Indie Game Battle/Planned And Removed Characters

This is a sub-page of Indie Game Battle.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes. Notes: Discuss charcters in more detail (e.g. their model, move set, animations etc.)

This page sucks. If you could make it suck less, that would be awesome. Specifically: Very poorly/sloppily written and a bit confusing. Please do more than just adding a single image/gif of a character and calling it a day.

One look at the Indie Game Battle roster and you will see there are massive tons of character slots in the select screen, a large portion of which don't even have a character attached. Despite the sheer number of characters that were playable, a lot more were in varying stages of development - and at differing points in the game's lifespan. There were even some characters that were playable early into the game's life, then removed later on!

Characters removed from the roster

At one point, these characters were properly implemented into Indie Game Battle. Players could select them and take them to combat like any other playable character. However, they were eventually removed due to behind-the-scenes drama initiated by the game's developer.

Missileman

Missileman was a prominent character in the game, having been first made available on the character select in v1.09 (He can even be accessed as far back as v1.0 via hacking, albeit with a textureless face, black missiles, and a lack of sound effects). That said, he never had a finished moveset, as his icon always had "WIP" attached to it. Only approximately half of his moves were able to be used during gameplay. He also uses a generic special that buffs his power.

After build v2.01, Missileman was removed from Indie Game Battle due to the Blob Games' dissatisfaction with his game, Missileman Origins. Two stages associated with Missileman, ABSO Arena and Ruination Caverns, were removed as well.

Thunder

Thunder was a fully completed character made available to play as from builds v1.32 to v1.44. After finding out his game, Storm and Sword, was built from a fanmade Kid Icarus framework, Indie Game Battle's developer removed the character and his stage from the game.

Completely unused characters

These characters have never been made officially playable in Indie Game Battle. They can only be seen in-game by playing around with the game via the Registry Editor program. Typically, the only functionality they have is through the character select screen; if the player goes to battle with said character selected, the gameplay will break and the only thing that will show onscreen is the chosen stage without music playing.

Peter Hyunt

Peter Hyunt from Kid Wars was originally going to be playable, but was never finished.

Niall

Niall from Dimension Divider is one of the earliest characters to have work done for Indie Game Battle - not that a lot was done. As with nearly every character featured in this section, he only has an animation for the character select, and trying to start a match with him will cause the game to break.

Vanessa

This one here is Vanessa from Super Steel Squad. Interestingly, while she isn't that much more finished than characters like Niall, she does have a selection of alternate costumes programmed.

Ghostie

Aside from the ghastly aura, Ghostie from Ghost Pals shares the same situation as Venessa. You can't take them to battle, but they do have a selection of alternate costumes.

Toadie

Toadie, from "Ta." This character doesn't have any alts, but he can be taken into a match without the game breaking. He has no attacks, and can only jump and shield. He also has only two animations, idling and jumping.

It is worth noting that Niall, Venessa, Ghostie, and Toadie all appeared in promotional imagery for Indie Game Battle circa 2015.

Tim Burr

Jibbot

Here, we have Jibbot from Gem Wars. Despite the lack of work done on this character, a stage based on Gem Wars did make it into Indie Game Battle proper.

Pink Gel

Even with registry manipulation, Pink Gel is only ever able to be seen in the Indie Game Battle demo, v0.01. She has no alts, but she can be taken to a match. However, she can't really do anything, and her face suddenly becomes textureless during battle.

Lilac

Lilac from the Freedom Planet series is one of the more fleshed out of all the unused characters buried in the game's files, despite Blob Games not getting permission to use her. Alongside her idle animation, she has numerous alternate color costumes. She will also NOT break the game when starting a match. While the player is able to move her around the arena and use a shield, she cannot attack, nor does she have animations for any gameplay actions.

While GalaxyTrail did not outright reject the proposal at first, they did charge $50 USD for using the character. Since Blob Games Studio did not want to pay the fee, the deal fell through, and Lilac did not make it into the game proper.

Nano

Nano from Nexum is probably the most complete character that's never been properly implemented. Not only does he have alts and can be taken to a match without breaking the game, but he has animations for all of his actions. The only thing he can't do for most builds of the game is attack; even then, an up-air attack was added to his programming on v2.05.

Shovel Knight

Yes, they thought they were going to get Shovel Knight in Indie Game Battle. While a public pitch on Twitter tagged Yacht Club Games for a response, the lack of Shovel Knight in the game is a nice indicator on what transpired.

Niko

The only animation Niko from OneShot has when hacked in-game is for when he prepares to stand on the character select platform. Otherwise, he is completely inert, and will break the game if you try taking him into a match. He does at least have some alts, though.

Interestingly, while the general effect of going into a match is the same, a glitchy aura eclipses the player character.

Batter

Batter from OFF was a planned character that is selectable and sort of playable via RegEditor, they were only used in Final Beta.

Lillian

Lillian from Wick has no model buried in Indie Game Battle's files, so she cannot be loaded in with the Registry Editor. However, a render for her does exist.

Phil

Phil from Riddle School has no model buried in Indie Game Battle's files, so he cannot be loaded in with the Registry Editor. However, a render for him does exist.

Fancy Pants

Very little work was done on incorporating Fancy Pants into Indie Game Battle by the final build of the game. Just this placeholder image can be seen when trying to make him show up in the character select. He will, of course, break the game if you try to take him to a match.

Othello

Othello has no model that can be loaded in-game, but the registry will still recognize him if his name is entered as a player's character pick.

Reynardo

Reynardo does not have any animation programmed, resulting in him being perfectly still in-game.

Ginger

Ginger does not have any animation programmed, resulting in her being perfectly still in-game.

Super Chibi Knight

Opius

The mascot of Opium Pulses, Opius, was once planned to appear in Indie Game Battle as part of a soft-publishing agreement. However, Blob Games never held up their end of the deal, as Opius never made it into the game even as a monochrome character slot indicating he's coming soon. That said, the registry will still recognize Opius if his name is entered as a player's character pick.

Anjelo

Anjelo's name - as well as his rename, Fil - is recognized by the registry when playing one of the Indie Game Battle demos (v0.01-v0.05) or one of the earliest builds of the full game. If entered as the player's character pick, the player token will be placed on a specific empty slot in the roster.

Sparky

Sparky's name is recognized by the registry when playing one of the Indie Game Battle demos (v0.01-v0.05) or one of the earliest builds of the full game. If entered as the player's character pick, the player token will be placed on a specific empty slot in the roster.

Green Jelly

Green Jelly's name is recognized by the registry when playing one of the Indie Game Battle demos (v0.01-v0.05) or one of the earliest builds of the full game. If entered as the player's character pick, the player token will be placed on a specific empty slot in the roster.