Hollow Knight: Silksong - Details from Team Cherry Transcript

 
https://youtu.be/Gv6CRPqkpuU

[00:00]
 
William: Happy Valentine's Day everybody!
 
Ari: Happy Valentine's Day!
 
William: I’m William.
 
Ari: And I’m Ari.
 
William: We’re here at Team Cherry headquarters and by now you would have seen the Silksong reveal trailer. You know, we’ve been sitting on it for a while. I’m super excited to finally get it out there so everyone can see it. And we thought we’d also just do a really quick, really casual video and kinda go into a little more detail about it.
 
Ari: Yeah, that’s right. And a lot of these details, you may be able to see in posts below you or blogs posts. So if you don’t have the time, don’t feel like you have to watch. 
 
[Laughter]
 
William: This is not critical information.
 
Ari: No no no. We are just gonna casually reiterate some of these points and maybe have some other little details in there. 
 
William: Alight, so first thing. This is a game. Hornet gets her own adventure in her own full game in the sequel to our game, Hollow Knight. So this will be our second game.
 
[00:58]
 
Ari: And it was very early on intended as a DLC. So specifically, Hornet and what became Hollow Knight: Silksong, started as a stretch goal on the Kickstarter for the game Hollow Knight.
 
William: Which was right at the end of 2014.
 
Ari: So a very long time ago. And the goal for that was a playable Hornet and with no real specifics on what that was other than, at the time, it seemed very closely connected to that original game. And even we thought it was probably gonna be something along those lines.
 
William: We did actually kick around some ideas, so, whether it would be something where you would be able to sort of switch to Hornet, between the Knight and the Hornet in the game as part of the main quest, or whether Hornet would have a sort of subchapter they could choose from the title screen. And how that would work, and how we could incorporate some new stuff into the world of Hallownest. But as we kept going and kicking around ideas, the idea of having Hornet go through an adventure in a whole new kingdom actually seemed like a really interesting and fun idea to us.
 
Ari: Way more fun, right?
 
William: Yeah!
 
[Laughter]
 
[02:06]
 
William: Probably the biggest motivation was for us to be able to make a new game, and a new world, and stuff.
 
Ari: The other part of that is we have no idea how to make DLC for a game. It seems like a weirdly complicated thing.
 
William: Yeah.
 
Ari: It’s probably the lesser reason.
 
William: I think I’ve learned enough about game dev. I think I don’t need anything more. So we talked about it and breaking it off into its own game seemed like a really cool, clean, nice idea and so here we are on it in their own game.
 
Ari: Yes, and it's a huge game, and it's still growing.
 
William: You wanna…?
 
[02:42]
 
Ari: We've just got the same text that is out there on the blog and websites and whatnot. So what have we got here? “Ascend to the peak of a haunted Kingdom.” We're kind of going for an inversion on the Hollow Knight theme which really was about descent: down lower, and lower, and lower, and just exploring what different kind of gameplay possibilities exist through that.
 
William: Hollow Knight started with a game jam where the theme was “Beneath the Surface” and the big theme of Hollow Knight was descending into the depths and so one of the themes here for Hornet will be ascending to the peak, or to the crown, of a new kingdom.
 
Ari: That's right and at the crown there is this huge, holy sort of Citadel that you'll see glimpses of in the trailer and in some of the supporting materials.
 
William: And obviously a big part of the game will be finding out why Hornet has been brought to this world, what link she has to the world and to the characters that brought her there. And how that ties into her lineage and her fate. That type of thing.
 
Ari: So let's just run down the game features and we'll just sort of casually talk about them as we go.
 
William: Yeah, we’ll go dot by dot.
 
[03:56]
 
Ari: Let’s go dot by dot, sure thing. So “Discover a whole new Kingdom. Explore coral forests, mossy grottoes, gilded cities and misted moors as you ascend to the shining Citadel at the top of the world.” So you can probably see a lot of those places and obviously, in Team Cherry style, there are many, many other places that we have not yet revealed. We think there's a really interesting mix of lands, and we think they're really quite distinct from Hallownest.
 
William: So I think it will be familiar. It's the same world but it's a whole new kingdom so you will see a lot of surprises there and it also lets us get out some of the ideas that we had for Hallownest and bring them to life.
 
