Case Study: Hollow Knight - Small Team, Grand Ambitions

A Surreal Metroidvania | Crowdfunded Beginnings | Deep Lore | Enduring Legacy

THE BACKGROUND

In 2014, a small indie studio from Adelaide, Australia - Team Cherry - launched Hollow Knight on Kickstarter with a goal of AU$35,000. They pitched a haunting 2D action-adventure, steeped in the insect kingdom of Hallownest: vast caverns, forgotten kingdoms, and mysterious insect warriors.

At its heart, Hollow Knight was designed to channel the spirit of classic Metroidvania and exploration games - the kind that reward patience, curiosity, and persistence. Its creators sought to build a haunting, richly interconnected world with tight platforming, atmospheric art, and subtle storytelling. The Kickstarter was about not only funding development, but proving that there was a community hungry for a deeply immersive indie experience. For a tiny three-person team, it was an ambitious dream, but the pitch resonated.

Within 30 days, the campaign attracted 2,158 backers and raised AU$57,138, surpassing its target by over 60%. This success gave Team Cherry not only the resources to build their vision but also a devoted community that would follow them for years to come.

"Hollow Knight is the culmination of the things we love in games. Its cute and creepy, quaint and epic. Together we’re putting all of our passion into this project." Team Cherry, Kickstarter pitch

Actions and scenes of gameplay from the Kickstarter campaign for Team Cherry's Hollow Knights

Actions and scenes of gameplay from the Kickstarter campaign for Team Cherry's Hollow Knights

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/11662585/hollow-knight/description

OUR APPROACH

Team Cherry launched Hollow Knight with modest ambitions, but always with a spirit of expansion and adaptation. In fact, days before going live, they even considered trimming their funding goal to better reflect a smaller game, but ultimately held firm, embracing the possibility of scale.

As the campaign progressed and backers pledged more, Team Cherry didn’t treat extra funding as a liability; they used it to expand their scope. They gradually introduced stretch goals and bonus content (such as a second playable character, a new game mode called the Colosseum of Fools, and additional lore) that responded to community interest and pushed the project into richer territory.

During development, they also made technical transitions: starting with simpler tools, then migrating to more robust engines (Unity) to better support growth and content. The extra backing allowed them to polish, refine, and add layers of depth they hadn’t originally envisaged - expanding world areas & details, enemy designs, audio/soundtrack, and narrative elements as time permitted.

These weren’t gimmicks; rather, they were genuine enrichments that made the world of Hallownest larger, stranger, and more alive. Behind the scenes, Team Cherry wrestled with real trade-offs: art detail vs speed of production, narrative depth vs game scope, Unity’s flexibility vs performance. Each choice reflected their guiding principle: keep the soul of the game intact, even if it meant long hours of hand-drawing animations or reworking levels.

The approach was flexible: start focused, scale responsibly, and adapt & listen to your backer community so that the evolving product feels like co-creation. Team Cherry didn’t hide their inexperience; instead, they leaned on transparency and creativity.

Attack scenes and gameplay from the Kickstarter campaign for Team Cherry's Hollow Knights

Attack scenes and gameplay from the Kickstarter campaign for Team Cherry's Hollow Knights

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/11662585/hollow-knight/description

TOTAL BACKERS:

2,158

AMOUNT RAISED:

AU$57,138 / AU$35,000

PERCENT OF GOAL:

163%

THE RESULTS

Hollow Knight launched in early 2017 for Windows, macOS, and Linux; later ported to consoles in 2018. Over time, the game has become a legend in indie gaming, praised for its art style, worldbuilding, tight mechanics, and atmospheric storytelling. It’s sold millions of copies and inspired a passionate global fanbase.

One of the most telling results: Team Cherry continues to honour their Kickstarter community. When Silksong (the sequel/evolution) was nearing release, they announced that original Hollow Knight backers would receive Silksong keys as thanks for their early support. Even more, after years of radio silence on the Kickstarter page, an update in 2025 promised to deliver those keys and acknowledged backers formally as the project’s foundational supporters.

Starting with a lean, realistic scope gave them room to build trust and manage risk.

Using backer enthusiasm as fuel, not burden, allowed them to scale thoughtfully.

Transparency, commitment, and respect for early supporters made their community a lasting backbone - not just a one-time fund source. The credibility earned through delivering such a rich, polished end product turned Hollow Knight from a Kickstarter gamble into an indie classic.

Hollow Knight’s campaign is proof that ambition paired with humility works. Begin with what you can reliably deliver. Let backers guide you, but don’t let stretch goals define you. And always remember: the people who believed in you earliest deserve to see the fruits of that belief. The result? A crowdfunded game that became an indie legend, reminding us all that even the smallest knight can cast the largest shadow.

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