GamingBolt recently caught up with Mike Bithell to know more about his inspiration behind developing the original game, the indie development scene, thoughts on the new consoles, and much more. Check out the full interview below.

For those who are not aware, can you please tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into the games business?

My name is Mike Bithell, and I’m a game designer. I started in the games industry fresh out of University, working as a junior designer at a company called Blitz Games about seven years back. I worked my way up the ranks, while fiddling with hobby games in my spare time. Thomas Was Alone was one of those projects, one that got a little out of hand.

Although the game is available for almost two years now, can you tell our readers what was the inspiration behind bringing Thomas Was Alone to new consoles?

The most surprising aspect of the game’s ongoing success is how it keeps finding new audiences with each new platform we bring it to. Each time it finds a bunch of players who’ve not tried it before, and that’s exciting to see. Bringing the game to WiiU and XB1 certainly aims to find new players who maybe don’t own the Sony consoles, and the PS4 release is a way of letting players who already own the game on PS3 take it on to their new system. It’s fun to be able to deliver the game to players this way.

"Thomas Was Alone was the natural outcome of me looking at the last thousand pounds in my bank account and making the game I could afford."

Having said that, do you think players who have already played it, will they feel intrigued enough to pick it up again on the new consoles?

I get a lot of tweets from folks saying they’ve bought it a few times. That baffles me, but I’m immensely grateful. It seems that folks want the game on their system of choice, and also like gifting it to friends, we see a lot of people gifting it at Christmas. All that support just empowers us to keep bringing the game to new audiences, while funding Volume’s dev.

I found the game’s baseline to be pretty strong. A game that takes place in a computer mainframe, wherein artificial intelligence routines have run out of control. How much brainstorming did you do to think something out the box like that?

I went through a bunch of story context ideas for the game. I knew it was about friends, but I didn’t know where they were for a very long. When I decided on the abstract aesthetic, really went for that rectangle stuff, it felt like AI was a nice justification for those in the audience who didn’t share my love of minimalism. I also liked the idea of an AI origin story which felt more human than skynet.

Looking back now, if you had the funding of a AAA game how much different do you think Thomas Was Along would have been?

I wouldn’t have made it! Thomas Was Alone was the natural outcome of me looking at the last thousand pounds in my bank account and making the game I could afford. It has, well, it’s been a pretty fantastic return on that investment.

"If you already own the game on PS3 or Vita, you can absolutely pick it up from where you left off on your PS4."

Can you describe some of the other graphical and content updates that new versions will have?

It’s pretty much identical to previous versions. Slapping a bunch of new effects on the game would not really improve it, and would likely do damage to the simplicity we created.

Are there any plans to support cross buy and cross save across the PlayStation platforms?

Not just plans, actual, awesome reality. Yes, we wanted to deliver that for our players, and we have. If you already own the game on PS3 or Vita, you can absolutely pick it up from where you left off on your PS4.

How difficult is to be an indie developer compared to AAA? What kind of challenges does an indie comes across?

All game dev is difficult, and honestly, I’ve found indie much freer than working within big companies. The numbers just have a couple less zeroes. I love the wearing of many hats, the variety in my working days. It’s all a lot of fun.

From an indie support point of view, what are your thoughts on Sony’s indie policy against Microsoft’s?

I think both MS and Sony are doing a great deal to improve their routes to platform.. knocking down walls. I’m incredibly excited to see TWA spreading across both platforms.

"[On a possible sequel] I'll definitely do it if I ever think of a story or gameplay idea that suits it."

Having worked on both the new consoles, what is your opinion on them? Are they pretty close to each other?

We’re at a point where we’re talking about, effectively, two PCs plugged into TVs. The spec differ in a bunch of ways, but yeah, they’re in the same ballpark. Thanks to the rise of middleware like Unity, cross platform dev means not having to worry too much about the little differences.

Can you tell us how is the Wii U version shaping up and how are you using the GamePad?

Yeah, it looks great on WiiU, works really well. We’re not doing too much platform specific gimmickry, but it’s fun to play on the gamepad, that’s a nice screen to play on, with those tactile controls.

