Hello, Liam here. Today's update is mostly focused on bug fixing and tweaks to Umbrella's latest HUD updates.

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• HUD - Adjusted Starving glow animation.
  
• HUD - Fixed numerous issues with Umbrella's HUD on Player 2 side.
  
• HUD - Adjusted transition animation when Ravenous becomes Starving.
  
• Reduced c.MK and s.F+HP blockstun advantage.
  
• Umbrella's normal move names on Character Select now correctly list the command in them.
  
• Adjusted training mode Hunger level settings to line up with her new HUD style.

• Fixed an issue where the Character Select timer was in the wrong location.
  
• Stagger Recovery is set to "ON" by default in training mode.

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(Build version 3.3.6.2)

Hello, Liam here. Today's update includes some new moves for Umbrella, and various bug fixes and game improvements.

• Valentine's Level 5 can cause the game to abruptly close. (Fixed in 3.3.6.1, which is now live if you're reading this!)
  
• Umbrella's HUD isn't working quite right on P2 side.

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• When characters are suffering from bright hit visual effects, they will now emit a flickering light. This includes Parasoul and Squigly's fire, Annie's space dust, and Robo-Fortune, Valentine, and Umbrella's electricity.

• After player feedback, we've decided to try out some updates to Umbrella's HUD. In this build, Umbrella's HUD bar is now "fullness meter" instead of the previous "hunger meter". It now drains over time, and the location of the Ravenous and Overstuffed sections have swapped. We've also made some general improvements to it for clarity. After everyone has a chance to play with it, we're earger to hear your feedback! This is by no means final yet - we're just trying this on for size to get feedback on both approaches.
  
• Added a new optional follow-up to Retina Reflector (formerly Super Move A) performed holding LP, MP, or HP. This will fire a projectile called Projection Lens. NOTE: We hope to have this eventually reflect projectiles back towards the attacker, but this mechanic is not ready yet. For now, it blocks projectiles and prevents Umbrella from getting hit if she is standing behind it.
  
• Retina Reflector non follow-up hit recovery greatly increased. Damage reduced from 2500 → 2000.
  
• The puddle spawned from Air Throw's bubble can now be interacted with using cMK, sMK, and JMK. She will have more ways to create bubbles and puddles with her future moves.
  
• Some work in progress unique sounds have been added for Umbrella. Expect new sounds and sound tuning to be arriving with future updates.
  
• Updated move names (character select) and her command list.
  
• Adjusted the hit effect and damage (1300 → 1400) for sHP during Overstuffed state.
  
• Fixed a bug where some effects spawned from her Hunger states were happening while she was dead.
  
• Fixed an issue where Tongue Twister (formerly Special Move A) would miss thin characters if performed very close to them.
  
• Slightly improved dash speed.
  
• sMK active frames reduced from 3 to 2.
  
• Slightly reduced start up of Starving and Overstuffed light attacks. (cLP, sLP, sf+LP)
  
• Air Throw now places the opponent in IPS Stage 2 instead of forcing Stage 3. Damage reduced from 750 → 500.
  
• Adjusted Fukua's Air Throw bubble pose. The old one is used for only one of her palettes.
  
• Air Throw has a rare chance to do something...
  
• sHK Changes:
  
  • Increased start up by 4F.
    
  • Increased punishable landing time by 4F.
    
  • Adjusted landing location on success.
    
  • Is no longer an overhead.
    
  • Blockstun advantage considerably reduced.
• Hungern always closes his eyes when he is dead.
  
• Fixed an issue where two Hungern's were visible when Umbrella was thrown by some characters.
  
• Hurtbox adjustments to be more in line with other characters:
  
  • OTG hurtboxes vertically and horizontally extended.
    
  • Air hitstun shape adjusted to extend towards the attacker.
    
  • Knockback hurtbox extended towards attacker.
    
  • Standing hitstun hurtboxes increased towards the attacker by a few pixels to make sure Ms. Fortune's sHP x L Fiber Upper works on her.
• Air chains now allow JLP → JLK, and JMP → JMK. Chain type is LL → MM → H.
  
