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The Game Developer Podcast is back! This week senior editor Bryant Francis picks up the podcasting torch from editor-in-chief Danielle Riendeau to lead listeners through a new era of nitty gritty game development tales and nuanced conversations about the art and business of making great video games.
For our first return to your earbuds, Bryant Francis sits down with Bithell Games CEO and creative director Mike Bithell, who first made waves with the 2012 game Thomas Was Alone. In the decade since, he’s built on that initial success not by striking out as an game development auteur, but by setting his sights on studio leadership and building a talented team of developers under the banner of Bithell Games.
Can Thomas Was Alone be practical inspiration for today’s indie devs?
“I think Thomas Was Alone was a good game that got lucky. I think if Thomas Was Alone came out tomorrow, I don’t like its chances. I don’t think it would do as well by any means.”
Last week Bithell Games launched TRON: Catalyst, a game that has a striking amount in common with the block-based adventure Bithell first built his career on. According to Bithell, the 1982 Disney film Tron was a huge part of his life, and played some small part in turning him from bright-eyed computer whiz into a video game designer.
Now he’s thrilled to have made two video games inspired by the cult classic film: Catalyst, and 2023’s TRON: Identity. With a growing legacy of TRON games in Bithell Games’ portfolio, Bithell looks back to his roots. Would Thomas Was Alone be a success today? How can developers learn from the indie successes of yesterday? And what does Bithell’s own journey from lucky indie breakout to studio boss mean in the language of the modern video game industry?
About the Game Developer Podcast
The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling the triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between of game development, sharing lessons and strategies fellow developers can use to hone their craft. The Game Developer Podcast is hosted by Bryant Francis, edited by Pierre Landriau, and features music by Mike Meehan.
Follow Game Developer on Bluesky or on LinkedIn
Learn more about Mike and Bithell Games
You can find the Game Developer Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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