Are there any plans to release a sequel? Given the game’s success I am sure you must have at least given a thought about it.

I’ll definitely do it if I ever think of a story or gameplay idea that suits it. I think a simple rehash would be a waste of everyone’s time, but if something comes to mind, sure.

Is there anything else you want to tell our readers before we take off?

Only to please, keep buying my games. They are fun, and rectangley. And next year, Volume is out.. which should be.. fun.

Honestly, even if you are not a Lord of the Rings fan (in which case, shame on you), you are probably familiar with Andy Serkis. He played Gollum in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies, providing not just the voice acting, but also the motion capture for the iconic character. Now, the well received actor will be bringing his talents to video games as well, as it has been confirmed today that he will be playing the villain in the upcoming stealth game, Volume.

Volume is from the creator of the hit indie game Thomas Was Alone, and the story of how they were able to attract Serkis to the project is really interesting.

“We’d been looking for an actor to play [the villain] for a while, and even come close to casting it with different folks,” Thomas Was Alone’s creator Mike Bithell told Gamasutra. “After one of those attempts fell through, it was a back to the drawing board moment, and I decided to stop compromising, and go for my dream actor for the role– who I’d get if practicality and reality weren’t an issue.”

“Thank god Serkis said yes, and had some time clear in his busy schedule,” Bithell added.

Thank God indeed. Especially if Serkis brings even half the intensity to this role that he does to Gollum in the movies.

Mike Bithell’s Thomas Was Alone, a flash game turned PC game turned PS3/Vita game, is now going to be on the Wii U and Xbox One alongwith the PS4. Curve Digital will be bringing the game out on the two extra consoles and they’ll release in November. A rather odd “Making of” video has been released by the studio explaining the process behind convincing Bithell to create a Thomas Was Alone for Wii U and Xbox One. Check it out above.

Thomas Was Alone was also handled by Curve Studios on the PS3 and Vita, witnessing a moderate amount of success. It supports cross-buy across all PlayStation platforms, so if you own it on either the PS3 or Vita, you’ll be able to play it on the PS4 as well.

Bithell is also currently working on Volume, a “Metal Gear Solid meets LEGO” game scheduled for Mac OS X, PC, PS4 and Vita in 2015.

Another day, another indie game confirmed for the PlayStation 4. Puzzle platformer Thomas Was Alone is being ported to PlayStation 4 courtesy of Curve Digital, it was confirmed today, with a release date of some time later this year being targeted.

The game will also support Cross Buy, so if you already own this game on any of the other two Playstation platforms- PS3 or PS Vita- you get the PS4 edition for free. Conversely, if you buy it now on the PS4, you also get it for free on the PS Vita and PS3.

Of course, the PS4 isn’t the only next generation console getting this game, as listings have repeatedly cropped up for Thomas Was Alone on the Wii U and the Xbox One. Presumably, all three next generation console versions of the game will hit at once, owing to the parity clause that ID@Xbox mandates for all indie games.

We’ll keep you posted.

Indie platformer Thomas Was Alone, which originally started out as a Flash title for PC, has gone on to sell over 1 million units in its lifespan. This is according to creator Mike Bithell on Twitter.

“Ummm.. so… yeah.. Thomas Was Alone has now sold over one million copies.”

Bithell did make sure to clarify that many of those sales came via special deals and whatnot. “Note: bulk of those sales were in bundles / discounts / promotions. So stop your 1mil x $10 maths right now.”

But it’s still a significant milestone all the same. Thomas Was Alone has made its way to the PlayStation 3 and Vita in the meantime and currently Bithell is busy developing Volume for the PS4, PC and Vita. Volume looks to combine stealth action with LEGO-style level customization. It also looks incredibly snazzy – there’s a chance it could slip into next year though. Stay tuned for more details on Volume in the coming months.

Thomas Was Alone and Volume creator Mike Bithell recently spoke to Gamasutra about the success of his first game. According to Bithell, Thomas Was Alone really saw success when it came to the PlayStation platforms and that Sony is quickly edging Steam out in terms indie game curation.

