Bombin' the A.M. With Mike Bithell

Fantastic guest. I'd love to hear him some more in some future content. Super interesting look into the development of an indy game.

Saying where they come from is mostly semantics. You could take "youtube" as a shorthand for someone posting self published "let's play" videos, whether the source is Twitch or something else.

Do you really think someone like Pewdiepie would have found a venue and audience outside of the self published web? I don't know that many of these people would have made a name or had the time to work out a voice in any kind of traditional business model.

I think your prediction about everyone being online is correct and there will probably be a better diversification of channels that people can get content out to the public.

What I think is the most interesting is that the sales of games are a direct result of the "let's play" video and not the reviewer. Contrast that idea to concepts like bonuses based on meta critic averages and you have a real head scratcher in terms of the value of criticism in relation to sales.

maybe do a podcast themaster and show us how its meant to be done

Excellent guest, excellent show!

Mike Bithell was an absolute pleasure with some quality insight! Thanks to him for being a part of the cast, and I look forward to checking out his new game. :)

@Mike Bithell: You mentioned how people didn't care for the mechanics in Thomas Was Alone. However, I thought the platforming in Thomas felt REALLY great. It definitely fleshed out the game and made the incredible game that it is... even if the story was the main focus for me.
I feel like one doesn't over-shadow the over, though, they seem to work in concert with each other, and I don't think the game would be what it is if either one of them was less well-realized.

This podcast just keeps getting better and better. Really digging the Monday guest format, and the way Alex and Patrick have improved it since the beginning. It's fast approaching my favourite content on the site, and given the site is Giant Bomb, that's saying something.

This was great. I sadly regret having waited until last month to finally play Thomas Was Alone, and yeah, I finally got what all the praise was about. Really looking forward to his next title.

That English guy seems okay.

@swat200 said:

Not me. With the inclusion of guests, Bombin in the AM has become my favorite Giant Bomb feature. I'm also really interested in the more 'insider' stuff of the industry, though, so I guess I could see a person not totally digging it if he/she comes here for the GB personalities. For me personally, I have especially loved the episodes with Mike, Zoë, and Cara. Rad dudes, all of 'em.

I should really play Thomas Was Alone! Great job on the show Mike!

This was a great interview, Mike Bithell is a smart and interesting guy. Hey @patrickklepek, would love to see you interview Rami Ismail in a future Bombing episode

What an awesome dude!

I found myself nodding in agreement with everything he said about stealth games so volume now has a lot to live up to for me, No pressure!

He is also 100% right about sales. I have had a ton of fun with steam games that I wouldn't have played if it weren't for sales.

Yeah, definitely. He's on my list.

Cool guest. I bought Thomas Was Alone a couple weeks ago when it was on sale on PSN. Didn t get it when it was free but it s in the backlog.

I like his point on the sales though. It made me consider one thing I hadn t previously about Steam sales and PS and all that but that the word of mouth can almost be as valuable as the increased traffic the sale itself creates. I can t say for sure TotalBiscuit played this dude s game because it was cheap and made a video and the game went viral but you can totally see how something like that can happen.

Getting your game into the hands of more people can never be a bad thing and like the developer said Thomas Was Alone was a huge success for him at about a million sales/downloads. That s like what 1% if even that of the total usership of Steam & PSN The game game will continue to sell and moreso the more people are playing it and talking about it.

Really enjoyed this guy. Volume sounds like exactly the kind of stealth game that I want to play. Day one for me.

Good show! Thank you!

Really interesting discussion, and appreciated someone articulating the counterpoints to the sales discussion last week. I still really don't understand where the Castle Doctrine guy is coming from - either in reaching people, making sales, or making money - all of those seem to be helped by things like sales or PS+.

Great guest, extremely informative, interesting, and a great insight behind the curtain of a small developer. Good work guys, high fives all around!

Glad to hear a developer saying that an interactive Die Hard experience should be more like Zelda or Metroid style "open world" rather than Call of Duty style pretty shooting gallery.

Well, Mike Bithell certainly seems like a charming fellow.

Great show! Fantastic guest, really cool guy