• Fixed a bug where cancelling into a Special Move when landing from JHP at the right time could leave her floating a bit above the ground.
  
• Fixed a bug where JMK would adjust her air momentum even if she didn't hold it. Float descent speed slightly decreased.
  
• Fixed a bug where Super cancels were possible from Salt Grinder (formerly Special Move B) before they were spit out.
  
• Salt Grinder now spits the opponent out lower to the ground if Stagger is already used.
  
• Salt Grinder has more recovery on success.
  
• Fixed a bug where Salt Grinder directional grinding inputs were less responsive than intended after the previous update.
  
• sf+HP (Cliff Hanger) is now an overhead when partially or fully charged.
  
• Salt Grinder hitbox size reduced.
  
• Tongue Twister (formerly Special Move A) can now be used as an assist. Thank you for waiting!
  
• Salt Grinder, Air Throw, Ground Throw, and Tongue Twister correctly build meter for both teams.

• Napalm Pillar camera shake slightly increased on hit to allow the stage and its NPCs to react. Parasoul was the only character who couldn't activate this, but now she can!
  
• Fixed a few minor edge cases where Napalm Shot would not place a tear on contact with another projectile.

• Fixed a bug where Sagan could be seen twice when Annie was crossed up during her walk backwards.

• Reverted Beta change where Catastrophe Cannon would stop hitting after she DHCs out. (It was causing issues with some projectiles - we'll try again for a future update!)

• Fixed some issues with Annie's portrait on her HUD on MacOS and Linux.

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(Build version 3.3.6)

Hello everyone, this is Jesse. I hope you're having a good day!

Today's update is a render-code-only change. With the help of the wonderful Skullgirls Community, who did some quick testing with me, we believe we've got a fix for the character color tinting issue.

So yeah, another super small patch, but don't worry, more Umbrella content is right around the bend.
Check out what's coming soon in this forum post!

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• Fix for issue where characters would flash or get stuck tinted different colors.

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(Build version 3.3.5)
Always initialize your C++ variables!

Hello everyone, this is Jesse. I hope you're having a good day!

Today's update is a render-code-only change. We're trying to pin down the cause of the recent issue where characters will flash or get stuck tinted to different colors. If you are able to reliably cause the issue to occur, we'd love to hear from you!

You can reach out to HVS about bugs via:
- The #2e-bugs channel on the Skullgirls Discord
- The Skullheart Forum's Bug Report Thread

Thank you everyone for your patience as we're trying to address this issue! And don't worry, more new content for Umbrella is coming down the pipe! Check out what's coming soon in this forum post!

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• Rolling back some render code changes to try and isolate the cause of the recent character color tinting issues.

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(Build version 3.3.4)

Hello everyone, this is Jesse. I hope you're having a good day!

We have a small update today adjusting balance and a few bugs.

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• Better aligned Umbrella when captured by Valentine's ground throw.
  
• Fixed a bug where Taunt wouldn't work unless Umbrella had at least one bar of Dramatic Tension.
  
• Special Move B no longer sets of "Blockbuster KO Finish" effects.
  
• Fixed issue where some palette effects (Poison, Fire, Electricity, etc) were incorrectly masking if there was an Umbrella on each team.
  
• Added chip damage to Special Move B and Super Move A.
  
• When Hungern is Starving, Umbrella will slowly lose red life.
  
• Special Move B teeth grinding won't start if you are already holding a direction.
  
• Special Move B teeth grinding can be performed with LP and HP in addition to tapping left and right.
  
• Adjusted the color of Hungern's eyes during the Starving state.

• Fixed a bug where H Brass Knuckles was missing a hit sound effect in retail mode.

• Fixed an issue where the veins in Hungern's eye in Umbrella's HUD could get stuck in an incorrect state.

• An attempted fix for a bug some players experienced where characters would flash different colors during gameplay.

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(Build version 3.3.3)

Hello, Liam here.

