The folks over at Mane6 recently released a quick FAQ that touches on some of the benefits that will be afforded to them should they be able to utilize Lab Zero Games’ Skullgirls engine. As many of you may remember, Lab Zero has offered to allow Mane6 free use of said engine should their on-going fundraiser reach $725,000. Below, you’ll find two lists of benefits they received from Mike Z that detail how the Skullgirls engine will positively affect both the players and the developers.

So what does the Skullgirls engine give you over FM2K? MikeZ sent us a nice list of benefits that we can share with you: For the players: Widescreen and HD resolution support

Per-pixel lighting on sprites, a first for ANY 2D engine

Real shadows

2D and 3D environment support

Camera zooming

Negative-edge and multiple-button-input special moves (QCT+PP, etc)

No corner problems (rapid sprite-flipping, etc)

Continuous collision: characters don’t pass through each other when they shouldn’t, no matter how fast they move

Unlimited palettes per character

GGPO integration for seamless, non-delay-based online without a separate client

Input display, save/load state, dummy record/playback, and all the other Skullgirls training mode features

Frameskip that still accepts inputs on skipped frames, eliminating timing-based problems such as unblockables or dropped combos For the developers: Full source code and any existing development tools; the ability to fix any problems with the engine themselves instead of having to just DealWithIt

Tech support

Future engine revisions and bugfixes

HLSL shader support – any graphical effects your little heart desires can be created

In-game palette editor, customizeable debug keys and many other time-saving features

A scripting system written in plain English, with move motions written in regular fighting game notation and a robust munge tool

The ability for sprites to tell when they have left the screen, rather than just the stage

Support for 32-bit (i.e. truecolor, unpalettized) art for sprites when necessary, and mixing of truecolor and palettized frames

Support for teams/assists and a console release, if ever desired So lots of good stuff that we’d love to play with.

In addition to answering some questions, the team also released a teaser image that shows off three silhouettes of character concepts they are currently working on with Lauren Faust. It would appear that losing the My Little Pony concept has helped immensely in regards to design, as all three exude much more character and creativity than the original cast, even as silhouettes.

Their FAQ also touches on what they would like to do in the future with the title should they gain access to this engine and the work that still needs to be done regardless. Make sure to head over to the official Mane6 website to read the entire post and let us know what you think in the comments below.

Source: Mane6, tip via Julius