Lab Zero, the developer behind the 2D RPG Indivisible, announced today that the game will feature an opening animated by Studio Trigger. 

Excited to announce that @trigger_inc has started animating the #IndivisibleRPG opening!

In the meantime, check out this awesome pre-production art of Ajna! We'll release more Trigger pre-production art in the weeks to come! pic.twitter.com/YJV1UAaV9C

— Indivisible (@IndivisibleRPG) November 7, 2017

Studio Trigger is known for its dynamic and expressive style, producing hits such as "Little Witch Academia" and "Kill La Kill", among many others. While the anime studio has worked with western companies before, this will be their first video game affiliation.

Indivisible started as an Indiegogo campaign that was funded in late 2015, and is set to be released next year on PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, XBOX1, and Nintendo Switch. Though a new studio, Lab Zero's team were the creators of Skullgirls, which was widely praised for its animation and gameplay. 

Developer Lab Zero Games has announced that Skullgirls 2nd Encore is now available for the PlayStation Vita. The 2D fighter is available via the PlayStation Network for purchase. 

Skullgirls was initially developed by Reverge Labs, published by Konami and Autumn Games, and saw a release back in 2012. Due to finalncial issues that both publishers faced, post release content was cancelled and the entire development team was fired.

Reverge Labs reemerged as Lab Zero Games after the fallout. In late 2012, they were able to continue post game content after launching a successful indiegogo campaign.

Autumn Games eventually ended their relationship with co-publisher Konami. Konami then requested that Skullgirls be removed from both Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network in December 2013. The game was eventually re-released as Skullgirls Encore in 2014 with newly secured publishers

Skullgirls is unique due to certain features partly unique unto itself. It features a cast of 14 characters that are fully hand drawn. The roster features a motley crew cast of mainly female characters with only 2 male fighters (Big Band & Beowulf) to date. The story focuses on the Skullheart, an artifact which grants wishes for any woman who obtains it. Each heroine clashes with the other in hopes to get her wish granted. If she is has an impure heart, she'll become a monster bent on destruction.

Skullgirls was praised by both fans and critics alike for highly technical gameplay reminiscent of Marvel vs Capcom. The game is also recognized for having fluid animation for all it's characters.

Skullgirls 2nd Encore features include all DLC fighters, cross play with the PlayStation 3 & PlayStation 4, and challenge mode to name a few. If you're looking for a fighter as technical as it is visually expressive, Skullgirls may be for you. 

From the creators of Skullgirls, Lab Zero's newest game in development, Indivisible, is now available as a playable prototype on PlayStation 4 today! There is already a free prototype available for those who want to test on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

For those unfamiliar with this 2D side-scroll action RPG, then listen up. The game follows a rebellious teen female protagonist, Ajna, who was raised by her father in martial arts to protect their village. 

After the village is attacked by warlords, Ajna discovers her magic powers to "absorb" special individuals called "incarnations" and must use this power to combat the warlords.

The world is inspired by Southeast Asian mythology and various cultures and myths and introduces a large cast of incarnation characters worth checking out.  Further development of the story line allows players to earn new abilities and weapons.

Game art and environments are being worked on by several talented artists, while music-wise, Lab Zero has partnered with legendary Japanese game composer, Hiroki Kikuta, known for the Secret of Mana series soundtracks.

Lab Zero mentioned during earlier development periods that Indivisible is  a fixed funding campaign. Funding from fans help with game completion, as well as provide certain features that gamers sometimes overlook: language translations and multiple-platform releases.

The company plans on releasing the game on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam Windows/Mac/Linux platforms as well as language support of English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese and Russian.

Other companies tend to get in on the game and help out this fixed funding by donating at various goal intervals. 505 games is doing this, generously wishing to contribute $2 million if Lab Zero reaches their goal of $1.5 million.

Developers welcome any feedback from players to help improve their game, so be sure to keep in contact if you find anything that you think could be of use to their development in the story. 

If you wish to learn more, or are already hooked and wish to donate to the cause, you can head on over to the game's Indiegogo page. 

Indivisible is a new action/rpg from indie developers Lab Zero, in partnership with 505 Games. It was announced earlier this month with a whopping price tag of $1.5m to reach their target crowdfunding goal and 505 Games has promised a further $2m should they reach the funding goals; this brings the total to $3.5m.

