What is the square root of a fish? According to a recent Twitter conversation between one Skullgirls Encore player and developer Lab Zero, piracy.
Dan Hibiki received a strange message after beating the game. He tweeted an image of the text to the official Skullgirls account, which responded with "Oh that? It means you should probably buy the game instead of [pirating] it."
//@Skullgirls So I got this message after beating story with both Para and Cere and I have no idea what it means... pic.twitter.com/Nv5bH1vqkV
— Dan Hibiki (@SaikyoChamp) July 8, 2014
Hibiki apologized for his piracy, while Lab Zero told him to "try to do the right thing eventually." When Hibiki asked about plans for additional versus modes, adding that he assumed "they'd be pretty cheap," Lab Zero said there were no current plans.
"Nothing is ever cheap or free," the developer said.
@SaikyoChamp Nothing is ever cheap or free, because it still has to be implemented, UI updated, strings localized, QA tested, etc.
— Skullgirls (@Skullgirls) July 8, 2014
Skullgirls Encore isn't the first game to chastise pirates with a tongue-in-cheek method. Game developer sim Game Dev Tycoon pirates found their business failing, ironically, as consumers pirated their virtual games. Other small developers, like Anodyne creator Analgesic Productions, view piracy as a way to get more people playing a game.