Hey Skul Squad! There are now more than 1,000,000 players, meaning that Skul is now a million seller! We are extremely delighted and honored to have more than 1 million players with us. Hence today, well be looking back on our journey to becoming a million seller. [hr][/hr]

Early Access

Skul was first shown to our players on February 19, 2020. It was SouthPAW Games first game, created over a period of 2 years.
During Skuls Early Access period, which featured 22 skulls, we were able to closely communicate with our players and worked towards fun changes.
We remember the June 2020 2.0 version as being an experimental yet successful update. Can you believe that before the update there were no map rewards or crossroads, and that the amount of items owned was limited to only 6? Not even half a year has passed since Early Access began when we decided to challenge the foundations of the game with a variety of changes through the 2.0 update. It was then that many systems such as stage composition, rewards, stats, inventory limit etc. were changed to become the basis of Skuls system today. Although we were certain that the game would become even more enjoyable with this update, some of those around us were doubtful, questioning if the update was too drastic and what if the game loses its enjoyment. It was risky of course, since it was extremely experimental and brought changes to various systems. But, isnt that what Early Access is for?
Another reason the 2.0 update was particularly memorable is because of the DeadCells collaboration, for which we had a lot of fun integrating the Prisoner to Skul. While maintaining true to the speed and characteristics of weapons in DeadCells, the detailed designs of weapons that only existed as icons were brought to life through character animation. We wanted to stay true to DeadCells while bringing a new feel and sense of enjoyment that could not be experienced in DeadCells. [hr][/hr]

Official Release

After almost a year of Early Access, Skul was finally officially released on January 21, 2021.
Skul experienced many changes after graduating from Early Access. Among which, the most memorable was the Awakening. To be honest, originally there were no plans for an Awakening system. But, it ended up being a newly designed system to resolve issues discovered during Early Access. At the time, whether the player had a powerful skull greatly affected the likelihood of finishing the game. Meaning even if they had a skull that they liked, it was recommended that higher grade skulls were used. Naturally this led to an increase in the importance of luck. Hence during Early Access, the Awakening system was created to resolve such issues. However due to the amount of work required for the Awakening system, it was clear that starting development so late would cause a delay to the official release schedule. It was a hard decision, but we decided on moving forward with the Awakening system because at the end of the day, what really mattered was that our game was fun. In order to reduce the delay caused by developing the Awakening system on the official release timeline, our team members put forth their best efforts to speed up the development process. It sure was difficult, but we were able to reach our goal because we had a great time while working on the Awakening system.
In 2021 many updates such as the item unlock, event map, and Quintessence reform were carried out. Among these updates we think that the Quintessence reform was an especially meaningful one. The context of the Quintessence reform was also similar to the Awakening system. Because the stats of each Quintessence varied greatly according to grade, the base stats of a high grade Quintessence was much more important than having a good combination of Quintessence, items, and skulls etc. This led to only a few high grade Quintessences being used constantly while the others were barely utilized. As a result, we emphasized the unique effects of each Quintessence and reduced the performance difference of each tier to resolve the issue.
We also attempted to display each Quintessence in-game. It was already possible to see some of the Quintessences when used, however most of them were only expressed through text so players had to use their imagination. Creating a physical form for the Quintessence by combining the concept designers imagination and the textual descriptions was an interesting and fun experience for our developers as well, which is why the Quintessence reform was such a memorable update. [hr][/hr]

Future Plans

We originally planned to provide updates such as a hard mode, and QoL improvements in 2021. But it unfortunately didnt happen and it is true that recently updates have been infrequent. This is because there was a lot of trial and error while developing hard mode, which meant that we had to adjust the design and update plan.
In the midst of developing hard mode, we came to the conclusion that Skul's hard mode shouldnt just be a higher level of difficulty. It was a difficult decision but we ended up redoing the previous design, and are currently working on developing a more daring approach. Hence other systems related to hard mode must also be reformed in order for the hard modes content to function as intended.
Therefore as you all know, plans were changed and it was decided that the reform of Skul be carried out first. Old skulls will be renewed, boring skulls will be more fun, and it will become meaningful to use skulls that were weak. Through the upcoming Skull reform update, we would like to bring forth a new sense of enjoyment and experiences while laying down the foundation for hard mode content.
In addition to skulls, items and Inscriptions will also be reformed, and adjustments to level design made along with the hard mode update. The direction of this reform is the same as the skull reform. The goal is so that even more diverse combinations can be powerful and enjoyable to prevent certain items and combinations from becoming overused. It is very unfortunate that content which should have been released in 2021 is delayed once more. But in addition to re-creating hard mode, many quests occurred in the process of expanding the size of the development team, which inevitably led to a longer update cycle.
[quote=author] It's under construction! [/quote] One of our recent quests is to move our studio from a regional city to Seoul, the capital of Korea. Thanks to everyone's support we are now able to continue developing in an even better environment. In return, we'll continue to do our best for our games. Even though it may be a bit slow, well continue to provide updates for our players and stay true to SouthPAW Games philosophy of guaranteeing the fun in our games. [hr][/hr]

Conclusion

Thank you for sticking with us while we looked back on Skuls road to becoming a million seller. This was a lot of fun to write while reminiscing about our journey with our players. Once again, we deeply thank all of Skuls one million players for your wonderful support. Well continue striving towards creating fun in our games.