The game has just 25 days left to reach its target and so far they have received 25% of the funding, the total standing at $379,457.00. There could be many reasons the campaign has suffered a slow start but Lab Zero's Mike Zaimont released a tell-all YouTube statement regarding the costs.

"$3.5m dollars is the real number it would take to make this game. It is not inflated or anything like that, after a lot of negotiation we were able to convince 505 to be nice and put in $2m of the $3.5m that we need, which is slightly over half, and take care of a lot of the other development costs like localisation and testing and marketing and stuff. They are a publisher. They are not our publisher."

Zaimont went on to state that the federal poverty line the US is $20k and using Super Metroid as an example, it took 23 people to create that game and 3 years to create. That equates to $460k annually on the poverty rate for employees, not including non-salary costs such as office space, internet, marketing, development kits etc. He concluded:

"Now let's increase that to what a lot of people in parts of the United States consider to be a semi-decent/semi-crappy salary: $40k a year, We know from making Skullgirls approximately how many people we will need to make Indivisible in the timeframe that we're looking at and it is more than 23 people."

After calculating the costs and adding up how many people will be working on Indivisible, Zaimont explains that they're also pushing to get the game out in 2 years instead of 3, resulting in extra staffing. So that is the reason for the $3.5m price tag as that is the actual cost.

Lab Zero have stated the game is inspired by Super Metroid and Valkyrie Profile. Many fans of the indie developers have criticised them for putting such a high price tag on the end product, there is already a prototype/demo available and this has led them to believe it is half finished already.

"That prototype was the result of about three months and one week of super intense work by a very small team of people, That does not translate into an entire RPG. We are trying to do this as honestly and normally as we possibly can. And we are meeting exactly the same resistance as if we hadn't tried to do that, which is really frustrating. 

Donations to the campaign can be made below. What are your thoughts on the price tag? Justified? Or just too damn much?

Lab Zero has updated their Tumblr and Twitter accounts with beautiful combat animations, reminiscent of their fluid style in Skullgirls. The developers don't seem to be cutting any corners in their upcoming action RPG, Indivisible.

Here’s a look at one of Razmi’s attacks in #IndivisibleRPG! Bom’s fiery spirit packs quite the punch! pic.twitter.com/dWHBtGaczh

— Indivisible (@IndivisibleRPG) September 3, 2015

Here’s a look at Tungar’s rough low attack animation, demonstrating his amazing urumi! pic.twitter.com/nITwTsSBt3

— Indivisible (@IndivisibleRPG) August 31, 2015

 Indivisible will have an action RPG battle system similar to tri-Ace’s Valkyrie Profile. Each character, or Incarnation, has a basic attack mapped to the buttons on the game controller. More advanced high, low, and neutral attack variants will be unlocked as the game progresses. Similar to Valkyrie Profile, attacks synchronized by the entire party will lead to HP-shattering combos.

Although Indivisible will not be released until 2017, it's good to see they're being as transparent as possible with their Indiegogo backers and fans. The art and animation so far looks pretty slick.

Since it was first announced 7 months ago, Skullgirls fans have been eagerly awaiting the release of the PC port of the game. It is now finally out and available on Steam.

If you donated one of the qualifying amounts to the Skullgirls Indiegogo campaign, you could have already played the game in its beta form. If so, there most likely won't be too much new in the release of the game for you.

If you donated a qualifying amount, but have not redeemed your codes, or you did not donate but want to purchase the game, make sure you do as soon as possible. If you buy it before November 22nd, you will get Squigly for free. If you buy it before Thursday, September 5th, you can get the Skullgirls Character Color Bundle DLC for free.

Skullgirls is available now on Steam for $14.99. If you want to purchase a 2-pack for you and a friend, it is $24.99 and if you want a 4-pack, it is $44.99.

The original roster for the Skullgirls DLC character vote was supposed to be one larger than it actually was. A fan suggested concept, fleshed out by Alex Ahad of Lab Zero Games, was missing due to legal issues that were being worked out during the vote.

The Facebook post that started it all.

The fan suggested character was named Juju. She was a Chinese sniper that used a comically large gun to help Parasoul take out her opponents.

Although Alex Ahad was the one who fleshed out the character and turned her into an actual piece of artwork, due to Cee McNeil being the original suggester, the character was (apparently) legally his.

Many fans, along with Lab Zero Games, wanted to see Juju get put up as a potential Skullgirls character in the DLC vote. This was planned to happen, but Cee McNeil posted on the official Facebook of the game saying that he wanted to be compensated.

