Lab Zero (Skullgirls) announce Indivisible "Metroidvania” w/ Valkyrie Profile combat"

Am I correct in assuming that the main character is a type of medium, and her "party" will consist of spirits she recruits? The teaser makes me think so, and if true it's a lot more like VP than just a battle system (nothing wrong with that!).
 
...Hesitantly excited! What they've shown looks cool but I've pretty much avoided Skull Girls for its reputation as a fanservice game. Hopefully this one isn't. The main character looks really cool.
 
There's no part of this that doesn't look/sound HYPE though I will admit I've never played a Valkyrie Profile game before so I have no idea if that is something I would like. Off to the internet to do some research I guess :P

But yeah this looks crazy good. I hope you can get some of the art up online (tumblr, deviantart, etc.) so we can better appreciate it.

Hey, what's going on this this threa... oh!

The crowdfunding and playable prototype will be coming soon, likely in early September.

The actual game will be out around 2 years later.

A bit glad because I'm a bit strapped for cash right now. In for probably more than I should as a responsible adult once this campaign is up.

Even Lab Zero is into this silly name-dropping bullshit. What does Valkyrie Profile combat even mean in the context of a "Metroidvania"? Is it actually a JRPG with 2D maps?

I mean it makes sense because unlike Skullgirls which was an already released game people could play when they did their fundraising, this is a totally new IP so giving frame of reference/comparison helps people better understand what they are funding.

Just curious, why did you guys decide to go with Indiegogo again?
I know the reason stated for Skullgirls was cause you got the money quicker, which was necessary for that time, given how things were going with Konami.
But I imagine you guys are doing relatively ok now, so wouldn't the extra exposure of Kickstarter be better?

IndieGoGo fees are also smaller so more of the actual money raised will go into the development budget than on Kickstarter. Of course, as you said, Kickstater would give them more exposure probably. Clearly they felt the the pros of IndieGoGo outwayed the cons.
 
Very interested in hearing more about this.

Is the thread title accurate though? The blurb doesn't specify it's the combat that's Valkyrie Profile-like. It's described as an action-RPG, while I would consider VP's combat to be "turn-based", even though it's very atypical and you can, like... "combo" your turns. I suppose the game overall is a lot more action-based than a typical JRPG from that period though, so that could be what they mean.
 
Love the main character using a big ol' hatchet.
...Hesitantly excited! What they've shown looks cool but I've pretty much avoided Skull Girls for its reputation as a fanservice game. Hopefully this one isn't. The main character looks really cool.
While Skullgirls is fanservice heavy, I really love its focus on unique designs and animations for the fighters. Really reminds me of Darkstalkers. If all fanservicey games could have characters as varied as Skullgirls, I wouldn't mind them as much.
 
...Hesitantly excited! What they've shown looks cool but I've pretty much avoided Skull Girls for its reputation as a fanservice game. Hopefully this one isn't. The main character looks really cool.

Skullgirls is an excellent fighting game before it is anything else. It's perfectly fine if you aren't a fan of those elements but anyone who says that game is any less of a game because of them is lying to you.
 
This could be extremely interesting--looking forward to more news in September.

Also, pretty wild that they've brought Hiroki Kikuta on board. Let's not forget that he also composed the music for Soukaigi!
 
Hey, what's going on this this threa... oh!



The crowdfunding and playable prototype will be coming soon, likely in early September.

The actual game will be out around 2 years later.

Are you guys working on this with WayForward or was that just a baseless rumor?
 
...Hesitantly excited! What they've shown looks cool but I've pretty much avoided Skull Girls for its reputation as a fanservice game. Hopefully this one isn't. The main character looks really cool.
It has animated Tn'A in it but calling Skull Girls a 'fanservice game' feels like a massive disservice to how much effort behind everything there is.

I'm fine with people being bothered by some girls in it having a ton of panty shots or boingy bits (I'm not but each to their own), but if you're avoiding it on that principle alone you're robbing yourself of a really neat fighting game. Senran Kagura it ain't.
 
Needs moar boingy bits.

Incorrect. Not in this genre! The only reason fighting games are so sexy is because the sexual tension is what's causing everyone to fight in the first place. Everyone is trying really hard not to fuck, so they're sublimating their desires into forceful physical contact and bringing another human being to submission.

Metroidvanias are about being a bad bitch and upholding that bad bitch reputation all on your own. There will be no bouncy anythings here. Just Belmont struts and Alucardian trots.
 
Skullgirls is an excellent fighting game before it is anything else. It's perfectly fine if you aren't a fan of those elements but anyone who says that game is any less of a game because of them is lying to you.

I'm sure the game itself is fine, I just don't have any interest in playing that game due to those elements.
 
Held hostage behind a fundraising goal I imagine.

The support for SG's after all the development drama has been amazing, it's great how Lab-Zero managed to prove themselves after some of that drama about their fundraising goals being 'greedy'. Didn't they loan out SG's engine to a few other fan projects as well? Or were those just other fighting games?

Only one I can think of is the guys that were making that My Little Pony fighting game that got C&D. They are still using it with their own characters designs(made by the wonderful Lauren Faust herself).
 