Ari: And frankly we're already hitting that point where we’re like “wow is this stuff gonna slip into extra content?” because we're getting pretty…
 
William: Bit full…
 
Ari: Which is not a bad problem to have, certainly.
 
[04:54]
 
William: Yeah. So “Lethal acrobatic action”. So the action in this game is pretty similar to Hollow Knight. We built [Silksong] using the base of Hollow Knight, and I think anyone who's pretty familiar with Hollow Knight should be pretty comfortable with the way stuff works in this game. Hornet is a little bit different as well. She's got a slightly different feel. She's a bit more flowy, maybe a bit more fluid, she's even got a little bit more momentum to her stuff, and you can see some of that in the trailer. And she's also got her own suite of moves and stuff as well that I think [will] be a lot of fun, I think. We've been playing it a lot in the lead-up to this trailer, especially taking all the footage and stuff.
 
Ari: That's right, very fast. Quite a different pace all around.
 
William: It's good. Making the trailer’s given us a pretty good opportunity to really play with her a lot and really get to grips with what actually makes her kind of fun and different, so we think Hornet’s very cool and you'll have fun playing as her.
 
[05:50]
 
Ari: Absolutely. So “Craft powerful tools. Master and ever-expanding arsenal of weapons, traps and mechanisms to confound your enemies and explore new heights.” So Hornet has her own sort of equippable system which is a little bit parallel to the Knight’s charm system in Hollow Knight, the difference being that she’s making these things herself as she goes. Hornet is a hunter and a protector and she's very skilled in these sort of things… in crafting these…
 
William: Very handy. 
 
Ari: Yes! Crafting these quite complex things. You'll see a small, small selection of them in the trailer again and as you go throughout the game, you find and develop more elaborate tools based on the people you meet and the places you go. We think some of them are really cool. It's been really fun for us to, I think, explore a different style..?
 
William: Yeah. It's a sort of thing that's fun to come up this stuff for as well so we just keep coming up with weirder and weirder tools until we hit crunch time.
 
Ari: There are also some bizarre sort of potential sequence breaking possibilities with some of these that we're just discovering as we play.
 
[07:04]
 
William: Some pretty interesting stuff you can do. We got “Soul shocking quests”. Yes! So, in Hollow Knight, a big part of the game was seeking out things to do in the world. Hornet will be doing the same sort of thing. It's maybe a little more formalized in a way in that there's a lot of people in this world who have their wishes unfulfilled, and Hornet will actually be able to take on the responsibility of fulfilling those wishes. Which means she’ll be able to take on requests from characters whether that's saving them, finding something for them, just gathering food for a recipe for them. That type of thing. And that works for tying a lot into some of the themes of the game that will come in a bit later.
 
Ari: That's right, and there's a full quest log for Hornet so she can track all of that stuff as she's going. And we're really trying to make sure that a lot of those quests will twist in interesting and unexpected ways.
 
William: And then you'll be doing a decent variety of stuff. It's an opportunity for us to have you revisit characters or revisit areas or revisit enemies and battles in a variety of interesting ways, hopefully.
 
[8:26]
 
Ari: Yes! “Face over 150 all new foes. Beasts and hunters, assassins and kings, monsters and knights. Defeat them all with bravery and skill.” So with Hollow Knight, we released with around a hundred and forty enemies, and we thought we should at least try and beat that so…
 
William: Every subsequent game we make will have slightly more enemies.
 
Ari: Don’t hold us to that. But certainly it's something that we really love doing and we are overflowing with ideas for these things so 150 is not… it's certainly not…
 
William: We’re getting there.
 
Ari: Yeah, it's not hard.
 
William: We're on our way.
 
Ari: It’s not a hard target for us to meet.
 
William: Especially if we just make 50 different gorgeous variations of every enemy.
 
Ari: Yeah, we will try and avoid recolors and things like that which are not quite as exciting.
 
[09:20]
 
William: “Experience a stunning orchestral score.” So fan-favorite Chris Larkin, the composer for Hollow Knight, is returning. He's been with us since the beginning of Hollow Knight and has been working on Silksong since it was conceived. One of the very first things we did was compose the Silksong theme which you can hear a bit of in the trailer in the middle section and also there's a little excerpt on the HollowKnightSilksong.com site which we probably should have mentioned. HollowKnightSilksong.com is the website, so you can check that out. That has the trailer, [it] has pretty much what we're going through here and some nice screenshots.
 