After legal talks that lasted long enough for Juju to not make either of the votes, it seemed like the sniper was finally going to be a part of the cast. Unfortunately for fans and Lab Zero Games, however, Cee McNeil posted this on the official Skullheart forum, breaking a non-disclosure agreement and ruining any legal agreements that were made.

Throughout the thread on the Skullgirls forum, many fans expressed relief that the character was finally dealt with, although many questioned how valid Cee McNeil's ownership claim was due to his only contribution being a Skullgirls Facebook suggestion.

In response to criticisms, Cee McNeil responded in an arguably hostile manner, going so far as to call another poster an idiot for bringing up the validity of his ownership of the character.

The thread was eventually locked due to some heated debate. A short while afterwards, Peter "Ravidrath" Barthalow of Lab Zero Games posted the following:

Hey, everyone.

There was a confidentiality agreement in the contract Mr. McNeil signed, so I'm extremely disappointed that after working for a few months to get this resolved, the creation of this thread has ended any possibility of using Juju in the future.

We tried to get this resolved favorably despite continued disruptive and unprofessional conduct on Mr. McNeil's part, often against our own better judgment. His behavior in the Skullgirls community has made Juju an extremely divisive topic within Lab Zero and I soldiered ahead because I felt it was the right thing to do. But with this breach of confidence, none of that matters now.

To say that I am disappointed in this outcome would be an understatement.

This decision is final - sorry to all of Juju's fans, but I can't afford to waste any more of Lab Zero's time and money pursuing this.

Prior to reading the thread on the issue, I had forgotten about Juju's originaly inclusion in the Skullgirls character vote. It is a rather unfortunate circumstance that the character was dropped, but after reading some of Cee McNeil's posts on the forum, it is easy to see why Barthalow would paint his conduct as "disruptive" and "unprofessional."

Hopefully Lab Zero Games can get around the issue by simply redesigning the character a tiny bit. Her suggested playstyle seemed like she would have made a good fit in the Skullgirls cast.

Skullgirls seems to be taking off pretty well. It started off slow in the United States, but it built up a loyal fanbase that expanded with its port over to Japan and the DLC character Indiegogo campaign. Now Lab Zero Games' fighter will have a chance to reach more people in Japan as it gets ported to arcades.

Unlike in the United States where arcades are dead almost everywhere, the arcade scene is still alive and kickin' in Japan. This is why it comes with only a mild surprise that Skullgirls is getting an arcade port over there.

This has got to be exciting for the folks over at Lab Zero Games. Not only is there game doing pretty well in Japan, it's doing well enough to warrant an arcade port.

Living in southern California, I'm lucky enough to have a few arcades within an hour or so drive of my residence. I am really hoping they import the Skullgirls arcade cabinet. If not, maybe I can win the lottery and do it myself.

After what seems like an eternity, the Skullgirls race has come to an end. Squigly, Big Band, Robo-Fortune, Eliza, and now Beowulf will be joining the cast of Skullgirls at some point in the near future.

With a playstyle that will be based off of the likes of Tizoc from Garou and R. Mika from Street Fighter Alpha, Beowulf is a professional wrestler with a chair that he uses to set up combos. Everything about him is pretty rad.

I normally try to maintain some level of neutrality while writing about games I have opinions on, but I just want to say this: fuck yes, I am so excited that Beowulf made it in to Skullgirls. His playstyle seems fantastic. I am sorry to the folks whose waifus didn't make it, but you're gonna have to quit being so salty and learn to love the Wulfmeister.

Now that we have Beowulf and Big Band, do you think they should change the name of Skullgirls to Skullpeople? Seems more politically correct.

Thanks to Microsoft's weird policies about updates, Skullgirls fans who play on the XBOX 360 have been shafted. While PS3 players have had the patch since November of last year, 360 fans have had to play with the base version of the game. This happens no longer.

That is right! If you are an XBOX 360 Skullgirls player, the patch is finally here. Peter Bartholow sent out an e-mail detailing how to patch for users who contributed to the Indiegogo campaign.

If you did not contribute to the funds, have not received or checked your e-mail, or just want to be reminded on how to patch, here is how you do it:

• Turn off your XBOX 360 as the first step. It is important to do so.
• Next, you will want to go to your Skullgirls game in your library and bring up the details menu. There will be a section called extras which you will select.
• Choose from there the "Required Compatibility Update."
• This is a two-tiered update. After you get the compatibility update done, you will launch the game and get the actual Title Update.