This update is focused on fixing bugs and issues. Changes are below...

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• While the tongue from Special Move A is rolling out, it will destroy projectiles it collides with.
  
• Temporarily disabled Umbrella's additional taunt effect that would adjust her Special Move A functionality. This will likely return later.
  
• Taunt now builds Hunger over time instead of all at once, and it builds less Hunger overall.
  
• Fixed a bug where JLK could cancel into Air Throw at any time.
  
• JLK adjusts upwards and downwards momentum further along in the animation compared to before.
  
• Fixed a bug where hitting Umbrella as she caught the opponent with Special Move A's tongue would not release the victim.
  
• Fixed a bug where heavy air normals were building incorrect Drama (Undizzy) values.
  
• Fixed a bug where her Burst was not correctly tagged as a Counter Hit state.
  
• Fixed a bug where some of Umbrella's effects would not be adjusted by vibration during heavy hitstop.
  
• Umbrella's dash jump speed has been increased by 10%.
  
• All chewing and chomping (Throw, Air Throw, Special Move A and B) can now kill the opponent and will play their death scream, instead of waiting for them to be spit out.
  
• Air Throw will no longer trap dead characters in the Bubble.
  
• Fixed a bug where cHK would spin characters around during blockstun.
  
• Umbrella starts with 4 hunger pips, down from 5 and a half.
  
• JMP hitbox extended slightly downwards, to reliably hit all characters crouching if she is in the Ravenous state, as originally intended.
  
• Adjusted Hungern's eating intro animation.
  
• JLP now hits Big Band while he's crouching even if she is rising, but it is still mid while rising against all other characters. Sorry Ben... she learned this one from her sister.

• Fixed a bug where H Brass Knuckles hit sound effect was not playing.

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(Build version 3.3.2)

It's finally time... everyone's favorite salty sister is playable for the first time in Skullgirls!



As is tradition, Umbrella will be arriving in an unfinished state with some work in progress "sketchy" frames. Keep an eye out for frequent updates during this "Alpha" as we work on finishing her up.

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As mentioned before, characters in their Alpha phase are currently only available to Season 1 Pass holders. If you don't own the Season 1 Pass DLC, you won't be able to use Umbrella yet. Lucky for you, it's on sale right now if you still haven't picked it up! This launch celebration sale will only last until Tuesday September 7th, so don't delay.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1557981/Skullgirls_Season_1_Pass/

Once you have the Season 1 Pass DLC, launch the game in BETA mode by pressing the green PLAY button on Skullgirls 2nd Encore from your Steam library page, then selecting "Skullgirls Beta (Umbrella Alpha)". You can also launch the game in BETA mode by navigating to the in-game Options menu, and pressing "Switch To Beta". (You can also use the -beta Steam launch option, if you prefer.) In BETA mode, you can pick Umbrella on the character select screen as normal!Linux Users: The In-Game "Switch To Beta" functionality is not working. We hope to address this for the next alpha build, which will be very soon. In the meantime, you can launch into Beta mode using the Steam Launch Options OR using the "-beta" in the launch arguments.

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Once Umbrella's Alpha phase is over, her individual character DLC will go live in Early Access on the Steam store. This will allow you to play Umbrella during her Early Access Beta phase without owning the Season 1 Pass.A character's Alpha phase is over once they have voice acting integrated, unique sound effects, and all of their attack animations fully complete.

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Umbrella has almost everything functionally integrated except for several of her Special Moves and Blockbusters. During the Alpha period, expect to see ~5 new Specials and ~2 new Blockbusters added to her arsenal. We will also be tuning and polishing her visuals and existing toolkit over the coming months.Note that Umbrella's hunger mechanics will take some extra time to tune until it's feeling just right, so expect to see plenty of changes, as they are currently work in progress.We'd love to hear your feedback on how she's shaping up (and any bugs you've come across), so don't be shy in joining the official Discord (http://www.discord.gg/skullgirls) and the official forums (http://www.skullheart.com)!

