Fighting game Skullgirls reaches crowdfunding goal in less than 24 hours

Fighting-game fans are out of their minds — but kind of in a good way. They proved that today by throwing more than $150,000 at developer Lab Zero Games in less than 24 hours so that the studio can fund downloadable content for its brawler Skullgirls.

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Yesterday, Lab Zero started a funding campaign on crowdfunding site Indiegogo and asked for $150,000 to pay for the development of a new downloadable fighter, Squigly. Its fans have smashed that first goal. The project has 30 days left to continue taking pledges from contributors.

The developer plans to release the DLC for each version of the game, which includes releases on Steam, Xbox Live Arcade, and PlayStation Network.

Skullgirls designer Peter Bartholow posted the following update on the campaign page:

Wow.

When we set out to do this, we had no idea if this would work. People told us that $150,000 in 30 days would be impossible, but, thanks to you, we’ve accomplished that in under 24 hours.

We are truly humbled and honored by your support, and can’t wait to get Squigly into the game. We couldn’t have done this without you!

Now, it’s time to get back to work!

Even though the Indiegogo project still has a month left to raise funds, Lab Zero Games plans to get to work immediately on putting the new character into Skullgirls. While the studio hit its initial target, it does have an extensive list of stretch goals, which starts with Squigly’s stage and story mode at $175,000. At $375,000, the studio will add the first male character, a walking saxophone named Big Band, to the otherwise all-female roster.

In early February, Skullgirls earned a spot as a side event for the Evolution 2013 fighting-game tournament. Fans donated $78,000 to breast-cancer research in the name of the game, which put it second behind Super Smash Bros. Melee. Normally, that would have eliminated Skullgirls from Evo, but the event’s organizers wanted to reward the dedicated fans, so they set up the side tournament.