External Production, Support and Bithell Games
Beyond my direct work at Bithell Games, I’ve also been fortunate to help produce several award-winning, commercially and critically acclaimed games such as Fights in Tight Spaces and The Banished Vault. I also find myself in the “special thanks” of several game credits for various elements of assistance from budgeting to commercial strategy and logistics.
Bithell Games is a British game development studio best known for breakout indie hits Thomas Was Alone and Subsurface Circular, along with innovative licensed titles John Wick Hex and TRON: Identity. A story-driven platform puzzle game, Thomas Was Alone won a BAFTA for its star, Danny Wallace. The studio saw further success with the back-to-back releases of Subsurface Circular and Quarantine Circular, award-nominated graphical twists on the text-based adventure. The Bithell Shorts series, which began with the text-based Circular series, found further success with The Solitaire Conspiracy (which I was a writer on). The studio’s work emphasizes storytelling and focused game design with a growing team of professionals.
THE BANISHED VAULT (Windows) - Executive Producer
A strategy game of exploration, endurance, and space travel on an interstellar gothic monastery. Explore solar systems, harvest resources, construct outposts, and face hazards in the challenging universe of The Banished Vault.
CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR THE BANISHED VAULT:
“The Banished Vault is, if anything, a master class in the economy and cruelty of space survival where every movement matters. It is wholeheartedly uncompromising in bending the player to its will and vision, and it is right to do so.”
Recommends – Polygon
”The best sci-fi indie game of 2023” – Inverse
“It is a logistical, spiritual, and mathematical high-wire act.”
9.9 / 10 – Paste
“... an entirely singular game about the depths of space, the limits of your own mind, and the divine beauty of mathematics.”
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – Eurogamer
TRON: IDentity (Windows, Nintendo Switch) - Executive Producer
A NEW ENTRY IN THE ICONIC DISNEY FRANCHISE TRON, BAFTA LONGLIST FOR ‘BEST BRITISH GAME’
Something has been taken. Enter a new Grid and forge alliances via visual novel gameplay, uncovering truths through Identity Disc puzzles. Make critical decisions and plot your own course in a world without a creator.
FIGHTS IN TIGHT SPACES (Windows, Xbox SERIES) - FINANCIAL SUPPORT and Executive Producer
BAFTA NOMINATION FOR ‘BEST BRITISH GAME’, MCV/DEVELOP NOMINATION FOR ‘GAMEPLAY INNOVATION’
A stylish blend of deck-building, turn-based tactics, and thrilling animated fight sequences in classic action-movie settings. Learn to balance your hand, momentum, and positioning to overcome the odds to defeat your adversaries. Build your deck, control the space and live to fight another day.
Fights in Tight Spaces blends deck-building, turn-based tactics, and thrilling animated fight sequences in classic action-movie settings. Learn to balance your hand, momentum, and positioning to overcome the odds to defeat your adversaries.
Pick from over 150 cards as you build a deck to suit your play style and your opponents’. Encounter random events, acquire enhancements (or injuries), and make critical choices about how best to upgrade your agent for the fights ahead.
ARCSMITH (META QUests) - Executive Producer
Build the future, fix the past. Unpack the story of master arcsmith Korith Dinn, now living a secluded life in the depths of a space station at the edge of the galaxy. Become Dinn’s apprentice, take on dozens of jobs constructing machines for the station's inhabitants and help Dinn find redemption for past deeds.
Become an Arcsmith and assemble essential items of the future using a library of modular pieces with master arcsmith Korith Dinn as your reluctant mentor. Watch your quiet station become the focal point of an intergalactic power struggle that could determine the future of the universe.
A new type of VR Experience by solving challenging three-dimensional engineering puzzles. Balance heat, power and other variables along the way and use diagnostic tools to guide your creations.
The Solitaire Conspiracy (Windows, Mac, Consoles) - Writer and Executive Producer
Join a world of near-future spies and take on a supervillain in this supercharged take on classic Solitaire. Precision engineered for replayable espionage action.
Protego, the world’s leading spy agency, has been destroyed. Only one person can wield C.A.R.D.S to take control of Protego’s scattered spy crews and save the world.
You.
Guided by Protego’s only remaining analyst, Jim Ratio (Greg Miller), you must master the unique powers of each crew in a game of tactical Solitaire like none you’ve ever played before. Guide your crews home in a tale of intrigue where nobody can be trusted. Keep your cool in a world of AI spies and cyber-enhanced operators.
Ancient Enemy (Windows) - Financial Support and consultation
Developed by Grey Alien Games, Ancient Enemy is an RPG card battler set in a crumbling world where the forces of evil have already won. Blast distorted enemies with a satisfying range of spells and abilities. Journey into a scarred wilderness and draw power and hope from the landscape to defeat the deadliest foe of all!
