Matthew Griffin (game designer)

Last updated

Matthew Griffin
Matthew Leth Griffin 2014.jpg
Griffin in March 2014
Born
Occupations
Years activeEarly 2000s-present

Matthew "Leth" Griffin is an American video game designer, marketer, and former teacher. He is best known for co-founding the indie studio Team Wanderlust/Yeti Trunk, his work on the 2013 title Risk of Rain , and for serving as the marketing and publishing director for indie games such as Team Cherry's Hollow Knight series.

Contents

Early life and education

Matthew Griffin was born in the United States, [1] and he currently lives in Texas. [2]

He has a bachelor's degree in philosophy, a minor in mathematics, and an associate's degree in programming. [3] [4]

Career

In the early 2000s, Griffin created games using Game Maker, but struggled to find "a competent, hard-working and honest artist to work alongside". [4] Pixel artist Jason Gordy teamed up with Griffin in 2004 to work on Wanderlust: The Online Adventure, which was cancelled two years later due to a lack of direction. [4] Griffin and Gordy later formed Team Wanderlust, [4] later renamed to Yeti Trunk. [5] The team worked on a new game titled, Wanderlust: Rebirth, [4] [6] a game set to "closer resemble their vision for the Wanderlust universe"; Wanderlust: Rebirth released on June 14, 2011. [5] Griffin and Gordy released three more games over the next few years: Gubs (2012), [5] Puck Bang (2013), [5] and Wanderlust Adventures (2015). [6] [7] The company Chucklefish published Yeti Trunk's Wanderlust Adventures. [6] [7] Following this, Griffin helped work on games Chucklefish partnered with, such as Risk of Rain (2013), [8] [9] and Witchmarsh (TBA). [10] For Risk of Rain, he worked on developing the game's online multiplayer. [8] [9] As of February 2012, he also was a full-time teacher and tutor; [4] he later quit this job. [3]

In June 2015, Chucklefish brought on Griffin as their publishing manager. [10] [3] At Chucklefish, he helped publish and market Interstellia (2015) [3] [11] and Stardew Valley (2016). [3] [11] He also led the localization for Stardew Valley. [3] Griffin later left Chucklefish, [11] and in July 2016, Australian independant developer Team Cherry brought him on as their marketing and publishing manager for their then-upcoming Kickstarter-backed title, Hollow Knight (2017). [3] [12] He also led the localization of the game, [1] [13] playtested it, [1] [13] and voice acted some characters. [3] [13] He continued his partnership with Team Cherry for their next game, Hollow Knight: Silksong (2025). [14] For Silksong, Griffin managed marketing and publishing, helped playtest the game, [13] and voice acted. [13] He also gave updates on the game's development over the years, [14] [15] [16] and revealed information, [17] [18] [19] as Team Cherry themselves stayed mostly silent during development. [20] [21] In 2021, Canadian independant developer Mongoose Rodeo brought on Griffin to manage marketing and publishing for their upcoming Kickstarter-backed game Crowsworn (TBA). [3] [22]

List of known games

YearTitle
2011Wanderlust: Rebirth
2012Gubs
2013Puck Bang
Risk of Rain
2015Wanderlust Adventures
TBAWitchmarsh

Cancelled games

Title
Wanderlust: The Online Adventure

References

  1. 1 2 3 Mythreel (September 18, 2020). "Leth Interview on Live from the Abyss". Archived from the original on April 21, 2022. Retrieved October 2, 2025 via YouTube.
  2. Team Cherry. "Hollow Knight: Silksong Info Sheet". Google Docs. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 The Indie Gamer (May 7, 2021). "Interview with Leth from Team Cherry & Mongoose Rodeo – Hollow Knight Silksong & Crowsworn" . Retrieved October 4, 2025 via YouTube.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Love, Jason (February 2, 2012). "Indie-Ana Co-Op and the Team Wanderlust Interview". Co-Optimus. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "About YetiTrunk". YetiTrunk. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 Adam Smith (June 20, 2014). "Rebirth Reborn: Wanderlust Adventures". Rock Paper Shotgun . Retrieved October 3, 2025.
  7. 1 2 Tyler Lubben (January 24, 2014). "PUBLISHER SPOTLIGHT: Chucklefish Games". Operation Rainfall . Retrieved October 3, 2025.
  8. 1 2 Hopoo Games (July 13, 2013). "Risk of Rain: Online Co-op!". Hopoo Games. Archived from the original on March 20, 2014. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
  9. 1 2 Jason Love (July 13, 2013). "Sci-fi Rogue-Like Risk of Rain to Get Online Co-Op". Co-Optimus. Retrieved October 3, 2025.
  10. 1 2 Chucklefish (June 26, 2015). "Say hello to Matt!". Chucklefish. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
  11. 1 2 3 Relyea (September 18, 2024). "Unfiltered Gaming Conversation with Matthew Griffin (Leth)" . Retrieved October 3, 2025 via YouTube.
  12. Team Cherry (July 5, 2016). "NEW ADDITION TO THE TEAM, AND RELEASE UPDATE". Team Cherry. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 BlueSR (August 19, 2023). "Interviewing Leth from Team Cherry" . Retrieved October 2, 2025 via YouTube.
  14. 1 2 Howard, Jessica (May 10, 2023). "Hollow Knight: Silksong Has Been Delayed". GameSpot . Archived from the original on September 20, 2023. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
  15. Cryer, Hirun (February 14, 2024). "Five years after it was announced, Hollow Knight: Silksong devs assure rabid fans they are "still hard at work on the game"". GamesRadar+ . Retrieved October 2, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. Nightingale, Ed (January 20, 2025). "Hollow Knight: Silksong is 'real, progressing and will release', says Team Cherry". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on February 5, 2025. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
  17. Cryer, Hirun (June 16, 2020). "A New Hollow Knight: Silksong Character Was Revealed Through a Discord Riddle — "Huntress."". VG247. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
  18. Denzer, TJ (April 8, 2025). "Hollow Knight: Silksong is still coming to the original Switch". Shacknews . Retrieved October 3, 2025.
  19. Naidu, Yashodhan (September 5, 2025). "Hollow Knight: Silksong – Team Cherry Teases This New Feature in the Upcoming Game". IGN. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
  20. Randall, Harvey (August 21, 2025). "Why did Team Cherry's devs stay so quiet about Hollow Knight: Silksong? 'All we could really say is, we're still working on it', so they stopped doing that". PC Gamer . Retrieved October 2, 2025.
  21. Schreier, Jason (August 21, 2025). "Why 'Silksong' Took Seven Years to Make". Bloomberg . Archived from the original on August 21, 2025. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
  22. meakaya (July 31, 2022). "Crowsworn : entre Hollow Knight et Bloodborne, la prochaine pépite des jeux indés ?". Jeuxvideo.com (in French). Retrieved October 2, 2025.