Hopefully the Skullgirls update process goes smoothly for you so you can enjoy the changes! Good luck and happy fighting!

When Skullgirls released, each character had a decent amount of color swap options. There were some pretty great ones like a Harley Quinn style Cerebella, a Cirno for Touhou version of Peacock, Hatsune Miku costume color for Filia, Kneesocks from Panty and Stocking outfit color for Parasoul, and the list goes on.

Today on the PlayStation Network, players can pay for premium color DLC packs. Each character released so far has their own pack. Each pack will cost $1, but players looking to get new colors for the entire cast can buy a mega pack for the discount of $5.

The new color packs can be viewed on the PlayStation blog. There are some references that stick out: an Evangelion Unit 01 Painwheel, a Scanty palette swap for Filia, and what looks like a Mami Tomoe from Madoka color scheme for Ms. Fortune.

Skullgirls has had so much news lately. I am so happy for the folks over at Lab Zero Games. I'll be picking up the full pack to hold me over until the new characters get released.

The final round of voting for the fourth DLC character to be added into Skullgirls began earlier tonight. If you haven't checked your e-mail for the voting link, make sure to do so. You will be ranking the remaining ten characters.

The remaining ten candidates for Skullgirls are: Stanley, Beowulf, Feng, Panzerfaust, Isaac, Minette, Venus, B. Dahlia, Annie, and Aeon. If you rooted for any of those characters, you are set. If not, you have my condolences. I weep for the casualties of the great Character War of 2013.

It is hard to believe that the ride is almost over. I am sure that the folks at Lab Zero Games are ready to get this over with and finish working on all the new characters, stages, etc.

Even though the voting is almost over, make sure to check your e-mail for updates on the goods you will receive for contributing to the Skullgirls campaign! Stay tuned to find out who the winner is.

Oh, Lab Zero Games, you tease! The official twitter for Skullgirls just sent out the picture above. Fans of the series were lead to believe that the Team Fortress 2 hats had been canceled, but this image seems to point to the contrary.

At the start of the Indiegogo campaign, Lab Zero Games promised fans that they would create Skullgirls themed hats for the game Team Fortress 2. Unfortunately, this idea was shot down by the development team for TF2 over at Valve due to what seemed like them having too much on their plate already.

The crypticness behind the tweet could signal two things: Skullgirls TF2 hats are already confirmed and the team is just trying to rile fans up or it's just a possibility. Given how disappointed the fans were during the cancellation the first time, though, I'd venture to guess it's a safe bet that the Peacock hat will make it into the game.

Another interesting tidbit about this hat is that, originally, the TF2 hat shown for the Indiegogo campaign was Squigly's Leviathan. Does this mean that the fans will get both or does it mean that we're getting a Peacock hat instead?

I really hope this means what I think it means. I also hope that this will be thrown back into the packs for those who donated to the Indiegogo campaign. I'm putting my trust and love into you, Lab Zero Games, gimme some of those awesome Skullgirls TF2 hats!

Super moves are featured in a lot of fighting games. Sometimes, they're simply just fancy moves with very slight alterations ala the King of Fighters series and Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Sometimes, they're overly complicated and can be quite time consuming like the Ultra moves in Street Fighter IV. Skullgirls supers have been on the tame side. Until now.

The art team at Lab Zero Games has decided to spruce up the Blockbuster moves (supers) in Skullgirls adding a filmstrip of the character to the side whenever she performs a super. It's a nice middle ground between plain and flashy.

For comparison, a video of the old style Blockbuster moves is provided below.

It's awesome to see that the team is not only dedicated to the DLC from their Indiegogo campaign but are tweaking the game itself to give it a bit more flair. Lab Zero Games, why does your game look so good?

Are you planning on entering into the Skullgirls tournament at EVO? Are you registered for EVO? If not, go here to find out how. If yes, then listen up.

If you want to get in on this side tournament, you are going to need to register at this link. From now until the end of June 7th, it will only be $5 to register. From June 8th until registration closes on July 5th, it will be $10. On-site registration, which will be accepted up until an hour before the tourney begins, will be $15.

The prize pool is $8,000 which will be divvied up among the top eight contestants. Each of the top players will be presented their prize in an envelope featuring Skullgirls artwork done by the art team at Lab Zero.

