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Developers Mike Zaimont and Peter Bartholow of Lab Zero Games aim to raise $150,000 in crowdfunding starting Feb. 25 in order to develop a new character for 2D fighting game Skullgirls.
Plans to develop the new "Squigly" character were first revealed during a Twitch.tv stream featuring both Zaimont and Bartholow, with information later compiled on the Skullheart forum, Shoryuken reports.
"I know that $150k sounds like a ton of money, and it's only that cheap because we're taking huge paycuts to try and make it happen at all," Bartholow explained. "A full cost breakdown will be provided so that people can see how their money will be spent."
A rough outline of the drive's goals and stretch goals includes the creation of Squigly, Squigly's story and stage, a male DLC character, a male DLC character story and stage, a third DLC character chosen by popular vote and finally a third character story and stage.
Once the new character is completed, it will be made available for free on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, regardless of whether players have contributed to the crowdfunding effort.
Update: Skullgirls' Indiegogo campaign is now live and seemingly well on its way to reaching its $150,000 target. On Indiegogo, developer Lab Zero Games offers some transparency on the development costs associated with creating the Squigly DLC.
- $48,000: Staff Salaries - 8 people for 10 weeks
- $30,000: Animation and Clean-up Contracting
- $4,000: Voice recording
- $2,000: Hit-box Contracting
- $5,000: Audio Implementation Contracting
- $20,000: QA Testing
- $10,000: 1st Party Certification
- $10,500: IndieGoGo and Payment Processing Fees
- $20,500: Manufacturing and Shipping Physical Rewards
The "Keep Skullgirls Growing" campaign features a list of stretch goals for the game's expansion, including another new character, Big Band, in the event Lab Zero raises $375,000 and a third, player-voted third character if the campaign surpasses $600,000. Rewards for donating to the project range from pre-orders for Squigly to a hat for Team Fortress 2 to a piece of custom digital artwork.
