Pillar on PS4: Watch the New Trailer, Soundtrack Released

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Pillar on PS4: Watch the New Trailer, Soundtrack Released

Pillar is a collection of minigames, where each game represents a different type of personality that we find in people. You can read about some of the inspirations for the game on my first PS.Blog post, but today I have a couple of exciting new things to share with you! First, we’ve released a trailer for the game you can view below. Hopefully this gives you a feel for how the game will play, and adds context to the “telling a ‘story’ through gameplay mechanics” idea I touched on in the last post. Primarily you could say Pillar is a puzzle game, but there are elements of stealth, strategy and exploration sprinkled throughout the different games/characters.

The next bit of news I have is that we’ve released the soundtrack for Pillar! The music is a very important part of the game. Since I was in the rare position of being both the musician and designer, I took extra care to make sure the music and gameplay are cohesive. In fact, I recorded a lot of the music while designing the respective level it goes to. I recorded and sampled over twenty different instruments for the soundtrack, mostly typical winter instruments like piano and glockenspiel. It was inspired by artists such as Tim Hecker, Nils Frahm, Peter Broderick and Sigur Rós; not your typical game soundtrack influences, but I wanted the songs to sound more human than machine.

A big goal I had for the music was to make sure it doesn’t interfere with you while you’re playing. Parts of the game have intense puzzle solving, so the last thing we want to hear is a bunch of bleep bloops or raging guitar solos (one of the early cuts actually had this) while you’re trying to think! So essentially, I’m hoping the music is as interesting as it is ignorable, the exact description Brian Eno gives to ambient music. If you’re looking for relaxing winter music to listen to while you study/work/create etc. then you can purchase the Pillar OST below or here. Purchase includes eight bonus tracks, concept art from the game, a photography album and more. We’d really appreciate your support, the money from this will go into the final costs we need to cover shipping the game.

Unfortunately, the game won’t be coming out this year as originally planned, but it will definitely be out next year (hopefully before winter ends). Thanks for reading, I’d love to answer any questions below. I hope everyone has a great holiday season!

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18 Comments

11 Author Replies

  • Guys might want to make video public :)

  • Okay I can see it now. Was showing private before. Thanks.

  • Last generation consoles, this kind of games… Nothing personal, love indies…
    But sometimes we expect more then pixel art characters and the same puzzles.

    Will be on Vita at least?

    • Hey what’s up! I don’t really consider the art style to be pixel art… but I understand the gist of your comment, “the game is 2D” etc. I don’t know what else to say except that I really enjoy 2D stylized games, I don’t play a whole lot of 3D games anymore!

      We’ve had a lot of requests for a Vita version, and honestly it depends on how the PS4 launch goes… I’m the only programmer so it’s hard to work on another port at this time.

  • very interesting. telling a story via natural mechanics is a tough problem to solve, and I’d love to hear more. it’s great that PlayStation allows for this kind of innovation in games, as well as on the graphics/hardware side.

    Brian Eno’s Music for Airports and Warren Cuccurullo’s Machine Language are two of my favorite ambient music albums. I’ll definitely be getting the soundtrack!

    • Thanks so much, yeah Sony has been really amazing to work with… everyone I’ve worked with have been very passionate about games! I know the irony of saying that on a PS Blog post, but I’m not getting any incentives to say that =-P

      I’m also a big fan of Music for Airports… haven’t heard Machine Language though I’ll have to give it a go! My favorite ambient album is probably Ravedeath, 1972 by Tim Hecker… I’ve been obsessed with that for the last few years.

  • Looks fantastic! Keep up the good work. I love these types of games that just have a good calming atmosphere to them.

    • Thank you!! Same here. For a while I was playing FEZ every night before bed, I feel that game nails calming atmosphere… and not to mention that soundtrack, oh boy…

  • Very nice

  • It’s not on Vita so no thanks.

    • Sorry to disappoint…. but be sure to keep us on your radar because I’d like to do a Vita version, it just depends on how this version does!

  • This game really strikes a chord with me. It seems like a very genuine conveyance of thoughts and questions that are quite relevant for the times. Seeing a game explore concepts in positive psychology and mindfulness is a refreshing thing, especially in the hyper-speed, sensory overload that gaming often is. This is the kind of game that reassures me that my favorite hobby is evolving in the ways I hoped it would. I look forward to exploring it.

    I wish I had the motivation to up and make a game – and create a soundtrack to boot! Seriously, nice job.

    • That means a lot, thank you. It is a lot of work to make a game, but luckily there’s a lot of free resources on the web to help with the technical side of things =-)

  • Looks lovely, definitely will be a pleasure to play! I really missed that kind of games, today everything seems to be shooter.
    I’m glad to see there are still games made with care and substance.

    • Thanks =-) Glad to see comments like this since basically I was trying to make a game that I’d be excited to see as a gamer. I’m also tired of all the shooters… nothing against them, I was playing GTA5 online last night, but I’d like to see some different things too!

  • Free for ps plus members please!

  • Dear Sony,

    You are cowards. If the reports are true about you pulling the movie “The Interview”, you make me sick. Really pathetic. You are afraid of terrorists I see. How sad, and pathetic you are, it has turned out.

  • Sony bows down to N. Korean cyber terrorists. How much money did you spend on advertising “The Interview” only to not release it like pathetic cowards. You make me sick. The movie was a comedy, and you run like scared little weaklings. Good-day to you! (sorry to comment this on your post Pillar… unfortunate timing for you. I wish you success on this title)

    • haha thanks… you should probably redirect your concerns to the Sony film branch (doubt anyone reading the PlayStation site here has anything to do with movies), and also towards the theaters that pulled it right? I think Sony’s decision to cancel the movie was because the theater chains were refusing to screen it…. so I feel your concern would be better directed towards them!

  • Hello Michael,

    Your game is looks very nice! I look forward to checking it out when it releases.

    I wanted to ask if you guys would consider on making “Dynamic Themes” and “Avatar Pictures” for the PS4. Your game would look cool displayed on everyone’s PS4.

    Cheers!!!

    Rob aka Graf

    P.S. Please keep posting info on the PS Blog as your game gets closer to launch, thanks.

    • Hey Graf, we’d love to do something like that but I’m not sure what the process is on my end for getting that going… I’ll look into it and if it’s possible we’ll try to bring some avatars at least =-) We’ll definitely keep the posts coming – thanks for your comment!

  • Cool trailer, nice music, I’ll keep 1 and a half eyes on it!

  • Ghostly providing the soundtrack for Hohokum, Loscil in the Edith Fitch trailer and your soundtrack influenced by Eno and Tim Hecker makes me really happy. The last time some of my favorite artists were involved with video games was Rock Band. This game looks rad and I’ll definitely purchase it up release.

    • Yeah I just found out about Ghostly doing the Hohokum soundtrack… that excites me too! Thanks, looking forward to getting the game out to you!

  • KEEP TALKING WHILE WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY TAKING MY MONEY

  • I really want to know what kind of puzzles will have and more about the gameplay, i can’t wait >.<!
    There will be another video soon?
    PD: I love the music

    • =-) Thanks!! There will definitely be some more posts… but right now I need to buckle down and do some final things on the game. Hopefully I’ll be back here soon!

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