Production design in Hollow Knight

In the ruined kingdom of Hallownest, a lone hero fights through underground catacombs to discover what happened to this once magnificent world.  

Independent game studio Team Cherry created one of Australia’s biggest breakout hits in recent memory with Hollow Knight. Team Cherry’s Ari Gibson and William Pellen started development by making a central area, called the Forgotten Crossroads, and then built outwards to create a sprawling network of levels for players to unlock and explore. These were first mapped on paper and then each location was given a unique aesthetic, like crystals, forests, fungi and bees. Those areas started as sketches alongside the set decorations that appear in the level, like enemies, trees and other details, which become game assets to populate the world.