Bithell explained that in the old days, “Steam meant you were going to be sorted, as long as your game was quite small, you’d be sorted for a year or two, bare minimum.

“I struggle to believe that Thomas Was Alone would have been successful were it to come out now on Steam. It was on the front page of Steam for a week. It was released right before that final moment where being on Steam meant Valve thought you made a great game. That used to be what that meant. I guess it’s not dissimilar to the Nintendo seal of approval they have on the boxed games.”

But when Greenlight debuted, it made the platform all the more open – which might eventually be the direction that Valve takes. “I think that’s what’s coming – something like the App Store, with very simple checks to make sure you’re not uploading a virus, and that’s it.

“Steam meant something at one point, and being on Steam said something to players that allowed a lot of people with weird, esoteric games to get an audience. That’s going to be harder to find now. You’ll require more traditional marketing and talking to press.

As for Sony, Bithell states that, “I think they’re working towards making it as easy as possible to make games for their platforms, which is a great plan. Same with Microsoft.

“But for now with those curated shops, you’ve got people like Shahid [Ahmad, Sony UK] saying ‘I like that game, I want it on the console.’ Which is going to benefit people in the short-term because it’s a badge of honour, and if you’re a PlayStation fan who likes the indie games that are out on PlayStation, you’re going to say ‘If Sony think this new game is good enough for their console, it’s good enough for me.’ And that’s very powerful.”

Volume is Bithell’s next game and will be out on PC and PS4. Stay tuned for more details.

PlayStation Plus users will soon be able to add Thomas Was Alone and Unit 13 to their Instant Game Collections for March, with both games becoming available on the PlayStation Network on March 18th.

Thomas Was Alone is Mike Bithell’s first puzzle platformer which started out in Flash before moving on to home consoles and handhelds. The game revolves around AI shapes making their way through different environments with each shape bringing their own abilities to the table. It will be available to both PS3 and PS Vita users.

Unit 13 is a more traditional third person shooters. You have your missions, your various soldier types and your guns. The game features different mission types such as sneaking and assassination – it will be available for PS Vita users. A boat-load of discounts has also been confirmed which you can check out in full at the PlayStation Blog US page. Will you be picking up Thomas Was Alone and Unit 13 tomorrow? Let us know below.

In development for seven months., Volume sees players thieving and collecting items while avoiding guards in “hundreds” of different environments that can be rearranged or added to using the game’s tools. As of now, there aren’t many other details go on for the game, but Bethell has stated there will be more details at the Eurogamer Expo.

Considering the support Sony gave to the PS Vita and PS3 version of Thomas Was Alone, is it any stretch that Volume will also release for those platforms (and maybe on the PlayStation 4)? Stay tuned for more details. In the mean-time, check out our review of Thomas Was Alone here.

And to think, it crossed the $1 million target in only 18 hours.

The games features on the collection include Thomas Was Alone, Dear Esther and Hotline Miami. Since consumers can choose how much they want to pay, and how to distribute their purchase – with options for adjusting how much money the developers, Child’s Play Charity and the Electronic Frontier Foundation get.

The average purchase price for this bundle was $5.69, with Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson having the highest purchase value of $5,000 for the bundle. Check out the site itself to pick up the latest Humble Bundle today.

Speaking to GamesIndustry International, MD Jason Perkins stated that, “XBLA was a trailblazer last generation. It’s sad to see Microsoft not announcing dedicated support for independent developers on the Xbox One.

“Refusing to concentrate on easier submissions and discoverability leaves the way clear for Sony to capture the most innovative market in gaming right now.”

He also spoke about Sony’s openness and relaxed standards for developers on the PS4. “Sony’s show of support for developers, including showing independent releases not only front and centre on their store front but also during the PlayStation 4 reveal is creating a more open, co-operative market for independent games to enter the living room on a level playing field.”

We’ll see at E3 2013 whether Microsoft has an answer for one of its more bigger foul-ups.