Nationality British Role Video Game Designer Occupation Video game developer | Years active 2010–present Name Mike Bithell | |
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Website www.mikebithellgames.com Awards BAFTA Games Award for Online – Browser People also search for David Housden, Henrique Olifiers, Ric Moore Nominations BAFTA Games Award for Story, BAFTA Games Award for Original Score | ||
Known for Thomas Was Alone, Volume Video games Thomas Was Alone, Volume | ||
Volume gameplay with mike bithell level design voice actors thoughts on the stealth genre
Mike Bithell is a British video game designer and developer, best known for his work on Thomas Was Alone which received critical acclaim and (the more recent) Volume video game.
Contents
- Volume gameplay with mike bithell level design voice actors thoughts on the stealth genre
- Mike bithell interview developer of thomas was alone
- Career
- References
Mike bithell interview developer of thomas was alone
Career
Bithell independently developed an early version of the Thomas Was Alone video game in 2010 while working for Blitz Games, where he was a junior designer, and later a designer, from 2007 to 2011. He developed the prototype game in 24 hours and released it for free online through the Kongregate website, receiving 100,000 'plays' in the first week. He joined Bossa Studios in February 2011, working to expand the flash-based Thomas to a full title and learning how to use the Unity engine in his time there. The full game was released on 30 June 2012 and went on to sell over a million copies, winning a BAFTA at the 9th British Academy Games Awards in the "Best Performer" category (for narrator Danny Wallace) and receiving a further two nominations ("Best Original Music" and "Best Story"). He left Bossa in January 2013 to "concentrate on indie development". He since worked on a Robin Hood-based stealth game named Volume, which was released on 18 August 2015 for Windows, OS X, and PlayStation 4 and Vita platforms. In 2016, Bithell released EarthShape, a virtual reality game for Google Daydream. Bithell collaborated with composer Russell Shaw and animator Tim Borelli on the project. The game featured voice acting from British comedian Sue Perkins. In August 2017, Bithell released a new game Subsurface Circular, a first of what he calls "Bithell Shorts" that are designed as short, focused narrative games.
Bithell has gained significant notability in the video game industry due both to the unexpected success of Thomas and also for his views on the current industry as a whole. He has outlined the problems for fellow indie developers producing mobile games, commenting on the suitability of free-to-play mechanics for indie gaming and other issues.
