Image the scene: Two atypical persons are caught in site visitors. They’re drained, offended, and in determined have to vent their frustrations. As a substitute of resorting to impolite hand gestures, they arm themselves with pillows and duke it out on the freeway till they return to their vehicles laughing. This sequence of occasions is patently absurd. It’s additionally the central premise of Pillow Champ, the following genre-bending preventing sport from Frosty Pop. Forward of its launch, PCGamesN caught a preview of Pillow Champ and spoke to CEO Faisal Sethi and narrative designer Xalavier Nelson Jr. to wrap our heads across the not-so-deadly artwork of pillow fight.
“Most of society’s ills – household, struggle, starvation, poverty – have largely been eradicated by the invention of the Pillow Champ league,” Xalavier explains. This explicit model of world logic will likely be acquainted to anybody versed in Xalavier’s personal improvement label, Unusual Scaffold. The notion of fixing world peace with pillow-fighting is ridiculous, but it surely’s additionally honest sufficient that you may’t assist however purchase into it – simply as you possibly can’t assist however purchase into the emotional interiority of inventory photographs of canine in An Airport for Aliens Presently Run By Canine.
The earnest silliness of Pillow Champ’s premise additionally imbues it with an approachability that invitations an viewers that might in any other case be too intimidated to have interaction with titanic, long-established preventing video games like Avenue Fighter. Its easy, feather-stuffed twist additionally permits loads of alternatives to riff on memorable preventing sport moments that followers of the style will recall fondly, similar to Avenue Fighter’s car-smashing minigame – besides this time round, attacking a automobile with a pillow solely ends in sprucing it up. In Pillow Champ, destruction turns into restoration.
In fact, this overt pacifism is by design. Faisal credit his younger daughter as an enormous motivation behind Pillow Champ’s improvement, permitting him to introduce her to the video games he cherished rising up (similar to Karate Champ and Kung-Fu Grasp) in a barely extra child-friendly vogue. Nevertheless, Pillow Champ’s family-friendly strategy doesn’t relegate it to at least one explicit age bracket. “It’s a preventing sport that may be performed by households however not essentially a preventing sport for households,” Xalavier clarifies.
Faisal likens Pillow Champ’s management system to Smash Bros, and the staff has consulted skilled preventing sport gamers to assist imbue Pillow Champ with the depth essential to enchantment to the style’s core viewers. It additionally encourages gamers to depend on techniques over invincibility frames. “The model of fight is way much less combo-heavy; it’s not trying to stun-lock your opponent,” Xalavier explains, which in all probability comes as a aid to anybody who’s been juggled to loss of life in Mortal Kombat.
Whereas Faisal considers the esports scene a secondary or tertiary viewers, Frosty Pop has endeavored to outfit Pillow Champ with the whole lot required to succeed in these aggressive heights. On-line multiplayer and skill-based matchmaking are a given, however rollback netcode is a really welcome shock from an indie studio – a function that behemoth Bandai Namco is simply simply starting to implement in Dragonball FighterZ.
Naturally, Pillow Champ’s fight is accompanied by a soundtrack that’s characterised by a pulsing beat and a playful synth that echoes the music of its 16-bit progenitors. It’s additionally impressed by the soundtracks for David Fincher’s The Social Community, in addition to Evening Faculty Studio’s Oxenfree, lending it a pointy fashionable high quality that makes for simple listening. Faisal additionally factors to Sayonara Wild Hearts as inspiration for Pillow Champ’s daring use of coloration and shapes. These far-flung influences throughout a number of genres and mediums converse to Pillow Champ’s playful effervescence.
By way of narrative design, Xalavier cites Mortal Kombat 11 and Injustice 2 as notable video games that discover “very massive, lore-driven worlds with deeply human tales” which helped dismantle his personal prejudices towards preventing sport narratives. To that finish, two story modes will likely be out there at launch, with extra to comply with. These preliminary tales present contrasting views inside Pillow Champ’s world, charting the lives of above-board Pillow Champ League founder Marcus Duckworth and Akiko Tanaka, an achieved member of an underground pillow-fighting subculture.
“I wouldn’t say that we deconstruct the tropes of preventing sport storytelling,” Xalavier assures, “however we deal with it with a humanity and dignity that finally ends up elevating all the expertise: actual folks, actual feelings, actual pillow-fighting.” Each Faisal and Xalavier impart the semi-autobiographical aspects of those storylines, and they’re strikingly poignant – from Xalavier’s first foray into mosh pits to Faisal’s recollections of a childhood buddy who handed away. “I didn’t need to make a parody of a preventing sport,” Faisal says. “I wished to make one thing honest.”
Pillow Champ’s characters themselves are grounded in actuality; from a nurse to a CEO to a librarian, the preliminary roster is comprised of eight atypical folks with atypical issues, motivations, and feelings. It’s additionally strikingly various, fostering an inclusivity that encourages just about anybody to see themselves represented in Pillow Champ’s world. Whereas the very idea of pillow-fighting is inherently cross-cultural, Pillow Champ fighters categorical their tradition by way of their actions, whether or not it’s Muay Thai, conventional dances, or yoga.
Equally, Pillow Champ avoids tokenism by adopting a holistic strategy to character expression. “When you find yourself depicting a world that features loads of illustration, there is usually a giant strain to have that illustration voiced very overtly,” Xalavier explains. As a substitute, Pillow Champ eschews this reflex in favor of characters that prioritize what’s related to their lives, and their gender, race, and sexuality are solely explored when it is sensible to take action. These characters exist as people, reasonably than representational ideas, and Xalavier cites “the facility of a staff that’s led by various folks” that makes this potential.
It’s no secret that preventing sport improvement sometimes comes with a hefty price that may quickly worth out indies; fellow indie studio Lab Zero Video games has resorted to crowdfunding the a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} essential to create further characters in Skullgirls. Frosty Pop reconciles that exorbitant price on an indie price range with a lean improvement staff, a clearly outlined scope, and long-term partnerships. Whereas the likes of pillowcase skins are nonetheless a twinkle in Faisal’s eye, the promise of extra characters and tales assures me that Frosty Pop’s feather-down utopia is wanting fluffy and vivid.
Pillow Champ is coming to PC on Steam, in addition to Netflix Video games and Nintendo Change in Spring 2024. Within the meantime, check out our prime picks for the greatest indie video games, together with extra upcoming PC video games to look ahead to within the coming months.