Ari: Yes, that's true. Chris has gone really far for the music and sound for Silksong. Obviously, as it's been said this is a world that really is highly linked with song and music so that's making him really work to that extra level to bring it to life and to make it feel like that theme is delivered upon.
 
[10:20]
 
William: Maybe that is worth mentioning cuz we haven't. So the name of the game is Silksong. I guess the two kind-of powerful forces of the world, and you’ll learn a little bit more as we go, of this new world [are] silk and song. It’s a world ruled by silk and song you could say and how that comes into it we’ll… Those are the two big things we have.
 
Ari: We also obviously have this incredible suite of music that Chris is already constructing.
 
William: Yeah it's good. Very good stuff.
 
[11:02]
 
Ari: And you will, eventually, hopefully sooner rather than later get to hear it in the game. And the last point we have here is “Challenge Silksoul Mode. Once you conquer the game, test your skills in an all-new mode that spins the game into a unique challenging experience.” So for Hollow Knight, we had Steel Soul Mode which was largely a permadeath mode with some very small tweaks to it.
 
William: It's like an extra challenge for people who'd finished the game and then wanted to play through with a slight change to gameplay to make it feel fresh.
 
Ari: And this time we're gonna try and take that and just go a step further and mix it up a little bit and give you something that potentially can last a little longer.
 
William: And it is another fresh experience as well.
 
Ari: Yeah, so we haven’t implemented this mode yet. We know what it is. We think it sounds really cool.
 
William: We’ll have to play it so we better… Hopefully it’s good.
 
Ari: Good luck…
 
William: …to us.
 
Ari: To us. To you, William.
 
[Laughter]
 
[12:02]
 
William: Alright so platforms. Full launch of Silksong we're targeting desktop platforms; that's Windows, Mac and Linux on… Which storefronts? Steam, Humble, GOG?
 
Ari: Yeah all our regular places.
 
William: Yup, and as well as the Nintendo Switch.
 
Ari: Yes, at launch. So this is the first time we've ever actually done a console launch for a game, so that'll be an exciting scary new thing. But obviously the Nintendo folks have been great and they've been really supportive of this whole thing the whole way so I think we're all really excited to see it on there. We've gained so many new followers and fans thanks to that Switch version and we think it's such a great fit for the console. We should just say we haven't confirmed other consoles. That's just because it's just the three of us. It's just myself and William and Jack and we don't want to just start diving into things that are probably more than our bandwidth really allows.
 
[13:15]
 
William: Yeah I think, basically we can't confirm any other platforms at launch but we'd love more platforms. Whether that's at launch or not, we're not sure so we'll just keep talking about it as we go, basically.
 
Ari: Exactly.
 
William: So website. HollowKnightSilksong.com is the official site. There is a press kit there so if you wanted to write about the game, or if you just want to see some character art. I think there's a maybe one character in there that's not in the trailer? Oh no, no there isn't.
 
Ari: Maybe not. It's a cut down press kit for now which is just a…
 
William: Some screenshots in there?
 
Ari: Screenshots. All that kind of stuff and that will expand as we get closer to launch and obviously past launch as well. 
 
William: We did a bit of clean up on the TeamCherry.com.au. Like our main site with our blog. There is a new FAQ page on there just because we wanted to clear up a few things that we get asked a lot. One of those things is our streaming policy. So our streaming policy is very simple. Just stream whatever you want basically, and you can monetize it. You can make YouTube videos. there's nothing you can't do right, yeah?
 
Ari: Yeah! We love seeing that stuff.
 
William: Ads. Stream donations. Whatever. Go for it. There’s no limit there.
 
[14:28]
 
Ari: Yes, and we also did add the creative policy because we get asked this a lot. And this is if you're a convention goer and an artist and you want to sell small runs of prints or handcrafted items…
 
William: This is fan merch we’re talking about.
 
Ari: Yeah, that are Hollow Knight related. Pretty much the same rules apply. Go for it. Just be sensible about it. Don't do anything that is mass manufactured. So within a small contained situation we love that, and we love seeing that, and we obviously love seeing a lot of the fan creations that have come out around Hollow Knight and been inspired by the game. For the real specifics on that, check out teamcherry.com.au. Go to the FAQ. All the details are there.
 