The first place winner will get her/his share of the money and will be able to place an original NPC into the background of a stage.

The Skullgirls side tournament will be taking place July 12th, 2013. You must first register for EVO before registering for this tournament. No exceptions.

Limited edition t-shirts from places like the Yetee and Tee-Fury seem to be all the craze now. Lab Zero Games, the creators of Skullgirls, have teamed up with Eighty Sixed Clothing to bring fans shirts along the same vein.

The shirts, which can be bought here, will be up for 168 hours at a time. For those of you who can't do math quickly, that is one week. This week's shirt features Big Band, the second DLC character from the Indiegogo campaign.

In addition to the limited edition tees, you can pick up a few other tees and a set of Skullgirls' pins that feature the logos of the original nine characters.

Apparently, this has been going on for a weeks already. Unfortunately, I had just heard of it so I missed out on a few cool designs. Thankfully, though, it seems like every shirt of the week looks good. My wardrobe is in some dire need of Skullgirls apparel.

Things are getting heated up once again in the vote for the DLC character in Skullgirls. Now that it's down to the fourth and final character, the second one the fans vote for, everybody is at each other's throats in hopes that their waifu will make it.

If you were hoping to rock the bodies of any of the following characters, you will have to wait until the next batch of roster additions. These are the characters who have been eliminated: Mrs. Victoria, Leduc, Adam, Hubrecht, Andy, Hive, Ottomo, Samson, Yu-Wan, and Regina.

If your choice was not listed in the previous paragraph, then they are still in the running for the next addition to Skullgirls. Round 2 began today, so, be sure to check your e-mail for the link to vote.

My top two (Beowulf and Stanley) have yet to be eliminated, thankfully. My condolences go out to anyone whose Skullgirls' character of choice struck out. There is always next time.

It's that time again. Time to vote for who you want to see join the cast of Skullgirls. This time, however, the voting style has changed significantly.

Voting has Changed

Instead of voting for the top x amount of characters per round over a week, you rank the characters 1-30 over a 3 day period per round. This method of voting was decided on by a meta-vote.

In the first round, you rank 30 characters. The second round, you rank the top 20 that still remain. The third and final round, you'll be ranking the final 10 characters.

If you haven't voted yet, I'd say give yourself about 20-30 minutes for this one, in case you need to refresh yourself on which characters you like and dislike. It's very easy to vote for your top four, but ranking all thirty Skullgirls is a bit more difficult.

Which Skullgirls are you ranking in your top four? I went Stanley, Beowulf, Yu-Wan, and Feng this time around. Let us know your order in the comments below.

Did you contribute to the Skullgirls' Indiegogo campaign to raise the funds for Squigly and other characters? If so, check your campaign e-mail. Awaiting you should be an e-mail from the Skullgirls team on how to claim the goods currently released along with the ones that will be released in the future.

Lab Zero Games is releasing the goods through Humble Bundle. If you have not received the e-mail, here is the link. Simply input the e-mail address you used for the campaign and shortly after you should get a message back in your e-mail with a link to the place to claim your goods and input your name as you want it to appear on the contributors list in the credits..

Out of the digital goods promised to be released, only the Half-Minute Hero key, the digital soundtrack, and the digital sketchbook are currently available. Once the wallpaper pack, Skullgirls beta key, etc. are released, they will be up for grabs via Humble Bundle.

As I write this, I'm currently about halfway through the Skullgirls OST. I knew through playing the game that the music was amazing, but it's even better coming out your headphones.

The ride is almost over! After pulling off an impressive Indiegogo campaign, Lab Zero Games' subsequent fan voting process has ended and the first result is in: Eliza will be joining the cast of the Skullgirls.

Although nothing is quite concrete yet, the play style speculation section for Eliza makes her sound like a really interesting character. She is dubbed the "ultimate attack-from-disadvantage" character due to her unique mechanic involving the control of the blood she spills as she takes hits from other characters.

"Ankhs for all the support."

There's still one more character left to be revealed. It will either be Aeon, Annie, or Minette. Once that's revealed, it will finally put an end to the Great Waifu Wars of 2013 that the Skullgirls' voting process has caused.

This process has been a bumpy one and I'm sure that Lab Zero Games is excited for it to end so they can pump out the new content. I can't wait to try out Eliza; the new Skullgirls content can't come out soon enough.