Bithell Games was proud to support the creation of Ancient Enemy with financial support and consultation during development. The first of the company’s investments, the success of the title has allowed for further support of small teams creating innovative titles that would otherwise struggle to find assistance in the industry.
Ancient Enemy reviews
“Ancient Enemy is an incredibly enjoyable game and one that is unlike anything else I’ve played. … It’s certainly a game that’ll have you ready to shuffle the deck and start the next round, and that’s the best thing about card games.”
8/10 – The Indie Game Website
“Ancient Enemy offers extensive playtime and is incredibly addictive... The indie developers behind this project have created a masterful work”
4/5 – Only Single Player (Escapist)
100% “Very Positive” Recommended on Steam
JOHN WICK HEX (Windows, CONSOLES) - EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
John Wick Hex is fight-choreographed chess brought to life, capturing the series’ signature gun fu style while expanding its story universe. Players must choose every action and attack they make, while considering their immediate cost and consequences.
John Wick Hex reviews
“When it comes to movie and video game crossovers, most developers fail to capture the spirit of the movie’s characters while also bringing their own spin to the world. Bithell Games has managed to do both here, and if John Wick Hex is as close as we ever get to becoming John Wick, then it’s close enough for me.”
9/10 – Shacknews
“Stylish cinematic super-violence is transformed into smart temporal puzzles. Eurogamer Recommended”
– Eurogamer
“One of the best movie adaptations of all time and an impressively original strategy game that manages to rival even the best action titles in terms of tension and adrenaline rush.”
9/10 – GameCentral
Quarantine circular (Nintendo Switch, Windows, Mac) - EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
A group of scientists interrogate an alien discovered at the heart of a global pandemic. Work with your team, make decisions and uncover the alien’s true intentions.
Social dynamics, multiple character viewpoints and greater choice enhance this twist on classic text-based adventure.
Quarantine Circular reviews
“ Quarantine Circular is another brilliantly written game that will have you taking up different mind sets to get through it. It's at times charming, upsetting and inspiring and will have you playing it through to its conclusion in one sitting without you realising. ”
10/10 – The Digital Fix
“ If you like stories, characters, dialogue and moral choices, it’s worth one playthrough — or maybe even six. ”
– Polygon
“ Quarantine Circular is, much like its predecessor a short playthrough but has multiple branches that the story can go down, so one playthrough is not enough. It is a beautifully crafted game and ... is well worth every cent. It presents a compelling scenario for thought, infectious to the last moment. ”
9/10 – Gamespace
Subsurface circular (Nintendo Switch, Windows, Mac, iPAD) - EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
A detective stationed on the Subsurface Circular investigates a series of disappearances among the city’s robotic working class. Collect words and phrases, then use them in dialogue puzzles to uncover the world's secrets and determine its future.
Inspired by classic adventure games and modern dialogue systems, Bithell Games has created a single session story which respects your time and your intelligence.
Subsurface Circular reviews
“Subsurface Circular extracts maximum entertainment from limited resources through the admirable trick of great writing, excellent pacing, sparkling dialogue and bang-on story beats.”
9/10 – Polygon
“There are plenty of twists and turns to the point that you can never quite grasp the whole story until it’s closing out.”
4/5 – GamesRadar
“Subsurface Circular is a landmark moment in interactive storytelling. The elegance of its escalation is simply unmatched, as it tells a story that makes you feel like you’re in completely over your head, and yet still perfectly believable. ”
10/10 – Nintendo Life
EarthShape (Google Daydream VR) - PRODUCER
EarthShape is a point-and-bounce VR game of universal puzzle gardening. Using the latest technology, bounce your way around obstacles or maneuver for extra points, all to grow the brightest flowers for better worlds.
Volume: Coda (PlayStation VR) - PRODUCER
In the wake of Locksley's revolution, Gisborne's cadre of close advisors seek to hold on to power... and their lives. The Troubleshooter is hired to maintain order. But there's always someone with a better offer.
Volume (Windows, PlayStation, Vita) - Operational support
Pure stealth action and infinite level creation. Enter the Volume to halt Gisborne Industries' corruption and train the masses to rob from the rich. Features weekly content updates in curated Staff Picks section. Volume's campaign mode is a near-future retelling of the Robin Hood legend, starring BAFTA-winner Danny Wallace (Thomas Was Alone), Charlie McDonnell and award-winning, critically-acclaimed actor Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes) as Gisborne.
Volume Reviews
“The atmosphere, voice acting and plot had me coming back for more even when the puzzles overwhelmed me.”
5/5 – The Guardian
“A lovely thing made up of spellbinding puzzles that demand the player's attention. Its beauty, wit and intelligence are nicely offset by its quiet anger.”
9/10 – Polygon
“Volume’s story levels are designed with the same care that players must use when playing, and I enjoyed the experience from start to finish. With true stealth games a rare breed today, Volume stands as a declaration that the formula can still work.”
88/100 – Game Informer