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
ParentZara 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 his mother, Zara Pellen, and his father. [5] [6]

He earned a diploma of Digital Media and a diploma of Website Development from TAFE SA. [7]

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. [8]

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. [9]

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. [10] The game's development took over seven years, though Pellen described the process as enjoyable. [2] Silksong is set to release on 4 September 2025. [11]

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 [12]

Pellen owns a Twitter account, "little bomey", (formerly "wilbop"), that he uses to shitpost. [13]

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. [13] [14] Team Cherry marketing and PR manager, Matthew Griffin, later indirectly denied that the changes held any significance. [15] 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. [16]

List of known games

YearTitle
2012Return to Booty Grotto [8]
2013Tomb Cat [17]
2014Hungry Knight [9]
2017 Hollow Knight [9]
2025 Hollow Knight: Silksong [10]

Cancelled

Title
Lulanda [a]
Wilco LCD Classics [8]

Notes

  1. ↑ While Lulanda was never released, two demos were. [18] [19]

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. ↑ 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. ↑ Pellen, William. "William Pellen". LinkedIn . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  8. 1 2 3 Pellen, William. "Wilco Design Portfolio". Archived from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  9. 1 2 3 Milner, David. "The Making Of Hollow Knight". Game Informer . Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  10. 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.
  11. ↑ Pritchard, Marie (1 September 2025). "Hollow Knight Silksong release date". Eurogamer . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  12. ↑ little bomey [@everydruidwaswr] (16 January 2025). "something big is coming. keep your eyes closed tomorrow" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  13. 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.
  14. ↑ 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.
  15. ↑ 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.
  16. ↑ 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.
  17. ↑ 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.
  18. ↑ "Lulanda Prelude v6". Stencyl . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  19. ↑ "Lulanda Demo 2". Newgrounds . Retrieved 1 September 2025.
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