
(Note: You must own a copy of Skullgirls 2nd Encore on Steam to access the Art Compendium.)

Thanks so much once again for an amazing 2023 – we can’t wait to reveal everything we have in store in 2024 and beyond!

Here’s to a new year of Skullgirls from all of us at Hidden Variable and Future Club!

The full update notes with other changes can be found below:

UPDATE NOTES:
    3.5.16 (Retail)
    • Added a total of 10 new palettes across multiple characters.
    • Added new Soviet Announcer voice pack.
    3.5.17 (Beta)
    • Added a total of 12 new palettes across multiple characters.
    • Added new Soviet Announcer voice pack.
    • Added Marie’s Tutorials and Trials (English Only).
    • Added the new SGCS 2024 Stage.
    • Added a new Lobby Title for Black Dahlia.
    • Added a new Lobby Title for Marie.
    • The Hilgard Castle stage now has different variants for the animals and weather present.
    • Stage Selection Sets
      • Updated stage select to now support stage sets.
      • Stages in the same set are now accessible using up/down inputs.
      • Stages in sets are identifiable by up/down arrows around the stage name.
      • The following stages are impacted: NMO Arena, SGCS Arena (2024), Evo Arena, SGCS Arena (2021), Little Innsmouth, Little Innsmouth (Night), Lab 8, Lab 8 (Empty), Grand Cathedral, Grand Cathedral (Night).
    • Updated the look of the PBGC visuals that hint when a PBGC is possible.
    • Characters now flash green again when performing a successful PBGC.
    • Fixed a bug where Annie's Star Power music wasn't playing on activation.
    • Fixed a bug where Annie's Gravity Crash still required 1 bar of Dramatic Tension to activate mid air.
    • Fixed a bug where some characters were not using idle hurtboxes during landing frames. The following characters are impacted: Beowulf, Big Band, Eliza, Annie, and Umbrella.
    • Marie
      • Hilgard's Haymaker now has higher priority than Hop To It, if inputting QCF + LP/MK, etc.
      • Fixed a bug where Marie's intros that were not the piano intro were not playing.
      • Increase Suction Obstruction (whiff) recovery by 4F.
      • Reduced Marie Go 'Round armor hits from 2 to 1.
      • Repetitive Skeleton Impact provides better protection from "while rising" unblockables after being avoided.
      • Reduced damage by 50 on the following moves: jMP, sMP, Marie Go 'Round (H), sMK, sLK, sHK, jMK, cLK, cHP.
      • Reduced cHK damage from 1100 to 1000.
      • Reduced Hilgard Haymaker damage from 700/950/1200, to 650/850/1000.
      • Hilgard Haymaker now forces a minimum of 70% damage scaling on hit.
      • Hop To It
        • Reduced number of hits from 9 to 7.
        • Reduced initial launch distance from Marie's vacuum on the M and H strengths.
        • The bunny jumps less far.

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(Version 3.6.7)

Beta Mode Update [12/15/2023]

This update addresses 2 bugs in the Marie Early Access Release

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MARIE DLC
  • We addressed an issue where Marie was not properly unlocking for users who purchased Marie's individual DLC.
ANNIE
  • Updated Annie's command list to better reflect Star Power changes.


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(Build version 3.6.6)