Mike Bithell: ‘The highs and lows of creative freedom are very addictive’
How do you define your role when you are essentially a one-person games development studio?
I tend to use "designer" generally, but that doesn't really cover it. Technically, I'm a one-person company that hires a bunch of freelancers, but it's not really like that either. It's about working with the right collaborators and pulling a bunch of people around a project. So it's more like project management. But then I still design game mechanics, I still do lots of coding, I still write the scripts, and do lots of things. It really doesn't come under a single banner, so I use designer, because nobody really knows what that is anyway. But crucially, I'm very careful not to present myself as a one-man developer, because that's not it.
In an era where there is game making software to make a game alone, why is collaboration important?
I can do a fair bit alone, but historically [hiring collaborators] was a financial concern. For Thomas Was Alone I couldn't afford much help. I always use the analogy of a digital camera. You can get a decent digital camera, but if you want to make a great film you might need all these people who excel in their specific tasks.
