William Pellen

Last updated

William Pellen
Born
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Education TAFE SA
Occupations
Years active2012-present
TitleCo-founder and co-director of Team Cherry
SpouseVictoria Pellen
Children2; 1 expected
Parent(s)Zara Pellen
Thomas Pellen

William Pellen is an Australian video game designer and former web designer, best known for his work on Hollow Knight (2017) and its sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong (2025). He is also the co-founder and co-director of the games' development studio, Team Cherry. He is married to Victoria Pellen, [1] and has two children, with a third on the way as of August 2025. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

William Pellen was born in Adelaide, [3] South Australia, [4] to Zara Pellen [5] [6] and Thomas Pellen. [5] [7]

He earned a diploma of Digital Media and a diploma of Website Development from TAFE SA. [8]

Career

Pellen was formerly a freelance web designer, creating websites for clients such as the Lake Albert Caravan Park. He also solo-developed small video games. [9]

In 2014, Pellen co-founded the independent video game studio Team Cherry with Ari Gibson, whom he had previously worked with on game jams. They started a Kickstarter project for their then-upcoming game Hollow Knight, which was a success; the game released in 2017 to critical acclaim. Pellen worked on the game's overall design, and also co-directed its development. [10]

He later worked on a piece of Hollow Knight downloadable content that eventually evolved into a sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong, with the same roles he had while working on Hollow Knight. [11] The game's development took over seven years, though Pellen described the process as enjoyable. [2] Silksong released on 4 September 2025, also to critical acclaim. [12]

Twitter usage

Avatar of little bomey PellenCake.webp
Avatar of little bomey
little bomey
@everydruidwaswr

something big is coming. keep your eyes closed tomorrow

January 16, 2025 [13]

Pellen owns a Twitter account, "little bomey", (formerly "wilbop"), that he uses to shitpost. [14]

In January 2025, Pellen posted a cryptic tweet, changed his profile picture to a piece of cake, and revamped his entire account. A reverse image search tracked the photo to a cake recipe posted on 2 April 2024, while several factors related to the Tweet and account revamp appeared to relate to 2 April in general, leading fans to believe that the changes were an ARG hinting at there being Silksong news at the then-upcoming 2 April 2025 Nintendo Direct. [14] [15] Team Cherry marketing and PR manager, Matthew Griffin, later indirectly denied that the changes held any significance. [16] However, Silksong did appear in the Nintendo Direct, where it was given a 2025 release window, which led some to believe that the changes were hints by Pellen. [17]

List of known games

YearTitle
2012Return to Booty Grotto [9]
2013Tomb Cat [18]
2014Hungry Knight [10]
2017 Hollow Knight [10]
2025 Hollow Knight: Silksong [11]

Cancelled

Title
Lulanda [a]
Wilco LCD Classics [9]

Notes

  1. ↑ While Lulanda was never released, two demos were. [19] [20]

References

  1. ↑ Kirk Hamilton (2 September 2018). The Makers Of Hollow Knight Are Fine With Players Missing Things. Kotaku. Archived from the original on 2 July 2025. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  2. 1 2 Schreier, Jason (21 August 2025). "Why 'Silksong' Took Seven Years to Make". Bloomberg . Archived from the original on 21 August 2025. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  3. ↑ Thorsland, Dan (28 March 2019). "How Adelaide developers are taking on the gaming world". Adelaide Review. Archived from the original on 29 April 2025. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  4. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (1 May 2025). "Hollow Knight: Silksong will be playable in September 2025 — at an Australian museum". IGN . Archived from the original on 1 May 2025. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  5. 1 2 Dealessandri, Marie (31 July 2018). "When We Made… Hollow Knight". MCV/Develop . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  6. ↑ Team Cherry (24 February 2017). Hollow Knight. Scene: Credits.
  7. ↑ Team Cherry (4 September 2025). Hollow Knight: Silksong. Scene: Credits.
  8. ↑ Pellen, William. "William Pellen". LinkedIn . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  9. 1 2 3 Pellen, William. "Wilco Design Portfolio". Archived from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  10. 1 2 3 Milner, David. "The Making Of Hollow Knight". Game Informer . Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  11. 1 2 Sirani, Jordan (14 February 2024). "Hollow Knight: Silksong – Everything We Know About the 2D Metroidvania Sequel". IGN . Archived from the original on 24 February 2024. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  12. ↑ Pritchard, Marie (1 September 2025). "Hollow Knight Silksong release date". Eurogamer . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  13. ↑ little bomey [@everydruidwaswr] (16 January 2025). "something big is coming. keep your eyes closed tomorrow" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  14. 1 2 Randall, Harvey (17 January 2025). "The Silksong hive is buzzing over a dev tweet that sees a chocolate cake, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Imagine Dragons all pointing with red string to the April Switch 2 Nintendo Direct". PC Gamer . Archived from the original on 18 January 2025. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  15. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (17 January 2025). "Hollow Knight: Silksong Dev Fuels Nintendo Switch 2 Direct Fever With a Picture of a Chocolate Cake". IGN . Archived from the original on 8 April 2025. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  16. ↑ Randall, Harvey (21 January 2025). "The cake was a lie, but Silksong 'is real, progressing and will release' say devs, after flurry of conspiracy theories revealed to be a 'nothingburger'". PC Gamer . Archived from the original on 6 April 2025. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  17. ↑ Warren, Mark (3 April 2025). "In Hollow Knight: Silksong's case, the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct cake was somehow not a lie". VG247 . Archived from the original on 10 April 2025. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  18. ↑ Ofner, Claudia Susanne (2021). Play Me a Story: Storytelling in the Metroidvania Game Hollow Knight (PDF) (Master's thesis). Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  19. ↑ "Lulanda Prelude v6". Stencyl . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  20. ↑ "Lulanda Demo 2". Newgrounds . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
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