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Umbrella is slated to have her full release on Steam, PS4 and Mobile in 2021. The other characters in the Season 1 Pass will follow in 2022. We can't get too specific with our planned dates quite yet, but stay tuned for more info!

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At the moment we've got our hands full with finishing Umbrella, but non-Umbrella related changes will be arriving at some point in the future. That said, there are some changes in this build that were finished a long time ago, so these will be included in BETA mode:
• ANNIE - Throw range slightly reduced.
  
• ANNIE - JHK no longer refreshes OTG (Off The Ground) when it connects outside of Star Power.
  
• ROBO-FORTUNE - Catastrophe Cannon (all versions) will never hit and consume a team's assist action after Robo-Fortune exits the screen when performing a Blockbuster Sequel (DHC).
  
• ENGINE (ALSO RETAIL MODE) - Hopefully resolved a low level issue where some VFX and projectiles would not vanish at the right time. This was most common on Mac and Linux with Squigly's jMK and cHP, and Valentine's tag-in curtain. This should hopefully also resolve any remaining desyncs between versions when playing online.

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We know plenty of you are clamouring for information on Umbrella and the Season 1 Pass's release on other systems, so here's a mini-update on those fronts:
What about Nintendo Switch or <INSERT PLATFORM>?
Unfortunately due to unique technical complications regarding the Nintendo Switch port, we still can't provide much information on when the Season 1 Pass will appear on the system. We will provide an update as soon as we have an updated timetable on Switch availability. We are not planning on releasing any future updates for the Xbox 360, PS3, or PS Vita versions.
What about Xbox One / Series X?
We are still interested in bringing Skullgirls to the Xbox One / Series X in the future, but we do not have any further details we can share at this time. Stay tuned!

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We can’t wait to hear your thoughts on Umbrella now that she's finally made her big (alpha) debut! Thanks so much again for all of your support, and stay tuned here and on our social media pages (Twitter, Facebook) for the announcement when the update is live. The Skullgirls Launch Party never ends!<3All of us at Hidden Variable and Autumn Games

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(Build version 3.3.0)

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UPDATE: We fixed a small crash issue with Fukua shadows. (Build version 3.3.1)

Hello everyone, this is Jesse! Hope you're having a good day!

Today we have a small functionality patch for Skullgirls 2nd Encore. This is addressing a couple of crash bugs and some achievement issues. We hope this will smooth things out a bit for everyone, especially with the finals for Skullgirls Championship Series Summer Blockbuster this weekend! It's an exciting time for Skullgirls!

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• Two crash bugs have been addressed.

• The Beau-coup de Grâce achievement has been adjusted so it will only prompt steam overlay updates if you gain progress on the achievement.
  
• You can no longer gain progress with the Beau-coup de Grâce achievement while spectating an online match.

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(Build version 3.2.1.2)

Hello everyone, this is Jesse! Hope you're having a good day!

We've released a small, content-only patch for Skullgirls 2nd Encore.

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The Skullgirls Championship Series has made its way to New Meridian. The NMO Arena has been decked out in full SGCS regalia and is ready to host the Skullgirls Championship Series Summer Blockbuster in just a few weeks. You can play this new stage variant, the SGCS Arena, right now in Skullgirls 2nd Encore!

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(Build version 3.2.1.1)

It's been a long journey, but after months of testing and tuning, the official release of Annie of the Stars is finally here! And as much as Annie loves the spotlight, this update also comes with a mountain of gameplay and balance adjustments for the rest of the cast.

If you've been participating in the open beta these changes will be familiar to you, but if you've just joined us, or want a refresher on the staggering amount of updates that have been made, we've compiled a comprehensive set of update notes, which you can view over on the Official Skullheart Forums:

Skullheart Forums | Annie Release Update Notes

We couldn't be happier with how Annie and this first major update to 2nd Encore has turned out, so thank you to everyone who's supported and continues to support us in this new era of Skullgirls!

Keep an eye on our social media accounts for the latest info on Umbrella and the other characters in the Season 1 Pass!

-Hidden Variable