William: I feel like hopefully it should be pretty clear. We've tried to be pretty thorough, but if there's something that maybe doesn't make sense, let us know. We can always update that if there's any confusion. So we're going to talk about Kickstarter stuff now.
 
Ari: Yes. This is our last point so there's a little bit through it.
 
[15:35]
 
William: So if you're not a Kickstarter backer you don’t have to listen to this part of the video. We’re not saying anything more about the game.
 
Ari: Hollow Knight, and now Hollow Knight: Silksong, all happened thanks to 2158 backers on Kickstarter and some later backers on PayPal and various other means. And so the important thing to say is to all those backers [is] thank you so much. Of course we get to do this because of you and we love doing it. We're having a great time. And Hollow Knight:Silksong is gonna be 100% free for all of you. You all get a copy of that. 
 
William: So everyone who backed Hollow Knight and everyone who received a key for Hollow Knight will be getting a copy of Hollow Knight Silksong.
 
[16:25]
 
Ari: Yes, that is true. And just as a small addition to that, previously $15 and above backers could receive a copy of Hollow Knight on Switch. Times have sorta changed now and the Switch is really an established platform and we know that a lot of you have probably picked those up. So any backer from ten dollars and above can elect to have their copy of Hollow Knight: Silksong on Switch or PC.
 
William: Yep. A lot of backers. I can’t remember which tier was the lowest one, but there's a… So the higher end backers could get multiple copies of Hollow Knight. I think there's a tier where you get three then seven then maybe more? I can’t remember. The point is if you backed at a tier in the Kickstarter that gave you multiple Hollow Knight keys, then you’ll also get that amount of Hollow Knight: Silksong keys. The only little detail there is that we are limiting Switch keys to one per backer. So basically the way you think about it is, every backer gets, if they want it, one key for Switch and then any additional keys that backer gets could be for PC, Mac or Linux. And of course, if you don't want any Switch keys then you can get all PC, Mac and Linux.
 
[17:42]
 
Ari: Yes. A little bit confusing but exactly the same as with Hollow Knight, the original game so you guys should all know how that…
 
William: Sorry. I was gonna say, don’t worry about it yet. As we get closer to release, we'll start contacting people, and we’ll start sorting that out. And we’ll actually write all this down in a way that makes it very clear what you can get and what you can ask for.
 
Ari: That's right. All PC copies will come as a steam key and a DRM free version, as with Hollow Knight.
 
William: And Mac and Linux.
 
Ari: Yes, and sorry. And Steam versions are Windows, Mac and Linux. And then the last note here is Hollow Knight: Silksong actually incorporates another big chunk of higher tier backer content. So content that we've worked with backers to develop, so new bosses, some dungeons and a town. Some of that we haven't revealed yet. There are some hints to that stuff in the trailer.
 
[18:45]
 
William: Yeah, you can, maybe, guess at which characters and which locations in the trailer are backer content.
 
Ari: Yes. It's some very cool stuff. We actually think making that backer stuff is some of the most enjoyable content because we get all these outside ideas and we can bounce around and that's really fun.
 
William: It's a really good twist on development, kinda taking in those ideas and building something. It's good. So you can look forward to that in Silksong.
 
Ari: And if you are one of those backers… a few of those high tier backers we haven't spoken to recently. We will be speaking to you soon so don't worry. You will hear from us.
 
William: Or feel free to shoot us a line if you like or you have a new email or something.
 
Ari: Of course.
 
[19:26]
 
William: I think that's it.
 
Ari: Yeah, that's a lot.
 
William: Thanks for bearing with us while we kept everything on the down-low being sneaky, but it's out there now. We're really happy about it. And then all that's left is for us to make it. Easy.
 
Ari: We’re getting there. 
 
[Laughter]
 
William: And also now that it's out there we can talk a bit more about it as well. So what we'd like to do is, as we go forward, have some more kinda blog updates and stuff, and show off some bits and pieces as we go through the year.
 
Ari: Yup. Brilliant. Happy Valentines everyone!
 
William: Yes!
 
Ari: Thank you so much!
 
William: Cheers! See ya.