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Mike Bithell on the do's and don'ts of making indie games

Trends and clones

Mike Bithell on the do's and don'ts of making indie games

Mike Bithell, creator of hit indie titles Thomas Was Alone and Volume, gave a talk at Pocket Gamer Connects Bangalore 2015 on some do's and don’ts of making indie games.

He warned against following trends when they're identified by analysts, saying "one or two people are very successful in that space, but by the time you're hearing about it at a conference, that's passed."

The trouble with clones

He also suggested that making a simple game and releasing it as a premium app is risky, as it could be easily cloned by another company, released for free, and end up more successful than the original.

But "cloning a game is not actually a way to get successful long-term," says Bithell, as it draws attention to the original, earning that version more fame and downloads than the clone.

You can see all our videos from Pocket Gamer Connects Bangalore 2015 in this YouTube Playlist.


Editor

Ric is the Editor of PocketGamer.biz, having started out as a Staff Writer on the site back in 2015. He received an honourable mention in both the MCV and Develop 30 Under 30 lists in 2016 and refuses to let anyone forget about it.