Incorrect. Not in this genre! The only reason fighting games are so sexy is because the sexual tension is what's causing everyone to fight in the first place. Everyone is trying really hard not to fuck, so they're sublimating their desires into forceful physical contact and bringing another human being to submission.

Metroidvanias are about being a bad bitch and upholding that bad bitch reputation all on your own. There will be no bouncy anythings here. Just Belmont struts and Alucardian trots.

yeah okay but more boingy bits tho
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgLtNAKTjhw&feature=youtu.be

Indivisible is inspired by classics like Valkyrie Profile and Super Metroid

M-my...butt...it tingles...
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Incorrect. Not in this genre! The only reason fighting games are so sexy is because the sexual tension is what's causing everyone to fight in the first place. Everyone is trying really hard not to fuck, so they're sublimating their desires into forceful physical contact and bringing another human being to submission.

Metroidvanias are about being a bad bitch and upholding that bad bitch reputation all on your own. There will be no bouncy anythings here. Just Belmont struts and Alucardian trots.

this has made my day(night?).
 
This could be extremely interesting--looking forward to more news in September.

Also, pretty wild that they've brought Hiroki Kikuta on board. Let's not forget that he also composed the music for Soukaigi!
That is one good piece of music. I enjoyed what I heard from the Secret of Mana playlist on YT too. Can't wait to see Kikuta's work on Indivisible fully done.
 
maybe just me but when i read the inspiration i thought:

Valkyrie Profile for the style and aesthetic

Metroidvania for the exploration and combat.
 
Incorrect. Not in this genre! The only reason fighting games are so sexy is because the sexual tension is what's causing everyone to fight in the first place. Everyone is trying really hard not to fuck, so they're sublimating their desires into forceful physical contact and bringing another human being to submission.

Metroidvanias are about being a bad bitch and upholding that bad bitch reputation all on your own. There will be no bouncy anythings here. Just Belmont struts and Alucardian trots.

tumblr_nmv793EmPr1s21c3eo1_500.gif
 
Hand-drawn sprites and a soundtrack by the composer of Secret of Mana.
Yes, dis gon b gud.

EDIT: I wonder why they're going with Indiegogo again instead of Kickstarter.
 
It means....well Valkyrie Profile kind of. That game's dungeons was 2D maps. Probably gonna have skills you gain through the dungeons to help traverse new areas like in other metroidvanias, since VP didn't really have any of that.

Valkyrie Profile definitely fits under "JRPG with 2D maps".

Saying you are making a "Metroidvania with Vakyrie Profile's combat" is weird though, as is describing it as an "action/RPG". If it does the whole JRPG thing of stopping mobility and turning into a menu-based strategy game (possibly with a classical scene change), then it's more JRPG than "metroidvania", which is just a quirky (confusing) way of describing either 2D action game or a certain way maps are laid out (apparently in any genre, since people have the gall to call Arkham Asylum a metroidvania lol). If "Valkyrie Profile combat" is taken to mean means doing combos and shit, added to a 2D action game (or 2D "action/RPG" lol), then that basically undoes the whole point of that hybrid (a JRPG with some action mechanics built on top of your commands) and just makes a 2D action game with... action. There's little so far to say what this game actually is. (I'm not considering that they may be talking about Valkyrie Profile games other than the first, since they are all very different from each other.)

Anyway, this sort of announcement captures the whole name-dropping thing that people use when trying to get their game funded. It's just trying to fish for phrases that make people react without thinking. "GOOD THING" (e.g., Dark Souls, Shadow of the Colossus) plus "GOOD THING" (e.g., some SNES/Playstation game you remember fondly, some buzzwords) equals "GOOD THING". Nothing is really being said, but you get something like BY2K's response. No one who crowd funds stuff seems to be above this lame marketing tactic (although some of it may just be unrelated people, who probably only played half the games they talk about, trying to push it). That's not to say there aren't games that borrow to the point that you can describe that way (e.g., you can describe Skullgirls easily in relation to other fighting games, although it would have to be the right kind of fighting games), it's just all too often it's a weird, inaccurate comparison (which may be the case here, going off my logic above).
 
I was hoping by now that Lab 0 would have enough clout to be able to get access to funding within the industry. I'll totally back this to whatever level gets me the soundtrack or beyond though. Does using crowd funding mean you don't have to deal with a publisher and all the hassle that brings with it?
 
I was hoping by now that Lab 0 would have enough clout to be able to get access to funding within the industry. I'll totally back this to whatever level gets me the soundtrack or beyond though. Does using crowd funding mean you don't have to deal with a publisher and all the hassle that brings with it?

I'm feeling that this situation is less "can't" get the funding through the industry and more of a situation of not wanting to go through the traditional avenues that lead with them not owning the IP when all is said and done. This one they want to keep.
 
The crowdfunding and playable prototype will be coming soon, likely in early September.

The actual game will be out around 2 years later.
Man, games are getting announced EARLY these days.
 
holy shit HOLY SHIT

I AM SO FUCKING IN

Everything about this has sold me in, like, ten seconds. Art, music, premise, mechanics. Fuck yeah.
 
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